The story of how Danny DeVito joined ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’
The first season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia had most of the show’s core elements already in place. The central foursome that made up The Gang – Mac, Dennis, Charlie, and Dee – were all there, as was the show’s pitch-black humour and frenetic dialogue. What was missing was an essential harbinger of chaos, someone who would push all the other characters to their respective limits. The show was missing Danny DeVito.
Frank Reynolds only came onto the show because of desperation. Although executives at FX were happy with the show’s content, the ratings were poor, and there was a dilemma in marketing the programme. Since the central actors were relative no-names, FX insisted that the show’s creators bring in a famous actor. That happened to be DeVito, who recalled his introduction on The Always Sunny Podcast.
“Years and years ago, at Jersey [Films], I worked with John Landgraf [president of FX],” DeVito said. “He was at NBC, and I needed someone to run my television department. He came to work with me at Jersey Films. That was years and years ago. That all broke up, and then he got this gig with FX. He called me one day and said, ‘I just did this show. Eight episodes of some really crazy show. Tell me what’s your opinion.'”
“So he sent me the eight episodes, and Rhea [Pearlman] and I and the kids watched the show,” DeVito said. “I loved it. It was fucking outrageous just the way they are. I immediately said, ‘Yeah, this is an amazing show. Whatever you’re going to do with it, I don’t know.’ And then I didn’t hear from anybody.”
“All of a sudden, he calls me up and says, ‘Would you be interested in being on the show.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, if they come up with an organic character. Not just Danny DeVito coming into a show.’ If it made sense and blah blah blah, all of that kind of stuff, and it was a good character. So they wrote me in and, of course, my two kids are tall and blonde, so I had to have, as we all know, ‘my wife was a whore.'”
When asked why he picked Sunny specifically, DeVito was incredulous. “Everybody asked me that. Every single person that I knew asked me that. The doorman asked me that,” DeVito replied. “‘Why are you going to do that show? You’re a TV icon. You were on one of the most popular shows in the world, Taxi. Why do this show?’ And I feel like it’s why you do anything: it’s a gut feeling. Then I had that meeting with you guys where we sat and talked about it, where I was probably drunk.”
It didn’t take long for DeVito to endear himself to the creative minds behind Sunny. Starting in season two, DeVito became a full-time cast member as the nefarious and violent father of Dennis and Dee. With each subsequent season, Frank Reynolds became more and more unhinged, to the detriment of the other characters but to the endless delight of viewers.
Hear DeVito talk about his origins with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia down below.
