‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Fans Are Convinced That French Charlie Kelly Is the Ultimate Charlie Kelly

What’s the French version of “Rock, flag and eagle”? Jazz, scarf and rooster?

It should come as no surprise to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans that the show is a big hit in other countries with big drinking cultures. For instance, even Russia tried to make its own international knockoff called It’s Always Sunny in Moscow, and even though the show was a critical and commercial disaster by any metric, its mere existence proves that, wherever there are alcoholics with cable subscriptions, there is a market for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, regardless of whether the local drink of choice is beer, wine or vodka.

The more sensible international media markets have taken the traditional approach to localizing It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for a non-English-speaking audience — namely, France and Germany hired voice actors to dub the show in the local language, and Anglophone It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans are losing their minds over French Charlie:

The French voice actor who plays Charlie Kelly is an accomplished theater performer and dub specialist named Benoît Du Pac, and as some It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans may have guessed already, he’s the go-to voice of any character played by Charlie Day, having dubbed the American artist in almost every single project Day has made that’s been worth screening for the notoriously discerning French audience. Beyond It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Du Pac has dubbed Day’s lines Pacific Rim, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Horrible Bosses, Horrible Bosses 2, Fist Fight and even the commercially successful but critically despised conclusion to the National Lampoon's Vacation film series, 2015’s Vacation.

Now, it may seem unpatriotic to claim that the true version of Charlie Kelly, a man whose love of America is unmatched in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is best played French. However, there are many aspects of Charlie’s personality and lifestyle that lend themselves to Du Pac being the better voice. First, naturally, is Charlie’s love of cheese. The French love of cheese is legendary, even if they, too, would probably abstain from eating an entire block before a first date.

Speaking of dates, Charlie’s infatuation with and stalker behavior toward The Waitress would probably come off as less creepy and maybe even romantic if it was shot in black and white and they both spoke French. In fact, Jean-Luc Godard might even have taken inspiration from Charlie’s romantic woes for one of his leading men, if he had ever tuned into Du Pac’s performance.

We all know how Charlie feels about leaving the Philadelphia city limits, but he may be even better suited for France than he is for the United States — though, he’d certainly have to make a complete 180 on his attitude toward smoking.