Here’s something most people never think about: television comedy is all about tension. Specifically, the tension between different types of characters as they bounce off each other. In order to have major tension, comedies need to have characters who are very different from each other, and no show exemplifies this more than The Big Bang Theory.
That show has great characters that make us laugh, but some of them are downright annoying. And when we say “annoying,” we mean that these are the kinds of fictional people that would drive you crazy in real life. Just who are the biggest offenders in America’s favorite sitcom? Keep reading to discover the most annoying characters on The Big Bang Theory!
Leonard Hofstadter
Many fans call Leonard Hofstadter the main character of The Big Bang Theory, but that’s not quite the right term. Since this is an ensemble comedy, there isn’t truly a “main” character. But Leonard fulfills another function: he’s the audience surrogate, the kind of character that most of us watching at home can relate to. In other words, he’s the character whose POV we mostly view this world with.
We’re supposed to see ourselves in Leonard, but that’s a double-edged sword: just as we tend to criticize ourselves the hardest, we hate the characters who remind us of ourselves. Every season has Leonard making boneheaded mistakes and saying the wrong thing. That does make him relatable, but the last thing we want to relate to is our own history of similar mistakes.