Cheers Cast 1.19: Pick A Con… Any Con

CHEERS Season 1, episode 19: "Pick A Con... Any Con"

Hosted by Ryan Daly with special guest Kevin Lauderdale from The Chronic Rift Network.

Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com.

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Thanks for listening!

 

4 responses to “Cheers Cast 1.19: Pick A Con… Any Con

  1. Fun episode guys. I need to dive into my Cheers binging. I keep meaning to, but episodes like this are really pulling me in.

    Interesting that Kevin mentions being influenced by Sam Malone’s fashion sense. I always WANTED to dress retro like Harry Anderson. The closest I got was buying a Dick Tracy labeled fedora in 1990…but I barely had the guts to wear it anywhere. I lacked the confidence and the means to pull that look off.

    Chris

  2. I love grifter narratives. The episode very efficiently, in 22 minutes, does the con twist and twist back, and like all the best con stories, plays a con on the audience, letting us believe one thing while another is going on. Just great.

  3. Thanks for sharing your story, Kevin. I got dizzy keeping it straight, and it was awesome.

    This is my favorite episode of Cheers. Period. I loved it on the first watching, and it’s excellent to rewatch. Even knowing the triple-cross doesn’t spoil the fun, because the cast did an exemplary job, and the audience reaction is completely genuine joy that Harry was the “good guy” all along. Pure joy.

    Harry the Hat was a wonderful returning character, and seeing him with all the different personas in this episode is incredible. It also blurs the line between Harry the character and Harry the actor, because the character has to do a lot of “acting” for the con to work. It gets meta if I think about it too much, so I just sit back and enjoy the ride.

    I had NOT noticed the lack of a “Norm!” entrance, but when you asked “notice anything missing” I immediately guessed that. Nice spotting, Ryan.

    But did you mention Harry’s Hat at the end? He left it behind after beating George, so it’s there on the hat rack when he returns. So like Indiana Jones, Harry never loses his hat.

    You hit all of my high points except for one. After George storms out, everyone’s in shock and Norm says, “I feel so … used.” If any of other characters had said that line, it wouldn’t be funny. But from Norm and his delivery, hilarious!

    Now this episode has become bittersweet for me. When Harry Anderson passed away, I did a live-tweet rewatch that night, because this is my favorite memory of him. I watched it again before listening to this podcast, and after the big reveal, Coach and Harry are hugging, and I started crying. That victorious moment, and all I could think was “they’re both gone.” It really hurt, but they also made me smile with their pure delight. Wow, I just realized that mirrors the emotional extremes of the story itself. Dang it, Cheers, why is this show so good???!!!

    Till next time, thanks Ryan!

  4. This is definitely one of the series’ best episodes. It has a classic “heist”-type plot, is very funny, and all the characters get something to do. I love how out of time Harry the Hat is, and the show knew just how much to use him over the years. Not to mention (as you did) the classic “Diane Has The Bar” bit in the center of the show. Cheers didn’t generally get into the nitty gritty of running a bar during the Diane years, but I like how we get to see some of that here. How DO Sam and Coach keep up with all those complicated drink orders? They can’t all be just pouring Norm a beer.

    I always assumed that Cheers’ stock room (behind Sam’s desk) has a door or some sort of window, which is how Harry got back there. Or he’s a wizard.

    Kevin is one of my favorite people to record with, I’m so glad to hear him on another network show!

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