Sussman (“Big Bang”) tries to save the world

Another “Big Bang” spin-off is coming, but not one you’d guess.
Forget about Sheldon or Leonard or Georgie or the rest. This is about Stuart, the comic-store guy.
And it propels Kevin Sussman (shown here) into stardom, after three decades in support.
“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” — coming sometime to HBO Max — is described by one of its creators (Zak Penn) as “a show that the ‘Big Bang Theory’ characters would watch.”
Stuart, it seems, has accidentally broken a device that Sheldon and Leonard created. That stirs a multiverse disaster. He plunges into alternate worlds (including variations on “Big Bang” characters), alongside his girlfriend Denise and their sorta-friends Barry Kripke and Bert Kibbler.
That may sound odd, but it’s done by pros. Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, the “Big Bang” creators and producers, linked with Penn, who writes science-fiction movies, including “Fall Guy” and “Ready Player One.” And it stars Sussman, who knows the turf.
Sussman, 54, grew up in Staten Island, one of four brothers. He studied for a year at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and for four years under Uta Hagen, who molded such stars as Robert De Niro, Steve McQueen, Jack Lemmon and Gene Hackman.
Alas, his own look is closer to Don Knotts that to De Niro or McQueen.
“I was the go-to guy for tech commercials,” Sussman recalled in 2019. Or to brief TV guest spots. “I had a run of crazy-friend roles.”
Some of his less-distinguished movie and TV roles were simply listed as “calculator guy,” “tuba guy,” “tiny shorts guy” and “supernerd” … or, when given a name, Daffy Graffy or Scott Belcher.
Things perked up when he played Betty’s original boyfriend on “Ugly Betty.” Sussman moved to Los Angeles, did 15 episodes of the show and stayed.
In the middle of the second “Big Bang” season, he almost got the role of Kripke, the annoying quantum physicist. That went to John Ross Bowie; at the end of the season, Stuart was created.
“It was just two episodes,” Sussman said. But he and Stuart fit neatly. “We’re probably equally as cheap and as much a bundle of nerves.”
The two episodes became 84. After years of bad luck, Stuart found his comic store thriving. He hired an assistant manager, Denise (Lauren Lapkus, shown here), a comics whiz; they became lovers and roommates, despite his timidity.
We met Sussman during one of the ceremonies to mark the end of the “Big Bang” years.
Up front, Warner Brothers TV chief Peter Roth was proclaiming “Big Bang” as “the longest-running multi-camera comedy in television history.” In the back, Sussman chatted, then apologized: “I have to go; I’ve got an audi”Bition.”
In the old days, he said, that was a bleak prospect. “I couldn’t get any work.”
In the six years since “Big Bang,” he’s had some dry spells, plus good roles in two top mini-series. In “The Dropout,” he was the lab guy who helped reveal that the Theranos test results were faked. In “Lessons in Chemistry,” he was a TV producer who helped a neighbor get a TV cooking show.
And now he’s going to save the universe. Or, at least, try to.