George Wendt, a frequent late-night guest and a Saturday Night Live favorite, has died.
Wendt passed away peacefully in his sleep early this morning, TMZ reports. The outlet sites family members who confirmed Wendt’s death and recalled him as “a doting family man, a well-loved friend and a confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him.”
Beyond his star-making turn as Norm Peterson on Cheers, Wendt cemented a spot in late-night history as a familiar face on Saturday Night Live.
Wendt only hosted SNL twice, both during Cheers’ run–first for the show’s Francis Ford Coppola-directed episode in 1986, and again 1991. But he went on to cameo on the show nine times the years—mostly to reprise his character Bob Swerski, of “Bill Swerski’s Superfans.” One of the best-known recurring SNL sketches of its era, the Chicago Superfans made “Da Bears” one of the show’s breakout catchphrases.
Wendt first appeared in the second-ever Superfans sketch during his 1991 turn as host. He reprised the role eight more times on SNL proper. He also reprised the character outside of the show, most recently last year for a live Superfans sketch at Kansas City’s Big Slick Celebrity Weekend.
Wendt used his connection to Saturday Night Live to lobby to get his nephew Jason Sudeikis a job on SNL, as revealed in the recent Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night. Sudeikis, the only son of one of Wendt’s six sisters, made his late-night TV debut in a 1998 Late Night with Conan O’Brien episode alongside Wendt’s other family members.
Wendt was a frequent guest on O’Brien’s Late Night, making 11 visits to the show over the years. Wendt also appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Late Night with David Letterman, Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno over the years—include Leno’s infamous post-Cheers finale episode that featured a drunken cast. (Wendt was also interviewed by Leno on a fictional episode of The Tonight Show within an episode of Seinfeld.)
Wendt was 76 years old.
