Ted Danson is fessing up to leading the Cheers gang in giving Woody Harrelson a not-so-warm welcome when he joined the series in season 4. Of course, Harrelson played the naive assistant bartender Woody Boyd. He replaced veteran actor Nicholas Colasanto, who played “Coach” Ernie Pantusso for three seasons before passing away of a heart attack at age 61.
Danson, who portrayed bartender Sam Malone, shared on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend that Harrelson’s first week on set posed a physical challenge for the series’ veterans. Many cast members were in their 30s, while Harrelson was only 24. This provoked emotions in the cast as they approached middle age.
“Thirty-seven is when you realize you’re no longer 25 or 24,” Danson admitted. “So it was more not like hazing him, we just wanted to kick his a** in anything we could find.”
Straight out of the gate, Woody (who was also part of the interview with O’Brien) proved to be a worthy opponent.
“We started with basketball and as you later found out in life, he’s a really good basketball player (Harrelson went on to star in the basketball comedy film White Men Can’t Jump in 1992). “He kicked our a**es there,” Danson recalled.
The next way a Cheers cast member tried to dominate Woody was a bit more unorthodox.
“I have a vision of Johnny Ratzenberger, who played Cliff, out on the lawn by the stage doing, you know, the leg wrestling where you’re both on your back, and you try to flip the other guy with just your leg.”
“Johnny’s strong,” Harrelson added. “John’s strong and got some thighs on him,” Danson agreed.
However, even Cliff’s meaty gams weren’t enough to defeat Woody’s youthful vigor.
“Woody kicked his a**,” Danson declared.
The next feat that Ted challenged Woody with was more traditional. Danson tried to take Harrelson over the top. “I literally have a bad elbow to this day ’cause I wouldn’t give up arm wrestling. I did finally give up, because he was kicking my butt.”
Ted Danson Switches Tactics to Defeat a Young Woody Harrelson
However, perhaps the wisdom of age would help Danson finally defeat Harrelson.
The cast decided to take Woody on in a game of wits: chess.
This didn’t go well, either.
“Killed us at chess,” Danson said bluntly.
From there on out, the golden boy became the subject of hazing.
“So this is all in the first week really,” Danson explained. “So from then on it was like, if you had some awful mean prank to pull, you would not waste it on anyone else except Woody. And he is, to this day, that’s Woody Harrelson.”
Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson reunited to promote their new podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name. The guys pour a good story every Wednesday on all major podcast platforms.