Editing Cliff Clavin

{{short description|Fictional character in the series Cheers}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox character
| name               = Cliff Clavin
| series             = [[Cheers]]
| image              = Cliff Clavin posing in "Please Mr Postman".png
| caption            = from "Please Mr. Postman" (episode 158, 1989)
| first              = ''[[Cheers]]'': <br>"[[Give Me a Ring Sometime]]" <br>(season 1, episode 1)
| last               = ''[[Frasier]]'': <br> "[[Cheerful Goodbyes]]" <br>(season 9, episode 21)
| portrayer          = [[John Ratzenberger]]
| occupation         = Mail carrier<ref>{{cite news|title= One Last Round as 'Cheers' Finale Is Taped|work= The New York Times|date=April 2, 1993|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/02/news/one-last-round-as-cheers-finale-is-taped.html?scp=16&sq=sam%20malone%20cheers&st=cse|access-date=August 16, 2010 | first=Robert | last=Reinhold}}</ref>
| gender             = Male
| family             = [[Esther Clavin]] (mother)<br />Cliff Clavin, Sr. (father)
| nationality        = American
}}

'''Clifford C. Clavin, Jr.'''<ref>{{cite book|title=Cheers TV Show: A Comprehensive Reference|page=241|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pEN6sTeG20AC&pg=GBS.PA241|last=Bjorklund|first=Dennis A|chapter=Cliff Clavin|date=September 2014|isbn=9780967985237|access-date=July 8, 2014}}</ref> (born 1947<ref>{{cite episode|series=Cheers|title=A Kiss Is Still a Kiss|number=10|season=6}}</ref> or 1949) is a fictional character on the American television show ''[[Cheers]]'' played by [[John Ratzenberger]].<ref>{{cite news|title= Hoisting a Few to Say Goodbye to Themselves; At Tavern in Larchmont, the Appeal of 'Cheers' Can Be Seen in the Barroom Mirror|work= The New York Times|date=May 21, 1993|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/21/nyregion/hoisting-few-say-goodbye-themselves-tavern-larchmont-appeal-cheers-can-be-seen.html?scp=13&sq=sam%20malone%20cheers&st=cse|access-date=August 16, 2010 | first=Jacques | last=Steinberg}}</ref> A [[postal worker]], he is the bar's resident know-it-all. Cliff was not originally scripted in the series' pilot episode, "[[Give Me a Ring Sometime]]", but the producers decided to add a know-it-all character and Ratzenberger helped flesh it out. The actor made guest appearances as Cliff on ''[[The Tortellis]]'', ''[[St. Elsewhere]]'', ''[[Wings (1990 TV series)|Wings]]'', and ''[[Frasier]]''.

== Development ==
{{anchor|Writing development}}
[[File:John Ratzenberger at the 1992 Emmy Awards (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=.6|Ratzenberger at the [[44th Primetime Emmy Awards|1992 Emmy Awards]]]]

=== Creation ===
The original script for the 1982 pilot, "[[Give Me a Ring Sometime]]", did not include [[Norm Peterson]] or Cliff Clavin. [[George Wendt]] and [[John Ratzenberger]] originally auditioned for a minor character, George, and George Wendt was hired for that role.<ref name=112wendt>Wendt, p. 112.</ref><ref name=wendt113-114>Wendt, pp. 113–114. John Ratzenberger auditioned for the role George, as well.</ref> George was Diane Chambers' first customer, had one line (consisting of the order, "Beer!") and was intended for only one episode.<ref name=112wendt/>

