Cheers: George Wendt's 10 Best Moments As Norm We'll Always Remember

George Wendt had some truly hilarious and moving moments while playing Norm Peterson on Cheers, but these 10 scenes were his absolute best. George Wendt tragically died on May 20, 2025 at the age of 76, but his memory will long outlive him. He’s best known for playing Norm Peterson, the lovable barfly who was responsible for many of the best episodes of Cheers and a lot of its humor. Wendt was often tasked with delivering the “cold opens” of Cheers – the first scene of each episode that is meant to deliver a joke without any buildup – and he delivered flawlessly every time.

Wendt was so perfect as Norm that it’s hard to narrow down to just ten moments that were his best. Norm dominated almost every scene he was in, and Wendt was so effortlessly funny and endearing. There are lists that chronicle the best Norm quotes in Cheers, his funniest cold opens and one-liners, and even the times when the whole bar would announce his arrival with a warm and welcoming “Norm!” There are so many parts of Wendt’s performance and Norm’s character that are so easy to love, but these 10 moments show all the lovable sides of Cheers‘ favorite barfly.

10

Norm Goes To The Opera

Cheers Season 4, Episode 22 “Diane Chambers Day”

Norm obviously had some great writing with his jokes, but one scene in Cheers season 4 shows that George Wendt was just as crucial to making Norm a beloved character as all the writers were. Diane was always trying to add culture to the bar, and they finally agreed to go to an opera with her. As the lights were dimming and everyone went quiet, Norm casually pops open a beer, and Wendt does some brilliant physical acting as Norm slowly realizes he’s made a faux pas. Norm did have great writing, but this scene proves Wendt put it all into motion flawlessly.

9

Norm Orders A Breakfast Beer & Decides How To Spend His Day Off

Cheers Season 3, Episode 24 “The Belles of St. Clete’s”

Almost all of Norm’s entrances into the bar were hilarious, and picking the “best” among them is a matter of personal preference. My favorite Cheers cold open featuring Norm saw him enter the bar just as Sam was opening up. Sam mentions that it’s a bit early for a beer, but Norm has a perfect solution: “float a corn flake in it.” Norm then tells Sam that his boss went home early, and ultimately decides to stay at the bar all day to shoot down Sam’s ideas and continue drinking beer. It’s a hilarious cold open carried almost entirely by Wendt, and an easy number 10.

8

Norm Paints Rebecca’s Office To Pay His Bar Tab

Cheers Season 6, Episode 6 “Paint Your Office”

After years of ordering drinks on his tab, Norm finally had to pay the piper in Cheers season 6. To pay off his tab, Norm agreed to paint Rebecca’s office, which led to one of the best episodes in the entire series and a long string of great moments from George Wendt. From jokes like Norm saying that an accounting firm was good because they fired him to Woody taunting Norm while disposing of beer, “Paint Your Office” is a classic episode and one of Norm’s best.

7

Norm Gets Frasier & Lilith’s Son, Frederick, To Say His First Words

Cheers Season 9, Episode 7 “Breaking In is Hard to Do”

So many of Norm’s best jokes only briefly feature him. Whether it’s chiming in on another conversation with a remark about Vera or simply walking into the bar, Norm could put the cap on any joke. The single best example of this came in Cheers season 9, when Frederick, Lilith and Frasier’s son, had his first words. Norm walks into the bar, but the 11-month-old Frederick was the only one to greet him with his iconic “Norm!“ It was hilarious and unexpected, and a perfect sign of how Wendt could commandeer an entire scene and change it from standard to legendary.

6

Norm Gets Caught In A Lie In His Preposterously Small Office

Cheers Season 5, Episode 23 “Norm’s First Hurrah”

Nothing ever seemed to phase Norm, be it Cliff’s pestering or shots about his job and his constant presence at the bar. Cheers season 5, episode 23, however, was a rare moment of vulnerability for Norm, and it helped humanize him. When the Cheers gang saw Norm’s hilariously small office, which he had to share, Norm revealed that he was feeling insecure about his job and had overstated how important he was to his accounting firm. It wasn’t the most emotional moment in Norm’s story, but it was an appreciated moment where we got to see a different side of him.

