DRINKING WITH CHEERS' NORM

Actor George Wendt, who made his character of boozy Norm Peterson on Cheers a bar-room bravado, has revealed he was virtually typecast.
In a new book, Drinking With George, he tells how he enjoyed his first sips of his grandfather's beer as teenager and grew up to love the bottle.
He recalls missing orientation day at Notre Dame University because he was sleeping off a hangover, and spending the week he should have been doing his finals on a bender 1,000 miles away.
Wendt, 60, was only supposed to be in one episode of Cheers, ordering a beer. But the way he did it caught the producers' attention and he ended up being one of only three actors, the others being Ted Danson and Rhea Perlman, who appeared in every episode of the show.
He took his barfly character to make guest appearances on six other shows, including St Elsewhere, The Simpsons and Frasier and despite his prolific career since the show ended in 1993 he is still instantly recognised when he walks into a bar, and has locals clamouring to buy him drinks.
“I used to be sheepish about people offering to buy me a beer and I would politely decline,” he told the New York Post during a four-bar pub crawl. “But their faces would just sink and I realised they really wanted to buy Norm a beer.
“So now I accept the offer. My high school and college friends think I'm an absolute genius. I'm the only one of us who has figured out how to make a living by drinking beer!”
He is not bothered that people call him Norm, not George, and said: “I can't expected to go to a bar and not be recognised.
“If I was going to feel weird about being called Norm, when I shouldn't be out. Instead of hiding or acting like I don't want to be bothered, it's best to embrace the attention.”
Wendt's drink of choice is stout, the stronger and darker the better, and his night on the town included an Italian stout laced with hot peppers as well as Guinness.
His one deviation during his 14-drink session was a shot of Irish whiskey at Rocky Sullivan's, where he listened to owner Chris Byrne play the Uilleann pipes with his “punk-funk Irish hip-hop band,” Seanchai and the Unity Squad.
He admits his debauchery has taken its toll on his figure, but does not care.
“Obviously if you take a look at me, I'm not into self-denial,” he went on. “My theory on pleasures of the flesh – not so much sex but food, drink and the senses in general – is why would I say, 'No thank you?'
“Because what if it's good? I would have missed out on something good.”