Obituary
Sad to hear of the passing of George Wendt. We loved Cheers – the characters were brilliantly written, and so many running gags. Enjoy this compilation…here are some, and I laughed out loud over my breakfast this morning at the clips…
Five of the best Norm one-liners:
Snow Job (season two, episode 18)
Coach: “What’s shakin’, Norm?”
Norm: “All four cheeks and a couple of chins.”
The Belles of St Cletes (season three, episode 24)
Sam: “Norm! What brings you in at this time of day?”
Norm: “Same thing that always does.”
Sam: “A bit early for a beer, isn’t it?
Norm: “So, float a cornflake in it.”
The Peterson Principle (season four, episode 18)
Sam: “What’s happening, Norm?”
Norm: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world, Sammy, and I’m wearing Milk-Bone underwear.”
Norm’s First Hurrah (season five, episode 23)
Woody: “Hey Mr Peterson, what do you say to a cold one?”
Norm: “‘See you later Vera, I’ll be at Cheers.’”
Bar Wars III: The Return of Tecumseh (season eight, episode 21)
Sam: “What are you up to, Norm?”
Norm: “My ideal weight if I were 11 feet tall.
He did that routine 275 times, in every episode of Cheers. That was a great TV show, particularly the run with Shelley Long. I remember catching by sheer chance the very first episode way back in 1983 and thinking how good it was. Thanks for the YouTube compilation.
One of only a handful of the old-school type/terrestial channel US sitcioms I have ever been able to stomach – Third Rock from the Sun was another one
“Beer, Norm?”
“Yes, but stop me at 2 …….or 2.30”
One of the greatest sitcom characters ever brilliantly portrayed by Wendt. RIP.
Sad news.
I will never tire of reporting that when Cheers first aired Norm and Carla were just 34 years old, while Cliff was a mere stripling of 35.
People seemed to age so much quicker back then, for good and ill.
Smoking, drinking, poor diet. Haircuts and clothes also age people. Pretty sure at the time I assumed they were in their 40s though.
Kelsey Grammer was still in his 20s when he made his first appearances as Frasier Crane.
Well, yeah, he was younger as was Woody obviously and other characters.
Nicolas Colosnato who played Coach was 61 when he passed away
I was going to post an obit with exactly the same title. Cheers was the best sitcom ever and Norm was my favourite character. George Wendt lived and breathed the part. Sad to hear of his passing. Thanks for all the laughs Norm, rest in peace.
Norm and Cliffy, what a twosome.
Oops, already posted. But it’s a good one!
I saw him in a play in 1999 and he was astonishingly good in that too. RIP.
“What’s going down, Normie?”
“My butt cheeks on that bar stool.”
Marvellous.
My fave was the time the Cheers gang went looking for someone in another bar. The occupants shouted Norm! His companions look at him, intrigued. Norm says “What? I have another life you know”
Also “women, can’t live with ’em, pass the beer nuts Cliffy”
Ah, nuts. Cheers is the only landmark in the USA that I really, really, really wanted a selfie at.
I visited the bar in Boston that was used for the outside shots. Inside, down the stairs, it was much pokier than the screen set they used in L.A., but there was some resemblance.
One thing I found strange is it is located close to the city centre in a nice area and certainly could be a neighborhood bar. However in the show there are many references to regulars driving to it. Parking would take a while, and probably completely unnecessary to drive there either walk or take public transport, but I guess Americans need their cars.
Big music fan. Appeared on the Kazuko’s Karaoke Show on Channel 4 in the late 80s. The guests were invited to sing some karaoke (it was completely new to the UK at the time). Most guests sang something obvious, but he sang Dark and Light in New Mexico by House Of Freaks.
Yes, I’ve had pictures of him with Hüsker Dü, and wearing a Billy Bragg ‘Don’t Try This At Home’ t-shirt, in my FB timeline today.
About 20 years ago I started a new job in a little office over the road from the Globe Ale House in Cambridge. The boss came over from Germany to visit. I took him for a British pie and a pint lunch in the Globe.
I paused outside the door and told him “I do gigs in here once or twice a month, so don’t be alarmed if the bar staff recognise me.”
Seemingly everybody I knew had decided to go to the Globe for lunch that day. I walked in and a Norm-style cheer of “STEVE!” went round the bar.
I spent the rest of my lunch trying to convince my new boss that I was not a pub regular.
If its any consolation, the pub in the nearby town which is my ‘local’ – I’ve been going there for well over 30 years, through at least 6 landlords – seems to remember me. The last time I went in, a few months ago, the woman serving (who says ‘hi’) if I see her around town, said ‘pint of Butcombe?’ when I stood at the bar. Umm, yes please.
Always an unfortunate name for a beer, I have thought.
Yes! They should have renamed it Wrington, when they moved a few years ago.
I’ve been drinking it since it was owned by the guy who was ex-Courage, and used a load of secondhand gear. One of my faves, along with Otter and Hook Norton.
Brings to mind a situation when I was a young idiot. We were about 19 in a pub and we see a great-laff older bloke we know at a table talking to a couple of people and we say things like “ello, you old WANKER!” and stuff like that. He’s friendly but a little subdued in his response – which was very unlike him.
Presently, he appears at our table and says that he is trying to secure a major contract and his business depends on it – so could we just tone it down? Oops.
From the ‘Fesshole’ social media account; one of Rob Manuel’s, who runs B3TA.
A fun little bit I saw in one of today’s tributes: George said that he always liked a drink, even before becoming Norm. After finding fame, if anybody saw him putting a case of beer on top of his shopping, he’d say, “Don’t worry, I’m taking them home to rehearse.”
I was re-watching Fletch the other day, and I’d forgotten that GW was in it. As soon as he popped up next to Chevy Chase, I automatically thought “Norm!”
Are there many other TV characters who will be forever associated with a single word said at them, rather than by them?
RIP big man.
In one episode Norm had become depressed and decided to lock himself in a cubicle in the rest room. Despite attempts from the bar staff to try to get him to come out he refused. Upon hearing this Cliff told everyone that he could get him out. Cliff walked into the rest room and knocked on the cubicle door and said “listen hear Norm, this is your best friend” to which Norm replied “leave me alone Geoff”.
On discussing matters of love, Norm is asked “What if you woke up one day and there was no more Vera in your life?” (Vera being Norm’s wife, who we never see).
Norm breaks down, unable to speak – he is clearly very emotionally traumatised by the very thought.
Woody (I think) comforts him and says that he was sorry about upsetting him. He adds that he never knew Vera meant so much to him and apologises.
Norm perks up instantly. “Vera? Oh! I thought you said beer !”
Vera was played by Georges real wife. She’s seen once but she’s had a pie thrown at her face she’s also heard several times.