The Hilarious Seinfeld Episode Where Cheers Star George Wendt Berates George Costanza

The classic sitcom "Seinfeld" mined a lot of its humor from the ludicrous things done by its four self-centered leads, but one of the funniest bits on the whole series focused on George Costanza (Jason Alexander) telling actor George Wendt, playing himself, that "Cheers" should take place somewhere other than a bar. It's impossible to imagine having the audacity to tell Wendt, who starred as Norm on "Cheers" (and a bunch of other shows) something that bonkers, but it's well within George's purview, and it goes about as well as you can expect, with Wendt eventually making fun of George on television, in front of a live studio audience. This all goes down in the season 4 two-part premiere, "The Trip" (the only episode that does not feature Elaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), leading to pure humiliation for George. 

It's pretty awful to have your (admittedly terrible) ideas dismissed by someone you admire, but having them made fun of on television for the entire country to hear, and by someone as beloved as the late Wendt, is the kind of misery only "Seinfeld" creator Larry David could possibly devise. Though it's all horrible for George, the episode is hilarious, and Wendt's performance is a big part of it.

In "The Trip," Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and George head to Los Angeles when Seinfeld is offered tickets to "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" so Seinfeld can do a stand-up appearance. Backstage, George meets both "L.A. Law" star Corbin Bernsen and Wendt, and he has suggestions for both on how to improve their shows. He tells Wendt that "Cheers" could take place somewhere else, too, because people don't "always meet in bars," and while Wendt is cordial, he's also rather dismissive. Then the man at the center of the longest-running joke on "Cheers" goes on "The Tonight Show" and absolutely eviscerates George's ideas, as does Bernsen. They joke about how awful it is when fans give them their worst ideas as if they have any merit, and during the commercial break, even determine that they both spoke with the same guy — at this point, George is shrinking into his seat and trying to disappear. 

It's really funny stuff that George kind of deserves because he's, well, George, and it's made funnier by the way "Seinfeld" handled other sitcoms over the years. Clearly, "Cheers" is fictional and exists within the "Seinfeld" universe, but NBC sitcoms "Mad About You" and "Friends" are canonically a part of the "Seinfeld" universe, meaning the "Seinfeld" gang could never tune into an episode of Joey and Chandler's antics. Oh well, at least we know they're not all trapped in a snowglobe ... right?

Watching Wendt and Alexander be awkward back and forth, only to have Wendt unleash on George so spectacularly, is truly something, and it shows that despite being best known for playing Norm, Wendt was capable of all kinds of performances, even when he played himself.