Title: Cliff's Rocky Moment
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: David Lloyd
Air Date: January 26, 1984
Previous: And Coachie Makes Three
Next: Fortune and Men's Weight
Guest Starring: Peter Iacangelo, Sam Scarber
"Cliff's Rocky Moment" is the 16th episode of the second season of Cheers.
Cliff is in full motor mouth mode, blabbing endlessly about nonsense. The regulars at Cheers are used to this, of course, but another bar patron, a large guy named Victor (Peter Iacangelo), isn't. Victor, in fact, finds Cliff extremely irritating, calling him "Mickey Mouth". When Cliff acts on some extremely bad advice from Carla and acts tough with Victor, Victor challenges him to a fight. Cliff flees in terror, exiting through Melville's.
The next night, Cliff brings his coworker Lewis (Sam Scarber), a Scary Black Man, to the bar as a bodyguard. Unfortunately this backfires spectacularly, as Lewis winds up agreeing with Victor about how irritating Cliff is, and leaving. Cliff then has to either fight Victor, or expose himself as a coward in front of the whole bar.
In the B-plot, Diane irritates Sam by winning the football pool despite not knowing anything about football.
Tropes:
- Brick Break: Cliff shatters a cinder block with his head. He has to go to the hospital.
- The Bully: Victor, who not only picks on Cliff but makes a special point of humiliating him in front of his friends.
- Get Out!: When Victor bullies Cliff into leaving, Sam angrily asks him to leave.
- I Know Karate: Subverted, seemingly played straight, and then averted. Cliff tries to make Victor back down by claiming that he's a karate master. When Victor calls his bluff and the rest of the bar doesn't believe him, a humiliated Cliff leaves the bar. Later, Cliff comes back and proves that he does know karate, by kicking a board in half with his foot and breaking a concrete block in half with his forehead. Then after everybody congratulates him, Cliff pulls Diane aside and whispers into her ear that he's never taken a karate lesson in his life and has to go to the hospital. The episode ends with Diane carrying Cliff up the stairs while everyone inside is marveling at the shattered concrete block.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Cliff is really bad in this episode, babbling about breeding gigantic cows to feed the world. This is part of what sets Victor off.
- Jerkass: Victor, who won't let Cliff alone, insulting him and antagonizing him and finally humiliating him in front of the whole bar.
- Malicious Misnaming: Lewis calls Cliff "Clint" and Cliff corrects him; later, after Lewis talks about how annoying Cliff is, he calls him "Clyde".
- Odd Friendship: The first episode that shows Cliff making friends with Diane, of all people. Diane is the only one who thinks Cliff is right to not fight Victor, Diane is the only one to believe Cliff when he says he knows karate, and Diane is the one that Cliff turns to when he cracks his skull on the concrete block.
- Pet the Dog: Even Carla tries to talk Cliff into standing up for himself and not putting up with Victor's abuse.
- Scary Black Man: Cliff attempts to use this trope when he brings Lewis, his burly black coworker, into the bar. It doesn't work out, as Lewis finds himself agreeing with Victor about how irritating Cliff is.
- What the Fu Are You Doing?: Cliff shatters the plank with his hand and the concrete block with his head, and then, after basking in everyone's admiration, quietly asks Diane to take him to the hospital.
