Title: Pudd'n Head Boyd
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Cherie Eichen & Bill Steinkellner
Air Date: November 26, 1987
Previous: Bidding on the Boys
Next: A Kiss Is Still a Kiss
Guest Starring: Bebe Neuwirth, Anne Pitoniak
"Pudd'n Head Boyd" is the 9th episode of the sixth season of Cheers.
Woody's becoming an actor! It turns out that Woody has gotten involved in a local community theater. After basically doing all the scut work at the theater, scrubbing toilets and such, Woody has started auditioning for parts. After being rejected over and over again, Woody has finally gotten to understudy for the part of Mark Twain in a play called Authors in Hell.
Being the understudy, Woody has to get made up for the part every night. So every night, he comes into Cheers dressed as Mark Twain. He attracts the eye of a cheerful elderly widow named Mary. Woody and Mary start spending more time together, and eventually the bar becomes convinced that nearsighted Mary actually thinks that Woody is an old man.
In the B-plot, Frasier and Lilith take a Caribbean cruise.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: A despondent Sam breaks some unsettling news that he knows will upset the customers. Last call.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: In the cold open, Sam comes in late. He tells an absurd story about how he was driving to work when his way was blocked by a parade. His car scared away two dancing dogs in pink tutus, and a lady with blue sequins chased after them, and she was narrowly missed by a Clown Car, which swerved in front of an elephant, which bucked off a swami riding on the trunk...at this point Rebecca tells Sam to stop. In an annoyed tone she tells him that she would have preferred if he'd simply said sorry instead of making up a ridiculous story. Right after that the two dogs in pink tutus and the angry lady in sequins march into the bar.
- Coordinated Clothes: As they're getting ready to leave on their cruise, Lilith and Frasier are wearing matching T-shirts that say "Captain" and "First Mate".
- Evil Laugh: Carla unleashes one of her demonic cackles when she figures out that Mary thinks Woody is old.
- Hypocritical Humor: Cliff thinks it's weird for a younger man to spend so much time with an old lady. When Norm points out the obvious about Cliff and his mom, Cliff gets hysterical and says "My Ma's not old and she's never gonna die before I do, so just shut up ok?"
- Prima Donna Director: Grif Palmer the director is an unbearably pretentious theater guy who wears a man bun and says stuff like "Welcome to the theater, Woody. To the ranks of the Lunts and the Oliviers. To a profession rife with style, with history, with dignity. To a calling I only hope will bring you as much joy as it has brought me." On the way out he says hi to Carla, who identifies him as the janitor at her kids' school.
- Shout-Out: Basically the whole episode is a shout-out to Mark Twain, as Woody dresses like him and keeps tossing out Twain one-liners throughout the episode.
