This is a Terrible Profile of Jim Parsons

"The Normal Heart" resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship, and working with an ensemble again onstage was like nourishment, he said. As the production was ending last summer, he heard that the Roundabout Theater Company was considering a revival of "Harvey" ... and last November the play's director, Scott Ellis, asked him and [actress Jessica Hecht, who plays Elwood's sister, Veta] to do a private reading of the work in Los Angeles.

"Jim was solid in 'The Normal Heart,'" Mr. Ellis said, "but his character didn't really change in the journey of that play, so I wanted to see if Jim could take on a challenge and float a couple of feet off the ground, so to speak, in that magical way Elwood has. And in the reading he was just smart, smart, smart."

In rehearsals Mr. Parsons focused particularly on his relationship with Harvey — a character who is not there. He chose spots in the Studio 54 theater to fix his gaze, at the exact height where Harvey's face would be, and developed a series of hand gestures when Elwood was speaking to or making way for the rabbit. If the show has plenty of the laugh lines that Mr. Parsons finds familiar from television, he said he was more aware of the differences between Elwood and Sheldon — and was savoring them.

"Elwood has such warmth, and wants nothing more than to connect with other people, whereas my nine-month-a-year job is a character who says things like, 'If you don't mind, I'd like to stop listening to you and talk now,'" Mr. Parsons said. "The jump-out-of-bed happiness I feel transcends any nerves about taking on a history-laden role."

Bazinga! Just kidding. The profile is great and you should definitely read it! Another classic prank by Melissa McEwan.

(This is great material if you watch The Big Bang Theory, I swear.)