Bazinga became famous as the catchphrase of Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons, on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, which ran from 2007 to 2019. Sheldon used the word after jokes and pranks to announce that he had fooled someone, and repeated use across many seasons turned it into one of the show's most quoted lines. Clips and instant buttons later spread the single word online, where it survives as a short reaction sound for teasing, triumph and nerdy humour long after the series ended.