So Is Charlyne Yi Telling Conan She Was Fired From 'The Big Bang Theory'?

toggle caption Meghan Sinclair/Team Coco

On last night's third episode of Conan, actress Charlyne Yi, of Knocked Up, Paper Heart, and other comedies, told a story about being fired from a role written for her on a sitcom she declined to name.

The problem is that she got a little too specific about the scene she was shooting when she stumbled over her lines because she's more improvisational and can't conventionally read scripts. The line she claims tripped her up was about heating a cup of soup with a laser. She goes on to say that she was so unhappy doing the role and felt so inadequate that she was thrilled when she got a call that she'd been fired.

She was trying to be discreet, it would seem, by not mentioning the show, but the problem is that it's not just any show that would ask an actress to discuss heating soup with a laser. That makes it pretty easy to figure out what happened.

On the third-ever episode of CBS's The Big Bang Theory, Leslie Winkle -- Leonard's on-and-off love interest, played by Sara Gilbert -- was first seen ... heating a Cup-O-Noodles with a laser. It's always possible that there was some other show that wrote a role for Yi involving a Cup-O-Noodles and a laser, but it might be that if you're really trying to keep it a secret what show fired you, you might not want to quote dialogue that actually wound up on the show.

Furthermore, it is impossible for me to imagine Charlyne Yi in that role, knowing how funny Sara Gilbert was, so perhaps it all worked out for the best. Big Bang (or whoever!) got a terrific actress, and Yi didn't have to learn any lines.