Before there was Sheldon Cooper...

There was David Byrne. The difference being, of course, is that while the actor playing Sheldon Cooper - Jim Parsons - may have some street cred because of the character he plays; David Byrne played basically himself observing a 'typical' Texas town on the eve of its sesquicentennial in his movie True Stories.

Media complicity

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there...