Norm Peterson

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Hillary Norman "Norm" Peterson is a character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by George Wendt. Norm's real first name was revealed to be Hillary, named after his grandfather.

Norm appeared in all 270 episodes of Cheers between 1982-1993 (the only patron to do so), and was initially the only customer featured in the main cast (to be later joined by Cliff Clavin, Frasier Crane, and Lilith Sternin).

Norm also made one guest appearance each in the two other sitcoms in the Cheers universe: the Frasier episode "Cheerful Goodbyes" and the Wings episode "The Story of Joe".

Fictional biography

Prior to the show, Norm was born in Chicago, and moved to Boston to become an accountant^[1], though in another episode he recalls being a lifelong Boston Celtics fan and going to Boston Garden as a child^[2]. Norm previously served in the Coast Guard. Norm enters the show as an accountant, though later becomes unemployed and eventually a housepainter. Norm was revealed to be an accomplished interior decorator and beer taster (capable of spotting a bad vat in a factory by drinking a single bottle). Ironically, even when unemployed, Norm is the bar's best customer. Numerous jokes are made about the enormousness of Norm's tab at Cheers (e.g., several large binders are shown as being just a portion of it and in the finale Sam has to have his total tab for the series calculated by NASA).

Norm's best friend is postman and fellow barfly Cliff Clavin, who calls him "Normy".

In the Cheers episode "It's a Wonderful Wife" Vera tells Rebecca off camera that Norm's real first name is Hillary. He explains that he was named after his grandfather who "once killed a man for laughing at him". Cliff asks if his grandfather really killed a man for laughing at his first name and Norm replies, "Not exactly. He was a surgeon and he sort of botched an operation."

Norm has a wife named Vera who is often mentioned but her face is never seen. When she is finally shown, her face is covered in a thrown pie. The only other time she is seen, viewers can see only her legs. Vera is the brunt of many of Norm's jokes, but on many occasions, Norm has professed secretly an undying love for his wife, or defended her honor. Norm and Vera separated during the second season of Cheers but reconciled in the last episode of the season, ironically contrasting the romance between Sam and Diane, who enjoyed a romance then bitterly broke up in that last episode. When Vera got a job at Melville's however, he was deeply disturbed by her proximity to him during his bar time. Vera was played by George Wendt's real-life wife, Bernadette Birkett.

When not sipping beer at Cheers, Norm satisfies his hunger at an eatery called The Hungry Heifer, whose emblem is a young cow smacking her chops. The customers there greet him just the same as the Cheers patrons do. He knows the waitresses by name, and usually orders a meal called a Feeding Frenzy, a monstrous supply of corn and beef. He denigrated the eatery when he first visited it in season 2, but when the place was being shut down, he became hysterically upset. Corrine (played by Doris Grau), who worked at Cheers occasionally as a temp waitress, was a server at The Hungry Heifer, and said the waitstaff knew Norm as "the guy who comes back".

Norm is also greeted by everyone at Gary's Olde Town Tavern (Cheers' rival bar) with his custom "Norm!" shout during the "Bar Wars VI" episode. When Sam asks why the people at Gary's know him by name, Norm replies that he goes there on Christmas when Cheers is closed.

"Norm" is actually the first word of Frederick Sternin Crane (son of Frasier and Lilith). (This occurs as Lilith expresses concern over the effect of bringing baby Frederick to the bar, which Frasier disputes. When Norm enters and greets the bar, everyone is surprised to hear a little voice call out, "Norm!")

Norm in other series

George Wendt guest starred as Norm Peterson on St. Elsewhere, Cheers’ first spinoff The Tortellis, Wings, and The Simpsons. Years after Cheers ended, Wendt played Norm in a 2002 episode of its spinoff Frasier, where he got along famously with Martin Crane. (Martin: "Wow, that's some mug callous you've got there." Norm: "Judging from your grip, I'd say you were a can man.")^[3] Norm was most recently seen in animated form, voiced by Wendt, on Family Guy in the 2009 episode "Three Kings".

Norm's entrances

	Norm Peterson's entrance Clip of the quote
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Norm's entrance into the bar is a running gag on Cheers, typically beginning with a welcome by the bar crowd followed by a joke from Norm. A typical entrance went:

Norm enters

Norm: Afternoon, everybody!

Customers: NORM!

Diane: Norman,

Coach: How's life treating you Norm?

Norm: Like he caught me in bed with his wife.

Coach: Can I draw you a beer, Norm?

Norm: No, I know what they look like. Just pour me one.

Coach: How about a beer, Norm?

Norm: Hey I'm high on life, Coach. Of course, beer is my life

Sam: What do you know Norm?

Norm: Not enough

Sam: What's going down, Norm?

Norm: My Blood Alcohol Level

Homages

The Simpsons

Norm's typical entrance is referenced in The Simpsons episode "Flaming Moe's" where Barney Gumble walks into the newly successful and popular Moe's Tavern to be greeted with the friendly cry of "Barney!". When a bartender similar to Woody Boyd asks him how he's doing, Barney burps in response.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character of Morn was inspired by and anagrammatically named after the Norm Peterson character. Morn was also a patron of Quark's, the bar/casino that served as one of the main sets on that show, though he was not nearly as prominent a character on DS9 as Norm was in Cheers, as he was never heard speaking by the home audience, despite being described as loquacious by the show's other characters.

Also, in the J.J. Abrams version of Star Trek, which premiered in May 2009, there is a character with an unusually similar resemblance to Morn. He appears on screen briefly during the bar scene, sitting between James T. Kirk and Officer Uhura as they banter back and forth at the bar.

References

1. ^ Cheers episode "Knights of the Scimitar"
2. ^ Cheers episode "Where Have All The Floorboards Gone?"
3. ^ "Cheerful Goodbyes Transcript". http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Derby/3267/921.html.