Fans of the beloved sitcom, Cheers, have a special place in their hearts for one of the
bar’s hilarious resident barflies: Norm Peterson. Played brilliantly by George Wendt, Norm quickly
went from a glorified extra to a fan favorite. He appeared in every episode of the show,
which was a hit for NBC from 1983 to 1993. Not only that but he was awarded six Emmy nods for his
work over the years. But, as tends to happen with larger-that-life characters, people often assume
that George Wendt and Norm Peterson are exactly alike. And while every actor brings elements of
themselves into their characters, the two are quite different in many ways. In this video,
we’re going to take a look at George Wendt’s life and career, and the ways in which he’s different
from his classic character, Norm. Join Facts Verse, as we present: George Wendt Says He's
Nothing Like Norm from Cheers The Beer
Perhaps the most notorious aspect of Norm Peterson’s presence on Cheers was his indulgence,
and yes, over-indulgence of beer. We aren’t sure if anyone ever counted a tally of how many beers
we saw Norm drink, but it was certainly in the hundreds. And that’s just the ones he drank during
the show’s 22-minute run time! (And to answer your question, we ARE aware he’s a fictional
character. We don’t think he was actually drinking beers when the cameras weren’t on. Just had to get
that out of the way.) But regardless, George Wendt liked to point out that while he does enjoy beer,
he doesn’t enjoy it nearly to the level that Norm did. Perhaps most relevant is the fact that
George wasn’t ever drinking any real beer during all those tapings. That’s quite standard since
people aren’t supposed to be drinking on the job, even if they are famous actors. Otherwise, they
would have a harder and harder time nailing their lines! The stuff Wendt was drinking was actually
pretty horrid tasting, he claims. The producers were insistent that the beer Norm drank looked
like it came right out of the bar’s taps. So cans or bottles were not an option. He says they ended
up pouring cans of fake beer and running them through dispensers that usually dispensed sodas.
But this happened well before shoot time. So when Norm was finally handed a beer ‘from the tap’ it
had been slowly getting flat throughout the day. Then the props department would pour salt into it,
to make sure it had a frothy head on top. So Wendt was drinking flat, fake beer that was
loaded with salt. Wendt jokingly said that while he did a lot of acting on the show,
his BEST performance was pretending that the ‘beer’ he was drinking tasted good.
George’s Book on Beer But that’s not to say that Wendt isn’t a pretty
huge fan of the frothy good stuff. He enjoys beer so much that he literally wrote a book about it.
It’s called Drinking With George: A Barstool Professional’s Guide to Beer. It was released in
2010, and it’s all about his relationship with it over the years. Wendt tells tales that, frankly,
could be right out of a sitcom. He regales readers with myriad stories centered around beer,
ranging from the time he had his first one as a child (only a sip, from his grandpa’s cup) to
the time he and Woody Harrelson did a drunken performance with the U.S. Women’s Synchronized
Swimming Team. He also dives into some perennial questions that beer drinkers might have,
such as the differences between the various types, and how to quickly make warm beer colder.
Other differences When asked about the differences
between himself and Norm, Wendt is always quick to point out that, unlike Norm, he’s a big fan of
his wife. It was a running gag on Cheers that Norm wasn’t a huge fan of his wife, Vera, who we never
actually see or hear from in the show. But Wendt has been happily married and enjoys spending time
with his real-life wife, Bernadette. He also likes to point out that when he drinks beers,
he gets drunk. Kind of like every other normal person. He says this because, as you may have
noticed, Norm never seems to be intoxicated in the least on the show. He drinks beer after beer
but keeps the same sober personality going throughout. Wendt says that this is because
the network didn’t want Norm to ever appear drunk. They felt like this would turn him from a fun and
popular character to one that audiences felt sad for. And that wouldn’t serve the show very well.
The infamous spitball wars There’s a decent amount of
downtime when you film a sitcom, even ones filmed all in one sitting in front of a studio audience.
So actors often come up with ways to keep each other entertained in between takes. And sometimes,
those antics can tend towards the infantile. Such was the case on Cheers. In addition to
some standard bar games like darts, pool, and that paper football game
where you flick a folded-up triangle and try to get it through the other person’s hands,
the gang liked to play… spitball. There were a lot of paper napkins on set since it was a recreation
of a bar. Same with plastic straws. And when you put those together, it can make for a mean game of
firing spitballs at each other. In an interview with Thrillist, Cheers star Ted Danson talked
about the spitball games the cast played, and in particular, he mentioned that George Wendt would
often get hit with them and not realize it. Danson said that there were episodes of Cheers in which
you can clearly see spitballs stuck on Wendt’s head, above his hairline. Hopefully,
at some point, there will be outtakes released that show some of these infamous spitball wars.
George gave the writers ‘more homework’ James Burrows, one of the
co-creators of Cheers, was recently a guest on the Smartness podcast. On it,
he spoke about the effect that Wendt had on the show – the writing staff in particular. First,
he spoke about Norm’s initial entrance on the show’s pilot. In it, Norm walks in, and Sam Malone
asks him ‘‘What do you know?” Norm, deadpan, replies ‘Not enough.’ According to Burrows, the
line wasn’t even written as a joke. But Wendt’s delivery was so impeccable, it got a huge laugh.
As such, the legend of Norm’s entrances was born. Burrows revealed that the pressure to continually
come up with “Normisms” that he’d say when he entered the bar was a huge challenge for the
talented writing staff over the years. And yet, Wendt had made Norm such a big part of the show,
they couldn’t abandon these moments of levity. The Normisms were made all that much more
difficult to write by the fact that Norm’s usual stool at the bar was at the far end,
away from the entrance. Burrows revealed that initially, they were going to have Norm sitting
closer to the door in the pilot episode. But they realized that, based on the storyline that Diane
was going to be hovering near the door as she awaited the arrival of her fiancé, they had to
move Norm to the other side. As such, that became Norm’s ‘usual’ seat. So because he had that much
longer of a walk when he entered the bar, it put even more pressure on the writers to come up with
great dialogue for him to say as he slowly made his way across most of the set to get to his seat.
David Isaacs, a former Cheers writer, talked to Entertainment Weekly about the process of
writing Norm’s entrances. He talked about how it was so difficult because they were coming up
with jokes that were not in any context, other than Norm finding a funny way to relate that
his life is “just nothing.” He said his favorite of the Normisms was one written by Ken Levine.
After he’s asked “What are you up to?” and Norm’s response is “My ideal weight if I was
11 feet tall.” Isaacs said he felt they’d never top that one, despite trying over and over to.
George was perfect for the role On the same podcast episode, Burrows talked
about how George Wendt was the ideal casting for the character. He noted that Wendt naturally has
the look of someone who might have already had a few beers, which is perfect for Norm. He also
has a very dry wit as a person, which he was able to utilize in Norm’s character. Burrows pointed
out that it was a perfect meeting of a great part, played by a great actor. He even mentioned
that a great part, played by only a GOOD actor will likely not pop on screen. But a great part
played by a GREAT actor will be legendary, which is what he claims happened with Norm and George.
George Wendt will always be remembered best as Norm from Cheers. This is generally what
happens when you play such an iconic and memorable character for so many
years. And it’s especially true if you play it to perfection, as Wendt did with Norm. But
it’s always nice to learn where an actor ends and the character
begins. So hopefully you have a better sense of the major differences between George and Norm,
as well as where they overlap! Now it’s time to hear from you.
Who was your favorite character from Cheers? What
about your favorite episode? Let us know in the comments section below!