97 Fun Facts About Frasier

Frasier's apartment, number 1901, is in which fictional Seattle building?

Elliott Bay Towers takes its name from the real bay on Seattle's waterfront; there Frasier feuds with his upstairs neighbour Cam Winston, who at one point unfurls a giant American flag over Frasier's balcony.

Frasier's father Martin was forced to retire from the Seattle police after being shot where?

Martin was shot in the hip in the line of duty, leaving him with a cane and unable to live alone; he and Eddie move into Frasier's apartment.

Daphne Moon, Martin's live-in physiotherapist, comes from which English city?

Manchester is where Daphne says she is from at her job interview in the pilot, where she also senses, correctly, that Martin was a policeman and confesses she is a bit psychic.

What breed is Martin's dog, Eddie?

Eddie is a Jack Russell Terrier, played by a dog called Moose and later by Moose's son Enzo.

Which coffee shop do the Crane brothers frequent?

Café Nervosa is where the brothers meet from the pilot onwards; in their first scene there Frasier orders two caffè latte supremos and assures Niles that he loves his new solitary life.

Frasier's record 37 Primetime Emmys for a scripted series stood until which show passed it in 2016?

Game of Thrones reached 38 Emmys with the awards for only its sixth season, overtaking a total that Frasier had needed eleven seasons to build.

Frasier won which Emmy five years running, from 1994 to 1998?

Outstanding Comedy Series went to Frasier in each of its first five seasons and never again in the six that followed.

Which actress was originally cast as Roz Doyle before being replaced by Peri Gilpin during rehearsals?

Lisa Kudrow won the part over Peri Gilpin, but by the third day of rehearsals the producers saw she could not play forceful enough to boss Frasier around, and they brought Gilpin back.

Roz Doyle shares her name with a producer on which other sitcom from the same creators?

Wings, the creators' earlier sitcom, lost its producer Roz Doyle to breast cancer in 1991; they gave her name to Frasier's radio producer as a tribute.

Roz Doyle grew up in the small town of Bloomer, in which state?

Wisconsin is Roz's home state: she grew up in Bloomer, and when she first tells Frasier that her mother is its Attorney General he assumes she is joking.

Roz names the daughter she has in season five what?

Alice is the name Roz gives her daughter; the father, Rick, a young coffee-shop waiter, offers to quit college and marry her, but Roz gently turns him down.

Niles's never-seen first wife is called what?

Maris is talked about constantly but never shown; in the pilot Frasier says he likes her from a distance, the way you like the sun, except without the warmth.

What is the profession of Mel Karnofsky, Niles's short-lived second wife?

Plastic surgeon Mel Karnofsky had treated Niles's first wife; Niles elopes with her, runs off with Daphne two days later, and is then made to play the happy husband before Mel will grant a divorce.

Where do Niles and Daphne slip away to elope at the end of season nine?

Reno, Nevada, is where the couple head in the season-nine finale 'Moons Over Seattle', after Niles's bid to reconcile Daphne's parents falls flat; they marry in a casino there as season ten opens.

What does the fastidious Niles do before sitting down in a coffee shop?

Wipes the chair with a handkerchief: Niles does it in his very first scene in the pilot, then offers the handkerchief to Frasier, who declines.

Which of Martin's belongings clashes most with Frasier's designer apartment?

His recliner, a battered split-pea green striped chair patched with duct tape, arrives with him in the pilot and stays among Frasier's designer pieces until a mover takes it away in the finale.

Frasier and Niles's mother Hester named her sons after what?

Her laboratory rats gave the boys their names: in season four they read their mother's journal and take its entries about 'Frasier and Niles' to be about themselves, until it proves to be a research log.

Before settling on a spin-off, the creators pitched Kelsey Grammer a sitcom in which he would play what?

A paraplegic publisher, a Malcolm Forbes-like tycoon running his empire from his Manhattan penthouse and clashing with a live-in nurse, was the pitch; Paramount disliked it and asked for Frasier Crane.

Which actor's one-off Cheers role as a jingle writer led the creators to cast him as Martin Crane?

John Mahoney had played a hack jingle writer on Cheers the year before; Casey, Lee and Angell saw the episode and thought him perfect for Frasier's father, a part he kept for eleven seasons.

Frasier's closing theme, sung by Kelsey Grammer, is called what?

'Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs' was composed by Bruce Miller, who was asked not to mention radio or psychiatry; his lyricist's title foods stand for things that are mixed up, like Frasier's patients.

