Frasier's Famous Ski Lodge Episode Presented The Writers With A Mathematical Challenge
For a show that's known for its highbrow humor, "Frasier" certainly made liberal use of farce. Episodes full of ridiculous hijinks can be found throughout the sitcom's 11 season run, and are often remembered fondly as some of the best installments in the show's history.
The dead seal episode, which was inspired by real events, stands out as one example. In it, the titular doctor (Kelsey Grammer) and his brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce), attempt to hold a sophisticated dinner party while simultaneously dealing with a stubborn seal carcass that repeatedly washes up by the decking of their beach house. It's silly but somehow doesn't feel out of place within the overall "Frasier" canon.
But the finest farce in "Frasier" history is arguably the season five episode "The Ski Lodge," in which Dr. Crane, Niles, their father Martin (John Mahoney), his carer Daphne (Jane Leeves), and her friend Annie (Cynthia LaMontagne) escape to the mountain for a weekend excursion. Once there, they meet their ski instructor and gourmet chef, Gui (James Patrick Stuart). Of course, this being "Frasier," nothing quite goes to plan. Every single one of the weekend vacationers finds themselves pining after a different member of the group, and not a single one has their affections reciprocated by the right person. It made for one of the best episodes of "Frasier," but putting it together wasn't just a case of fine-tuning the farce to ensure it fit the tone of the show. In fact, it presented some challenges that were more mathematical than anything else.
Frasier's first bedroom farce
As the great Krusty the Clown reminded us all during the episode of "The Simpsons" where David Hyde Pierce guest-starred, "The joke's only funny when the sap's got dignity." While Frasier and his brother might suffer from an overabundance of ego and a persistent lack of self-awareness, dignity might be the one thing they actually manage to pull off — at least before they invariably sabotage themselves in some ridiculous manner. Which is probably why farce worked so well throughout every season of "Frasier," despite its otherwise more sophisticated approach to comedy. Having the dignified Dr. Crane and his brother frequently finding themselves brought swiftly down to earth was never not funny.
But in "The Ski Lodge," everyone becomes the butt of the joke by the episode's end, with each individual member of the group ending up in the wrong bedroom before they all discover they've been getting their signals crossed all night. In Yahoo!'s oral history of the episode writer/director Joe Keenan recalled the unique challenges this particular farce, with its large ensemble, presented.
As Keenan remembered, by season five, the show had never done a "full-blown bedroom farce," and with so many players involved in the story, he and the writing team had to make sure they planned things out carefully. The idea they came up with was that Frasier would be chasing Daphne's friend, Annie, who'd be chasing Niles, who'd be chasing Daphne, who'd be chasing Gui, who'd be chasing Niles. Unsurprisingly, writing the actual episode based on that premise proved a tad tricky.
'A precise chain of misunderstandings'
Joe Keenan explained how, once the writers had figured out who was chasing who, he took on responsibility for actually writing the episode:
"The way a script was usually written was, the room would come up with the idea and then break it down into scenes. Then the writer would always go off and write an outline, and then everybody would read the outline and talk about that, and adjustments would be made as needed before the script was written. This was a little different, in that once we had the theme of who was chasing who, I said, 'Let me see if I can figure it out.'"
Though "Frasier" always took chances with comedy, figuring out the show's inaugural bedroom farce proved particularly difficult. The final episode flows so well you'd never know Keenan struggled significantly to put everything together. As the writer explained:
"More so than most of the farces, it was very mathematical, a much more complicated, precise chain of misunderstandings to get everybody knocking on the wrong bedroom door by the middle of the second act."
By the end of the episode, everyone has discovered the truth — although Niles' love for Daphne remains a secret — prompting Frasier to lament the fact that with "all the lust coursing through this lodge," not a single person was actually chasing after him. Even as everyone involved becomes the butt of the joke, then, perhaps Keenan's greatest accomplishment was still having the central "sap" end up with the most pie on his face.