Melissa Rauch

TV was my life, growing up. I ran home from school to watch television, and even did my homework with the TV on - my mom had a rule that as long as my grades didn't fall, I was allowed to. So it was my dream to work in television.

There are so many male antiheroes but not nearly as many female antiheroes.There's a lot of pressure on female characters to be likable. That puts a lot of pressure on women to be likable.

My first waitress job was at Johnny Rockets in New Jersey, and then I waited tables at a sports bar.

The live performance aspect of shooting a multicamera sitcom is wonderful. You have that instant audience reaction.

In the guest star situation on a show, it has a feel of a foreign exchange student - you're worrying the night before where you're going to sit for lunch. 'The Big Bang Theory' was like that. I was supposed to only do one episode. What was different was the cast and production staff was so welcoming, even though I was only scheduled for a week.

Big Bang' is very tightly scripted. Because we shoot in front of a live audience, it's basically like doing a filmed piece of theatre, really.

Years ago, when I started having this little bit of success as an actor, I got a job on 'VH1's Best Week Ever.' I went back to my mall in New Jersey, which is what I do when I go visit my parents, and I was at a Wetzel's Pretzels. The manager was like, 'I love the show! It's awesome!' and gave me a free pretzel. I was so excited!

I love an arcade. I love a boardwalk game. But I also love a rollercoaster. Though I think the rollercoaster love comes from the fact that it took a really long time for me to reach the height requirement, so I promised myself very early on that when I reach that, I will not take it for granted.

The thing that stand-up does for you is that it toughens you up a bit as far as the business goes. It's hard. If a joke doesn't get a laugh, that's instant rejection. And that's mostly what this business is most of the time: a lot of rejection.

The beautiful thing about writing with the person that you love is that when they come up with an idea that is great, it's this dual happiness because that's the partner and that's such a good idea, and I'm proud of you, and then also I'm really excited for the project.

I was a very weird child. I was very shy, so in school I would just mimic stand-up sets of Whoopi Goldberg.

When my husband came to my parents' house for the first time, he asked, 'Why is everyone screaming? Why are they so angry?' I said, 'No one's angry. This is just how we communicate.'