A Frasier writer has finally answered some of the most pressing concerns that fans have had over the past 30 years: how does he have so much money, and how did his charm work on so many women?
The comedy, a Cheers spin-off, follows Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) as he returned to his hometown of Seattle to reunite with his equally fussy brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and his father, Martin (John Mahoney), all while treating listeners of his KACL call-in radio programme.
We observed the radio doctor spend a lot on wine, valuable works of art, and suits from every designer imaginable over the whole run.
Not to mention that he turned a whole room in his posh residence into a hat museum despite never wearing a single one.
Unsurprisingly, this has sparked several inquiries from viewers concerning the character’s wealth – especially, how he was able to live his ideal life on the wages of a local radio DJ.
Writer and executive producer Joe Keenan finally gave us the answer we’ve been looking for, speaking to commemorate the comedy’s 30-year anniversary.
‘The question has come up,’ he told us in an interview before the WGA strike. ‘We think Frasier made a lot of money in private practice in Boston, and he has investments.
‘What we imagined to be the salary of a local radio personality was perhaps a little bit inflated.’
Comparing Frasier’s standard of living to that of his brother, Joe insisted that the radio shrink’s lifestyle wasn’t completely out of sync.
‘On the other hand, when you looked at Niles and his house with Maris, this baronial mansion that Niles lived in, Frasier’s apartment didn’t seem all that…,’ he continued.
‘In addition to it, we’ve lived on that set, and it wasn’t that big when you actually stepped onto [it]. You were surprised at how much smaller it was to navigate than it looked on camera, and how narrow some of the passages were.
‘His dining room only seated four people … That apartment, without that view [of the Seattle Space Needle], would not seem that astonishing. It was the view that made it seem fabulous.’
‘Frasier’s insane flirtiness was as much a function of how little time you have to tell a story,’ he said.
‘You’ve got 20-22 minutes to tell the stories so you find yourself cutting a lot of corners with meet cutes, and people seeing somebody at a party and immediately going up [to them].
‘If there’s something that we always laughed at in the room, it’s how rapidly women are charmed by Frasier, who wouldn’t be charmed in real life by the coordinate by the corny, flirtatious things he’ll say and the compliments he’ll say.
‘That whole highfalutin, chivalrous thing he’ll play when he’s trying to get a woman interested, I don’t know if people would be offended by that as much as they find it ham fisted.’
We first saw Frasier in 1984, when he appeared in the show Cheers and immediately became a regular at the famed pub.
He was apparently popular, as he got his own spin-off in 1993, with another slated to debut on Paramount+ next week.
However, Kelsey verified that the therapist ended up ‘wealthy beyond his expectations,’ so expect more conjecture about his finances.
Bring it on.
