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George Wendt’s mistaken jabs at John Boehner link ‘Cheers’ and Ohio politics
There was no mistake when the beloved but forlorn accountant Norm Peterson chugged his way into the fictional TV bar «Cheers.»
«Norm!!!» hollered the regulars in unison, ranging from mail carrier Cliff Clavin to «Mayday» Sam Malone, the former Major League pitcher-turned barkeep.
If only former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, or late Rep. Buz Lukens, R-Ohio, had been as recognizable to George Wendt, the actor who played Norm on the sitcom.
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Wendt died last week at age 76. The portly, everyman, «Willy Loman» character Wendt created was one of the most iconic in the history of comedic television. Wendt’s portrayal of Norm earned him six consecutive Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a primetime series.
But during Boehner’s first race for Congress in 1990, Wendt inadvertently manufactured a bizarre and permanent connection to the future Speaker of the House.
In 1989, Lukens represented Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. But WSYX-TV in Columbus, Ohio, secretly recorded Lukens at a McDonald’s speaking with the mother of a teenage girl. Lukens talked to the woman about getting her a government job. He hoped to keep her quiet about his sexual activities with her daughter.
During Boehner’s first race for Congress in 1990, Wendt inadvertently manufactured a bizarre and permanent connection to the future Speaker of the House. (Reuters/Yuri Gripas)
Lukens denied any wrongdoing in public. He was charged and later convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The House Ethics Committee launched an investigation. But Lukens declined to step aside. That teed up a three-way Republican primary between Lukens, the former congressman who represented the district, the late Rep. Tom Kindness, R-Ohio, and Boehner.
Boehner was a state legislator at the time. The scandal embroiling Lukens created a rare opportunity to head to Washington.
As strange as it seems now, Boehner was the least-known of the three Republican candidates in what turned out to be a brutal primary. But Boehner’s innate political acumen shone through – decades before he would ascend to the Speaker’s suite.
Despite the scandal, Lukens remained popular in the district. He had served as the congressman decades earlier and returned to the House when Kindness ran unsuccessfully for the Senate against late-Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, in 1986. So with the Lukens scandal, Kindness wanted his job back. And Boehner hoped to capitalize on the opportunity.
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Can you top a name like that? «Congressman Kindness.» No wonder it was such a challenge for the upstart, future Speaker with the unpronounceable, Teutonic surname.
But Boehner won. And even though he felled Lukens and Kindness, it was not a done deal that Boehner would win the general election.
Boehner ran against Democrat Greg Jolivette, the mayor of Hamilton, Ohio, the biggest city in the 8th Congressional District. Jolivette was best known for changing the name of «Hamilton,» to «Hamilton!» in the 1980s. He also ran Jolly’s Drive-Ins in Hamilton. Imagine 1970s hamburger joints where you can order from your car, bedecked in orange.
But we’re talking about «Cheers» here. Not «Happy Days.»
Wendt was at the height of his popularity during the summer of 1990 as Boehner and Jolivette barreled toward a general election faceoff. So Wendt appeared on late-night TV on «The Arsenio Hall Show.»
Look him up, kids.
Hall’s syndicated show was never going to beat NBC’s «The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson» in the ratings. But the program scored major headlines in 1992, when future President Bill Clinton played saxophone on the show in an effort to appeal to a younger demographic, which gravitated to Hall rather than Carson.
Wendt’s portrayal of Norm earned him six consecutive Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a primetime series. (Herb Ball/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images )
Clinton’s appearance was a seminal moment in American politics and may have helped him win the election. Certainly the most important political event on Hall’s show. Wendt’s appearance proved to be the second-most important.
Jolivette was Wendt’s brother-in-law. He periodically parachuted into Ohio’s 8th District to campaign for Jolivette and against Boehner. So Hall asked him about Wendt’s political involvement and Jolivette.
Wendt proceeded to essentially libel Boehner on the air. Wendt never mentioned Boehner by name. But Wendt mixed up Lukens and his sex scandal with Boehner. On national TV, no less.
«The guy he’s running against had some problems a while back,» said Wendt, referring to Jolivette’s opponent, but mixing Boehner up with Lukens. «The guy from the 8th District had some convictions, some felony or a misdemeanor or something. So I think it’s time for a change. One thing’s for sure, I know, Greg’s not going to be a criminal.»
