Paul Walter Hauser Says Walking Into Paddy’s Pub Was Like Stepping Into ‘The Wizard of Oz’

As a massive fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Emmy-winning actor Paul Walter Hauser says that landing a role on the show and stepping onto the set made him feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. He must have been talking about the Diana Ross version of Dorothy.

Of all the Hollywood stars who have debased themselves on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Hauser is one of those rare awards-winners whose contribution to the show’s canon is simultaneously invaluable and overlooked, partially because of the makeup that Always Sunny slathered all over his face — and I’m not talking about the clown get-up. Long before Hauser starred in Oscar-nominated movies like Richard Jewel and BlacKkKlansman, he had a one-episode performance as the bullied Juggalo Richie in the 2010 Always Sunny episode “Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth,” an experience he has since described as an absolute dream come true.

If you’ve only watched Always Sunny on streaming services in the last few years, you’d think that Hauser was actually dreaming when he went on the show. “Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth” has since been scrubbed from the major platforms due to its intentionally and pointedly tasteless depiction of blackface. Nevertheless, Hauser went on the sports podcast Pardon My Take earlier this week and gushed about the surreal pleasure of appearing on Always Sunny as a huge Always Sunny fan himself.

“Dude, it was nuts,” Hauser answered when asked about what it felt like to watch Always Sunny as a fan just to star in an episode that would later be locked in a vault forever. “I was dropping out of college … partying my face off, ballooning up in weight and writing a movie script for Key and Peele because MadTV had just gotten cancelled and my manager at the time repped them.

“So I’m writing this script for Key and Peele before they have the hit show, and I’m dropping out of college, and most of my days are spent watching Dirty Work and Wet Hot American Summer and episodes of It’s Always Sunny,” recalled Hauser of the post-dropout days that introduced him to the hit sitcom that would soon come knocking on his door. “A year later, to be in the room auditioning for the show, it was crazy.”

Hauser landed the part, but he wasn’t quite ready to give up his party boy lifestyle, bringing the party to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia instead. Said Hauser, “I had a weird flex back in the day where I didn’t ask permission for anything. I would just bring one of my buddies to set, and he’d be hanging out with me all day without asking anybody, so like my buddy and I … walked into the set of It’s Always Sunny, and walking into that bar and seeing everything, it was like The Wizard of Oz or something.”

“We could not believe we were in the bar of It’s Always Sunny,” Hauser said of his and his friend’s reaction. So it turns out Richie did have a posse — he was just missing the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion.