Yahoo Sports Cheers stars Ted Danson and George Wendt once puked with Woody Harrelson on set 'out of solidarity'
Cheers actors Ted Danson and George Wendt revealed that they once went to gross extremes to comfort their costar Woody Harrelson after an on-set meal went very, very wrong.
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the beloved sitcom's finale, Danson and Wendt sat down with John Ratzenberger and series co-creators James Burrows and Les and Glen Charles for a reunion panel at the ATX Television Festival on Friday. During their hourlong discussion, Wendt recalled how he and Danson decided to vomit with Harrelson, who is vegetarian, after he discovered that the show's catered dinner had meat in it.
"[One night] we had catered Chinese food, and Woody found out after about 20 minutes that he was eating pork," Wendt said, per IndieWire. "And he decided to go purge. So I told him, 'Out of solidarity, I will purge with you.' And Ted said, 'I'll purge, too.'"
Moviestore/Shutterstock Woody Harrelson and Ted Danson on 'Cheers'
Despite the stomach-churning situation, Wendt remembered the trio having a blast spewing up their takeout. "There were only three stalls in the Stage 25 men's room," he said, "and I'll tell you this: You don't want to laugh while puking."
Harrelson joined the cast of Cheers in its fourth season as a new bartender who was also named Woody. At the time, Danson recalled, he and the rest of the cast were eager to put the new guy in his place. "We were all, like, 37 when Woody, at age 25, joined us, and it was like, 'Okay, let's kick his ass,'" he joked. "So we took him to the basketball court, because we fancied ourselves pretty good basketball players — he killed us."
Danson also noted that when Harrelson beat them all at arm wrestling, they tried to pivot to mind games instead of physical ones. "Then we decided clearly we don't have the physical edge. We'll play chess," he said, "and he killed us!"
Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty George Wendt as Norm, Woody Harrelson as Woody, and Ted Danson as Sam on 'Cheers'
Earlier in the conversation, Glen Charles revealed that they nearly didn't cast Harrelson for the role of Woody. "We were looking for a strong American boy with a Midwest background who comes to the big city and works at the bar," he said. "We almost signed this gentleman, and our casting director came in and said, 'I know you like this guy, but I want you to see somebody.' And in walks Woody."
While he wasn't "right on the money," Glen said Harrelson was "so interesting" and had won over Danson's approval. "Ted, after [Harrelson] left, said, 'I know you think you got your guy, but there's something I really like about this guy.'"
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