‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ and the dangerously authentic waterboarding
Any sitcom from the 1990s and 2000s has tended to age like milk, with many of the jokes and storylines being incredibly of-the-time.
Some of the controversies have been as light as Friends being criticised for its lack of diversity, but others, like The Mighty Boosh, Community and Peep Show, have had entire episodes removed from streaming services due to instances of Blackface.
Most of these instances have actually not been trying to be that controversial as they just didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, which is truly telling of how far we’ve come in recent decades. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, on the other hand, set out from the very beginning to be as controversial as possible.
Where most shows set out to create relatable, likeable characters who go through that all-important thing called ‘a character arc’, It’s Always Sunny instead follows a group of the most toxic, immature friends (frenemies?) to have possibly existed on television, and even after as many as 17 seasons, they still haven’t changed or grown all that much.
This has led to some of TV’s most controversial moments, both on and off the screen, although they’ve pretty much always gotten away with it because the entire point of the show is to laugh at these ridiculous characters, not to want to follow in their footsteps, because really, who in the hell would want to?
As time has gone on, the gang has only upped the ante in terms of ridiculous skits and situations, which has led to some pretty gnarly on-set accidents. Kaitlin Olson, who plays Sweet Dee, the Gang’s only female member and go-to butt of the joke, quite often seems to be the one at the receiving end of many of these injuries.
“There have been times on the show where I have literally been in so much pain, I can’t believe I stuck through with it,” she told Elle.
In one of the most memorable incidents, Olson cut her leg open on a grate and ended up in the ER with her husband and cast-mate Rob McElhenney, who just happened to be shooting the ‘tasteful’ Blackface scene at the time. But, apparently, she has actually been through real torture in the name of the show.
In the second episode of season four, “The Gang Solves The Gas Crisis’, Frank, played by the legendary Danny DeVito, waterboards Dee to get information from her, and it turns out that scene was just as real as it looks. “That waterboarding scene? They did not do a good job of that,” she explained, “They put wetsuit material over my face thinking it would block it, but I got waterboarded!”
So, along with Danny DeVito sliding himself out of the inside of a leather sofa entirely naked, Rob McElhenney doing Blackface and piling on the pounds so his character could become ‘Fat Mac’, It’s Always Sunny is also not opposed to torturing its cast, especially considering Olson had a broken back at the time, although, surprisingly, that didn’t happen on set. But with the show still going after 17 seasons, who knows what injuries might ensue.
