The Best Guest Stars On Cheers, Ranked

Between 1982 to 1993, American audiences gathered around their TV sets to watch "Cheers" on Thursday nights as part of NBC's "Must See TV" lineup. "Cheers" was somehow equally entertaining to a 10 year old as it was to someone collecting Social Security. It was the perfect comforting mix of wholesome family entertainment with just enough mischievous shenanigans blended in throughout its 11-season run. Like many ensemble casts in the 1980s, the "Cheers" cast welcomed additions and cameos from one episode to the next. Along the way, dozens of famous or soon-to-be famous guest stars popped into the place where everybody knows your name.

The list of talent includes athletes and movie stars to musicians and actors from across the pond. Some guest stars just stayed for a round or two, while others became familiar faces at the neighborhood bar. Which famous game show host watched Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) blow a massive lead? Which future Academy Award winner got into a cat fight with Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth)? And which future "friend" made her sitcom debut on the beloved series? Take a walk down memory lane and find out which famous guest stars made the biggest impression on "Cheers."

Raise your hand if you knew that Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) had a wife before he married Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth). It turns out that Lilith did not know either. While Frasier and Lilith are taking their 2-year-old son Frederick to see children's entertainer Nanny G (Emma Thompson) in the Season 10 episode "One Hugs, The Other Doesn't," Frasier discovers that Nanny G is really his first wife, Nanette Guzman. The pair tied the knot while Frasier was still in medical school. Tensions arise, and hilarity ensues when Nanette spots Frasier in the audience and gives him a kiss. Turns out she never got over her young love. 

Meanwhile, Lilith is steamed about the smooch and the fact that her husband never told her about his nuptials. Later in the episode, Nanette agrees to perform at a children's party at Cheers. However, instead of singing a song for toddlers, she starts singing Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" directly to Frasier. A jealous Lilith attacks Nanette, and a hysterical catfight follows. As for Thompson, her career was just about to take off when she played the wacky lovelorn Nanny G in 1992. The following year, the British star won the Academy Award for best actress in a leading role for her performance in "Howards End." The talented Thompson would also win the best adapted screenplay Oscar for "Sense and Sensibility" in 1996. 

Alex Trebek hosted more than 8,200 episodes of "Jeopardy!" over the course of 37 seasons. However, the cerebral host was also known to pop in for a primetime guest spot on popular series like "Cheers" and "Golden Girls." One would initially think that know-it-all Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) would be best suited to compete on "Jeopardy." However, Cliff Clavin's (John Ratzenberger) vat of useless knowledge had been boring Cheers bar patrons for years and nearly proved to be advantageous. In the Season 8 episode "What Is ... Cliff Clavin?" the postal worker goes from hero to zero when he plays "Jeopardy" during a remote taping in Boston. Cliff pulls out to a commanding lead after lucking out on categories that include "Civil Servants" and "Bar Trivia." However, during Final Jeopardy, Cliff needlessly wages his entire $22,000 and blows the game.

Trebek proved to be a TV natural. "It was one of the first times that I had been asked to do a cameo on a popular sitcom," Trebek explained (via Showbiz CheatSheet). "We read through that script and then went home and shortly afterwards, a few hours later, a script arrived with a number of changes that were added lines for me. They had discovered that I could handle lines, and so each day they added a few lines. And they were so friendly. Ted Danson and the whole cast were so friendly, so kind."

Between 1982 and 1993, Harry Anderson guest-starred on six episodes of "Cheers" as charismatic con man Harry "The Hat" Gittes. The master of deception ran small scams at the neighborhood bar much to the chagrin of Sam Malone (Ted Danson), who did his best to keep Harry out of his bar. However, Harry's mischievous ways could also be used for good. During the Season 1 episode "Pick a Con ... Any Con," Sam springs Harry from the can in order to outsmart a grifter who stole $8,000 from Coach (Nicholas Colasanto).

Before TV fame, Anderson worked as a magician and street performer in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Austin, Texas. "'Cheers' was my first acting job, but it was basically the character I had developed on the street," said Anderson (via CBS News). "That's how I made my living, hustling drinks in bars and quarters on the street." Most people know Anderson for his starring role on the long-running NBC series "Night Court," where the actor served as the honorable Judge Harry T. Stone. "Night Court" was part of the juggernaut NBC Thursday night lineup and directly followed "Cheers." For a walk down TV memory lane, check out what the surviving cast of hit '80s sitcom "Night Court" looks like today. 

