It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Actor Allusion: In "Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack", Frank escapes a mental institution in the same manner as Chief Broom in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Danny De Vito played a minor character in that movie.
  • Channel Hop: In an effort to attract interest in the launch of FX's comedy-oriented spinoff channel FXX, Sunny was moved to the new channel along with The League and Legit.
  • The Danza: Charlie Kelly is played by Charlie Day, Mac is played by Rob McElhenny, and recurring character Artemis is played by Artemis Pebdani. Specifically averted by Dennis: Glenn Howerton did not want his real name associated so closely with the character.
  • Defictionalization:
    • Those dick towels they were trying to market? You can buy them, but don't Google them if you're on a shared home computer or on a computer in a public setting (read: library, computer lab at school, etc).
    • Greenman, which has not only been defictionalized, but is well on its way to cultural phenomenon status.
    • Recipes for "milk steak", a dish Charlie apparently made up in "The Waitress Is Getting Married", have appeared online.
    • And now fans have done the same for Rum Ham (not to be confused with an existing recipe for wussy, rum-glazed ham). It tastes pretty awful, but it'll get you good and wasted.
  • Dyeing for Your Art: Rob McElhenney gained 50 pounds in order to prove a point about sitcoms for Season 7.
  • Exiled From Continuity: Averted; Rob McElhenney got the idea for Charlie's "Green Man" persona from an unnamed friend, who donned a green zentai suit while attending a football game with McElhenney. McElhenney would later pay his friend an undisclosed amount of money in exchange for the rights to his "character", so that he could use the concept in later episodes.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!:
    • Hey, Charlie just kidnapped by Iggy Koopa!Fisher Stevens.
    • Fatty McGoo? It's Kitty!
    • And why does Mr. Larritate have a refrigerator filled with the severed heads of multiple women?
    • Mr Belding's being accused of molesting boys?
    • And why is Kirby married to a post-op transsexual?
      • Kirby? No, its the Miller High Life guy!
    • The post-op transsexual is one of the twins on the TV version of Sweet Valley High or the bisexual girl on That 80's Show.
    • Sweet Dee was dating Keith Dudemeister for a bit there.
    • Why is Mac dating Taylor Townsend?
    • Donna appears as a cashier in the "The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition".
    • Nasim Pedrad appears in "The Waitress Is Getting Married" as an employee at a bridal shop.
  • Incestuous Casting: A minor case. Lucy DeVito, Danny DeVito's daughter, plays the waitress whom Frank ogles in "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom".
  • No Budget: The show's first season was produced at 1/3 of a typical network sitcom's budget, starred unknown actors and during production, Rob McElhenney still kept his day job as a waiter. Eventually, the budget increased with each successive season.
  • Real Life Relative:
    • Will Sampson's son played the "Chief" Expy in the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Shout-Out.
    • Danny DeVito's daughter Lucy has had a couple of one-shot cameos in "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom" and "The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby".
  • Romance on the Set:
    • While Mac and Dee's actors are married with two children in real life, on the show they probably have the worst relationship of the cast, which is saying something.
    • Humorously, Charlie and the Waitress' actors are also married.
    • Dennis and that pharmacist from "The DENNIS System" are also married, and when the episode is done on stage Rhea Perlman plays Dennis's fake grandmother.
  • Unintentional Period Piece: Thanks to the large number of references to the then current events of the Turn of the Millennium. The show debuted during that decade, as such many episodes make references and jokes that seem to be ripped from that decade's headlines, such as references to the gas crisis, terrorism, water-boarding, Hurricane Katrina, North Korea, the bar getting a new flat-screen TV and Blu-Ray player, just to name a few.

Miscellaneous fun facts:

  • When series creator Rob McEllehny was asked a question about his character Mac in a featurette, he replied "I don't know... I just show up, say my fuckin' lines, and go home."
  • Charlie's play The Nightman Cometh was for a while actually touring various cities around Philadelphia with all of the original cast members.
  • According to Charlie Day, during a recent[when?] interview on Conan O'Brien, Danny DeVito has stated that he's up for pretty much ANY storyline the show might throw at him save for one topic: prison rape. Apparently, DeVito informed series creator Rob McEllehny that was the only type of shock plotline that he refuses to have anything to do with.[1]
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  1. ↑ Offhand jokes about prison rape are apparently fair game, though. In Season Six's "Mac's Mom Burns Her House Down", there's a joke about Frank thinking that prison rape happens at nursing homes.
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