Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Jay Thomas may not be a name many kids know now, but he was a constant comedic presence for those that came of age in the ’80s and ’90s–especially if you were a sitcom superfan. After kicking off his TV career with a supporting role in Robin Williams’ Mork & Mindy, Thomas became the go-to guy for sitcoms needing a pinch hitter (Family Ties one week, The Golden Girls the next).
But odds are if you know Jay Thomas, who passed away today at the age of 69, you know him from his recurring role on Cheers as Carla Tortelli’s hockey-playing husband Eddie LeBec. Thomas popped up 9 times between 1987 and 1989, starting with the Season Five two-parter “Never Love a Goalie.” Carla (Rhea Perlman) and Eddie, the goalie for the Boston Bruins, hit it off immediately, even if their love affair put a temporary jinx on the Bruins’ wining streak. Carla got pregnant with Eddie’s kid in Season Six, leading to the two getting hitched in the two-parter “Little Carla, Happy at Last.”
Since Cheers was primarily set at a bar, we only saw Carla’s home life when it pulled up a stool. Eddie showed up a few more times in Season Six and Seven, but then something major happened off-camera in between April and November of 1989.
As Cheers scribe Ken Levine–the guy that added Eddie to the show–explained on his blog, Thomas got caught saying something on the radio that didn’t sit right with Rhea or the writer. Thomas, who also worked as a radio host while doing his guest roles on sitcoms, answered a caller’s question about being on Cheers. As Levine recalled, Thomas basically said, “It’s brutal. I have to kiss Rhea Perlman.” Legend has it that Rhea Perlman was listening at the time.
Yikes!
That was it for Eddie LeBec. When Cheers came back for Season Eight, Eddie was nowhere to be seen. The episode “Death Takes a Holiday on Ice” got rid of Eddie for good (as Decider’s Joe Reid recalled in a recent list). Levine and his writing partner David Isaacs killed Eddie off-screen in a freak Zamboni accident, and then revealed at his funeral that he’d been a polygamist all along. His other wife, it turned out, looked just like Carla.
The tale of Thomas’ awkward exit from Cheers has become a bit of sitcom lore, a piece of TV history that’s recounted time and time again. In a way that’s fitting, as Thomas was also known for his annual telling of a Lone Ranger story on The Late Show with David Letterman’s annual Christmas episodes. Jay Thomas the storyteller kept a story alive year after year, and Jay Thomas the actor gave sitcom fans a story to tell year after year.
