History Characters / TheBigBangTheorySecondaryCharacters

* StylisticSuck: His show was pretty silly, but it seemed a lot of its charm was how annoyed he was with the writing.

** In Season 12, Stuart's illustrates Bernadette's recounting of Howard's travel to space and the story gets picked up for publication as a children's book titled "The Frightened Little Astronaut" opening up the possibility that his artistic career may finally be taking off.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: When told that they can't make the deadline, Colonel Williams is very understanding.
-->'''Colonel Williams:''' Well, you think you're the first contractor who isn't going to deliver on time? Still waiting for a big space laser Reagan ordered to beat the Commies.

* FriendlyEnemy: DependingOnTheWriter he is on decent terms with the group as a whole but often ends up as the villain of an episode. Played with when Sheldon believed he held power over the use of the University's supercomputer, thus spent time developing a Friendship Algorithm to become friends with him.

* EveryoneHasStandard: When he finds out that Sheldon was planning to propose to Amy before they broke up, he genuinely feels bad for him and refuses to make any jokes after Sheldon loses his composure.

* DumbassHasAPoint: Asks Leonard and Howard if they should be worried about the military applications of their project. They were, but had brushed aside the complaints until he reminded them.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: On the other hand, he eventually suffered this at Sheldon's wedding. Sheldon had asked him to officiate, and Will stayed up all night to memorize the ceremony. Howard then rescued Mark Hamill's dog and asked him to officiate instead when the guy said he had to return the favor. Will could only glower at his Star Wars rival especially when the latter took his notes and thanked him for preparing them.

* SitcomArchNemesis: Mark Hamill. He's visibly furious when Mark takes his place as Sheldon and Amy's wedding officiant. Funnily enough, Mark doesn't even know who he is and is oblivious to his hatred.

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Not so much "opening titles" as "list of names", but Kevin Sussman, who plays Stuart, is given this treatment over the series' run, as detailed below under RecurringCharacter.
* RecurringCharacter: One of the most frequent recurring characters in Seasons 2-5. In Season 6, he was promoted to series regular, only to be "demoted" back to a frequently recurring character, and then ended up re-promoted to series regular in Season 8. He's stayed as part of the main cast since, and more often than not in any given episode.

* AgeGapRomance: [[spoiler: In real life Sussman is fifteen years older than Lauren Lapkus who plays Denise, and in Season 5 he says that he is 37 when Sussman was 41. Presumably Denise is the same age as her actress meaning that there is a ten year age gap between Stuard and Denise]].

* {{Expy}}: From a narrative standpoint Stuart has many similarities with Gunther from ''Series/{{Friends}}'', being someone who the group interacts with often but is usually stuck simply watching the group's lives from the outside. The difference is that after Howard went into space there was an opening that allowed Stuart a chance to befriend Raj and the others which stuck even after Howard returned, and while he never becomes an official part of the group he becomes a dear friend and in many ways a member of the Wolowitz family while Gunther never truly became more than a friendly acquaintance.

->'''Played by:''' Kevin Sussman

->'''Played by:''' Brian Smith

->'''Played by:''' Laura Spencer

->'''Played by:''' Katie Leclerc

->'''Played by:''' Rati Gupta

->'''Played by:''' Sara Gilbert

->'''Played by:''' Mark Harelik

->'''Played by:''' Regina King

->'''Played by:''' Riki Lindhome

->'''Played by:''' Vernée Watson

[[folder: Stephanie Barnette]]

* {{Meganekko}}: Mostly because SmartPeopleWearGlasses. The first {{Meganekko}} to appear on the show before Amy and Bernadette are introduced.

* StaticCharacter: Despite showing a deal of potential as a foil or rival for Sheldon, and amassing a significant fanbase in her own right, the writers never really let her grow from sporadic nemesis. WordOfGod says this was because the writing team found it difficult to expand her character beyond her rivalry with Sheldon.

* {{Jerkass}}: Not always (see Took a Level in Jerkass) but he certainly qualifies at times and when he does he becomes the most despicable person in the whole show. He regularly goes out of his way to act as obnoxious as possible towards others including rubbing his success and their failures in their face. He never misses a chance to mock, insult or humiliate Sheldon. He's also very perverted and misogynist to the point he makes pre-character development Howard look like a perfect gentleman. He's even able to sometimes surpass Sheldon in this regard.

* TookALevelinJerkass: {{Zigzagged}} When he first appeared Barry, although arrogant and jerkish, didn't seem to be a particularly bad guy, just another scientist on an opposing team. Since then however he's gone back and forth from being a FriendlyEnemy, and a very unpleasant man who seems to exist just to bully Sheldon and rub his failures in his face. One episode took this to whole new level by revealing he regularly embezzled the university, by applying for grants to investigate things he knew he couldn't prove, meaning he is free to spend the money on things for himself.

* AgeGapRomance: [[spoiler: In real life Sussman is fifteen years older than Lauren Lapkus who plays Denise, and their characters are presumably around the same age]].

* {{Expy}}: From a narrative standpoint Stuart has many similarities with Gunther from ''Series/{{Friends}}'', being someone who the group interacts with often but is usually stuck simply watching the group's lives from the outside. The difference is that after Howard went into space there was an opening that allowed Stuart a chance to befriend Raj and the others which stuck even after Howard returned, and while he never becomes an official part of the group he becomes a dear friend while Gunther never truly became more than a friendly acquaintance.

* AgeGapRomance: [[spoiler: In real life Lapkus is fifteen years younger than Kevin Sussman who plays Stuart, and their characters are presumably around the same age]].

->'''Played by:''' John Ross Bowie

* TomboyishName: Along with the requisite gender confusion when Amy learns Sheldon's new assistant Alex is female. Penny laughs hysterically when Amy gets worried about the implications: "He didn't tell me Alex was a girl." "[[{{Asexual}} Maybe he didn't notice]]."

* NiceGirl: She's a nice girl, especially compared to [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Amy]] and [[{{Jerkass}} Penny]]. Leonard is appealed to her as he normally doesn't get such pleasant attitude from Penny.