The NBC comedy Cheers experienced many changes over 11 seasons. It lost some cast members and gained new ones. One constant was always Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman), the Cheers waitress. No matter who came in and out of Cheers, Carla had insults for them. Perlman, however, wanted to go even further.
The Los Angeles Times spoke with the cast of Cheers in 1993 when the show finally concluded. Perlman shared her take on Carla and fears that perhaps Carla got soft by season 11.
Why Carla was endearing on ‘Cheers’
Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) was an easy target for Carla with all her pretentious literary interests. Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) too with all his nonsense stories. But, Carla had an insult for anyone at Cheers, a regular, a customer, even her boss, and audiences loved her for it.
“I always liked Carla,” Perlman told the L.A. Times. “I don’t think you can play the part of someone you don’t like. You have to find a way to like them. I think she is very likable. I don’t think she has changed over the years. She has had a lot more children. Sometimes I wish she would even be sharper with people. I think she is getting lazy.”
The cast and the fans made ‘Cheers’ a great job for Rhea Perlman
As it was coming to an end, Perlman was sincere about what Cheers and Carla meant to her. She won four Emmys for playing Carla over the years and many more nominations, but the people she worked with every day made Cheers a special job.
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“We have been so lucky,” Perlman said. “It has been the dream team. It has just worked out so perfect. You can’t imagine having a better group of people working together. It has been such a blessing.”
While Cheers was on, everybody knew Perlman’s name. They recognized her and shared their love of Cheers with her, so it’s clear they weren’t afraid of Carla.
“People come up to me and say just wonderful things,” Perlman said. “They are always thanking me for all the laughs they have had over the years.”
Rhea Perlman’s favorite episode
After 11 seasons, Cheers clocked 273 episodes. It was still easy for Perlman to pick her favorite, and it was a classic holiday episode.
“The most fun episode that we did was the Thanksgiving show where there was a food fight,” Perlman said. “That was absolutely a ball.”
After Cheers, Perlman would star in movies like Sunset Park, Matilda and Carpool. She reprised the role of Carla on one episode of Frasier and tried her own sitcom, Pearl. After that she appeared on episodes of Mad About You, Ally McBeal, Becker, Law & Order: SVU and many more. She’s recently done voice work for Harley Quinn, Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Little Demon, but we’ll always remember her as Carla.
