Melissa Rauch

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

“I was kind of like the Rhea Perlman of the bar. I was like Carla on 'Cheers.' People were more afraid of me. There was a point where I got a little surly. There were only so many chicken wings I could serve before losing the smile on my face.”

“I was a theater dork in high school and did all the plays. My theater teacher in high school, Janet Spahr, was absolutely incredible and mentored me throughout school. She taught me a lot about relying on my instincts.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I have always been a huge fan of gymnastics.”

“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.”

“I'm not full on 'Jersey Shore' Jersey, but in my heart, my bangs are so feathered with tons of hairspray. My husband says that whenever I get tired, it comes out.”

“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.'”

“'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.”

“When I was out of work when I first moved to L.A., one of the first things my husband and I did was buy season's passes to Disney, and whenever I was bummed out about work, we would go to Space Mountain, and it was like a physical injection of anti-depressants.”

“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.”

“When I first went to acting school, they made me lose my accent, which is very upsetting for me. The first day of Shakespeare class, I remember the professor was like, 'Oh, boy. Oh no, no, no, no. No, no, no,' and sent me to a voice and speech class to get rid of the accent immediately.”

“Voices have always been my way into a character. I usually approach the voice first.”

“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!”

“My fear is that, had I stayed in Jersey, I would have become Snooki because I'm just a bottle of hair dye away.”

“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.”

“I believe Gary Cole is one of the greats.”

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

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