Since Wendt was cast as George (who evolved into Norm Peterson),<ref name=wendt113-114/> Ratzenberger suggested to the producers that a know-it-all character should be added; this led to the creation of Cliff Clavin before the pilot was filmed.<ref name=wendt113-114/> Ratzenberger based his role on a police officer in his hometown of [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]]. Cliff was originally a security guard, but two days before the pilot's filming he was changed to a postman; the producers thought a postman would be more knowledgeable than a security guard. Ratzenberger agreed to seven episodes of the [[Cheers season 1|first season]], but his role expanded.<ref name=security>{{cite news|author=Buck, Jerry|date=June 28, 1985|newspaper=[[The Day (New London)|The Day]]|access-date=November 1, 2012|page=49|title=Actor created character from hometown friends|location=[[New London, Connecticut]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vJhGAAAAIBAJ&dq=cheers%20norm%20george-wendt&pg=3045%2C4337632}}</ref>
{{blockquote|1=Cliff is the kind of guy who wishes he'd been a combat [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]], but maybe he was nearsighted or had flat feet and became a mailman. He loves the respect he gets. [...] As for women, Cliff is like the construction workers who whistle at women but turn to a quivering mass when they're face-to-face with a woman. The greatest fear of men is that they won't live up to their expectations.<ref name=security/>|2=John Ratzenberger|3=[[Associated Press]], June 1985}}

[[Stephen Tobolowsky]] told SplitSider.com that he had auditioned for Cliff.<ref>{{cite interview|url=http://splitsider.com/2012/12/the-lost-roles-interview-with-stephen-tobolowsky/|title=The Lost Roles Interview with Stephen Tobolowsky|date=December 13, 2012|first=Stephen|last=Tobolowsky|subject-link=Stephen Tobolowsky|interviewer=Bradford Evans|work=SplitSider.com|access-date=April 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406034840/http://splitsider.com/2012/12/the-lost-roles-interview-with-stephen-tobolowsky/|archive-date=April 6, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Other appearances===
On the ''Cheers'' 200th-episode special, host [[John McLaughlin (host)|John McLaughlin]] asked Ratzenberger about Cliff Clavin. The actor replied that Cliff would describe himself as the "[[Wingnut (hardware)|wingnut]] that holds [[Western culture|Western civilization]] together"; however, Ratzenberger said he would describe Cliff simply as "a winged nut". When McLaughlin asked Ratzenberger if there was any part of him in Cliff, the actor replied that although he was interested in fascinating facts, the only part of Cliff in him was that they both wear white socks.

Cliff appeared in 273 episodes of ''Cheers'' between 1982 and 1993. He also made guest appearances as an animated character (voiced by Ratzenberger) in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Fear of Flying (The Simpsons)|Fear of Flying]]",<ref name="BBC">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season6/page11.shtml|title=Fear of Flying|access-date=August 19, 2010|author1=Martyn, Warren|author2=Wood, Adrian|year=2000|publisher=BBC|archive-date=September 16, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916090323/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season6/page11.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> in ''[[The Tortellis]]'' episode "Frankie Comes to Dinner", in the ''[[Wings (1990 TV series)|Wings]]'' episode "[[Wings episodes#Season Two: 1990.E2.80.931991|The Story of Joe]]" and the ''Frasier'' episode "[[Cheerful Goodbyes]]".

In 2014, Ratzenberger reprised his role as Cliff in the [[RadioShack]] [[Super Bowl XLVIII]] commercial "[[The '80s Called]]".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://people.com/tv/radioshack-super-bowl-commercial-every-80s-reference-in-the-ad-spot/ |title=Celebrating Every '80s Reference in That RadioShack Super Bowl Commercial |author=Jones, Nate |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |date=2 February 2014 |access-date=25 May 2017}}</ref>

==Role==
Cliff is a [[postal worker]], and [[Norm Peterson]]'s [[best friend (friendship)|best friend]]. He lives with his mother, [[Esther Clavin]] ([[Frances Sternhagen]])—first in his childhood two-story house (which was [[bulldozer|bulldozed]] in the sixth season's "The Last Angry Mailman" after Esther sold it to a convenience-store builder), and then in a [[Condominium (living space)|condominium]] (which first appears in the season 6 episode "My Fair Clavin") with a [[sofa bed|sofabed]]. He is ridiculed by friends and enemies alike, including [[Carla Tortelli|Carla]] ([[Rhea Perlman]]) and Norm, for his know-it-all attitude. He appears on ''Jeopardy!'' in the season-eight episode "[[What Is... Cliff Clavin?]]", where he wins $22,000 in the first two rounds with questions that favor him, but loses it all with a wrong answer in [[Jeopardy!#Final Jeopardy!|Final Jeopardy]] (launching into a tirade which frightens host [[Alex Trebek]]). Cliff has a few relationships (mostly short-lived and hopeless) with women. He then has a relationship with fellow postal worker [[Margaret O'Keefe]] ([[Annie Golden]]) since ''Cheers''{{'}} [[Cheers season 7|seventh season (1988–89)]]. When Margaret becomes pregnant with another man's child in 1993's "Do Not Forsake Me O My Postman", Cliff stays by her side as the baby's stepfather before Margaret returns to the child's biological father.

