and BAM! Howard Wolowitz

[Louise]

Poor Howard is seriously scared of that spider! What a facial expression!

As for me, I probably hate centipedes or earwigs, more...

I'd prob. rather hold a big snake than a spider, although neither would be my idea of a good time...

[ricardo shillyshally]

Is this Howard's real hairstyle, or does it just go curly when he has sex!

[Louise]

Is this Howard's real hairstyle, or does it just go curly when he has sex!

If the Whore of Omaha is so amazing that she made his hair curl, then she must be very, very amazing indeed XD

Srsly, though, I think they flat-iron SH's hair every time. My own hair is extremely curly, but I've never bothered with trying to flat-iron it. Ain't nobody got time for that.

[ricardo shillyshally]

Yes I suppose if they'd given him curls, he'd have looked stereotyped. I think sometimes we have problems separating a religion, from a culture.'Despite playing a Rabbi, Helberg says he’s not a religious person, and doesn’t really see Wolowitz that way either.
“I was raised Jewish and had a bar mitzvah, and I'm definitely more reformed and confused maybe. It's something that I would try not to even associate the character on the show being the Jewish guy because I think they've added so many wonderful layers to him.' By putting together bits of info from many sources, I think we can recreate how they constructed these characters. Those two lines by Prady, based on a real person.' And Howard's look seems to be an exaggerated version of Simon's.> When it comes to Wolowitz’s eccentric wardrobe, some of his fashion choices are inspired by Helberg’s own personal style.
“It's funny because I used to sort of like have shaggy, Beatlesy hair. And that was cool, I thought. And then I went into the audition, and they were like, ‘Oh, my God, and your hair, it was perfect. It was so nerdy. Like, keep it like that.’ That's happened quite a bit to me where I'll be playing a nerd, and they're like, ‘What about those pants you wore to the audition?’ When I would leave the studio and just look the same, I started to feel like… I didn't look quite as drastic. They flat-iron it, and it looks more like Moe Howard as opposed to John Lennon, hopefully. So I've embraced it. I enjoy looking kind of as bad as I possibly can,” says Helberg.' http://www.ctv.ca/TheBigBangTheory/artic...ang-Theory

[Nutz]

Oh Howard, you scamp.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Oh Howard, you scamp.

That's bloody hilarious.

This reminds me of the classic, much ripped-off, 'Red Dwarf'.

They slip a virility drug into the guards' juice.

Rimmer- "Within seconds you're harder than a quadratic equation."

[Louise]

"and now, for something completely different..."


Yes, this gif is from an H/B scene (boo, hiss) but gifs have no context and that is why we love them.

I know everyone's seen this scene/gif before, but...

Do not even TRY to tell me he's not a good lover, with hip-action like that. DON'T EVEN. Do not even.

Seriously. Do not even go there, with me. He is *SO* a good lover. I know it.

~hip action~


Not a good lover? Do not EVEN GO THERE. Yes, this gif is very amusing and ridiculous, but...how is he NOT an awesome lover?

Don't even try that, with me. XD

[Louise]

Hair much too short. This makes him look wimpy and unhealthily thin and it's just not a good look at all. Raj looks terrible in this picture, also.




Hair too fluffy and puffy. Overuse of blowdryer.




Hilarious pic, but hair is much too wide. This is a terrible look.




PERFECT WOLOWITZ HAIR. Gaze upon it:



Coincidence? I think not. Howard is like Samson; you cut his hair and you take away his power. Both Jewish heroes, both led astray by a woman.

Samson had two vulnerabilities: his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair, without which he was powerless. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him.

Yup!

[Louise]

Now they are even trying to make Howard *look* the part of the lazy sitcom husband, and SH is so ludicrously unsuited to that type of image that it almost doesn't upset me because it's so flat-out absurd.

