# Who is this guy from Cheers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383 "2020-08-06T04:22:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CanTak3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@CanTak3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanTak3)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/1 "2020-08-06T04:22:17Z")
Due to Covid that I’ve binge watched most of Cheers. In the grainy photo here I’ve put a yellow dot over a guy with a handlebar mustache. He’s in nearly every episode as an extra somewhere around the bar. He has sat on all sides at some point and many times can be found in the chairs by the entrance. He’s never said anything, but he interacted with Norm at one point taking car keys from him. He disappeared sometime during season four. He must be part of the crew as he gets ready to start laughing before jokes are told. Not sure why I’m curious but I am. Can anyone identify him? [https://photos.app.goo.gl/cn3naoswVHzaG7uMA](https://photos.app.goo.gl/cn3naoswVHzaG7uMA) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/2 "2020-08-06T04:32:02Z")
Here is a good place to start your research: > **[List of Cheers characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recurring_characters_in_Cheers)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > This is a list of characters from the American television sitcom, Cheers. > Before the Cheers pilot, "Give Me a Ring Sometime", was finalized and then aired in 1982, the series originally consisted of four employees of Cheers, the bar, in the original script. There was neither Norm Peterson nor Cliff Clavin, regular customers of Cheers; later revisions added them as part of the series. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/3 "2020-08-06T11:35:15Z")
Moved to Cafe Society (from GQ). ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/4 "2020-08-06T11:40:50Z")
Wikipedia contradicts itself when you look at John Ratzenberger’s page. Instead of his character starting as a barfly it claims the following: > Ratzenberger played mail carrier [Cliff Clavin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Clavin) on the sitcom _[Cheers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers)_ . He had read for the part of [Norm Peterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Peterson), but after the audition, he sensed that they were not going to give him the part. Sensing an opportunity, he asked if they had written a bar know-it-all, which the producers decided was a great idea Also it claims that the actor has played a character in every Pixar feature film ever made. Anyway sorry for the hijack. Please get back to your search for the random man. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/5 "2020-08-06T12:03:31Z")
Al Traina Jr.? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/6 "2020-08-06T12:38:40Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Also it claims that the actor has played a character in every Pixar feature film ever made. According to some lists, like [this one](https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-star-records/domestic/lifetime-acting/top-grossing-stars), he’s one of the highest grossing actors of all time, if you use the methodology of adding the gross take of every movie they’ve had a role in, no matter how small. His total comes almost entirely from Pixar movies, with “The Empire Strikes Back” thrown in as well. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/7 "2020-08-06T13:05:05Z")
ThisIsTheEnd, who is Al Traina Jr.? There’s no one by that name listed in any of the obvious places. There was a famous Al Traina (who wasn’t a Junior), but he wasn’t an actor, and he would have been too old at that point to look like the character that you indicated in the picture. He didn’t have a son named Al Traina, incidentally. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/8 "2020-08-06T13:13:59Z")
You’re aware there was a LONG thread a few years back trying to identify a guest on Johnny Carson’s show who turned out to be Al Traina, right? 🤨 In response to the OP, I’ve seen every episode of _ **Cheers** _, and I don’t recall the guy in the photo ever having either a line or a character name. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/9 "2020-08-06T13:20:15Z")
I just had a scan through the crew, and none of the long-running stalwarts look like him, so I assume that means he was not a crew member who got to sit in as a background extra. The closest lookalike I could find was the music composer, Craig Safan, but it’s not a very good match, and there’s no logical reason to have him on set. He likely composed a few pieces early on that then got reused a thousand times; he wasn’t hanging around next to the piano ready to go, or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/10 "2020-08-06T13:33:52Z")
He was also the US Navy crew chief in _ **Firefox** _, when Clint Eastwood landed on the icecap to refuel. ---
**Author:** ![CanTak3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@CanTak3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanTak3)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/11 "2020-08-06T13:56:56Z")
Wikipedia is correct though. I’ve seen interviews with John Ratzenberger stating the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/12 "2020-08-06T15:19:42Z")
Ratzenberger was also in the first _Superman_ movie, starring Christopher Reeve, as a missile controller. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/13 "2020-08-06T16:05:25Z")
terentii, O.K., now I remember the long thread where we finally, after many guesses, identified the person in a picture as Al Traina. That was six years ago. I thought maybe the name Al Traina was familiar, but I couldn’t remember from where. Apparently there have been joking references in a bunch of threads since then to Traina, but those are threads that I didn’t read. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/14 "2020-08-06T16:10:38Z")
Right on! 👍 And he was NOT Peter Mark Richman! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/15 "2020-08-06T17:16:25Z")
Yeah it was an Al Traina joke. I think it took 2 or 3 years to identify good old Al, or “Grimey,” as he liked to be called. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/16 "2020-08-06T17:44:21Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Ratzenberger was also in the first _Superman_ movie, starring Christopher Reeve, as a missile controller. And Empire Strikes back, right? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/17 "2020-08-06T17:46:59Z")
Not Richard Masur, but sure could be his brother! Side note: For years there was a facebook page that identified all the Roll Call extras in “Hill Street Blues.” They used mostly the same group thru the run of the show. Sadly that page has disappeared. Wish I had saved it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/18 "2020-08-06T17:57:27Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@cochrane](#): > > > > Ratzenberger was also in the first _Superman_ movie, starring Christopher Reeve, as a missile controller. > > And Empire Strikes back, right? Yeah, **muldoonthief** mentioned that upthread. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/19 "2020-08-06T18:01:26Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Ratzenberger was also in the first _Superman_ movie, starring Christopher Reeve, as a missile controller. He got a bigger role in _Superman II_, as a NASA guy. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383/20 "2020-08-07T05:59:26Z")
Clearly it is David Crosby. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-guy-from-cheers/917383.md?page=2)