Melissa Rauch

My mom has a very high-pitched voice, and there are some similarities between her and the voice I use on 'Big Bang,' although my mom has the Jersey accent, so I took that out. But the tone of the voice is very similar to my mother's.

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 remember when I first saw Whoopi Goldberg doing standup, and she was wearing a sheet on her head, basically pretending to be this little white girl with long luxurious blonde hair. Everyone can relate to that. It's an oral history of black women's lives through laughter.