Howard/SH is skinny and young-looking. He has *never* been a fat-slob Oscar Madison type of character. Howard does not lay around in a wrinkled undershirt, drinking cheap beer. He is not Homer Simpson. His body-type and his whole physical presence are the antithesis of that type of role. He's ultra-skinny and full of nervous energy. He's laughably ill-suited to this "lazy blue-collar husband lays on the couch with his beer gut" thing.

Please note; I'm not saying that all fat people are lazy, or that all lazy people are fat. I'm referring to a very specific sitcom stereotype which has existed for a long, long time.

I don't think Vintage Howard even *had* any undershirts; he wore a dickie or a full turtleneck under a tee or a sweater or a button-down shirt, because he wanted that tight-fitting, streamlined look, not lots of bulky layers like Leonard or Raj.

Also, in my limited experience, younger guys do not wear tank tops; that's kind of a Grandpa thing; they wear full t-shirts, unless they're exercising or doing physical labor.

A tank-top like that has lower-class connotations. Howard comes from a lower-middle-class background, as represented by his mother, but it's clear that he aspires to something more elegant than that. (a look which *he* considers more elegant, at any rate.)

There's a lot of stuff relating to class and ethnicity that I could discuss here, but it would take too long. That look has also been stereotypically associated with immigrants and non-Waspy groups. If you're being racist, you might call that a Guinea shirt. I don't think Howard is ashamed of his background or wants to be more Waspy, but there's a part of him that would like to get away from the old-world, old-school way of doing things, as represented by his mother. That's part of his character's inner tension and inner conflict, and it's something he has in common with Raj.

In S1 and S2, the only time we ever saw Howard laying around in shabby clothes, it was meant to indicate that he was feeling depressed and discouraged. (Killer Robot). It was meant as a very clear indicator that something had gone wrong, because that behavior was not typical of Howard, and the audience would immediately recognize this and understand what it meant.

Vintage Howard likes luxury, to a comically exaggerrated degree. He likes silky jammies and slippery sheets. He sits in the bubble bath with champagne and mood-lighting. He's aiming for that whole early-1960s Hugh Hefner suave seducer thing. He's trying to be sophisticated.

Vintage Howard obviously cares a lot about his appearance and his self-presentation. He's obviously meticulous about his clothes and hair. It takes time and effort to straighten curly hair every day, which is why I don't bother with it, personally. He's got all those amazing color-coordinated outfits and belt-buckles and shoes. He has a very specific idea of what looking good means, and maybe it doesn't match up with other people's idea of what looks good, but that look is a major, major, major part of his character and it tells us a lot about his personality and self-image. His personal style is neat and tidy and precise, and also very body-conscious.

Before he married what's-her-face and became something other than himself, IMO if Howard was going to lay around the house, he would wear something silky and slinky, or just be nude. (Penny's bathrobe being another option, lol, so he's clearly not too hung-up on gender issues.)

I'm not even upset right now, I'm almost laughing. "Let's have the ultra-skinny, wiry, fidgety, energetic little guy play the fat, beer-sucking couch potato!" 'Cause Simon Helberg totally looks like Kevin James or Jackie Gleason, right? Right? And next we're going to have Rick Moranis play Thor and John Goodman play Peter Parker!

This is now a generic sitcom, and like I said before, the Five have now been shoe-horned into these traditional stock-character roles which have NOTHING to do with their original personalities and the way they were originally conceived-of. In this case, it's so far off the mark that it looks like some kind of absurdist casting-against-type.

TBH, this type of thing makes it easier for me to just dismiss the current seasons instead of being upset, because they're *so* nonsensical.

The makers of this show have woven such a tangled web that they literally don't know what they're doing, anymore. They've tied themselves up in knots. It's like an SNL parody. Bitches be crazy.

On the other hand, being around Bernadette would make *anyone* become depressed and let themselves go.

TL;DR: Howard isn't like that, Howard wouldn't wear that.




Lazy Hubby Howard:



Homer:



Onslow from "Keeping up Appearances":



Spiffy-looking Vintage Howard:

[Louise]

Adorable gif: