ROB McELHENNEY on
'IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA'

Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor for Radio Free Entertainment
July 25, 2009

Since its debut in 2005, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has cultivated a loyal following with its signature brand of subversive, irreverent humor delivered by five of the most amoral characters to be found on television today. Following the exploits of a quintet of narcissistic sociopaths who run a bar in Philly, the brilliant comedy series is now enjoying its fifth season on FX.

We had the opportunity to speak to cast members Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Kaitlin Olson at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, where the Sunny stars returned for a second year of greeting fans. With co-star and fellow series writer/producer Charlie Day noticeably absent from the trek to the annual convention, McElhenney and Howerton nonchalantly perpetuated the rumor that their friend had just died--but it was, you know, no big whoop.

In this interview, Rob McElhenney--who plays the scheming Mac, and also serves as a series creator, writer, and producer--talks about shooting Sunny in his hometown of Philadelphia and reaping the benefits of "the local boy done good." He also previews the new sitcom he is currently developing for Fox, Boldly Going Nowhere.

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MEDIA: I've always wondered this: Why does Charlie Day play a character named Charlie, while the rest of the cast has different names for their alter-egoes?

ROB: Well, in the original version of the show that we shot on our own, we just all called ourselves our own names. So I was Rob, he was Charlie, and Glenn was Glenn. And then when we actually sold it, we had to come up with different names. And for some reason, his name just was so perfect for his character. [laughs] So we just went with it. And Glenn wanted to distance himself completely from his character, so he went with Dennis.

I don't think this has been addressed yet, but why does the gang refer to Dee as "Sweet Dee"? Are they being sarcastic?

It hasn't been explained yet. But it will be. It will be, eventually.

The episode in which the gang kidnaps a critic got me thinking that the gang can be pretty dangerous, either through amorality or sheer negligence. If you were kidnapped by them, with whom do you think you'd stand the best of survival?

I think we could all outsmart Charlie. I think we can get away with that.

Have you had the opportunity to shoot on location in Philadelphia for the fifth season?

Oh, yeah. Every year, we shoot a few weeks in Philly. So in Season 5, we have scenes from almost every episode...Specifically, the first seven episodes, we shot a lot in Philly. We do an episode where we flashback to the World Series. The Philadelphia Phillies baseball team won the World Series last year, so we're doing an episode of a flashback where we try to sneak into the World Series.

Does any real drinking happen on the set of the bar?

Oh, sure! It depends on what time of the day it is, and what time of the year it is. Because we get more and more exhausted as the year progresses. But every once in a while, we'll slip something in, especially if we have to do a drunk scene.

You're just doing it for your craft of acting...

Yeah. That's the excuse. That's the reason.



Do you guys get hooked up with free drinks at bars?

Yes! Like one of the greatest things about being in a show that takes place in a bar is every bar we go into, we can drink for free. Specifically in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is crazy. Not necessarily because the bar hooks us up, but the people there will buy us rounds of drinks all night long, which is pretty great.

Are you all considered heroes in Philly?

Heroes? I don't think so. But I do know that we have a huge following in Philly, which is great. Which is a very different feeling than LA, because in LA, though we have a very big audience, it's different because it's the entertainment capital, so there's always people from TV shows or movies walking around. In Philly, we don't really have that culture, so I think Philly takes a lot of pride in the fact that, you know, I'm from there, and that I made a show about there. And I think that they embrace it.

What is it like for you to go back home?

It's pretty wild. I got to throw out the first pitch at a Phillies game this year, which was really cool. That, to me, is the coolest part: going to all the sporting events. And getting tables in restaurants, which is nice.

And the bar hook up...

Yeah, and the bar hook up. Which is really great. And Philadelphia definitely is the kind of city that embraces their own, so when you go out and you come back, it's a really great feeling.

Ever take your castmates to your old haunts?

Yeah. Whenever we go back, we tour all over the city, and everybody has a really, really great time. It's such a fun city to hang out in, and to be there for a few weeks working is the best.

How do you like working with your wife on set?

It's fantastic. I mean, Kaitlin and I got married last September, and we had been dating for a few years prior to that. But in the first two seasons, we were just friends. So it didn't change that much, because our dynamics on set still remained the same. You know, it's really great to hang out with your wife when you're working the hours that we work, because otherwise, we wouldn't see each other. When we're in production, we usually shoot an average of 12 or 13 hours a day. And if she wasn't there with me, then I would be gone at six in the morning and I wouldn't be home until eight at night, and it'd be tough. So it's pretty great.

If you decided to get into the spirit of Comic-Con by dressing up as a character, which would you pick?

[whispers evilly] Ah! That's a good question. Now, is money not an object?

Not an object...

Hmmm...I think what I would wear is a Terminator suit so I was a Terminator, except I would literally be in an Arnold Schwarzenegger suit, where I looked exactly like Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. Yeah, I would be the Governor--I would actually be the f*cking Governor.

You could even do like a whole soul exchange thing...

That's an even better idea. How about this? How about we take Arnold--because money's not the object and I'm sure we have this technology right now--we take my brain, and put it into his head? It would be the talk of Comic-Con.

Ever thought of having a sci-fi flavored episode of Sunny, or one with a lot of special effects?

I don't know if Sunny lends itself so much to it. But on our other show, I think it's going to play pretty well.

No dream sequence with lightsabers or something?

That's not a bad idea. All right, I might rip you off.

Could you tell us a little about the other show you're currently developing?

Yeah, we're working on another show for Fox. We're working with Larry Charles. I don't know if you know Larry Charles. Larry Charles directed Bruno and Borat, and he was a producer on Seinfeld and Entourage. And we're working with him to develop a show called Boldly Going Nowhere, which is a comedy that takes place in outer space.

Given the Bruno connection, should we expect accents and mesh shirts from you guys?

Oh, we're not acting in it. There's definitely going to be some mesh shirts, don't worry about that...

When will fans be able to see the first episode?

Well, we're working on the pilot now, so hopefully we're going to shoot it soon. And then we'll see. Hopefully, it'll be on next year.

What is the general premise of the show?

It's the day to day operations on a spacecraft. We felt like that's just not something you see in comedy [very often]--you can only think of a few things that really pop into your mind. And we were thinking how everything you see that takes place in space is so exciting, but the reality is that space is so vast that it's got to be pretty f*cking boring at times, just sitting on the ship. Like how do you deal with very simple things that you'd never see in movies or TV shows? Like what are they eating? Who's doing the laundry? What is the deal with those f*cking uniforms? Why would anybody want to wear a skin tight uniform all day? And why is everybody on a spacecraft thin and attractive? Like in reality, you would have all sorts of different body shapes, and not everybody wants to look the same. So those are kind of the things we're going to be addressing.

It's got to be hell going to the bathroom with most of those uniforms...

Yeah, that's exactly right. You gotta take the whole goddamn thing off.

Thanks for your time.

Cool. Thank you, guys, so much. It was awesome.