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Hall is an Ohio native. But he was apparently not versed in the Lukens scandal – even though it was a national story and commanded daily headlines. He didn’t inquire further or correct Wendt. After all, this was a late-night comedy and variety show. Not «Meet the Press.»
A publicist for Hall blamed the issue entirely on Wendt, saying the host has no control over «what (guests are) going to say.»
Things then turned nasty when Boehner’s team put out a statement.
«We, like a lot of viewers, are confused about the conversation last night. We don’t know if they were talking about Congressman Lukens’ problems or perhaps the theft complaint filed with the Hamilton (Ohio) Police against Greg Jolivette,» said the Boehner campaign.
American comedian and talk show host Arsenio Hall poses for a portrait sitting in his chair in Los Angeles, circa 1991. (Bonnie Schiffman/Getty Images)
Jolivette’s campaign argued this was an old allegation and it wasn’t true. They then demanded that Boehner fire Barry Jackson, Boehner’s campaign manager. Jackson called the episode «cheap gutter politics.»
Boehner himself pinned the case of mistaken identity on Wendt. He believed the actor should have been more responsible for what he said on national TV.
Boehner didn’t fire Jackson. Jackson worked with Boehner for years and later served as his chief of staff when he became House speaker.
Wendt’s gaffe was not fatal for Boehner. Even though there were nearly as many Democrats as Republicans registered in the 8th District in those days, it had elected Republicans for years. And Boehner vanquished Jolivette 61-39 percent in the general election.
The rest is history for Boehner.
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Fast-forward to today. Boehner took to X after the actor’s death. The former Speaker explained how Wendt was the brother-in-law of his opponent and «went on a late-night TV show and said some tough things.»
Boehner said that Wendt was «confusing me with someone else. He called later to apologize and we had a great conversation. Raising a glass tonight to the man America will always remember as Norm.»
Or, as they might say on the show, «Cheers.»
Politics,Congress,Senate,House Of Representatives
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House Dem’s graphic chicken decapitation ‘horrified’ her college roommates: ‘Blood went everywhere’
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FIRST ON FOX: College roommates of Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., who is now 37-years-old, said they were «horrified» after the now-Democrat member of Congress up for reelection this year allegedly «serrated» a chicken’s head off with «a dull kitchen knife» while they lived together.
The incident allegedly stemmed from the vulnerable Democratic congresswoman and her roommates engaging in the practice of «urban farming,» a practice that is quite popular in Portland, where they went to a small private school called Reed College.
Gluesenkamp Perez’s former roommate and others connected to her from their time at Reed College, recounted the incident when they were all trying to research ways to humanely kill the chicken, but Glusenkamp Perez allegedly thought everyone was being «f—ing pu–ies,» so she «grabbed» the chicken and began «grinding [the chicken] down with a dull knife» leading the animal to begin «gasping for air with no lungs to suck it in.»
«Then she held up the body as it spazzed out and blood went everywhere like some crazy Santeria voodoo ritual,» recalled her former roommate, Isaac Eger, while attending Reed, who also wrote about his house’s «epic fail» at urban farming back in 2014.
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Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Eger, who hosts the podcast that brought together folks from Gluesenkamp Perez’s past for an episode a few weeks ago, refused to speak with Fox News Digital or provide any comments on, or to clarify events from, his time living with the Washington State congresswoman. He did imply to Fox News Digital that his podcast is a joke, and said that if he had to clarify any part of it, that would extinguish the comedic value.
«Marie bravely was like, ‘Ill dispatch of this chicken,’» Eger recounted on the podcast episode subscribers must pay to listen to titled «Absolutely Sweet Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.»
«Dude, I will never forget, like, frantically YouTubing how to humanely kill a chicken and Marie was just like, ‘You f—ing pussies, like, you’re on YouTube?’ It was, like, you and I on a computer, like, trying to figure this out and she just grabbed it and started swinging it around,» added Sam.
