JOHN CLEESE hopped on over to that bar in Boston where everybody knows your name to guest-star in an episode of "Cheers" entitled "Simon Says." "Cheers," of course, was NBC's most popular sitcom for many years, and Cleese's guest bit as a pompous psychiatrist suited him, and the show, well. Cleese won an Emmy for his appearance, and there were plans to reprise the character in a future episode, but Cleese was shooting a film and was not available. John Cleese did his old friends Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie a favor by appearing on their TV show "The Goodies." (He had worked with them for many years on the radio show "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again", and also worked with Tim in At Last The 1948 Show and How to Irritate People.) The Goodies, a childish and silly show, were rivals of the Pythons in their own way. At the end of the 1973 Christmas special "The Goodies and the Beanstalk," Tim is surprised to discover a genie inside a tin of beans - it's John Cleese! The Python theme tune plays, and John calls out "And now for something ..." before Tim gives him a filthy look and says "Push off!" John looks at Tim disdainfully, and shouts "Kid's programme!" before vanishing. Tim shuts the can tight as the credits roll. The friendly rivalry between the Goodies and Cleese continued on the radio show "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again." In Eric Idle's "Rutland Dirty Weekend Book," Eric suggested that the Goodies were ripping off old Python bits ... and said they'll be doing "The Goodies and the Holy Grail" next!

Thanks to Alley Ernst for the Cheers ep, and Darrell for the Goodies pics.