Woody Boyd

Woody Boyd
Cheers character
from "I Will Gladly Pay You Tuesday" (episode 75, 1985)
First appearance	Cheers: "Birth, Death, Love and Rice" (season 4, episode 1)
Last appearance	Frasier: "The Show Where Woody Shows Up" (season 6, episode 13)
Portrayed by	Woody Harrelson
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Actor Assistant bartender Politician
Family	Edgel Boyd (father) Margaret Boyd (mother) Tom Boyd (brother)
Spouse(s)	Kelly Gaines
Children	Unnamed son Unnamed daughter
Relatives	Walt (uncle) Fergie (uncle) Russell Boyd (cousin)
Religion	Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (Before marriage) Lutheran Church of America (After marriage)
Nationality	American

Woodrow Huckleberry Tiberius "Woody" Boyd is a character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Woody Harrelson. Woody came to Cheers at the beginning of the fourth season of Cheers in 1985 in the episode "Birth, Death, Love and Rice".

Woody appeared in 200 episodes of Cheers between 1985 and 1993. He also made a guest appearance on Frasier in the episode "The Show Where Woody Shows Up" and on The Simpsons episode "Fear of Flying".

Woody was born on July 23 (like the actor who played him) and hails from Hanover, Indiana, where he was voted the smartest student in school. He and his childhood sweetheart, Beth Curtis, were also voted "Couple Most Likely to Explode," as they were both obese at the time. It was later revealed that they always ate, to excess, around one another due to their palpable sexual tension.

Woody followed in Coach's footsteps in many ways, failing to understand the most obvious jokes, concepts, and situations. Woody was essentially a straight man for all of the other characters at Cheers, though his humor stemmed from his misunderstandings. Woody once told Dr. Crane he was the smartest man he knew, apart from Cliff Clavin.

Woody seemed to have an off-center mentality, misunderstanding others' comments much as Coach had done. For example, when Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers appears and starts singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", Woody asks him, "How come you changed your name from Righteous?" With the exception of Carla, Eddie, and Sam, Woody always addresses other characters by their honorific. Sometimes this leads to awkward phrasing such as referring to Lilith as Mrs. Dr. Sternin-Crane.

Woody arrived at Cheers expecting to meet his "pen pal" Coach, with whom he exchanged pens instead of letters. Upon learning of Coach's death, he filled the open bartender position, and was quickly accepted by the staff and regulars. He also developed a "big brother/little brother" relationship with Sam Malone, the owner of Cheers. In the coming years, he filled the void left by Coach and eventually married the wealthy Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson), overcoming her father's objections to Woody's lowly station in life as well as conflicting religious views: he's Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, she's "Evangelical Lutheran Church of America" (The episode uses "of" but the domination is "in America").