Kelsey Grammer has opened up about making his debut as Frasier Crane in Cheers 40 years ago, confessing that he didn’t get a single laugh in his audition.
The 69-year-old has officially played the iconic psychiatrist for four decades, having originally made his debut in the sitcom in 1984, before landing his very own spin-off, which ran for 11 years.
Ahead of the second season of the reboot, which premieres on Paramount+ on Wednesday, he reflected on his efforts as the stuffy radio host in a candid Q&A session at the Quad cinema in Manhattan, and joked that he wasn’t totally sold on it at first.
Speaking to the crowd following a Gotham screening of the first two episodes, he explained that he initially auditioned for a role in Brothers that he didn’t get, when casting director Gretchen Rennell reached out with a mysterious offer a few days later.
‘She said, “There’s a new character coming on to Cheers.” I thought, what the hell is Cheers? She said, “It’s a television show that’s very popular right now. Sam and Diane are the characters,”‘ he said.
‘Maybe I saw this show? I think I might have seen the pilot when I was tending bar at O’Neill’s on 57th and 6th Avenue. I remember thinking, “What a terrible show. I would never want to be on something like that,”‘ he laughed.
‘She explained a little more about it, there was a requirement to keep it secret, like it was some kind of industrial espionage thing. And I thought, this is very cool and clandestine, so I’ll keep my mouth shut. She called me in, I went on tape, I got a call.’
The tape went well and Kelsey was flown out from New York to LA to meet with Ted Danson and Shelley Long – aka the legendary ‘Sam and Diane’ – as well as director James Burrows.
They walked into another room to begin a table read, joining a conference table with ‘maybe 16 people sitting around it’ that may have had the ‘veto power’ to pick or reject the Simpsons favorite.
Recalling that audition, he continued: ‘We read through the scenes, there were three scenes, and I didn’t get a single laugh…
‘I put the sides down the table, turned everybody and said, “I’m really glad I came. I’m going to go out on the street, see if I get some laughs out there.” And I left.’
Kelsey didn’t want to waste his trip and instead jetted to San Diego for a few days with a friend, before returning to LA to a huge surprise.
‘Sitting on the table was a bottle of Don Perignon, and it said, “Welcome to Cheers”. Which was a great moment in my life,’ he added, getting teary. ‘Of course, then I said: “Well, I’m going to have to fix the show, because it’s no good.”
And the rest is history.
Frasier Crane grew in popularity throughout Kelsey’s stint on Cheers, and his spin-off – which first aired in 1993, went on to become one of the most acclaimed comedies in TV history, landing 37 Emmys during an 11-year run.
He went on to reprise his role last year in the revival, alongside Nicholas Lyndhurst, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Toks Olagundoye, Anders Keith and Jess Salgueiro.
Bebe Neuwirth and Peri Gilpin made surprise appearances in the first series as Lilith Sternin and Roz Doyle respectively, while Harriet Sansom Harris, Edward Hibbert and Dan Butler are set to return to the Frasier universe for the second season.
Frasier premieres on Paramount + on September 19.
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