Title: What Is... Cliff Clavin?
Directed by: Andy Ackerman
Written by: Dan O Shannon and Tom Anderson
Air Date: January 18, 1990
Previous: Sammy and the Professor
Next: Finally! Part 1
Guest Starring: Alex Trebek, Johnny Gilbert, Greg Davis
"What is... Cliff Clavin?" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of Cheers.
Jeopardy! is coming to Boston for a special taping, and Cliff Clavin, inane trivia expert and extreme Jeopardy fan, is eager to sign up, figuring he's got a good chance of getting on the show. Sure enough, Cliff does manage to get on the show. As luck would have it, the topics are all things Cliff actually is an expert on - bar trivia, movies, mailmen and celibacy.
By the end of the night, Cliff's amassed a whopping $22,000, so the only thing that could go wrong is if he screw up massively somehow... then the final clue comes along; "Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz and Lucille LeSuer." And somehow, Cliff manages to fumble his way to "Who are three people who've never been in my kitchen?"
Meanwhile, Sam finds one of his little black books has been stolen, when he keeps getting calls from women saying he asked them out for a date but never showed.
Supposedly, "pulling a Cliff Clavin" is now the accepted term for blowing an automatic win on Jeopardy by betting too much.note
"What Tropes are Included in This Episode?":
- As Himself: Alex Trebek.
- Also, longtime Jeopardy! announcer Johnny Gilbert.
- The Constant: Yet another joke about just how long Norm's been drinking at Cheers in the cold open, when an old customer comes in for the first time in decades, noting how everything's changed... well, almost everything.Guy: They've even changed the panelling.
Woody: Where?
Guy: Over there, behind Norm. - Confronting Your Imposter: Sam finally found out who stole his little black book and has been calling women: a 12-year-old boy.
- Continuity Nod:
- Sam says that one of the names in his little black book is his cleaning lady. An entire episode, "The Book of Samuel", revolved around Woody dialing a number in Sam's little black book and getting his cleaning lady.
- Cliff's fondness for Jeopardy was established in "My Fair Clavin".
- Epic Fail: Oh, Cliff... again, with $22000 riding on his Final Jeopardy answer, having cleaned up against two more intelligent opponents, he manages to blow it all, despite warning from Alex, on the question "Who are 3 people who've never been in my kitchen?" This became an epic fail so legendary it actually became a real life meme - "to pull a Cliff Clavin" became Jeopardy slang for the specific circumstance where a player goes into the final round a mathematical lock to win (because even if the other two double their money they still couldn't catch up) and manages to lose anyway by betting the farm on a wrong answer.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: As Sam's grumbling about his black book being misused, he mutters how there could be dozens of gals sitting around in miniskirts and French cut panties just waiting for some guy they don't recognize to pick them up... after that, every man in the bar storms out to search for them.
- Foreshadowing: Woody marvels that the board looks to be set up perfectly for him, but Norm is sure Cliff would get too cocky and blow it. Sure enough, that's exactly what happens.
- Gaia's Lament: Woody's excitement about the Jeopardy! opening credits, and how it reminds him of sunset in Hanover, prompts an alarmed Frasier to ask if, just by happenstance, there happened to be a big chemical plant back home. Sure enough, there was, right next to the town reservoir, funnily enough.
- Game Show Appearance: One of the most famous ever in American TV, as Cliff goes on Jeopardy!.
- I Have to Iron My Dog: When Frasier's asked to go to see Cliff on Jeopardy, he says "I promised Lilith I had to stay home and clean the dog's ears."
- I Reject Your Reality: Cliff is utterly insistent his answer on Final Jeopardy is right and that he deserves to win, even after he's been kicked out of the studio. His insanity is so much that it scares Alex Trebek, and he makes up a phony story in order to placate him.
- Kidanova: The culprit of the theft of Sam's black book is a kid who wants to be a hound. He's just too nervous to commit to sleeping with women. Sam doesn't punish him, but instead gives him advice.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: It almost, almost works in Cliff's favor for once, as the Jeopardy! questions chosen are all ones only someone like Cliff would know the answers to, as opposed to his opponents, who trail massively behind Cliff by Final Jeopardy. But then he manages to shoot himself in the foot with that last question.
- Mathematician's Answer: Cliff is right, dammit! None of those people have ever been in his kitchen!
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Seeing what's about to happen, Norm advises Woody they get out of the studio before Cliff makes an ass of himself, and anyone realizes they were with him.
- Shout-Out: "Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz and Lucille LeSeur."
