'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' Interview With Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney

It's Always Sunny' Interview

With their cult-hit FX comedy 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' (premieres Thurs., Sept. 18, 10PM), writer-producer-stars Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton have proven that nothing's taboo -- be it religion, slavery or cannibalism. When we caught up with them at Comic-Con '08, we learned that for the 'Sunny' crew, nothing's taboo in an interview, either.

Read on for a wild three-way about the upcoming season, their new FOX show and some things that would make your grandmother blush (and then slap you).
--By Patricia Chui

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1. For someone who's never seen the show, what's a good episode to start with?

Charlie: You can watch any episode at any point in time, because they're nonconsecutive. Like 'The Simpsons' or 'South Park' or 'Seinfeld,' one episode isn't leading to the next. We did that for this very reason, because we thought maybe, just maybe, in the fourth season of our show ...
Glenn: People start to catch on.
Charlie: ... there might be someone who hasn't seen it, but they want to. We said, Well, hey! What if they could catch any old episode and get into it?

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2. At what point were you able to sense that the show was catching on?

Rob: Right away, right? Err, no.
Charlie: Between seasons 2 and 3. Ever since the DVD got out, it's been a big difference.
Glenn: And then now, we just went to Philly to shoot this year, and it was shocking. Crowds everywhere we filmed, we'd get recognized everywhere we went ...
Charlie: Over a thousand people turned out one day, it was insane.

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3. Do fans ever send you anything bizarre, like Philly cheesesteaks?

Charlie: Oh my God, they're sending us so much meat in the mail. So much meat and cheese ...
Glenn: I mean, crazy meats.
Charlie: You don't want to smell my mailbox.

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4. Is there any line you won't cross? For example, Kevin Smith said he couldn't make rape funny.

Rob: No. If it's funny, no. Why? We make rape jokes all the time.
Charlie: We've made so many rape jokes on our show. Rape is very funny when done properly.

Ed. note: Unprintable hilarious bit about Kevin Smith deleted

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5. What does it mean on your website when it says that this season "Everybody sings, and somebody poops"?

Glenn: That's true. Somebody's doing a lot of pooping, and we don't know who it is. It's a mystery.
Charlie: There's a 'Murder on the Orient Express'-style episode, where we're trying to figure out who pooped in the bed.
Glenn: We're going to be flashing back to the year 1776. So there'll be a history lesson episode ... very exciting. PLEASE print that. Comedy! Lots of half-naked men and women ...
Rob: A lot of nudity.
Charlie: A lot of sex, violence ...
Glenn: And rape!
Charlie: Sex, violence and non-consensual sex.
Glenn: We're going to be solving the gas crisis this year.
Charlie: We'll solve that for America. We've got some ideas.

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6. Where does the title of 'It's Always Sunny' come from?

Charlie: The title came from our original home-movie pilot, 'It's Always Sunny on TV.' Because you watch sitcoms or whatever, and of course it's always sunny because you don't want to film in the rain. And then we took that show out of Hollywood and we set it in Philadelphia, and we said if anyone can think of a better title, we'll give you two hundred bucks. And no one could, so we just left it.
Rob: The real nerd fact, though? It came originally from when we started shooting it -- there's an
a-ha song called 'The Sun Always Shines on TV.' It was a spin on that title.

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7. What can you tell me about your new show, 'Boldly Going Nowhere'?

Rob: It's going to be the funniest show on network television.
Charlie: It's set in outer space, and it's sort of like, what are the mundane, everyday life problems about being on a spaceship? As opposed to episodes where you're fighting aliens, it's episodes where you're really trying to figure out...
Glenn: Where the aliens are.
Charlie: Or how to open the sliding door now that it's broken and there's no handles on it. So ... you know, space comedy.

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Michael Buckner, Getty Images

8. How will you juggle working on both shows at the same time?

Charlie: We aren't going to act on the other one, but we are going to write as much as we can on it, and produce. [So] a lot of phone calls, a lot of pushing people around, a lot of bossiness ...
Glenn: A lot of finger-pointing ...
Rob: A lot of blaming ...
Glenn: It's just that we've gotten really good at it, so we've figured out how to do it on two shows instead of just one.
Rob: A lot of taking credit.

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9. So next year, you'll be doing three shows?

Charlie: Yeah, why not? Absolutely.
Glenn: We are actually working on a third show. We're developing an animated show, [but it's] really in the baby, baby works. 'Boldly Going Nowhere' is much further along. This is just something that we're ... It's a family show.
Rob: Get the f--- out of here! It's not a family show.
Charlie: It's called 'The Rapers.' "They live down the block from you."
Rob: Bud and Mindy Raper!
Charlie: They're just like you!
Rob: Except they rape more.

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