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Many award-winning TV shows feature great actors playing terrible actors. This is a recurring trope in sitcoms, with characters having various professions but frequently one being an actor. Examples include Friends, New Girl, Big Bang Theory, and Parks and Rec. The question is why do these shows insist on having characters who are awful actors? In Big Bang Theory, both Penny and Sheldon are shown to be bad actors. Penny is a struggling actress who also works as a waitress, while Sheldon's show "Fun with Flags" is poorly received. Other examples of actors playing opposite characters include Neil Patrick Harris in How I Met Your Mother and Zendaya in Euphoria. While it's amusing to see great actors pretend to be awful, it also shows their range and dedication to their craft. Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek is another captivating awful actor, with her disastrous commercials and inability to sing. Overall, this trope adds humor and entertainment value to the shows. You would think that award-winning television shows would have good actors, and yet so many of these great actors are forced to play terrible ones. Welcome back to another episode of Tropes or Traps, where we'll be talking about the recurring trope of having one character in a show be an actor. Actors in popular sitcoms have many different types of professions, waitress, paleontologist, police officer, doctor, scientist, chef, teacher, salesperson, masseuse, government worker, aspired musician, model, author, bartender, lawyer, architect, nurse, and more. These are professions in just a few sitcoms, Friends, New Girl, Big Bang Theory, and Parks and Rec. But the one profession that is seen in almost every sitcom is an actor. And more often than not, that character plays a terrible actor. So let's get to the real question. Why do all these shows insist on having a character who is an awful actor? In the past, we've talked a lot about different tropes presented in Big Bang Theory. So let's begin our journey there, with Penny. We'll start with some background about Big Bang Theory and its characters, just in case you don't know. In Pasadena, California, Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstetter work at Caltech. They are roommates in an apartment and live on the fourth floor of a building with a broken elevator. Fun side note, that elevator was broken for all 12 seasons of the show, and was only fixed in the last episode. So many scenes of the show involve the characters walking up and down the stairs together. In the first episode of the series, Penny is introduced as the neighbor to Leonard and Sheldon. She moved in right across the hall. While the two men are successful in their fields of experimental and theoretical physics – who knows what that even means – Penny is shown to be a struggling actress who moved to L.A. from Nebraska to kickstart her career. She is clearly struggling, as she continues to eat her neighbor's food without paying, uses their Wi-Fi, borrows their money, and uses their TV when her cable gets shut off. Every episode, Penny walks over to the boys' apartment and eats their takeout food on the couch, without paying them back. This wasn't the plan. It wasn't supposed to go this way. Well, what was the plan? Waitress for six months and then become a movie star? Now, I know becoming a famous movie star sounds like a great plan, but Penny's plan does not seem foolproof. She also uses Leonard and Sheldon's Wi-Fi when she doesn't have the money to pay for her own, which recurs a lot throughout the 12 seasons of the show. Hey, Sheldon, did you change your Wi-Fi password again? Yes, it's Penny. Get your own Wi-Fi. No spaces. Hey, Leonard, are your Wi-Fi down? I can't get on. Oh, Sheldon changed the password. It's now Penny is a freeloader. No spaces. Hi, did Sheldon change the Wi-Fi password again? Yeah, it's Penny already eats our food. She can pay for Wi-Fi. The show pays close attention to Penny's financial stress to show just how much she is struggling. Since she doesn't get many acting jobs, Penny's a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory. Throughout the 12 seasons of the show, Penny only gets four roles. She is in A Diary of Anne Frank, performed above a bowling alley, a hemorrhoid commercial, a movie called Serial Apis, and the sequel, Serial Apis 2, Monkey See, Monkey Kill. I think I started to suspect it was a bad movie when I looked at the script and saw the title. Serial Apis 2, Monkey See, Monkey Kill. Spoiler alert, after the Monkey Sees, it kills. I mean, come on, that title is horrible. Each instance when we are shown clips of her acting, she is awful. Her singing is bad, her chemistry with the other actors is bad, her body language is bad. Altogether, it's