Tom Berenger made two guest-star appearances as Don Santry on "Cheers" in 1993, "The Guy Can't Help It" and the series finale "One for the Road." There is serious romantic heat between Don and Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley). However, there is also a serious problem: Don is a blue-collar plumber, and Rebecca is usually attracted to rich and powerful men. 

It took two tries by Don, but the second time he proposes to Rebecca, she says "yes." The mismatched but happy couple elope and ride off together into the TV sunset. That is, until Sam Malone (Ted Danson) visits his old pal in Seattle during the Season 2 episode of "Fraiser," the "Cheers" spin-off series. Sam tells Frasier that Don made a fortune when he invented a plumbing product and then dumped Rebecca. Sam also shares that Rebecca is back at Cheers but as a patron, not a manager. Berenger was one of the brand-name movie stars of the 1980s. His filmography includes the box office hits "The Big Chill," "Platoon," "Major League," and "Inception." 

Harry Connick Jr. was a musical prodigy. The crooner and piano player began performing at just 5 years old in his native New Orleans. Connick, with his big band and jazz sound, has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. He also has an impressive collection of awards that include three Grammys and two Emmys. However, Connick also has serious acting chops. One of the singer's early roles came during a Season 10 episode of "Cheers" called "A Diminished Rebecca with a Suspended Cliff." In the 1992 installment, Connick played Woody Boyd's (Woody Harrelson) cousin, Russell Boyd. The naive but sweet Russell, who made Woody look like Albert Einstein, visits his cousin in Boston, where he impresses Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) with his ability to play the piano and sing. She hires Russell to play at Cheers, but complications arise when he develops a massive crush on her.

Connick has amassed an impressive filmography. His most high-profile primetime role came as a love interest for Grace Adler (Debra Messing) on the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace." The "Hope Floats" star also worked as a judge for three seasons of "American Idol." "Basically, the job is sitting there listening to music and telling people what you think about it," Connick told Risen Magazine of his gig on the reality show. "What's not to like? I love it ... It's not difficult to critique and help shape the young performers."

Artist Philip Semenko is arrogant, eccentric, and pretentious — and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) loves him anyway. Prior to Christopher Lloyd's 1984 guest spot on "Cheers," most TV fans knew him from his quirky, Emmy-winning stint as Reverend Jim Ignatowski on "Taxi." The veteran actor entered the "Cheers" universe for the final two episodes of the sitcom's sophomore season. In "I'll Be Seeing You" Part 1 and Part 2, Philip asks Diane if he can paint her. Of course, Diane is over the moon with the attention. However a jealous Sam Malone (Ted Danson) is not happy. (The two are together at this point in the show). Philip even warns Diane, "I make love to everything I paint." He also tells her that if Sam sees the painting that it will be splitsville for the argumentative couple. Diane's vanity overrides the warning, and the art leads to yet another Sam and Diane breakup. 

The following year, Lloyd would take on his most popular eccentric character ever, Emmett "Doc" Brown in "Back to the Future." The science-fiction comedy became one of the biggest hits of the 1980s and spawned two sequels. For a taste of Reagan-era nostalgia, you need to see resurfaced footage of big-name celebs auditioning for '80s hit "Back to the Future." 

Lisa Kudrow made her primetime sitcom debut in the Season 8 episode of "Cheers" called "Two Girls for Every Boyd" in 1989. The Emmy winner sported a brunette look in the episode, in which she played Emily, a co-star opposite Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) in a local community production of Thornton Wilder's play, "Our Town." Woody and Emily are love interests in the play; however, the bartender thinks he's being unfaithful to his girlfriend Kelly (Jackie Swanson) when he acts out romantic scenes with Emily.

During an interview on Ted Danson's podcast, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name," Kudrow pointed out that it was her very first gig on a sitcom. "I wasn't fully baked at all," she said of the experience. She was unsure how her rookie performance turned out, but Danson watched it before the interview and assured her that she was wonderful. That shouldn't be a surprise, considering that five years later, Kudrow landed the role of Phoebe Buffay on "Friends." Thanks to the massive success of "Friends" and the actor's lucrative royalty deal, Lisa Kudrow is worth more than you think. It all started with a guest role on "Cheers."

There's a glitch in the "Cheers" universe. Peri Gilpin guest-starred in a Season 11 episode of "Cheers" in 1993 called "Woody Gets an Election." She played journalist Holly Matheson, who interviews Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) because he's running for city council. Matheson winds up getting more insight into Woody than one might expect and helps get him elected. The issue is that less than a year later, Gilpin pops up once again in the "Cheers" universe as a totally different character. 

