Whatever Happened To Lucy From The Big Bang Theory?

When "The Big Bang Theory" premiered, its main cast was quite small: the four scientists Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Raj (Kunal Nayyar), Howard (Simon Helberg), and Sheldon (Jim Parsons), living across the hall from Penny (Kaley Cuoco). But over the years, as relationships evolved and the scientists matured, the various friends and partners who came around were promoted from supporting characters to main characters. Most recognized among these are Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) and Amy (Mayim Bialik), the respective girlfriends-then-wives of Howard and Sheldon.

Of course, not all those who found themselves as the guys' partners stuck around for so long. Among those who fell away is Lucy, played by Kate Micucci. She is shy and socially awkward and shows up in Season 6 as Raj's love interest, not long after he overcomes his selective mutism around women. Not long after joining the cast, Micucci did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter where she said she was unsure of her character's future.

In the end, Lucy dumped Raj, and save for a quick appearance again in Season 10, she was never seen again (via Express.co.uk). In all, Micucci appeared in eight episodes of "The Big Bang Theory." This, however, does not mean that it's the last we've seen of Kate Micucci. Far from it, in fact.

Well before being cast in "The Big Bang Theory," Kate Micucci had gained a respectable profile in the comedy community. She had also been a working actor for the better part of a decade, appearing in bit parts in series like "Malcolm In the Middle," "How I Met Your Mother," and the ukulele-playing Stephanie Gooch in "Scrubs" (via IMDb).

Micucci's ukulele playing also comes in handy as one half of the comedy music duo Garfunkel and Oates, where she plays alongside fellow comedic actor Riki Lindhome. Formed after the two met at an improv show at Los Angeles' Upright Citizens Brigade, their raunchily humorous songs have landed them their own sitcom on the Independent Film Channel, as well as appearances on several late-night variety and talk shows (via American Songwriter).

Garfunkel and Oates even wrote a song for "The Big Bang Theory" while Micucci was guesting on the series. The Season 6 episode "The Romance Resonance" featured a song sung by Howard to Bernadette, titled "If I Didn't Have You (Bernadette's song)," and written by Garfunkel and Oates (via The Hollywood Reporter).

As it happens, plenty of cartoons list Kate Micucci in their voice credits. In fact, there's a very good chance that if you've watched any of the best-known cartoons in recent years, you'll have heard her voice. Micucci has voiced such characters as Irma in Nickelodeon's 2014-17 version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," and Webby in the rebooted "DuckTales."

But Micucci's longest-standing voice acting gig is without a doubt that of the brains of Mystery Incorporated, Velma Dinkley. Micucci has voiced Velma in no fewer than 10 "Scooby-Doo!" series and TV movies, including all three of the "Lego Scooby-Doo!" properties. She also voiced Velma in "Cartoon Feud," the Season 5 episode the "Teen Titans Go!" in which the Titans are forced to square off against the Scooby gang in a version of "Family Feud."

"I was so excited when I got the role," she told Bleeding Cool. "Obviously, I've always been a fan of Scooby-Doo, and Velma has always been my favorite character ever since I was really little. It was a huge deal for me when I found out that I got the part. Throughout the years, her voice is somebody I always resonated with."

Plenty of actors and comedians have made cameos or played supporting roles in Kevin Smith's Jersey-based View Askewniverse over the years, from George Carlin to Tommy Chong. Kate Micucci, for her part, has shown up not once but twice. In 2019's "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot," she made a brief appearance as Mary, an employee at fictional fast-food chain Mooby's who appears to be just as down to get stoned as the movie's beloved stoner protagonists.

She appeared again, as the same character, in 2022's "Clerks III," only this time Mary seems to have angered the wrong manager, as she is first seen wearing the felt Mooby's costume. Only after Mary removes the head does it become clear who Jay and Silent Bob are dealing with. "I'm originally from New Jersey," Micucci told Hollywood Insider at the premiere of "Clerks III," "so I think... 'Clerks' and Kevin mean so much to so many New Jerseyans, so it was just a thrill for me."

Saving the most grotesque for last, Kate Micucci also appears in famed horror-fantasy auteur "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities." The series' fourth episode "The Outside," directed by Ana Lily Amirpour of "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" fame, is among the show's most effectively disturbing. It sees Micucci play Stacey, a bank teller awkwardly struggling with insecurities around her appearance. Feeling pressure to fit in with her shallow, appearance-obsessed co-workers, she begins using a strange and rather gross lotion called Alo Glo that, predictably, promises to unleash a whole new person underneath.

Despite a worsening rash that spreads across her whole body, and despite the protests of her loving husband Keith (Martin Starr), Stacey orders and uses more and more of the weird substance before she finally dunks herself in it entirely. Emerging from the tub, she ends up wiping off more than just the goopy lotion and does indeed discover a new person underneath. The episode is a deliciously macabre satire of arbitrary beauty standards and the industries that prey on them, kept buoyant by Micucci's performance of a woman transformed into something her old self would never recognize.