Being a public figure isn't all autographs and free dinners. When people reach a certain level of notoriety, they're opening themselves up to a kind of scrutiny you or I don't really experience. Sure, we have our circle of friends and family who might criticise us, but imagine that circle encompassing the entire TV-watching world. The average person will, mercifully, never feel like the whole globe is watching for their downfall. Because if there's one thing we all love, it's watching someone famous get cut down to size.

But those famous people are, ultimately, still people. We might see their feelings as insulated by money and mansions, but everyone is human, regardless of how much they make and how famous they are. Take, for instance, Gary Burghoff, of M*A*S*H fame. Sure, he had a good sense of humor. But Burghoff was a man, like any other, who was capable of having his feelings hurt. That wasn't enough to keep him protected in the spotlight, though, as viewers might've seen on TV in the early '70s.

It was a 1973 episode of The Dean Martin Show that best highlighted Burghoff's sensitivities. The episode in question, a celebrity roast of actors Jack Klugman and Tony Curtis, featured a barb from the show's host that cut Burghoff deeply.

Watch M*A*S*H on MeTV!

Weeknights at 6 PM, Sundays at 7 PM

*available in most MeTV markets

"You know that commercial where a tiny stagecoach runs around the set with a dog chasing it?" Dean Martin asked his audience. "Well, Gary [Burghoff] is so small he could be the driver."

Sure, all bets are off in a celebrity roast, and anybody in attendance is in the line of fire. However, this particular quip stuck with Burghoff for many years, and he brought it up in a 1982 interview with the Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal. 

"I guess I got my back up a little about that," Burghoff said, nine years after the fact. "Most people out there are very tall. They started writing stuff making jokes about me as a midget and a dwarf. That bothered me. You know, pretty soon proucers begin to think of you only in tiny-people roles."

While Dean Martin's remarks may have hurt, surely his most famous role— the one where he willingly (and lucratively) slept with a teddy bear for 172 episodes of prime time television—  cemented his cuddly reputation more than any talk show host ever could have.