That Time Mickey Mouse Walked into Cheers
You know Sam, Woody, Carla and Frasier. Not to mention, Lilith, Diane, Norm and Cliff. But do you recall the most famous Cheers patron of all?
On November 13, 1988, none other than Mickey Mouse walked in the underground front door of Cheers. You might assume he was underage, but he was actually celebrating his 60th birthday as a part of the NBC special Mickey’s 60th Birthday. Building off the popularity of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the special made use of cartoons in the real world, and being that it was on NBC, Disney characters crossed over with popular NBC shows like Family Ties, Hunter, L.A. Law and Cheers.
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While all of that is pretty strange, the specific details of his time at Cheers make it particularly compromising for the mouse.
The premise of the special is that, because Mickey used the sorcerer’s hat without permission, the sorcerer casts him out into the real world and creates a spell where nobody can recognize him as Mickey Mouse. After meeting the Family Ties cast, a depressed Mickey saunters into Cheers, hops up on a stool and orders a root beer float. When Cliff asks him if he’s sure he can handle it, Mickey says, “Make it a double!”
After both Norm and Carla make fun of Mickey’s ears, Mickey discovers he doesn’t have the $1.50 to pay for his drink. And so, to make good on his bar tab, Sam offers Mickey a deal: Since it’s Rebecca’s birthday, he asks Mickey to sing her “Happy Birthday.” Although that might seem sincere, Sam is doing it to make Rebecca depressed about her birthday, and in her fragile state, he hopes to swoop in and get her into bed (Mickey, of course, is unaware of the plan, but everyone else has no objections).
With Frasier on the piano, Mickey does a song and dance, and Rebecca bursts into tears right on cue. However, when Sam offers to console her over at his place, she declines. It’s a different story with Mickey, though. When he tells her that she looks “swell,” she asks if she can take him out to dinner and a movie.
Despite the implications of Mickey Mouse entering a bar and proceeding to help a total stranger take advantage of a vulnerable woman, the whole segment is pretty cute. Especially endearing is the ending in which the Cheers gang breaks into the “M-I-C-K-E-Y” song. It’s also fairly nostalgic, as it features 1980s-era Mickey and recalls a time when Cheers was the number one show on TV.
Most of all, it harkens back to a simpler time when Disney crossovers felt more voluntary, as opposed to being contractually obligated by malevolent corporate overlords.
