Before he became TV's King of Sitcoms, Chuck Lorre was a broke, sick 20-something with almost nothing in his pockets. In a new Playboy profile, the man behind The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men shares how he spent his last change on an adult movie, and the reason has nothing to do with the film.
Chuck landed in Los Angeles in 1976 with a dream and exactly 76 cents. He spent it on a ticket to an X-rated theatre. He said, "It was about 100 degrees and I was really sick, with colitis. I must've weighed about 99 pounds. And I went, not to masturbate in a porn cinema. I went because they had air conditioning. I didn't have air conditioning in the garage where I lived."
It took years for things to turn around. Chuck first worked as a musician and aspiring TV writer, picking up jobs on animated kids' shows including Heathcliff and My Little Pony 'n Friends. His primetime break came in 1987 with Charles in Charge, and he joined Roseanne as a writer and executive producer three years later.
Chuck says those lean years drove him. He was determined never again to stand outside a restaurant, looking through the window at people eating and wishing he could afford to go in. Once he'd gotten his foot in the door, he says, he wasn't going to let himself be pushed back out.
The discussion also touches on The Big Bang Theory's ongoing popularity, which aired for 12 seasons on CBS and spawned Young Sheldon, Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, and this year's Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. Lorre attributes the franchise's longevity to its character-driven storylines. He also mentions the show's numerous moments of friends eating meals, which he believes tap into something deep about families coming together.
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