‘Cheers’ stars Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson once ditched work to do ‘an extraordinary amount of mushrooms’
Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson and some other “Cheers” cast members took a wild trip down memory lane.
The “Cheers” stars confessed they once skipped work to partake in psychedelics, which Danson said were supplied by Harrelson.
The cast shared that while the show was still on the air, John Ratzenberger, who played Cliff Clavin, bought a boat called the “Boston Whaler,” and he was “anxious to show it off,” so the cast “cooked up this little getaway.”
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“I remember we all met at his boat. Woody and I, by then, were already stoned. And we got on the phone at a pay phone and… called into the show saying… ‘I’m not feeling too good. I can’t come in’ and then hand the phone to the next person,” Danson explained on their “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast.
“It was clear that we were playing hooky. Somebody said, yeah, I’m ‘seasick,’… I got peer pressured,” George Wendt, who portrayed Norm Peterson on the hit series, added, as his co-stars all laughed.
Danson continued to say that co-star Kelsey Grammer was asleep the entire time on the boat since he had “been up all night playing cards.”
“Woody turns to me and goes, ‘Have you ever had mushrooms?’ I go, ‘No, no, I haven’t.’ And he said, ‘Well, this will be a good time. We have nothing to do. We’ll be on a boat,’” Danson shared.
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“We hadn’t had breakfast. So, I was fairly hungry and ate, I think an extraordinary amount of mushrooms… and then I’m thinking, ‘This is all right.’”
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After some cast members ate the “magic” mushrooms, Danson, who portrayed Sam Malone in “Cheers,” explained their trip took a turn for the worse.
“I am panicking. I’m having trouble breathing… feel like I was dying.”
While the group cruised halfway to California’s Santa Catalina Island, Danson admitted he “freaked out” and felt the impact of “leftover waves” from a hurricane in Mexico.
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“People not on mushrooms would be seasick pretty much,” Danson added.
“But I sat there getting more and more and more freaked out and whatever it is – you get stoned or whatever it is on mushrooms – and I look at you, Woody, and you[‘re] stretched out on a bunk, and I think, ‘Oh, he’s so used to this that he’s just cooling it and relaxing.’”
“I am panicking,” Danson said. “I’m having trouble breathing… feel like I was dying.”
“The Good Place” actor went on to say Wendt calmed him down during his bad trip, and he was their “lifesaver.”
Wendt, 75, shared he did not take any mushrooms but was “seasick” due to the rough ocean waves.
Danson recalled Harrelson looking like a skeleton. Harrelson said Danson “looked like a hologram” of himself.
Although Danson declared it was “the worst four hours” of his life, he admitted he would take “magic” mushrooms again.
“Cheers” aired 275 episodes over its 11-season run on NBC from 1982 to 1993. The beloved show took home 28 Emmy Awards with a total of 179 nominations.
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