Alex Trebek, Remembered: His Best TV Cameos, From Cheers To The X-Files

We here at TVLine are mourning the loss of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 80 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Of course, we'll miss his effortless grace and sly wit as host of the syndicated quiz show, which he emceed for more than three decades — but we'll also miss all the self-deprecating TV cameos he made over the years.

Trebek poked fun at his brainy persona on quite a few TV shows, with memorable appearances on all-time classics like Cheers, The Golden Girls and The X-Files. To honor his immeasurable legacy, we've pulled together a collection of his best small-screen cameos.

Trebek's first sitcom appearance came in 1988, when Mama used her homespun wisdom to sneak onto Jeopardy! as a contestant. She didn't have much respect for her fellow brainiacs, either: "Go sit on a tack, you drip!"

Trebek's excellent comedic timing was on full display in this 1990 episode, which found know-it-all mailman Cliff achieving his life's dream of being a Jeopardy! contestant. Cliff racked up a huge lead, only to blow it all on Final Jeopardy with the immortal response: "Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?"

Like Cliff, Dorothy was a huge Jeopardy! fan, and she dreamed of herself as a contestant in a 1992 episode, with Trebek and Merv Griffin teaming up to give her a hard time about her Final Jeopardy response.

Another dream sequence, this time with the love-struck Clare fantasizing she's on a Brandon Walsh-themed episode of Jeopardy! ("Minnesota Studs" for $1,000, Alex!)

In need of quick cash, Marge went on Jeopardy! in a 1997 episode, but ended up with a negative $5,200 score... which led to an unsympathetic Trebek enlisting a couple of goons to collect payback.

Trebek got super sinister in a 1996 episode which saw him appear (along with Jesse Ventura!) as a "man in black" menacing poor Mulder.

Trebek stepped outside the Jeopardy! studio in 2013 to host the fictional game show Million Dollar Heads or Tails. (Yeah, it's not quite as intellectually stimulating as his regular gig.)

If you ever wanted to see Trebek host a behind-bars edition of Jeopardy! and tell a whiny Piper that "I'm here, bitch"? Well, Netflix's prison dramedy had you covered.

Trebek expanded his dramatic range with a 2014 appearance on the TV Land retro sitcom as a gun-toting park ranger. (You see, he sensed there were women "in... jeopardy.")