Andrew Friedman Didn't Have To Audition For Uncle Jack In It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is filled with pretty despicable characters, and I'm not just talking about the gang at Paddy's Pub. Peripheral characters and family members have weaved in and out of the boundary-pushing comedy's 16 seasons and counting, but perhaps none were quite as memorable as Charlie's Uncle Jack.
A little bit about Uncle Jack: he loves large hands, wrestling, and practicing estate law — as long as his opponent doesn't have bigger hands than him. He is played by character actor Andrew Friedman, who has had recurring roles in other major network shows like "Glow" and "Better Call Saul." Friedman might not be the most easily identifiable star in Hollywood, but he is undoubtedly a stand-out performer in "It's Always Sunny." Maybe that's why he didn't even have to audition to land a role in the longest-running live-action sitcom.
Before scoring a spot on the hit comedy, Friedman had appeared as a background actor in major shows like "Scrubs," but had never been given much of a chance to shine on screen. He did, however, have some experience with comedy. The actor was in an improv and sketch comedy troupe performing at the Groundlings Theatre and School when he first met the gang — and he got the job that very same night.
Artemis, a fake parrot, and some luck landed him the role
The "It's Always Sunny" series creators and stars Glenn Howerton, Charlie Kelly, and Rob McElhenney attended Friedman's comedy show to support their fellow cast member Artemis Pebdani. Pebdani's character, also named Artemis, is a friend of Dee's from acting class that has appeared in the series as early as the first season and as recently as season 15.
"Getting cast in the show was a lucky godsend," Friedman wrote on Reddit, painting the picture of that night. "Artemis and I were performing together at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles and the gang came to see her."
Almost 20 years later, Friedman still remembers that night like it was yesterday. He can even recall the joke that won the cast over. "I had a sketch where I was a guy that owned a pet store and I'm trying to convince a customer to buy a pet parrot," the actor recounted. "Most of the sketch is just me saying to the parrot 'say cork nut, say cork nut' [and] it never does."
For those of you that have never heard the phrase 'cork nut,' you are not alone. The word originates from a famous language study featuring a parrot named Alex. The parrot was asked to identify an almond and called it a "cork nut," per British Library. Friedman's toy parrot never said cork nut, but it definitely spoke to the "It's Always Sunny" gang — the bit landed him a job on the spot.
"I guess the gang liked it because my manager called to say I was cast in an episode of a new show on FX," Friedman recalled in his Reddit post. "No audition! So l guess I owe landing Uncle Jack to Artemis, a fake parrot, and luck."
Friedman opened up about playing a controversial character
Uncle Jack is a certified fan favorite, having delivered some of the best lines of the series — NOBODY LOOK! — as well as potentially providing the inspiration for Charlie's unforgettable musical, "The Nightman Cometh," hands-down one of the best episodes of "It's Always Sunny." His more terrifying proclivities have been heavily suggested since his first appearance, but Friedman feels that they have dialed back on that part of his character in recent years. The actor gives the series creators a lot of credit for reading the cultural temperature and adjusting accordingly.
"They walk like a very fine line on that show, you know," he explained on the TTFT Show. "If they took one step over they've gone too far on this issue. They do such a good job of implying, and subtextually what they're saying comes through." He continued, "And Uncle Jack — nobody ever says what he's done and what he wants to do but [...] I think they've pulled back on that part of him a lot. In the past couple episodes I've done it's more about his hands and his insecurities."
His character may have evolved a little bit, but not much has changed on the "It's Always Sunny" set during its 16 seasons on the air. Friedman still enjoys working on the show all these years later. "It's not like I did season 1 and season 13 and it was suddenly like 'Oh man, this is a whole new thing,'" the actor said. "I feel like the show has pretty much stayed the same. No big change happened where you're like, 'Oh, this looks different.'"
Uncle Jack might not come back
Even though Friedman's been on the show since season 1, there's no guarantee that Uncle Frank will ever return. The character has only appeared in nine episodes total over the show's nearly two-decades-long run, sometimes going whole seasons without a mention. Friedman confessed that he has no idea whether or not Jack will be returning to a new season until he gets the call to come back.
"I mean I never knew, it was never told to me you're gonna do four episodes next season and then you're off a season and then you're gonna come back," he revealed, per TTFT. "It's always been, through the whole thing it's been, 'Oh man, they called, I'm doing an episode.' It was always a surprise to me."
Friedman thinks the show is hilarious, but the cast and crew are what keep him coming back time and time again. "They've always been kind to me and everybody I know that's worked on that show," he gushed. "It's just such a wonderful sort of stressless atmosphere."
Even though Friedman didn't have to audition to land the part of Uncle Jack, he offered some interesting (read: sarcastic) advice to aspiring actors looking to score a role like his.
"I think you gotta come in like super low confidence," he joked in a behind-the-scenes feature for FX Networks. "Don't be off book, don't know the lines, just say whatever you want. Just come in with a character choice and then just say what you think would happen in that scene regardless of what the script is."
You heard it here first — don't audition, don't learn your lines. Just scream at a fake parrot a little bit and you could land yourself on a major network comedy. Easy-peasy!