Day asked Danson what it was like to end Cheers. He also shared his own concerns about “overstay[ing] my welcome” and becoming known for one role.
“I think I left Cheers because I went, ‘I’m blowing s— up in my life for the better,'” Danson said in response. “I was changing for the better and working really hard at that, so I thought, might as well jump completely off the cliff.”
After 11 seasons and some personal drama behind the scenes, the Good Place actor thought it was time to try something new, just to see if he could. He said it helped that his character Sam Malone, while a bit of a chaotic womanizer, “wasn’t part of wacky world.” Instead, he believes his character was a stand-in for the audience at times.
“My job was to love every character in the bar, unconditional love of everybody there, and that allowed the audience into that wacky world,” he said. “That’s how Jimmy Burrows described it. So it was easier to not be Sam Malone than probably it was some of the other characters.”
Danson encouraged the Honey Don’t! actor to surround himself with “the most creative people.” The Three Men and a Baby actor pointed to Day’s work with directors like Guillermo del Toro and Ethan Coen.
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“The whole typecasting thing is, I think, in your hands,” Danson said. “There are little bumps in the road where critics or people don’t want you to be anything else because they discovered you and love you how you are.”
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