Late ‘Jackass’ Star Ryan Dunn Was Supposed to Appear on ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Before He Passed Away
A crossover between the the reality slapstick comedy franchise Jackass and the delightfully crass sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was cut short by tragedy 14 years ago.
Given that Jackass was very possibly the inspiration behind Ronald “Mac” MacDonald’s embarrassing stunt series “Project Badass,” a merger between the TV and movie series about skateboarders pulling astounding pranks and stunts and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia sounds like a dream come true for anyone who loves obscenely funny acts of stupidity. To absolutely no one’s surprise, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star and creator Rob McElhenney is, himself, a huge Jackass fan, as well as a fan and friend of the franchise’s late star Ryan Dunn, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 34.
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Two years after Dunn’s death, McElhenney gave a Reddit AMA in which a fan asked him about any potential plans to introduce the Jackass crew to the Always Sunny universe. McElhenney mournfully replied to the question, “We were prepping to have Ryan Dunn on the show in Season Seven. To think about it now makes me really, really sad.”
Following Dunn’s passing, McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson and Glenn Howerton spoke about the beloved Jackass star in the above MTV Special A Tribute to Ryan Dunn where they ragged on their late friend and wondered what Dunn’s partner, actress Angie Cuturic, ever saw in the Jackass stuntman. Said McElhenney, “When he introduced Angie, I was like, ‘How the fuck did this guy get this chick?’ And then I was like, ‘Well, alright, so he’s famous and he’s on TV,' and then he’s like, ‘No no no, this was even before Jackass!’”
“We had a lot of questions about that, that kind of blew our minds,” Olson added of the couple’s origins.
McElhenney concurred, “I still can’t believe it!”
But while Dunn sadly never got to make his debut in the Always Sunny universe, McElhenney, Olson and Howerton did manage to sneak a hilarious homage to their friend into the Season Seven classic “Thundergun Express.” McElhenney continued of Dunn, “He once referred to his penis as a button in a fur coat.”
“Which we loved so much that we wrote it into our television show,” Olson explained.
So while Dunn himself never appeared in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in this small, tiny way, he still managed to hang some dong: