Elon Musk has made it obvious during his public appearances that he craves the spotlight. (Remember when he wouldn’t get off the stage during a pre-inauguration rally?) And his ventures into acting have been no different. Before he claimed comedy was illegal and needed to be allowed again, Musk flexed his funny bone on hit television shows like “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons.” His first ever live-action appearance in a scripted series was when he guest-starred on the long-running CBS show “The Big Bang Theory.” The owner of X appeared in the series’ ninth season episode called “The Platonic Permutation.” Musk played himself for only one scene in the episode that aired back in 2015.

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Elon Musk playing Elon Musk in the tv series The Big Bang Theory pic.twitter.com/16Cfsh1Lmu

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The episode takes place during Thanksgiving and the characters decide to volunteer at a soup kitchen during the holiday. Character Howard Wolowitz (played by Simon Helberg) is less than enthusiastic to spend the day being charitable, until he meets a volunteer at the soup kitchen. The volunteer is none other than Musk himself (perhaps foreshadowing his role as a “Volunteer IT Consultant” for Donald Trump’s administration). Wolowitz is a former astronaut for NASA and expresses to Musk that he is a big admirer of Musk’s SpaceX corporation as well as his other companies. Musk comments that he is at the soup kitchen because, “It feels great to come down and help the less fortunate” (via YouTube). This sentiment definitely sounds ironic considering how social media users and news outlets have called Musk self-centered for his involvement with President Trump’s administration. 

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Fans of the show on social media have noted how Elon Musk’s appearance on “The Big Bang Theory” wasn’t a great choice in hindsight. But at the time, the appearance didn’t receive much love either. After the episode aired, Jesse Schedeen of IGN critiqued the show’s use of Musk, saying, ” … there was little humor to be had in his stiff, awkward interaction with Simon Helberg.” Schedeen felt the episode was forgettable and believed the storyline that included Musk didn’t go anywhere narratively.

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Tom Eames of Digital Spy said the plot involving Musk was one of the “pretty lazy and boring” storylines of the week. He found it to be unrealistic and outlandish, and criticized Musk’s poor acting skills. Overall, Eames said of the cameo, “It just seemed a bit pointless and self-indulgent.” When revisiting the episode and Musk’s involvement years later, Joshua Bote at SFGate said, “The scene is excruciating,” and counted it as one of the billionaire’s “cringe cameos.”

But the poor reviews didn’t stop Musk from pursuing acting gigs. He made a guest appearance on “The Big Bang Theory” spin-off series, “Young Sheldon,” in 2017. He hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2021, but failed to make a good impression among the cast who didn’t hold back their feelings on Musk.

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