Ted Dansonplayed bartenderSam MaloneonCheersand became a fan-favorite character. In fact, most sitcom fans still love Sam to this day. That doesn’t mean that filming the show didn’t have its off days. And according to Danson, sometimesthe cast ofCheerswould think something was hilarious, and they couldn’t stop laughing at it, but fans were anythingbutreceptive to the jokes. Danson hadFred Armisenon his podcastWhere Everybody Knows Your Nameand spoke to him about how audiences sometimes don’t find a joke funny that the cast did.
“This must have happened to you all atSaturday Night Live,” Danson said to Armisen, who was onSaturday Night Livefor eleven seasons. “All week long onCheerswe would rehearse, and there was something that we could barely get through. We would be rolling on the ground. It was so funny,” he said. “[Then the] audience comes.Here comes the moment, and you could hear a pin drop. And it’s like, instead of being horrified, it’s the funniest thing because your body is all of a sudden plummeting to earth.”
Danson didn’t take it too seriously though. He shared with Armisen that one time they did a scene, and when it was silent, they realized that the mics were not on. “One time a joke died, and [directorJames Burrows] turned and looked at the audience and said, ‘Can you hear it? Are the mics on?’ And they went, ‘No.’ And we turned it on, the joke killed.” But when the same thing happened a week later? “I decided to go, ‘Wait a minute.Can you hear us?’ [They responded.] ‘Yeah. We can.'” And Danson joked about it, saying “When [Burrows] called it, it was [because the microphones were off]. WhenIcalled it, it was, ‘Oh, no. We hear you loud and clear.'”
‘Cheers’ Did Age Well, Though
Not every sitcom from the ’80s and ’90s still works. Some are a relic of the time they were created in, butCheersis one of those sitcoms that stands the test of time.New audiences are constantly on the journey with Sam Malone and his love interests. We love yelling “NORM,” and some even go on to watchFrasierafterward. It is almost a rite of passage to at least try to watchCheersifyou’re a television fan. So,while the studio audience might not have been on board at times,the staying power ofCheersshows that we still find it funny.
You can see Danson as Sam Malone onCheers.
The regulars of the Boston bar “Cheers” share their experiences and lives with each other while drinking or working at the bar where everybody knows your name.
Source:Where Everybody Knows Your Name