Frasier's title card shows a white line drawn in the shape of what?

The Seattle skyline is traced in a single white line on the title card, yet the show was shot in Los Angeles: only one episode, 'The 1000th Show', was filmed in Seattle itself.

How did celebrity callers to Frasier's radio show record their lines?

By phoning them in: most celebrity callers recorded from wherever they were, without visiting the set, and their voices replaced those of the stand-in actors who had read the lines during filming.

Which Simpsons character has Kelsey Grammer voiced since 1990?

Sideshow Bob is Grammer's role; in 1997's 'Brother from Another Series' David Hyde Pierce voiced Bob's brother Cecil, reuniting the Crane brothers in Springfield.

Frasier co-creator David Angell and his wife Lynn died in which disaster?

The September 11 attacks killed David and Lynn Angell, passengers on American Airlines Flight 11; Niles and Daphne's son, born in the 2004 finale, is named David in tribute.

Which Cheers regular was the only one to become a recurring Frasier character, in twelve episodes?

Lilith Sternin, played by Bebe Neuwirth, first returns as a caller to Frasier's show, going on air to rubbish his advice; every other surviving Cheers regular except Rebecca also appeared, but only as guests.

In season nine's "Cheerful Goodbyes", Frasier lands in Boston and ends up at whose retirement party?

Cliff Clavin's: the postman is retiring to Florida, and Frasier, in town to give a conference speech, hears his voice in an airport bar and is swept along to the party with the old Cheers gang.

Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe hosts which programme on KACL?

Bulldog hosts 'The Gonzo Sports Show' on Frasier's station; in 'Bad Dog' he is hailed as a hero after a hold-up in which he actually used pregnant Roz as a shield.

Which word completes Niles's description of agent Bebe Glazer: 'Lady Macbeth without the ___'?

Sincerity is the missing word: Niles delivers the line as Bebe walks into the café in season two, and Frasier, who likes her no better, admits she is still a terrific agent.

KACL's Noel Shempsky is a Star Trek obsessive who speaks which fictional language fluently?

Klingon is Noel's second language; in 'Star Mitzvah' he teaches Frasier a blessing in it for Frederick's bar mitzvah, passing it off as Hebrew.

What is the name of KACL's pompous restaurant critic?

Gil Chesterton, played by Edward Hibbert, hosts 'Restaurant Beat'; his colleagues are stunned when he says he is married to Deb, a Sarah Lawrence graduate they had assumed was his cat.

Which film star played Martin's brash bartender girlfriend Sherry Dempsey in seasons four and five?

Marsha Mason earned an Emmy nomination as Sherry, the loud McGinty's bartender whom Frasier and Niles cannot stand; Martin wants to marry her, but she prefers to keep things casual and they part.

Who plays Frasier's son Frederick for most of the original series' run?

Trevor Einhorn played Frederick from 1996 to 2003, taking over from Luke Tarsitano and growing up on screen into the Goth teenager of his last episode, 'High Holidays'.

Martin's mistaken May 15 wedding booking in 'Goodnight, Seattle' falls on whose birthday?

Martin confused the date with Eddie's birthday, May 15, leaving Frasier and Niles just over a week to plan the whole wedding.

Where is Niles and Daphne's son born in the Frasier finale?

At a veterinary clinic: Daphne goes into labour there after Eddie swallows a wedding ring, and Martin and Ronee end up marrying at the clinic so the new parents don't miss it.

Which poem does Frasier recite at the end of his final KACL broadcast?

Tennyson's "Ulysses" supplies Frasier's sign-off, 'to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield', before he bids Seattle goodnight for the last time and hangs up his headphones.

In the finale, everyone assumes Frasier is flying to a California radio job, but where is his plane landing?

Frasier's plane is landing in Chicago, where his girlfriend Charlotte has moved, rather than in California, where he had accepted a new radio job.

Frasier Crane first appeared on Cheers as the love interest of which character?

Diane Chambers's new boyfriend was meant to last only a few episodes before she left him, but Grammer's performance kept Frasier at the bar for nine seasons.

Which actor was the Cheers producers' first choice to play Frasier Crane, before turning it down?

John Lithgow was the producers' first choice for Frasier but turned down television at the time; Grammer then auditioned and thought he had failed because nobody laughed.

What is the first name of Daphne's overbearing mother, played by Millicent Martin?