In the "Cheers" spin-off, "Frasier," Gilpin stars as Roz Doyle, Frasier's producer on his radio show. How can Gilpin be two different characters in the same TV universe? The famous Hollywood story is that both Gilpin and Lisa Kudrow were finalists for the part of Roz. Producers originally cast Kudrow but then passed over her because she wasn't right for the role. They then hired Gilpin, who went on to crush it as Roz for the duration of the show's eleven seasons. It was Gilpin's guest appearance on "Cheers" that ultimately helped her nab the role. "When we were looking for the Roz character, it was like, 'Oh she was on "Cheers," yeah I remember her, she was great,'" said Kelsey Grammer of the decision to cast GIpin during a "Frasier" Q&A. The show never explained the Roz casting snafu and the average viewer most likely did not notice. It all worked out in the end for everyone. The following year, Kudrow was cast as Phoebe Buffay in "Friends."

Tom Skerritt made six appearances as Rebecca Howe's (Kirstie Alley) boss, Evan Drake, during the sixth season of "Cheers." Evan was a wealthy corporate executive at the company that owned Cheers. Rebecca did not just have a crush on her boss; she was completely obsessed with him, even going so far as to stop dating other people for two years. Whatever couth and professionalism Rebecca brought to her everyday life was erased as soon as Evan walked in the room. In the Season 6 finale, "Backseat Becky, Up Front," Evan's job takes him to Japan, but the neurotic Rebecca does everything she can to stop him.

The "Top Gun" actor was a familiar face in movies throughout the 1980s. What brought "Cheers" casting director Jeff Greenberg to sign on Skerritt for the guest role? "My marching orders were: Try to not bring in faces we see on other TV shows," Greenberg told Television Academy. "I always did my best to bring in people that hadn't been doing sitcoms. People like Tom Berenger and Tom Skerritt were not known for their comedy." Skerritt enjoyed a long career in Hollywood as one of the rare character actors who became a recognizable name through movies like "Steel Magnolias." Sadly, Skerritt died at 93 years old of natural causes in October 2026.

No good deed is left unpunished. Sam Malone (Ted Danson) finds that out the hard way in a Season 1 episode of "Cheers" called "Endless Slumper." In the 1982 installment, Sam's old teammate, Rick Walker (Christopher McDonald), is in a serious slump. The Boston Red Sox relief pitcher calls Sam to ask for advice. The superstitious bartender tells him that he needs a lucky charm, then decides to lend his lucky bottle cap to Rick. The talisman works out for Rick, who finds the strike zone, but the good deed sends Sam into a bad juju spiral. Making matters worse is that Rick loses the bottle cap. Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) later discovers the bottle cap was from the last bottle of beer that Sam ever drank.

"Cheers" was one of McDonald's early roles. The Primetime Emmy nominee has built an impressive career as both a memorable character actor and a scene-stealing villain with over 200 acting credits to his name. One of his most famous roles came playing Happy's golf rival, Shooter, in "Happy Gilmore" alongside Adam Sandler.

Unlucky in love waitress Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) had eight kids with two different men. "The King of Queens" alum Leah Remini played Carla and Nick Tortelli's (Dan Hedaya) daughter, Serafina Tortelli. Remini appeared in two episodes of the series. The first installment came in a Season 10 episode ("Unplanned Parenthood) and the second ("Loathe and Marriage") occurred the following season. In "Loathe and Marriage," the quick-tempered Carla figures out that Serafina is pregnant.

"Cheers" was popular, and the role of Carla's daughter was a sought-after, high-profile part for young actresses. According to Remini's 2015 memoir, "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology," a future "Friends" star was one of the final contenders for Serafina. "Jennifer Aniston and I had become friendly from seeing each other so much at various auditions," wrote Remini (via SlashFilm). "She was normal, unlike most other actresses who, if you tried to make small talk, like asking where they were from, would accuse you of trying to 'psych them out.' One girl I tried to shoot the s*** with got up and walked out. So when you find someone like Jennifer, who isn't d**che-y, you develop a natural camaraderie." Remini scored her most well-known role on "The King of Queens" in 1998. Remini owes her lavish lifestyle to the massive success of her many sitcom gigs.

Ranking the "best" guest stars on "Cheers" is not an easy task. How does one make these pop culture decisions decades after a television show has left the air? Many of us are children of the '80s, planted in front of living room television sets (the only television in the house) with our families to watch regularly scheduled programming that waited for no one. The biggest factors in determining the best "Cheers" guest stars are pretty basic. Which ones do we remember? Which ones made us belly laugh until we burst? Which ones had the juiciest storylines? Of course, being really famous or becoming famous afterward certainly helped these guest stars climb the ranks of this list.