I know this must already be a thread, but I can’t find it. If it is, maybe someone can link.
Anyway, my guess is this list:
Leonard
Beverly Hofstader
Penny
Stuart
Stephen Hawking
Amy
Raj
Wil Wheaton
That leaves me one short. Did this episode (which recently reran) air before or after Sheldon met Prof. Proton?
I hesitate to include Bernadette, because Sheldon has specifically excluded Howard, so it seems odd that he would include Bernadette
Everyone else on the list he has specifically called a friend at some point, other than Beverly Hofstader and Stuart, although at a later date he will call Stuart a friend, and his weird intimacy with Beverly Hofstader, that Leonard knows nothing about seems to be his closest relationship on the show second to Amy.
Anyway, if I can include Prof. Proton, that’s nine.
Kripke? Sheldon went out of his way to “befriend” Barry when he wanted more access to some kind of computer at work. I don’t know if he demoted Barry to non-friend when he was unsuccessful.
No, Barry got unfriended when Sheldon realized that being friends with Barry wouldn’t get him time on some piece of equipment Barry maintained. At that point, Sheldon thought he could only handle the people he already had, and so he demoted Raj, but then he took Raj back.
When he moved to another city, he called Leonard and Raj friends, and Howard a “treasured acquaintance.”
I suppose Bernadette could be a friend even if Howard is teetering on the friend/“treasured acquaintance” bar. Sheldon does say he’d have 10 friends if he counts Howard.
Aha! watching a rerun I DVR’d last night, and Sheldon said that Stuart moved up a slot on his friendship list after his penpal in Somalia was kidnapped by pirates.
So the ninth person is (or was) his penpal in Somalia! And I have confirmation that he considers Stuart a friend.
Here is where he mentions the “nine friends” concept, and he adds and removes a few along the way, but he never gives a complete roster, at least not in this clip:
Anyway, at the time the “I have nine friends” episode aired, these are the people who should have been on the list, according to declarations, later revelations, and prunings made prior to the episode:
Leonard
Beverly Hofstader
Penny
Stuart
Stephen Hawking
Amy
Raj
Wil Wheaton
Somalian penpal
10, if you count Wolowitz. I’ll bet Bernadette makes the list later.
Didn’t he befriend Levar Burton?( Wil Wheaton assureed him it wouldn’t take up much time). Or perhaps he’s already been unfriended. I only seem to see the reruns now so I’m not quite up to speed.
Hmm. Forgot about this. Whatever the description on IMDb was, must not have jogged my memory that JEJ was in it. Maybe he’s also a “treasured acquaintance.” Sheldon has a very specific definition of what a friend is. Actually, he’s not odd as much as anachronistic in that respect. People (adults, anyway) used to be much more reserved with the word, and used the word acquaintance more often. But this is back when even friends used honorifics, especially in the company of other people, another anachronism both Sheldon and Amy adhere to, still calling one another “Dr. Cooper” and “Dr. Fowler” when other people (not the core cast) are around.
Sometimes I wish people were more mannered now, and we could do things like refusing to ask someone who wasn’t welcome to sit down, so they’d have to stand up the whole time they were there, or calling someone you were mad at “Mr. Smith,” instead of “John,” to signal your displeasure.
No, that was actually brent Spiner at Wil’s party. Wil had given Sheldon a Wesley Crusher action figure in the box, and Spiner came along and casually destroyed it.
Sheldon swore that Spiner was now his mortal enemy and Wil said, ‘Don’t worry. It doesn’t take up a lot of your time.’
When everyone was having dinner at Rajs place Sheldon was mad because Amy pointed out that Leonard was the social glue and where he went everyone else did too. Sheldon decided to get his own friends and have dinner at his apartment. So he invited Kripke, Stuart, and Pennys boyfriend over. He had also invited Levar but by the time Levar showed up Sheldon had gone over to Rjs’ and it was the boyfriend, Kripke and Stuart singing karaoke and stuart was naked from the waist up and just had a towel on.
Levar pops his head in and sees that scene and says something to himself, about no more invites from twitter, and he turned around and left being wierded out by the scene of the guys singing karaoke.
LeVar Burton was asked to attend a party Sheldon threw as a counter to going to Raj’s place (during the Priya Interregnum). Burton opened the door to the apartment, saw Stuart (in a towel), Barry and Zack all singing karaoke, said “Oh, Hell no” and left.
LeVar Burton also appeared in a couple of episodes of “Fun With Flags.” The first one, he did in exchange for a free lunch. The second one, he did in exchange for Sheldon deleting his contact information.
So I assume they’re not friends anymore.
Edited to add: During that second appearance, LeVar also offered his critique of Sheldon’s “tribute” to George Washington Carver: “Oh, hell, no!”
At which point Sheldon, having another sarcasm fail, assumed that Burton was saying “Hell no, your portrayal of George Washington Carver isn’t racist.”
