“Cheers ”star John Ratzenberger recalls man wielding a samurai sword with costars' names on it: 'It was creepy'

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name — but everybody knowing your name has its drawbacks.

John Ratzenberger recalled an alarming encounter with a Cheers fan during an interview with the Still Here Hollywood podcast. "There was one audience member I remember just watching," the actor behind Cliff Clavin remembered. "And so I'm just looking at the audience as the show's going on."

Ratzenberger said this peculiar member of the Cheers studio audience was watching Shelley Long and Ted Danson, who played Diane Chambers and Sam Malone on the sitcom. "Just wherever they were, he was staring at them, but his eyes were just a little nuts," he recalled. "And I thought, 'Something's wrong there,' because the action of the stage play, Cheers going on there, and this guy's looking where the actors are standing off to the side."

Related: Ted Danson initially thought being paired with Shelley Long on Cheers was 'a bad, bad idea'

Since the audience member was fixated on those particular actors rather than the actual taping of the show, Ratzenberger alerted security. "I said, 'That seem odd to you?'" he remembered telling the head of security. "So he went and checked it out."

Security's investigation revealed that the suspicious character had a disturbing item concealed by his clothing. "He had, under his whatever, a samurai sword with — I think it was Ted and Shelley's name written on it," Ratzenberger said. "It was creepy. So they got rid of him."

The actor said he never received any further information about the incident. "I never heard anything else about it," he said. "But that was nuts because they came so close. But he just didn't seem right. Just, 'Something's wrong there.'"

Related: Kelsey Grammer reveals why he and Cheers costar Ted Danson didn't talk for 30 years

Ratzenberger also recalled a startling encounter with a fan in public. "A woman grabbed my arm, and I was holding my son, a little baby," he said. "And it was at this public market. She pulled my arm at the elbow. Well, now the baby's fallen."

Fortunately, the actor's reflexes were quick enough to avoid catastrophe. "I was fast enough to catch it with the other arm," he said. "But I'd laid into her and [she] said, 'Well, I'm never gonna watch your show again.' Okay. Fair enough! So you don't watch my show ever again. That was the scariest moment I think I ever had. I never paid it much mind."

Related: Mary Steenburgen assumed future husband Ted Danson was 'slick' like his Cheers character when they first met

Ratzenberger said that fan interactions can be irritating sometimes, but he's come to expect such inconveniences. "There's annoying parts," he said. "But that's gonna happen. See, it goes along with the territory too. You gotta understand. This is the jungle you're walking through. Now you gotta figure it out."

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The actor also said that he kept security measures in place at home, but never needed to use them. "Nobody ever showed up at the door," he said. "Nothing like that. I always had dogs, anyway, hoping they'd show up."

Watch Ratzenberger discuss the Cheers samurai superfan in the clip above.

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