The Griffin Equivalency

Summary
Raj discovers a trans-neptunian planetoid and gets featured in People Magazine as a result. The fame soon goes to his head and he alienates all his friends.

Quotes
Raj (Drunk, to Leonard): Look at that; I got a date with Penny! I can't believe it took you a whole year.

Gablehauser: [all in Raj's office when Dr. Gablehauser walks in] Hello, boys.

Raj: Dr. Gablehauser

Gablehauser: Dr. Koothrappali

Leonard: Dr. Gablehauser

Gablehauser: Dr. Hofstadter

Sheldon: Dr. Gablehauser

Gablehauser: Dr. Cooper

Howard: Dr. Gablehauser

Gablehauser: Mr. Wolowitz

Leonard: [On Sheldon's smile] We're here to cheer up Koothrappali, not kill Batman.

[Raj has been named one of People magazine's "30 Under 30 to Watch"]

Howard: Do I get an honorable mention for designing the telescope camera mounting bracket you used?

Rajnesh: Sorry; it's not part of my heart-warming and personal narrative, in which a humble boy from New Delhi overcame poverty and prejudice and journeyed to America to reach for the stars.

Howard: Poverty? Your father's a gynecologist. He drives a Bentley.

Rajnesh: It's a lease!

Leonard: If we do get a new friend he should be a guy you can trust. A guy who has your back.

Howard: And he should have a lot of money and live in a cool place down by the beach where we could throw parties.

Sheldon: He should share our love of technology.

Howard: And he should know a lot of women.

Leonard: Let's see: money, women, technology. Okay, we're agreed. Our new friend is going to be... Iron Man.

Trivia

 * Sheldon holds that hot-air dryers are less sanitary than paper towels by a long shot ("It would be more sanitary to have a plague-infested gibbon sneeze my hands dry")
 * Raj's planetary object, 2008-NQ17, is fictitious, though its designation implies that it was the 220th minor planet discovered during the first fifteen days of July 2008; although analysis of old photographs can result in late additions, considerably fewer than 220 discoveries have been made over that period and it is highly unlikely that number will ever be assigned.
 * When contemplating replacing Raj in their group of friends, the other three guys realize their ideal friend (someone they could trust, someone ho always has their back, has money, live in a cool house by the beach for throwing parties, love technology, and know a lot of women), is Iron Man (Reference)

Chuck Lorre Productions, #221
We have once again arrived at a moment in history where the truth can be defined as "That which you can make other people believe." The methodology for creating that belief is repetition. Say something enough times, and it becomes, for millions of people, the truth. I am endowed like a stallion. That is why control of the media equals control of the populace. I am endowed like a stallion. And also why a state run television news channel is so very dangerous. I am endowed like a stallion. Now there are those who would argue this has already happened and that a certain cable news channel is actually a covert extension of our government. I am endowed like a stallion. The fact that the channel is run by a high-ranking party official, an anchor person from the channel became a White House spokesman, and another top-ranking party official became an on-air new commentator is often used to make this argument. I am endowed like a stallion. Of course, this fact would be entirely inconsequential if the oft-repeated falsehoods they attempt to imbed into the Zeitgeist were simply amusing, or, at worst, inane. I am endowed like a stallion. The heavy reptition of lies and smears for political gain are by no means inconsequential. I am endowed like a stallion. Which is why each and every one of us must use whatever resources we have at our disposal to disseminate the actual truth. I am endowed like a pony.

Critics
"The writers clearly aren’t interested in giving Raj (or Howard for that matter) a well established character that might steal focus from Sheldon and that is sad. It means we have to sit through bargain basement episodes like this one." - The TV Critic's Review