just funny and amusing to watch her try to act. But Penny is not the only character in Big Bang Theory who is shown to be a bad actor. Sheldon starts a channel with his friend Amy called Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler presents Sheldon Cooper's Fun with Flags, where they talk about flags. As Dr. Sheldon Cooper and Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler present Dr. Sheldon Cooper's Fun with Flags. For a brilliant guy, Sheldon sure knows how to create an awful title for her show. Now obviously, flags is a boring topic, so it's no wonder that Sheldon has very few listeners. Unsurprisingly though, Sheldon is awful in front of the camera. He's stiff and stares directly into the camera. It is terrifying. Throughout the episodes, Sheldon starts by answering the viewers' questions. Most of these are, no, I am not a robot. Or Amy saying, no, I have not been kidnapped. Or, I promise, I'm not giving a warning sign, I just blink a lot. Sheldon was so desperate to improve his show that he even asked Penny for acting advice. The advice did not help. Sheldon also auditioned to be Professor Wormwood. Sheldon also auditioned to be Professor Proton in the remake of his favorite science show, Professor Proton. His audition tape was, in one word, scary. So, here's my question. Why do all these amazing actors play awful actors in the show? Is the show just how good of an actor they are? Does it truly take a great actor to pretend to be an awful actor? Maybe that's the true testament. I always thought that you know actors are great when they play someone who is opposite to themselves in such a great and compelling way. For example, in How I Met Your Mother, Neil Patrick Harris plays the man-whore character, Barney, who picks up a different girl at the bar every night. His acting is so believable, it is almost difficult to believe that Harris is a gay man who has a husband. Watching this show was the first moment when I actually thought about what it takes to be an amazing actor. It's not just about the awards you win, but instead the dedication and research certain actors do before diving into a role. Being able to fully encapsulate a character is mind-blowing. His ability to get into character and play a part so different from anything he has experienced is phenomenal. Another example would be Zendaya in Euphoria. Zendaya plays the main character, Rue, who deals with drug problems. The fact that Zendaya was able to play the character in such a believable way, even though she never struggled with these issues herself, demonstrates her acting diversity. Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory, is a regular actor, but he plays a brilliant scientist who struggles with conversing with others. I'm not like Sheldon. I am not a scientist. I don't speak Klingon. I do have a male roommate, but I assure you it's a vastly different arrangement. What I'm saying to you is that that guy you see on your television, I'm not that guy. I know most sitcoms have one character who's on TV, whether it be actors like Penny, Joey from Friends, or Moira from Schitt's Creek, or a reporter like Robin from How I Met Your Mother, or even a news anchor like Danny and Becky from Full House. I have to say, this bad actor trope is hilarious. I honestly kind of enjoy seeing these great actors pretend to be so awful. It makes good TV. The most captivating awful actor has to be Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek. Unlike Penny, Moira is a successful actor. She is the star on a soap show called Sunrise Bay. Even though she was famous, Moira is an awful actor. Her work on commercials are awful. In the first season, when Herb Ertlinger asked her to promote his fruit wine, she did an awful job. She pronounced the name of the wine wrong, and even pronounced her own name wrong on one take. Only after she became drunk was she able to complete the horrible commercial. Come taste the difference good fruit can make in your wine. You'll remember the experience, and you'll remember the name, Herb Ertlinger. But nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse than The Crow's Awakening, The Crows Have Eyes. Like Serial Apist, the director had no faith in the movie, but our lead actor tries to make it better. She ends up doing a pretty okay job, and tries to rewrite the script to make it a little bit better. At the premiere, she actually released real life crows. That caught the movie some publicity, after several people got attacked. I guess that's a bad judgment call. Now, that was kind of hilarious. But acting isn't her only problem. Moira also can't sing for shit. The Jazzy Gal, who plays Moira, can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. She can't sing for shit. 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