Gertrude Moon, played by Millicent Martin, first appears for Daphne's wedding in the season-seven finale; later she leaves her husband, moves in with Niles and Daphne and quickly overstays her welcome.

Which landmark did the view from Frasier's apartment show off, though no real Seattle apartment has that view?

The Space Needle dominates the view because the backdrop was a photograph taken from a clifftop, possibly Kerry Park, and chosen to show the landmark off; no Seattle apartment really sees it that way.

Daphne's early career, before physiotherapy, was as a child actress in which fictional British sitcom?

Mind Your Knickers was set in a girls' boarding school; Daphne played the short, spunky Emma and, by the end of its run, was sixteen and five foot ten, still passing for twelve.

Frasier's 2023 revival moves him to Boston, where he takes a lecturing job at which university?

Harvard, Frasier's own alma mater, takes him on as a lecturer, and he moves into the building of his son Freddy, who had dropped out of the same university to become a Boston firefighter.

In the revival, Nicholas Lyndhurst plays Alan Cornwall, Frasier's boozy old friend from which university?

Oxford is where Frasier and Alan first met; in real life Grammer and Lyndhurst met on the London stage in Man of La Mancha in 2019 and, in Grammer's words, 'fell in love basically'.

Which catchphrase does Frasier use to greet callers to his radio show?

I'm listening is how Frasier greets callers from the pilot onwards; in his final broadcast he tells Seattle that for eleven years they were listening too.

What happened to the Frasier revival in January 2025?

Paramount+ cancelled it after two seasons, announcing the decision in January 2025; its producer, CBS Studios, said it would offer the revival to other outlets.

Frasier's agent Bebe first appears in "Selling Out" after hearing him endorse what on air?

A Chinese restaurant: Bebe hears Frasier plug the Hunan Palace on air, introduces herself as Bulldog's agent, and talks him into a string of endorsement deals.

Which Cheers regular turns up in Seattle in season two, the day after fleeing the altar?

Sam Malone, played by Ted Danson, visits in 'The Show Where Sam Shows Up', which also explains away Frasier's old Cheers claim that his father was dead: he had said it after a quarrel.

Kelsey Grammer's 20 years as Frasier Crane tied a record set by James Arness on which Western?

Gunsmoke kept James Arness on screen as Marshal Matt Dillon for 20 years. Grammer matched him by carrying one psychiatrist from a Boston barstool to a Seattle radio booth.

Who was the only surviving Cheers regular never to make a guest appearance on Frasier?

Kirstie Alley, who played bar manager Rebecca Howe, was the one holdout. Ted Danson, Shelley Long and the others all turned up in Frasier's new life at least once.

Which tech billionaire plays himself, taking calls on Frasier's radio show in a milestone episode?

Bill Gates drops in to mark Frasier's 2,000th broadcast and ends up fielding callers' questions about Microsoft products. The episode was the sitcom's own 200th.

Which Star Trek actor has a restraining order against KACL's superfan Noel Shempsky on Frasier?

William Shatner took out the order, yet Noel still treasures an autographed photo of him as Captain Kirk.

In the 2023 Frasier revival, Frasier's son Freddy has dropped out of college to work as what?

A firefighter is what Freddy became, following his grandfather Martin into public service rather than his parents into psychiatry. Jack Cutmore-Scott plays the grown-up Freddy.

What is the bar in the 2023 Frasier revival called, in tribute to the late actor who played Martin?

Mahoney's Taphouse honours John Mahoney, who died in 2018. Its founding year is given as 1940, the year he was born, and the first episode is dedicated to him.

On Frasier, Niles's lawyer finds his wife's family fortune came not from timber but from what?

Urinal cakes made the money, a secret so mortifying that the threat of exposing it wins Niles a favourable divorce settlement.

Nobody believes Frasier Crane is dating Kelly Easterbrook, a zoology student with which day job?

Supermodel Kelly, played by Sela Ward, asks Frasier to keep the romance secret, so his family assumes he invented her. She dumps him when he tries to photograph her as proof.

In the Frasier episode Three Valentines, Niles sets his trousers on fire while trying to do what?

Iron out a crease is all he wants before a dinner date at Frasier's apartment. The trousers catch fire, and Niles then loses control of the extinguisher.

Whom does Daphne Moon leave at the altar to run off with Niles Crane on Frasier?

Donny Douglas was the divorce lawyer who had freed Niles from his first marriage, and he met Daphne while working on the case. Jilted, Donny sued Daphne and Frasier, then dropped the case.

