Episode: Season 4, Episode 13
Title: Take My Shirt...Please
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: David Lloyd
Air Date: January 9, 1986
Previous: Don Juan Is Hell
Next: Take My Shirt...Please
Guest Starring: Robert Symonds, Frances Bay, Patrick Cronin, Earl Houston Bullock
Title: Take My Shirt...Please
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: David Lloyd
Air Date: January 9, 1986
Previous: Don Juan Is Hell
Next: Take My Shirt...Please
Guest Starring: Robert Symonds, Frances Bay, Patrick Cronin, Earl Houston Bullock
"Take My Shirt...Please" is the 13th episode of the fourth season of Cheers.
Diane asks for some time off of work, much to Carla's irritation. It seems that Diane has volunteered to work the phones for the Boston PBS station's pledge drive. After hearing that the station will be auctioning off game equipment from some Boston sports legends (Bobby Orr, John Havlicek, Carl Yastrzemski), Sam donates his old baseball jersey. Unfortunately he is humiliated when the jersey doesn't sell.
In the B-plot, Norm has brought potential clients Mr. and Mrs. Brubaker to the bar in an effort to win them over as clients, but he starts to panic when he discovers that they are boring stick-in-the-muds that are impervious to his charm.
Tropes:
- The Bore: The Brubakers, namely Mr. Brubaker the dairy farm owner and his equally dull wife Mrs. Brubaker. They are boring and colorless and an increasingly flop-sweaty Norm desperately flails to entertain them. He is rescued by Cliff, who gets along great with his fellow bores; the ice-breaker being Mr. Brubaker's father was a postal worker.
- Exact Words: Diane enters the bar to a lackluster greeting, and becomes upset, pointing out that whenever Norm comes in, he gets his traditional welcome of "NORM!". She asks if it would be possible to receive "the same treatment" for once; Sam apologizes and rallies the bar to try again. A pleased Diane exits, opens the door, and says hello...and sure enough, everyone yells "NORM!" Diane laughs at the joke and says she appreciates it.
- Expy: This is the episode that reveals that Sam wore #16, the same as 1960s Boston pitcher Jim Lonborg...and Lonborg's picture is the one that hangs behind the bar.
- Lightbulb Joke: Diane tries to share one of these which she was laughing about with a caller to the auction. Naturally, she's the only one that finds it funny.Diane: How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Host: How many?
Diane: The fish! (she laughs) I guess surrealistic humor isn't your cup of fur. (she laughs again) - Orphaned Punchline: Part of Norm's frantic efforts to charm the Brubakers.Norm: And so the woodchuck says to the lumberjack, "I was talking to the log!"
- Shout-Out: The title is taken from old Borscht Belt comedian Henny Youngman's joke: "Take my wife...please!"
- Telethon: Diane volunteers to answer phones during a pledge drive for Boston's television station, WGBH.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: Another episode that deals with how desperately Sam Malone misses his baseball career and the attention of the media. He is deeply hurt when no one buys his old Red Sox jersey.
