# I Salute thee, Paul Wilson from Cheers and other important minor-characters! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 28, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104 "2001-07-28T20:09:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/1 "2001-07-28T20:09:38Z")
Does anyone here remember Paul from Cheers? Here was an underappreciated guy. He had tons of lines in the final few seasons and even was part of the group when they went on outings. Did he ever get full credit in the cast or even get noticed? Nope. Well, I salute thee, Paul. You were never there when major things happened. You struggled with your weight but still wore suspenders. You nailed Carla. Any other important minor-roles you’d like to salute? ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2001, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/2 "2001-07-29T19:39:02Z")
Old man in his 70s (or late, late sixties) sitting at the bar. Don’t remember his name. Always looked as if he had had one too many. Strictly one-liners. Air time: about 30 seconds per episode (in which he appeared, which was on an irregular basis). ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/3 "2001-07-29T19:59:53Z")
Then by jingo, I salute the messenger page-boy from Blackadder I. He was comically fat and dressed in full pageantry-style outfit, and after delivering his message he would simply repeat whatever anyone said, and physically copy whatever they did. The canned-laughter audience never picked up on him, but he was a really good mirror-image mime, and even when Edmund tried to push him out of the room, he’d push back. He was so incidental to the plot you never even noticed him (unless you bought the videos and watched them endlessly, as I did). I’d love to understand the logic behind this joke. Why a messenger would copy everything you said, and imitate what you did. Don’t get it. Laughed my ass off anyway. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/4 "2001-07-30T02:34:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by omni-not \* > **Old man in his 70s sitting at the bar.** That was Philip Perlman, Rhea Perlman’s RL father. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/5 "2001-07-30T03:53:48Z")
Didn’t know that or pay attention. Now that you’ve mentioned the RL name of the guy, I think his character’s name was also Phil, if I’m not mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_c38f64651bbfc0fca993c5b066c30099](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Anonymous\_c38f64651bbfc0fca993c5b066c30099](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_c38f64651bbfc0fca993c5b066c30099)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/6 "2001-07-30T04:26:52Z")
I liked the mother on the Golden Girls, she had lots of good lines, and most of them zingers, but she was never considered when people wrote about the show. (And she wasn’t even actually the oldest!) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/7 "2001-07-30T12:15:34Z")
Lt. Kyle in Star Trek. He was the guy always helping Scotty run the transporter (“It doesn’t seem to be responding.”). The IMDB only has him listed in one episode, but he was in quite a few of them. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/8 "2001-07-30T12:53:10Z")
Can I nominate Timmy from South Park? No? Oh. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/9 "2001-07-30T13:55:00Z")
• Joan Shawlee, who played Buddy’s great doxie wife, Pickles, on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” • The great Marion Lorne, Aunt Clara on “Bewitched.” ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/10 "2001-07-30T19:46:25Z")
Newman! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/11 "2001-07-30T23:21:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\*“If you can’t sleep, it isn’t the coffee. It’s the bunk!” \*\* A _Sparks_ quote? Loved those guys! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/12 "2001-08-01T00:41:26Z")
I nominate **Hirsch,** Mother Carlson’s elderly “houseboy” on _WKRP in Cincinnati._ Every line he spoke was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/13 "2001-08-01T01:05:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dropzone \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > > \*\*“If you can’t sleep, it isn’t the coffee. It’s the bunk!” \*\* > > A _Sparks_ quote? Loved those guys! \*\* I was just yesterday thinking of that line, from “Christmas in July” by Preston Sturges. If he’d made sitcoms, this thread could go on for a dozen pages just on the strength of his creations. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/14 "2001-08-01T01:09:17Z")
Skippy Handelman, from _Family Ties_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/15 "2001-08-01T01:36:55Z")
**Slithy** got it. Never heard of “Sparks,” but I’ll bet they heard of Sturges. 🙂 After seeing a special on TV Land: Hymie the Robot on “Get Smart” Siegfried, too. Kellye Nakahara as Nurse Kellye in M_A_S_H Loudon Wainwright III as Capt. Calvin Spaulding in M_A_S_H (he was even announced as a regular, but was only in three episodes). ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/16 "2001-08-01T03:05:34Z")
Well, I could just name of the entire town of Springfield, but I’ll refrain from doing so. Hmm…I gotta go for the Drazi ambassador from Babylon 5. I always wished the Drazi had a bigger role in the show, but alas, they didn’t. The ambassador ruled because, although the League of Non-Aligend Worlds had no offical leader, they all seemed to follow him and whatever he decided, which included helping in the Shadow War and liberation of Earth. Anyways, I’m rambling, so I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/17 "2001-08-01T03:46:08Z")
Boy, are you in luck!!! Tomorrow’s edition of ET (Entertainment Tonight), in their never-ending series “Where are they now” will feature, among others… YES, you guessed correctly: Skippy Handelman alongside with J.J. “Dyno-mite” Walker, _et al._ DON’T MISS IT!! ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/18 "2001-08-01T03:54:33Z")
Forgot to mention the perennial Donny “In-and-Out-and-In-and-Out-and-In-and-Out” Bonaduce… ---
**Author:** ![kawliga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/19 "2001-08-01T07:15:53Z")
Robert Karvelas - Larrabee on “Get Smart” Ralph Tabakin - Scheiner, the m.e. on “Homicide” ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104/20 "2001-08-01T08:28:58Z")
speaking of good times… that guy…buffalo butt. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-salute-thee-paul-wilson-from-cheers-and-other-important-minor-characters/74104.md?page=2)