David Lloyd, a writer for classic TV comedies ranging from “The Tonight Show” in the Jack Paar years to “Cheers” and “Frasier,” died Tuesday of prostate cancer at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 75.

In January of 1990, almost twenty years ago, I pitched a joke in the writers' room of TV's long-running, phenomenally popular comedy Cheers. The actual joke is forgotten – it wasn't a good one (I didn ...