Niles Crane will not sit on a chair in a public place on Frasier until he has done what to it?

Wiped it down is the ritual: Niles is so afraid of germs that he also cleans his hands after any human contact.

Which gift does Daphne Moon claim to have on Frasier, to the Crane family's frequent disbelief?

Psychic powers are Daphne's proudest boast, and the running joke is that her visions often turn out to be right.

Which beer brand is Martin Crane's regular drink at home on Frasier?

Ballantine is the beer in Martin's hand, one more working-class habit, along with his battered recliner, that grates on his wine-loving sons.

Before joining the Seattle police, Martin Crane of Frasier saw combat as a soldier in which war?

The Korean War took Martin overseas after he joined the Army at 19. He then spent his whole career with the Seattle police until a robber's bullet forced him to retire.

Which British star first played Nanny G, the children's entertainer once married to Frasier Crane?

Emma Thompson played her in a 1992 Cheers episode. When Nanny G returned in Frasier's final season, Laurie Metcalf had the part.

Frasier's Emmy haul broke a record of 29 wins long held by which CBS sitcom?

The Mary Tyler Moore Show had long held the mark. Its star later voiced Marjorie, a first-season caller to Frasier's radio show who thinks her boss does not respect her.

Which ABC sitcom later matched Frasier's run of consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series?

Modern Family equalled a streak that Frasier had begun with its very first season on air.

Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick of Frasier later co-starred with Betty White in which sitcom?

Hot in Cleveland was TV Land's first original scripted series, and old Frasier colleagues including Peri Gilpin dropped by as guests.

Jane Leeves, Frasier's Daphne, began her career as a dancer on which British comedian's TV show?

Benny Hill had her in his troupe, Hill's Angels. She also danced in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life before moving to America.

Which veteran sitcom director won an Emmy for directing The Good Son, the pilot episode of Frasier?

James Burrows took both the Emmy and the Directors Guild award for the pilot. Thirty years on, he returned to direct the opening episodes of the 2023 revival.

During which dance does Niles declare his love to Daphne at a society ball in Frasier's Moon Dance?

The tango carries Niles away, but Daphne takes his declaration for part of their act. Moon Dance was also the first episode Kelsey Grammer directed.

In which Frasier episode does new station boss Tom Duran mistake a dinner invitation for a date?

The Matchmaker has Frasier trying to find a boyfriend for Daphne, never guessing that Tom is gay. The script won a GLAAD Media Award and made Joe Keenan a regular writer on the show.

Which is the only episode of Frasier that was actually filmed on location in Seattle?

The 1000th Show sent Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce onto real Seattle streets for Frasier Crane Day. Every other episode was shot in and around Los Angeles.

Frasier's cousin Nikos enrages his mother Zora by giving up medical school to become what?

A juggler was the career Frasier urged Nikos to follow, and Zora, played by Patti LuPone, refused to speak to the Cranes for five years afterwards.

Marta, the Guatemalan maid at Niles's mansion on Frasier, is fluent in which European language?

German is her second tongue, picked up working for a family who arrived in Guatemala just after the war. Frasier's Spanish, pressed into service to translate for her, is far shakier.

KACL's owner fires Frasier and the other talk hosts in season five to switch to which format?

Latin music takes over after owner Joe Martin, inspired by Frasier to take risks, reclaims his birth name Jose Martinez. The format flops and the hosts are rehired within the year.

After KACL cancels his show, Bulldog Briscoe of Frasier is reduced to which job?

Delivering pizzas is how Bulldog turns up in season seven, until KACL takes him back to work in its archives rather than on air.

Which actress guest-starred on Frasier as Dr. Nora, a judgmental rival radio therapist at KACL?

Christine Baranski played the moralising Dr. Nora Fairchild, whom Frasier himself recommended for the job after she flattered him all through her interview.

Which British actor played Alistair Burke, an opera director who takes Frasier for his boyfriend?

Patrick Stewart guested in the final season, with Frasier so charmed by the perks of life beside a famous director that he puts off correcting the mistake.

Which film star played Blaine, a con man who turns up at Frasier's door claiming to be a preacher?

Michael Keaton played Blaine, half-brother of Frasier's ex-wife, who arrives in a wheelchair asking forgiveness for old swindles such as selling Frasier futures in kelp.

Which actress won two guest Emmys as Lana Gardner, Frasier Crane's brash old high-school crush?

