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Ted Danson Describes Oval Office ‘Noogie’

By Kim LaCapria
Published on: 05:48 PST, Oct 21, 2013

Ted Danson now stars on CSI as investigator D.B. Russell, but the former Cheers star was dishing on his political pals this morning on CBS This Morning.

While Ted Danson was a facet of one of TV’s most influential sitcoms, he’s also proud of his new gig — even though he’s a relative newcomer.

Danson spoke today about his current work, saying of his addition to the team:

“I can boast on the show because I’m the new boy… I’ve only been there for 50 episodes, but it’s pretty rare that a show does 300 episodes and is still the top one or two in the world.”

And while Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson — along with Norm and Cliff — are part of TV history, he doesn’t think actors are so much the lifeblood of television hits.

Of his number of big titles past and present, Danson muses:

“The writing attracts the good actors and then you get the good directors, but it starts in the writing.”

The actor’s humility is both a current and past thing, as he not only downplays his role in his role, but also attributes his success to the success of Cheers — and admits that like viewers, he still hangs on to the old characters he played:

“I am forever grateful for Cheers. It’s the reason why I’m sitting here now. Plus I think of everything I do as Sam Malone – Sam Malone sees dead people now, Sam Malone becomes a doctor.”

Danson also dished on his close friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton, through Mary Steenburgen. He explains of the relationship:

“They were best friends and – I mean – he gave her away at our wedding… It’s hard to believe still to me sometimes how close we all are, because it sounds kind of pretentious, but they are best friends – I mean – I watched her give him a ‘noogie’ in The Oval Office.”

You can watch Ted Danson’s CBS interview above.

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