5

Norm Reveals He’s A Regular At The Bowling Alley’s Bar As Well

Cheers Season 4, Episode 9 “From Beer to Eternity”

Cheers very rarely left the titular bar, but in one of the rare occasions that it did, Norm made sure it was memorable. In Cheers season 4, episode 9, the bar has a bowling match against the infamous crew of Gary’s Olde Town Tavern. Partway through the matchup, Norm decides to grab a beer from the bowling alley’s bar, only to be greeted by his classic welcome of “Norm!“ Sam asks how that’s possible, and Cliff hilariously notes that Norm “has a life” outside Cheers. It was a hilarious moment that showed that Norm could be a magnetic presence pretty much anywhere there was beer.

4

Norm’s Favorite Seat Is Taken

Cheers Season 9, Episode 10 “Bad Neighbor Sam”

Norm loved his barstool almost as much as he loved beer, and Cheers season 9 showed us what happened when he had it taken away. After a new restaurant moves in upstairs, two newcomers accidentally take Norm’s spot at the end of the bar. What followed was a hilarious play on Norm’s character, his desperate antics to get his seat back, and a prime example of George Wendt’s physical comedy after Norm pretends to faint to get his stool back. Norm’s stool was the perfect way to play off a character nine seasons in.

3

Norm Quits His Job & Lies To Save Vera’s Pride

Cheers Season 4, Episode 18 “The Peterson Principle”

Norm’s wife, Vera, was never seen in Cheers‘ 11-season run, and she mostly worked as the butt of his jokes. Even though he often took jabs at her expense, Norm also got a chance to show that he truly loved his wife in Cheers season 4. After Norm was passed up for a promotion because his boss didn’t think Vera was classy enough, Norm quit his job and told Vera he had been fired to save her the embarrassment. It was a selfless act of love that made us love Norm even more than we already did.

2

Norm Offers Some Useful Wisdom In The Finale Of Cheers

Cheers Season 11, Episode 28 “One For the Road”

The finale of Cheers, “One For the Road,” is often considered one of the best TV finales ever made, and George Wendt helped it earn that reputation. Towards the end of the episode, the main crew of the bar circle up to share cigars and have some heartfelt moments with one another and with the audience itself. Norm, however, got one of the final and most touching moments in the finale when he told Sam that the most important thing in life is love. Norm somehow made the emotional goodbye of Cheers hit even harder, and Wendt delivered some advice that everyone could take.

1

Norm Loses His Job For Protecting Diane From His Handsy Boss

Cheers Season 1, Episode 7 “Friends, Romans, Accountants”

The single best moment George Wendt had as Norm in Cheers came very early on in the show. In Cheers season 1, Norm was entertaining his boss at the bar when he got a little too familiar with Diane. Though it cost him his job, Norm came to Diane’s rescue and pulled his boss off her. Keep in mind, this was only the seventh episode of the series, and Norm had only known Diane for a matter of days. Even though it came at serious personal risk, Norm put everything on the line for his friends, which is a tremendous sign of his character.

Related

What George Wendt Actually Drank While Playing Norm On Cheers

Norm drinks a lot of beer in the sitcom Cheers, but that’s not what George Wendt got to drink on set while playing the character for eleven seasons.

Part of the reason Norm’s defense of Diane is the best moment he had in Cheers is because of when it came. “Friends, Romans, Accountants” was a very early episode in Cheers, and Norm’s heroics helped establish that he wasn’t just some lazy barfly, he was a good and loyal friend who would stand up for what was right even when it was difficult. That characterization influenced Norm for the entire series, and Cheers wouldn’t have been the hit it was if George Wendt didn’t get to show us who Norm was from the very beginning.

Cheers

9/10

Release Date

1982 – 1993-00-00

Showrunner

James Burrows, Glen Charles, Les Charles, Ken Estin, Sam Simon, David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee, Bill Steinkellner, Cheri Steinkellner, Phoef Sutton, Tom Anderson, Dan O’Shannon

Directors

James Burrows, Andy Ackerman

Writers

James Burrows, Glen Charles, Les Charles