The Celebrity Guests Who Debased Themselves the Best on ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’
So many of the entertainment industry’s most influential figures have been surprisingly eager get in on the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia action — too bad none of them are Emmys voters.
Despite its lack of awards recognition, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is, inarguably, one of the most widely celebrated sitcoms of the modern era. It’s also the longest running live-action American sitcom in TV history, and, in that time, Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton have invited many of the world’s most recognizable celebrities to sink to their level and see how low they can really go in Philly.
It’s Always Sunny is, at its core, a show about the worst, most shameless and most disgusting (physically and morally) people on television, so the true test of a guest star or visiting A-lister’s commitment to their artistry is how degrading they’re willing to get during their time on It’s Always Sunny just to get a laugh.
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Here are the celebrities who understood the assignment the best, in ascending order of depravity…
Alexandra Daddario Lets Charlie ‘Cruel Intentions’ Her
Charlie and Dee’s sudden run of good luck in the dating department in “Charlie and Dee Find Love” seems too good to be true, which, of course it is — but not for Charlie. While the slimy and secretly gay (or, at least, wrestling-loving) Trevor Taft may have been manipulating Dee and Mac into embarrassing themselves for his amusement, poor Ruby Taft, played by Percy Jackson star Alexandra Daddario, really believed that she had found true love in the lower class. All the while, Charlie had been seducing, manipulating and exploiting the “stupid little rich slut” — his horrible words, not mine — as a way to convince his true love, The Waitress, to allow him to get a little closer to her. I’ve never seen Cruel Intentions, but I’m sure the plot’s the same.
The WWF legend’s delirious and unhinged performance as the unstable and unsavory former professional wrestler to whom we were first introduced in “The Gang Wrestles for the Troops” was so convincing that it made us genuinely concerned for “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s well-being. Sadly, Piper passed away less than two years after his final appearance on It's Always Sunny in “Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare,” in which he became a surprisingly effective pyramid schemer. Da’ Maniac loved you, and we love Da’ Maniac.
Rob Thomas and Sinbad Go to Psychosis-Induced Rehab
In “Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life,” the title character nearly achieves his dream of racking up dramatic and verifiable celebrity anecdotes to include in his A Million Little Pieces-inspired memoir before finding out that he bit off more than he could chew when he seemingly checked into a celebrity rehab facility. Later, of course, Dennis discovered that he hadn’t done anything besides piss off a couple of mechanics. It’s probably for the best that the whole thing was just a head injury-induced illusion — in Sinbad’s house, you’re Sinbad’s bitch.
Guillermo del Toro Becomes the Patriarch of the McPoyle Family
It’s funny how It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia can book one of the most respected Oscar-winning film directors in the world to play the insane, inbred, bird-shit-covered Pappy McPoyle in two different episodes, but the show can’t so much as sniff a major industry award of its own. Perhaps the Always Sunny creators and stars’ resentment of that top echelon of “respected” artists inspired the character design for this crazy old bird-lover who, apparently, thinks that he’s some sort of white trash Pennsylvania Kronos. The Shape of Water director crushed this part like it was a tall glass of bath salts-laced milk.
Seriously, when DeVito signed on to appear in a struggling but promising sitcom on FX in 2006, he had no way of knowing that the next 18 years of his life would be spent bursting out of leather couches butt-ass naked and rolling around covered in hand sanitizer — also butt-ass naked. No actor on It's Always Sunny is asked to perform more depraved stunts than DeVito, probably because no one else would be able to pull it off as well as the GOAT. DeVito is pushing 80 and still putting on the most debased performance on television — and just like Frank himself, he’s getting real weird with it.