Chuck Lorre on Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger, New Memoir and Fear Being a Great Motivator for ‘The Big Bang Theory’ Spin-Off

Chuck Lorre took a spin in the spotlight Saturday to accept a founders award from Project Angel Food during the organization’s Angel Awards in Los Angeles. It was a momentous occasion for both parties as Lorre isn’t the kind of attention-seeking philanthropist who speeds toward congratulatory celebrations in his honor, and Project Angel Food has only presented the honor twice in its history, with the last going to actual founder Marianne Williamson.

It’s understandable that they decided to make a big night out of it as Lorre’s generous support helped the org break ground on the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation Kitchen & Campus with a second building on the horizon to help extend a mission of nourishing individuals facing critical and life-threatening illnesses by preparing and delivering medically tailored meals. It’s a cause that’s personal for Lorre, who, prior to his massive small-screen success, went hungry in hard times. Needless to say, there was a lot to talk about Saturday, and The Hollywood Reporter had a few minutes with Lorre on the red carpet to cover a few pressing subjects before he headed inside the gala.

Below, Lorre talks about his forthcoming memoir, Sitcom, the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger and why he tries to tunes out “corporate stuff” like that, and his latest TV success with The Big Bang Theory spin-off, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. (Read more about his epic acceptance speech here.)

I know you’re intentional about what you say yes to, from where you donate to where you show up. Why did you say yes to tonight and Project Angel Food?

This was really personal for me from the minute I met these people and they explained their mission. It’s summed up in the words “food as medicine,” which really meant a lot to me. I’ve been hungry and gone without food at times in my life, and I’ve also been really, really ill. This was personal. So getting involved with this organization was easy. I thought, “How can I participate?” They pitched some ideas about how I could get involved, and I said, “Let’s do it.” That’s how we got to this.

You’ve relived some of the moments like food insecurity and the grittier parts of your story for your memoir, Sitcom …

I thought, “Might as well. If I’m going to do this, I’ll tell the truth.” The book is the truth as I remember it.

What was the hardest part to put on paper?

The difficult stuff was writing about regrets regarding my relationship with my father. There’s a line in the book where I wrote, “I thought I was going to write this book and reveal where all the skeletons are buried.” It turns out most of them are mine. I had to take responsibility for some things and write about them.

How did you navigate writing about other people? Did you call anyone in advance to clear anything or give them a heads-up?

No. I ran the sections about my ex-wives past them. I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. But no, other than that, my career stuff is about my career. Some of it isn’t pretty. People misbehaved. That’s what happened.

How are you making sense of this moment in Hollywood both as the [Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery] merger is going through and the way the business has and is changing?

The corporate stuff doesn’t really mean anything to me. It doesn’t affect the day-to-day job I have, which is to try to make people laugh. Who owns the company that pays me to make people laugh is interesting, but it’s not necessarily critical.

I’m sure you have people coming to you who are nervous or scared and wondering how to put their best foot forward. What advice are you giving?

I don’t know what’s coming. Nobody knows what’s coming. I like what I’ve heard, which is that they don’t know, either. David Ellison said at one point that he doesn’t like the word “content”—that we’re storytellers. That resonates with me. I never thought I was making content. I thought I was trying to make people laugh. That’s what I was trying to do. So as long as that’s the focus, let’s go.

You have three shows on the air right now. I know there had been discussions about spin-offs of The Big Bang Theory but Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is the one you wanted to do. It’s bold and it’s working as it was just picked up for another season.

Yeah, it worked. It was a big swing. I was really scared to death.

Why?

It’s good to be scared to death. Scared to death means you’re taking a chance. It was a big risk to do a somewhat high-budget little movie every week using technology I had no familiarity with—none. I had no idea how this was going to work, and somehow it did.

What did you learn from taking that risk that you’re bringing to season two?

There’s no reason to play it safe at this point in my life. If something feels like it would be fun, entertaining and could conceivably cause laughter — do it. Do it. Doing something I’ve already done before? Eh.