This yr’s Massive Slick charity occasion in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, is lacking one high-profile visitor, following the loss of life of George Wendt. However Wendt’s nephew Jason Sudeikis paid tribute to the late Cheers star throughout a kickoff press convention on the Kids’s Mercy Hospital on Friday, Might 30.
“He was a tremendous man,” Sudeikis mentioned, shortly earlier than his microphone minimize off, as seen within the KSHB video beneath. “That’s him. That’s him messing with the soundboard. Like, ‘Don’t speak about me.’ Simply good Midwestern humility and sound know-how.”
And Cheers followers will probably be glad to know Wendt was simply as toast-worthy as his character, Norm. “With regard to my uncle George, I imply, there’s that previous saying of like, ‘Don’t meet your heroes’ — often ‘[because] they allow you to down,’ I assume, is the again half of that assertion — however he’s not a type of folks,” Sudeikis mentioned. “He’s as enjoyable and type and as heat as any character he performed on tv or in movies.”
The Ted Lasso star additionally spoke about his uncle’s “unimaginable affect.” Wendt confirmed him, for instance, that appearing is “a profession you could possibly even have, in the event you actually care about it” and “additionally a profession the place you could possibly meet the love of your life, like his spouse, a.okay.a. everlasting girlfriend, Bernadette.” (Wendt wed Bernadette Birkett in 1978, and she or he voiced Norm’s offscreen spouse, Vera, on Cheers.)
Sudeikis went on: “He additionally at all times stored linked to his household, to his roots, each in Chicago, in fact, the place he’s from, however then additionally the time he spent right here, going to Rockhurst Faculty and to a bar known as Mike’s an entire bunch, the place I believe he logged, possibly, 18 credit score hours. However it was all in preparation of a job that everyone knows him for, on Cheers. All time nicely spent. However yeah, we miss him enormously, and yeah, I really like him dearly.”
Wendt, who died in his sleep on Might 20 at age 76, was one of many stars who returned to Kansas Metropolis in 2010 for the very first Massive Slick, an annual occasion that raises cash for Kids’s Mercy with the aim of eradicating pediatric most cancers.
“George was at all times keen to take part,” Rob Riggle mentioned on the press convention on Friday. “He was at all times an lively participant in Massive Slick, whether or not he was umpiring the sport, on stage, no matter it was. He was straightforward with amusing and at all times enjoyable to be round.”
Paul Rudd mentioned, “It’s going to be felt, his absence this yr, although he’s so part of it simply as a lot as any of us. He’s a very, actually candy man. I imply, I really like him.”
And Eric Stonestreet recalled hanging out with Wendt at a resort at a time that Wendt received a yearning for cheeseburgers from the Kansas Metropolis chain Winstead’s. “He’s like, ‘We should always ship anyone to order us a bunch of them.’ And miraculously, 100 cheeseburgers confirmed up,” Stonestreet mentioned. “And we sat there and toasted one another with cheeseburgers. It was excellent.”