«That’s not at all what happened,» Eger interjected. «She didn’t just ‘chop it.’ She took a dull kitchen knife and tried to serrate[ly] cut … she was grinding this thing down with a dull knife and I remember you were horrified. It was really bad. And we saw, like, the chicken’s, like, decapitated head just, like, gasping for air with no lungs to suck it in, and then she held up the body as it spazzed out and blood went everywhere like some crazy Santeria voodoo ritual.»
While Sam contested the serrating, he affirmed the knife was quite dull and said «for sure» after Eger began to describe the scene of the chicken’s blood spurting everywhere.
«For sure, for sure. Everyone knows that you can run around like a chicken with your head cut off, but what that saying leaves out is what happens to the head without the body and it’s, like, also still completely functioning for a second,» Sam continued as Eger laughed.
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Eger went on to point out what he felt the incident symbolized, particularly as it related to his old college roommate’s time as an elected member of U.S. Congress.
He said that while part of him «respected» Gluesenkamp Perez «for her bravery» and her pro-activeness in killing the chicken, he also chided the inhumane nature in which she killed the chicken and said it represented the large amount of «hubris» the now-congresswoman had even as a college student at a small private liberal arts school.
Rep. Emily Randall, D-Wash., accepts the «The Chick» painting from Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., left, as members of the Washington State delegation look on, in Longworth building on Friday, January 9, 2026. The painting goes to the newest member of the delegation every new Congress. Pictured in the background are, from left, Reps. Baumgartner, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Kim Schrier, D-Wash., and Rick Larsen, D-Wash. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
«I think Marie is a very proud and she’s an incredibly stubborn person who I think has unbelievable confidence in herself,» Eger said during the podcast episode, which was entirely focused around the congresswoman and their history with her in college.
«I think [that] is what it takes to become a f—ing congressperson,» Eger said.
«I think we are finding a thread here, yeah,» added Sam. «I think also, like, being like, ‘F–k the consequences. I’m just going to go, like, being head– being headstrong.’ And just, like, ‘I’m going to take care of this. Like, and this might be a really bad idea, but here I am. It’s already done. It’s already happening.»
During the Jan. 29 podcast episode, Eger, Boguslaw, who also declined to speak to Fox News Digital, and Sam also recounted their time living with Gluesenkamp Perez and her bunny she brought with her at the time named «Meatball.» According to the crews of former Reed College students, Gluesenkamp Perez would breed Meatball and then eat its kids.
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«A friend of mine said that when he came back to the house once, she started a rabbit-eating cult,» Eger said during the podcast. He and Boguslaw recalled how «absent-minded» Gluesenkamp Perez was when it came to their «urban farming venture,» describing how they would often have to take care of her animals for her less they would perish.
«Did you go with her to breed her rabbit and we watched them, like, smash the rabbit against the wall?» Eger asked Sam during the podcast episode.
«Meatball? Hell yeah,» Sam responded.
Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat from Washington, reads a document on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Eger also took shots at the congresswoman he used to room with, describing her as a carpetbagger and accusing her of «cosplaying as a poor person» during college and still today even though he believed she was likely having college paid for by her parents, arguing she could not have been eligible for financial aid.
«Her parents are wealthy. Because if you can afford – and she’s one of four kids – if you can afford to pay for a $40,000 a year college, so that doesn’t include like the other, like at least $10,000 dollars a year in living expenses, you’re wealthy,» Eger argued during his podcast. «That means she wouldn’t have qualified for financial aid. Now, what she says in order – this is part of her lore, she’s definitely cosplaying as a poor person.»
«Which never happened at Reed. As far as I’m concerned,» Boguslaw said back sarcastically with a laugh.
Eger also charged Gluesenkamp Perez with lying about being a fifth generation Washingtonian during his 2-hour-long podcast episode, alleging she is actually originally from Houston.
«She grew up in Houston, Texas. Her father was Mexican, born in Mexico, where her mother, who is from Washington, met him,» Eger said. «She brought him over the border, and then Marie’s kind of an anchor baby.»
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Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., walks up the steps of the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Gluesenkamp Perez is the member of Congress representing Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers the southwest portion of the state, including the Vancouver and Portland-area suburbs around Clark County.