In "The Barstoolie" (1985), Cliff meets his father, Cliff Clavin Sr. ([[Dick O'Neill]]), who left Cliff and his mother years earlier when Cliff was still a child. Cliff later realizes that his father is a fraudster and a fugitive from justice, and will run off again. Cliff does not want to turn his father in; Cliff Sr. disappears, leaving his son devastated.

In the 1993 [[One for the Road (Cheers)|series finale]], Cliff finally receives a promotion. In "[[The Show Where Sam Shows Up]]" (1995), an episode of the ''Cheers'' spinoff ''[[Frasier]]'', [[Sam Malone|Sam]] ([[Ted Danson]]) tells Frasier that Cliff has not left home since he read an article about [[necrotizing fasciitis|flesh-eating bacteria]]; however, Sam then discovers that Cliff is one of the other men with whom Sam's fiancé Sheila ([[Téa Leoni]]) had had sex. In another ''Frasier'' episode, "The Show Where Woody Shows Up", Woody tells Frasier that Cliff almost married a mail-order bride, but she decided to go back to [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] after spending a few days with him. In another ''Frasier'' episode, "Cheerful Goodbyes", Cliff has his retirement party at the airport bar; he had planned to move to Florida, but decides to stay in Boston (to Carla's dismay).

== Reception ==
On the ''[[NBC News]]'' website, Wendall Wittler  called Cliff a "classic" character; however, Wittler found his friendship with [[Norm Peterson]] "superficial" and unworthy of comparison with the relationship between Ralph Kramden ([[Jackie Gleason]]) and Ed Norton ([[Art Carney]]) on ''[[The Honeymooners]]''.<ref>{{cite news|author=Wittler, Wendall|work=[[MSNBC]]|date=May 5, 2004|access-date=July 16, 2012|title=TV friendship before ''Friends''|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4894116|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103225206/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/4894116/ns/today-entertainment/t/tv-friendship-friends/|url-status=live|archive-date=January 3, 2013}}</ref>

According to an April 1–4, 1993 telephone survey of 1,011 people by the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press (now the [[Pew Research Center]]),{{#tag:ref|The margin of error in the survey was ±3%, according to the polls.<ref name="Gazette survey"/>|group=N}} Sam Malone was voted a "favorite character" by twenty-six percent of respondents and Cliff Clavin by two percent.<ref name="Gazette survey">Mills, Kim I. "TV viewers glad Sam stayed single." ''[[The Daily Gazette|The Sunday Gazette]]'' [Schenectady, NY] May 2, 1993: A3. ''Google News''. Web. Jan 21, 2012. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UpYxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RuEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1185%2C331083]. In this web source, scroll down to see its headline.</ref><ref name="Morning Call survey">Leefler, Pete. "Show Piles Up Viewer Cheers." ''[[The Morning Call]]'' [Allentown, NY] May 2, 1993: A01. Web. Jan 17, 2012. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120724214649/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/mcall/access/92139221.html?dids=92139221:92139221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT]. {{subscription required}} [[Norm Peterson]] was voted 10 percent for a spinoff. The source mentions only Sam Malone, Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), and Norm.</ref> Choosing a character for a spinoff, 15 percent voted for Sam Malone, 29 percent opposed a character spinoff, and less than 10 percent voted for Cliff.<ref name="Morning Call survey"/><ref>"Mixed Reaction to Post-Seinfeld Era." ''Pew Research Center for the People & the Press''. ''[[Pew Research Center]]'' May 10, 1998. Web. Feb 10, 2012 [http://www.people-press.org/1998/05/10/mixed-reaction-to-post-seinfeld-era/]</ref>