Jean Smart, who grew up in Seattle herself, won in consecutive years for the role. She later admitted she had been a little snobby about taking guest parts before it.

Which Australian actor won an Emmy as Simon Moon, Daphne's hard-drinking brother on Frasier?

Anthony LaPaglia played Simon with a London cockney accent, though Daphne's family comes from the north of England, a mismatch the show never explains.

Which Scottish actor played Harry Moon, the layabout father of Daphne, on Frasier?

Brian Cox played Harry, who funds his drinking with a pub scam: men pay him to pretend they have hit him in front of their girlfriends. The part earned Cox an Emmy nomination.

Which Oscar-winning actress guest-starred on Frasier as Joanna, the mother of Roz Doyle?

Eva Marie Saint, Cary Grant's co-star in North by Northwest, played Joanna. Frasier tries to pair her off with Martin, who privately finds her very dull company.

Which English songwriter played Ben, the folk singer who drives Frasier out of his coffee shop?

Elvis Costello strums through the afternoons until Frasier complains, crosses the owner and feels obliged to take his custom elsewhere.

Which actress played Jen, the hard-partying young cousin who visits Roz Doyle on Frasier?

Zooey Deschanel played the endlessly cynical Jen in 2002. Roz wears herself out at clubs trying to remain the one exciting relative from her home town.

Which Oscar winner played Kate Costas, the fearsome KACL manager who has a fling with Frasier?

Mercedes Ruehl arrived in season three as a perfectionist boss who banished Frasier to the graveyard shift. Kate left for a management job in another city after their brief affair.

Which actress plays Hester Crane, the late mother of Frasier and Niles, in dreams and home movies?

Rita Wilson first appears as Mia, a girlfriend whose uncanny likeness to Frasier's mother unsettles his family, and plays Hester herself in old cine film and a dream.

Superman star Christopher Reeve voiced Leonard, a first-season Frasier caller suffering from what?

Agoraphobia was the in-joke: the man famous for soaring over cities played a caller with a terror of wide, open spaces.

Which upstairs neighbour feuds with Frasier over a Humvee and hangs a huge flag over his balcony?

Cam Winston, played by the deep-voiced Brian Stokes Mitchell, is Frasier's double in taste and temper. They make peace only when their parents pretend to be dating.

Frasier's creators named their production company after which London haunt of hack writers?

Grub Street Productions was founded in 1989 by David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee, who had worked together on Cheers and left that show to start it.

Frasier's creators added his home life so a radio-station comedy would not resemble which sitcom?

WKRP in Cincinnati had already filled a radio station with lovable oddballs. Private practice was ruled out for a similar reason, as too close to The Bob Newhart Show.

Which Cheers regular's unseen wife made Frasier's producers wary of keeping Niles's wife off screen?

Norm Peterson's wife Vera was the comparison they feared. But the writers enjoyed inventing excuses for the absence so much that Niles's wife stayed out of sight as well.

What was left out of Frasier's coffee shop set so that it would not recall the bar in Cheers?

Stools were banned, and the designer went further, choosing a warm, traditional look with a bookcase on the back wall instead of the sleek look of Seattle's new cafes.

Kelsey Grammer learned his Frasier lines just before each scene was shot, which often panicked whom?

Guest stars were thrown by it, because Grammer would not practise scenes with the others beforehand. He named the method requisite disrespect, and it worked for him.

Before an NBC executive suggested an Englishwoman, Martin's carer on Frasier was conceived as what?

Hispanic and streetwise, the live-in nurse was a holdover from an earlier premise the studio had rejected. NBC's Warren Littlefield proposed the change and put forward Jane Leeves.

On Cheers, Frasier Crane claimed that his father was dead and had worked as what?

A research scientist was the story until the spin-off needed a living father. Frasier later admitted he had invented the death after a row with his dad on the phone.

Thrown out of his wife's mansion, Niles Crane of Frasier takes a suite in which apartment building?

The Montana is his refuge until the divorce nearly bankrupts him and he has to sublet the suite and move to the low-rent Shangri-La.

Which title do Frasier and Niles Crane fight an election for at their local wine club?

Corkmaster goes to Niles after a tied vote and a wine-tasting tiebreaker. Frasier is gracious in defeat until he learns who talked his brother into standing.

What are the Seattle broadcasting awards for which Frasier Crane is nominated on Frasier called?

The SeaBees keep tempting him: in the final season he is nominated twice, and station manager Kenny has a reporter shadow him on the day of the ceremony.