It’s the closest thing to Cheers in the noughties, but It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s thirtysomething cast (plus a slightly older Danny DeVito) make Ted Danson, Kirstie Alley and Woody Harrelson look like saints. Putting their own spin on the tried-and-tested bar comedy, a standard day at work for Charlie Day (Charlie), Kaitlin Olson (Dee), Glenn Howerton (Dennis), Rob McElhenney (Mac) and Danny DeVito (Frank) could involve going to great lengths to get welfare, or hiding inside a couch to spy on someone.
Now in its seventh season, the show follows the questionable exploits of ‘The Gang’, a group of no-hopers who run an Irish bar and spend their time scheming against one another. Here, the cast reveal what it’s like to be at the top of the comedy game.
Tell us about the new season.
Rob McElhenney: I’m super excited for this year. It’s an anomaly in that the show is becoming more popular each year. It’s great that people can come to it later on and enjoy it.
Charlie Day: We wrote a big, crazy season – almost so big that we had to scale back one or two episodes. I really don’t have a favourite this season. Just back to back, it’s great.
Danny DeVito: Season seven is off the charts. We went a little further than we ever went before. I think season seven is a little wild.
What kind of misadventures are we going to see this year?
RM: Our season premiere is based on… we were watching Pretty Woman recently. You know, people think our show is offensive. To me, a movie like that is offensive. Even though I loved it, I still felt like, “Wow,
what a misrepresentation of what that would really be like.” Would an escort look and act like Julia Roberts? A real escort? So, we decided to go down that road and see what that would really be like. To me, it’s
a more fair representation. That’s our first episode.
What kind of antics are we going to see from you all this year?
CD: One episode that jumps to mind is Frank gets involved in what he thinks is a beauty pageant for grown women, but you find out that the contestants are little girls. He realises he has to put on this pageant to legitimise it, otherwise he’s going to look like the guy who got pinched. So, we help him put on this kiddie pageant. We have some big dance numbers.
Kaitlin Olson: There’s a lot of singing and dancing. I didn’t realise that when I was reading the scripts but now, looking back, we sing and dance in my favourites episodes.
Glenn Howerton: I enjoyed going to the Jersey shore.
KO: Yes! I always love episodes where Dee and Dennis are together.
GH: Yeah, we have some brother/sister stuff. I always hesitate to talk about the Jersey shore episode because it has nothing to do with Jersey Shore.
KO: We just go down to an actual vacation on the shore, which happens to be in Jersey. Although, there’s a little element of that in there.
GH: I’m happy with how we address it. It is not what anybody would expect. That’s what we pride ourselves on.
You’re also doing a high-school reunion episode…
CD: We got a great high-school reunion. We reveal certain things about characters. And because of shows such as Glee and High School Musical, our characters think that dance is the best way to make up for who they were in high school. So there’s a big dance number at the end.
Do you have any new products?
CD: The gang has a board game called Charty MacDennis. It’s demented. Kids shouldn’t play it, but I’m sure we’ll sell a safe version.
Are there any big guest stars coming up?
KO: Jason Sudeikis does a little thing.
GH: Jon Polito is on this year, playing Frank’s brother. That episode is going to be epic. It’s almost like a Scorsese-style flashback to the ’60s. Lance Reddick is in the episode, as well.
Season seven of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia airs on OSN every Wednesday at 11pm from May 2.