She was first elected to Congress in 2022 and then was reelected in 2024. Gluesenkamp Perez has significantly out-raised all of her competitors, with almost $2.5 million cash-on-hand, according to Ballotpedia.
Her nearest competitor is Republican John Braun, a member of the Washington State Senate, who has a little over $700,000 cash-on-hand, per Ballotpedia.
Gluesenkamp Perez, nor any of her representatives, responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on this story.
democrats,washington,democrats elections,midterm elections,politics
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Luego de bombardear Ucrania con 400 drones, Rusia dijo que no espera avances rápidos en el diálogo de Ginebra
El Kremlin advirtió el martes que no espera resultados el primer día de las conversaciones de paz en Ginebra, horas después de que Rusia lanzara casi 400 drones y 29 misiles contra Ucrania en un ataque que dejó al menos tres muertos, nueve heridos y a decenas de miles de personas sin calefacción ni agua.
“No creo que debamos esperar noticias hoy, ya que está previsto que los trabajos continúen mañana”, declaró el portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov, en rueda de prensa, descartando cualquier anuncio relevante para la jornada.
El bombardeo nocturno apuntó al sistema energético ucraniano en 12 regiones. Tres trabajadores energéticos murieron cerca de la ciudad industrial de Sloviansk cuando un dron ruso atacó el vehículo en que se transportaban. En Odesa, ciudad portuaria del sur, decenas de miles de residentes quedaron sin calefacción ni agua potable.
“Fue un ataque combinado, calculado deliberadamente para causar el mayor daño posible a nuestro sector energético”, escribió el presidente ucraniano Volodimir Zelensky en redes sociales.
Las defensas aéreas ucranianas lograron derribar 24 de los 25 misiles de crucero y 367 de los aproximadamente 396 drones lanzados, según la Fuerza Aérea de Ucrania. Los cuatro misiles balísticos Iskander-M no pudieron ser interceptados.
Pese al ataque, las delegaciones de Moscú y Kiev llegaron a Ginebra para la tercera ronda de negociaciones tripartitas mediadas por Estados Unidos, que se extenderá durante dos días. El enviado del presidente Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, y el yerno presidencial Jared Kushner participarán en los encuentros, junto al general Alexus Grynkewich, comandante de las fuerzas estadounidenses y de la OTAN en Europa.
Las expectativas de avance, sin embargo, son bajas. Según una persona familiarizada con las negociaciones que habló con AP bajo condición de anonimato, se esperan discusiones “duras” sobre el territorio ucraniano ocupado por Rusia, dado que Moscú insiste en que Kiev ceda el control del Donbas. Los jefes militares de los tres países también discutirán cómo funcionaría el monitoreo de un eventual cese del fuego.
Las conversaciones de Ginebra son la tercera ronda de un proceso que comenzó en Abu Dabi el 23 de enero y tuvo su segunda sesión en esa misma ciudad el 4 y 5 de febrero.
Trump describió la reunión como “grandes conversaciones” y, al regresar a Washington desde Florida el lunes por la noche, advirtió: “Ucrania mejor que venga a la mesa rápido”. No quedó claro de inmediato a qué se refería, dado que Kiev ha participado activamente en todas las rondas de negociación y ha aceptado las propuestas estadounidenses, incluida la de un cese del fuego incondicional y de largo plazo.
Zelensky señaló que el bombardeo ruso complica precisamente esos esfuerzos diplomáticos. “Cuanto más mal venga de Rusia, más difícil será para todos llegar a acuerdos con ellos. Los socios deben entender esto. En primer lugar, esto concierne a Estados Unidos”, escribió.
El mandatario exigió además que Rusia sea “responsabilizada” por sus ataques contra la población civil y reclamó sanciones y apoyo militar inmediato. “Nuestra diplomacia será más eficaz si hay justicia y fortaleza”, afirmó.
Las conversaciones celebradas a principios de este año en Abu Dabi se centraron en cuestiones como la forma de establecer una zona desmilitarizada en las zonas en disputa y cómo las fuerzas armadas de todas las partes podrían mantenerse en contacto, según la fuente.
Las conversaciones de Ginebra tuvieron lugar mientras funcionarios estadounidenses también mantenían conversaciones indirectas con Irán en la ciudad suiza.
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