Charlie Day

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Sunny in Philly Vice: I started looking you up on YouTube the other day and I found a clip of you on Law & Order from a while back.
Charlie Day: laughs It made me wonder what sort of an actor you initially set out to be. Was it always going to be comedic, with things like Law & Order to pay the bills, or were you open to anything?
You’re a performer in a more general sense.
How much do you and the rest of the Sunny cast feel like a part of a larger comedic community? It seems that you don’t get talked about at the same time as a lot of the other well-known groups of young comedians.
too Feel free!
It’s kind of shocking.
Yeah. Having promos for a show in your face all the time can cause burnout.
When you guys sit down to begin writing a new season of the show, do you have the worry of comedy burnout in mind?
I’m really looking forward to seeing how her character, Dee, deals with being pregnant.
laughs Any other teasers you can give me for the new season?
Lethal Weapon Lethal Weapon A lot of TV series, once they see what’s hitting with the audience, play that aspect up until it becomes self-parody. Sunny in Philly doesn’t do that.
How is that different from other sitcoms?
The American Office The Big Bang Theory Sweatshop sitcoms.
South Park Curb Your Enthusiasm How many people are in the writing room besides you, Glenn Howerton, and Rob McElhenney?
Is it the traditional sitcom writing process with everyone in a room tossing riffs around and writing on index cards?
laughs

Do you guys do that weird thing that lots of comedians and comedic writers do when they’re throwing ideas around, where they don’t laugh at something that’s hilarious? They’ll just kind of say “That’s funny” in a clinical way.
laughs So there are chuckles in your writers’ room?
Oh man, I love that one. It has some of the best lines in the show’s history.
I think I know what you’re going to say.
I really want to see a milk steak in real life one day. And it’s good to know that Sunny’s writing staff isn’t all po-faced.
There’s also this stereotype about funny people being kind of damaged or fucked up. You guys don’t seem damaged at all.
laughs laughs Yeah. There’s something kind of aggressive about stand-up in the first place.
Have many comics gone out of their way to tell you guys that they like your show?
The Kids in the Hall I just watched their pilot episode again recently on DVD. It’s still amazing.
Sunny What were your favorite comedy shows when you were a kid?
The Cosby Show Everyone but me, I guess. But there aren’t that many direct precursors to Sunny, are there?
Seinfeld Office Curb Your Enthusiasm One of my favorite moments ever on the show is from the episode where you and Dee switch lives.
Well, actually my favorite moment ever on the show is a tiny bit in that episode where Dee is trying to do stand-up but she keeps dry heaving. I could watch that on a loop for an hour.
laughs Incredible. But the scene I’m thinking of now is the one where you bring Dee back to your apartment and show her your nightly ritual: huff glue, eat a can of cat food as quickly as possible, and pass out before the neighborhood’s stray cats start shrieking outside your window.
laughs

That scene is also great because it reveals a lot about the character of Charlie. How much do you think about backstory for the characters on the show?
Cheers Yeah, I remember getting jazzed about things like that as a kid. Like when you got to see the world outside of a sitcom’s usual weekly set.
Do you think about the character of Charlie at random times when you’re not actively working on the show?
laughs I’d hope so.
The show is about a group of morally bankrupt people, but they’re still totally lovable. Charlie is so endearing.
that Their motivations are pure, but the way they go about things is a little bit skewed. Or a lot skewed.
Do you know how many seasons you want to do, or are you going to just keep going until it feels like the right time to stop?
Good.
Has there been much talk of doing a Sunny in Philly movie?
OK, there have been a few sort of famous things from the show that I’d like to run by you to see if there’s anything interesting behind their origins.
We already did milk steak.
I guess the top of the heap so far for most fans is the Dayman/Nightman thing, the episode with the musical that Charlie wrote—which you guys then turned into a real stage show that sold out every performance it had.
Right, the rapper that Dee dated.
laughs Flash Gordon Oh my God, that’s what it is! The “ah-ah” in “Dayman” is totally from Flash Gordon.
laughs What about the Dick Towel? I bought one online when that episode aired.
Nice. Did he use the big side or the little bird side?
laughs It’s so good. For those who don’t know, it’s a huge beach towel with a drawing of a man’s lower half with a gigantic dick on one side, and the same thing with a tiny dick on the other side. Wrap it around your waist and hilarity ensues.
In real life.
And what about Green Man, where you don the skintight green Lycra suit that covers your whole body and face? Where does he come from?
Did you initially have reservations about putting that thing on? It’s pretty revealing.