If you have never seen the show “Cheers,” go watch it now; we’ll wait. The show follows the lives of a motley crew of staff and regular customers at a basement bar in Boston called Cheers. The show ran for 11 seasons and remains one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time. John Ratzenberger played Cliff Clavin, a know-it-all postal worker whose knowledge rivaled every bar stool regular in America. But Cliff would never have become Norm Peterson’s best friend if John hadn’t blown his audition. He told “Still Here Hollywood” that “Cheers” was the very first audition and it didn’t go well at all.
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@stillherehollywood The birth of Cliff Clavin on “Cheers”. #JohnRatzenberger #stillherehollywood @Steve Kmetko #cheers #cliffclavin #audition ♬ original sound – StillHereHollywood
John Ratzenberger Accidentally Invented His Own “Cheers” Character
John Ratzenberger was a writer and had been working on a sitcom with a friend who told him about the “Cheers” audition. He wasn’t really looking to act, but because he’d grown up in New England and the show took place in Boston, he went along. After failing miserably at his audition for the character who became Norm, John asked the production team if they had a resident know-it-all in the script. Once he explained what he meant, using a regular from a bar in his hometown, he’d just created Cliff Clavin.
“I made them laugh enough that I could leave with a little dignity,” he said.
He added that he sold the production team on the character having a lot of keys because people with keys have “authority.” John Ratzenberger shared his hilarious “Cheers” origin story and delivered it just like Cliff Clavin would have.
“Years ago, after I had shared some trivial facts about something with a guy in my church, he said to me, ‘You’re a regular born-again Cliff Clavin.’ That shut me up pretty quickly,” a fan joked.
This person loved seeing John Ratzenberger slip into his beloved character. “The most amazing thing is that when he does Cliff, he suddenly becomes 25 years younger.”
This story’s featured image is by Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Images
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