Cliff's appearance on ''Jeopardy!'' in "What Is... Cliff Clavin?" received several reviews. In his book ''Hope'', Andrew Razeghi described Cliff as a poster child for psychologist [[J. P. Guilford]] for a response to the Final Jeopardy! clue which Razeghi considered neither right nor wrong.<ref name=razeghi34>Razeghi 2006, p. 34.</ref> Jeffrey Robinson of [[Internet Brands|DVD Talk]] found the ''Jeopardy!'' category topics during Cliff's appearance (relating to the post office, beer, and other items fitting Cliff) a "riot".<ref name=dvdseason8>Robinson, Jeffrey. [http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/22280/cheers-the-complete-eighth-season/ "Cheers – The Complete Eighth Season"]. DVD Talk. June 18, 2006. Retrieved May 11, 2012.</ref> In the ''Jeopardy!'' fan community, Cliff's losing $22,000 (won in two rounds) in Final Jeopardy! inspired "Clavin's rule", discouraging future contestants from attempting the same.<ref name=fan>"[http://www.j-archive.com/help.php#clavinsrule J! Archive Help: Clavin's Rule]." ''J! Archive'', 2012. Web. May 11, 2012.</ref>

== Lawsuit ==
In 1993, Ratzenberger and Wendt sued Host International for [[copyright infringement]], [[trademark infringement]] and violating the actors' [[personality rights]]. The company operated airport lounges styled similarly to ''Cheers'' which included two robots, one heavyset and the other a postal worker, which the actors claimed resembled Cliff Clavin and Norm Peterson. The lawsuit was declined at its first and second hearings. At the first, the judge ruled that the defendant did not violate copyright because [[Paramount Pictures]] had already granted it a license to produce ''Cheers''-based bars. At the second, the judge ruled that the robots did not resemble the characters.<ref name=lawsuit>{{cite news|page=6B|agency=[[The Associated Press]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3TsqAAAAIBAJ&dq=cliff%20norm%20lawsuit%20cheers&pg=4801%2C3438594|newspaper=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]|title=Justices Reject ''Cheers'' Appeal|date=October 3, 2000|access-date=July 23, 2012|location=[[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]}}</ref> In 1997, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals]] reversed both rulings on the grounds that Paramount's copyright claim might not have more weight than Ratzenberger and Wendt's ownership of publicity and that the resemblance claim should be decided by a jury, not a judge.<ref>{{cite court|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1096410.html|litigants=Wendt v. Host International, Inc.|court=[[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|9th Cir.]]|date=1997|access-date=July 23, 2012, at ''[[FindLaw]]''}} No. 96-55243.</ref><ref name=lawsuit/> The case resulted in an undisclosed 2001 settlement by Host International.<ref name=settlement>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Qv5OAAAAIBAJ&dq=cliff%20norm%20lawsuit&pg=3080%2C2190343|title=''Cheers'' Lawsuit Happily Settled|agency=[[The Associated Press]]|date=June 24, 2001|page=4D|newspaper=Sunday [[Star-News]]|access-date=July 23, 2012}}</ref>

==Notes==
;Footnotes
<references group=N/>
;Inline citations
{{reflist|30em}}

=== References ===
*[[George Wendt|Wendt, George]]. ''Drinking with George''. New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009. Print. {{ISBN|978-1-4391-4958-4}}.
*Razeghi, Andrew (2006). "The Psychobiology of Cliff Clavin". ''Hope: How Triumphant Leaders Create the Future''. John Wiley & Sons. {{ISBN|978-0-7879-8126-6}}.

{{Cheers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clavin, Cliff}}
[[Category:American male characters in sitcoms]]
[[Category:Cheers characters]]
[[Category:Fictional United States Postal Service workers]]
[[Category:Television characters introduced in 1982]]