Jason Sudeikis is honoring his late uncle George Wendt.
The veteran actor, who was identified for enjoying the enduring Norm Peterson on “Cheers” for all 11 seasons, from 1982 to 1993, died Might 20 at age 76 in his sleep.
Almost two weeks later, Sudeikis, 49, spoke about Wendt’s loss of life for the primary time on the Large Slick 2025 kickoff in Kansas Metropolis over the weekend.
“With regard to my uncle George, there’s that saying, ‘don’t meet your heroes… usually cause they let you down,’ I assume is the back half of that statement. But he’s not one of those people,” the “Ted Lasso” star stated throughout a information convention on the occasion.
“He’s as fun and kind and as warm as any character he played on television or in films,” Sudeikis continued about Wendt. “He was an incredible influence to me, both as someone that plays the trail being from the Midwest and teaching me that acting was a career you could actually have, and it’s also a career where you could meet the love of your life like his wife, and AKA permanent girlfriend, Bernadette.”
“He also always kept connected to his family and to his roots both both in Chicago where he’s from, and from the time he spent here going to Rockhurst college and to a bar named Mike’s a whole bunch where I think he logged maybe 18 credit hours,” Sudeikis joked. “But it was all for preparation of a job that we all know him for on ‘Cheers,’ and all time well spent. But yeah, we miss him greatly and I love him dearly.”
Sudeikis is internet hosting the profit occasion to lift cash for Youngsters’s Mercy Hospital. He sweetly wore a jersey with Wendt’s final identify on the again and the quantity 76 (Wendt’s age at loss of life) on the movie star softball sport.
Sudeikis and Wendt have at all times been shut, with “The George Wendt Show” star gushing over the “Ted Lasso” actor’s profession in 2024.
“It was Letterman or Conan, he said, ‘Did your uncle George have any advice for you?’” Wendt recalled on the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast. “And Jason goes — he’s so sharp — he goes, ‘Yeah he told me just get on the best show on television and one of the greatest shows of all time and just pretty much take it from there.’ And he goes, ‘So I did.’”
“He received ‘SNL,’” the comedian, who is the brother of Sudeikis’ mother, Kathy, added.
“He’s such a great kid,” Wendt continued of Sudeikis. “Very proud. Proud especially, you know, not only of the success, but he’s solid. Have you read profiles and stuff? I mean he is such a mesh, so smart, so thoughtful. I mean, it all comes out in the show. Right?”
Through the interview, Wendt additionally mirrored on his personal journey into Hollywood.
“I didn’t want to be in a job I hated for the rest of my life,” he admitted earlier than noting he went via a protracted listing of careers earlier than touchdown on comedy.
Wendt ended up becoming a member of Chicago’s improvisational comedy troupe Second Metropolis, which he known as “a blast.”
“I had fun and it wasn’t really until I’d been there working, and then they called from Leo Burnett or something and said, ‘Hey, can you send the people, some of the cast over… we’re going to do some commercials or we’re going to have some demos for commercials,’ that sort of thing, and they said, ‘Well you have to join SAG.’”
Sudeikis, in the meantime, opened up about his relationship with Wendt throughout a 2011 interview with Playboy.
“He’s always been very encouraging, but there was no ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’ kind of relationship between him and I,” the “Horrible Bosses” star defined. “He didn’t take me to the park to explain comic timing. There was nothing like that. He was just a good example that being an actor was a viable option.”
Sudeikis added, “Here’s a guy from the Midwest, in my family, who took the road less traveled and it worked out for him. The advice he gave me, and I say this jokingly, is ‘Get on one of the best sitcoms of all time and then ride it out.’”
The “We’re the Millers” alum received his begin as a author on “Saturday Night Live” earlier than starring as a solid member for 9 seasons from 2005 to 2013.
In 2008, Sudeikis revealed to The Put up that Wendt didn’t give him any ideas for being on the late-night sketch present, regardless of the “Cheers” actor’s frequent appearances on it over time.
“Not at all,” he confessed. “George is great at shepherding out advance, like, ‘You know who you should talk to?’ But the neat thing is, my third week there, Robert Smigel, who wrote the Superfan sketches, was like, ‘Wanna help me write a Superfans thing for your uncle George and Horatio [Sanz]?’ So I’m sitting there with comedy legend Robert Smigel my third week in this job that I can’t believe I have, and we’re writing stuff for my uncle George based on characters he’s done since I was 15. It’s crazy.”
In 2017, Sudeikis attended “I Can’t Believe They Wendt There: The Roast Of George Wendt” in Chicago, Illinois. On the crimson carpe earlier than the roast, the “Horrible Bosses 2” vet cheekily instructed ABC7, “When I realized that that show [“Cheers”] was watched by different folks than my household, I believed, ‘oh wow.’”
Wendt’s household rep confirmed his loss of life to The Put up final month, stating that the star “died peacefully in his sleep while at home” that morning.
“George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him,” their assertion continued. “He will be missed forever. The family has requested privacy during this time.”
At the moment, no official explanation for loss of life has been revealed.
Throughout his time on the NBC sitcom, Wendt garnered six consecutive Emmy nominations for his efficiency as Norm.
The solid of “Cheers” just lately had a mini-reunion on the 2024 Emmys.
Wendt, together with Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Rhea Perlman and John Ratzenberger, reunited as a part of a particular tribute on the awards ceremony honoring a number of the most beloved exhibits in TV historical past.
The solid appeared on stage inside a reproduction of the enduring Boston bar, with host Anthony Anderson calling the sitcom “one of the greatest television shows of all time.”
“This feels nice to be here in front of you,” Danson, 77, stated, earlier than Ratzenberger, 78, chimed in that the occasion was a “long overdue class reunion.”
Noticeably absent was Woody Harrelson, who couldn’t make ‘Cheers’ as a result of he’s in a play,” Jesse Collins, an govt producer for the Emmys, instructed the Hollywood Reporter on the time.
Following the information of Wendt’s loss of life, two of his “Cheers” co-stars launched touching statements about his life.
“I am devastated to hear that Georgie is no longer with us,” a rep for Danson shared with The Put up. “I am sending all my love to Bernadette and the children. It is going to take me a long time to get used to this. I love you, Georgie.”
Perlman instructed The Put up partially, “George Wendt was the sweetest, kindest man I ever met. It was impossible not to like him.”
