Charlie Day Tried To Get Out Of Kissing Kaitlin Olson In It's Always Sunny Season 10
The cast of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" have been working together for years. Half of the members of this tight-knit group are married to each other, but these boundary-pushing comedians have no qualms about their characters sleeping with people that aren't played by their spouses. However, things did get a little strange while shooting Dee and Charlie's romantic tryst in season 10. Kaitlin Olson, who plays Dee Reynolds, has been married to showrunner and co-star Rob McElhenney for over a decade. His co-creator and co-star Charlie Day is married to Mary Elizabeth Ellis, who plays the object of his character's affection, The Waitress. It was an awkward day on set, but the person who felt the most uncomfortable with the scene might surprise fans.
The scene was actually thought up by McElhenney, Olson's husband of several years at the time, he confirmed to Conan. "We've been married a long time," the showrunner joked. "Gotta spice things up." Even though McElhenney was the one who advocated for the scene, Day was still nervous to kiss his wife. "Charlie found it way more uncomfortable than I did," the "Mythic Quest" star revealed.
Day found it so uncomfortable, in fact, that he tried to avoid kissing Olson altogether. "I tried to get out of it. I was like we don't have to see — we can cut out just before and it can all be implied," the "Fool's Paradise" director recalled. "And they were like, 'Well, don't wimp out, you gotta do it.'"
Of course, Day didn't wimp out — but he wouldn't go quite as far as his co-creators wanted him to.
Howerton and McElhenney wanted them to go even further
Howerton and McElhenney knew their co-stars would be uncomfortable kissing each other, but they thought it'd be funny if they pushed the boundaries of comedy even further.
"Rob and I were like, 'Take her clothes off! What are you doing? C'mon, let's go!'" Howerton told Bustle. "I want to do a thing where they start to have sex and then they do have sex, for like, eight straight minutes. And we show it. All of it. I'm not kidding. A so-excruciatingly long and uncomfortable montage of them having sex. Nobody else, Charlie, wouldn't go for that."
If that scene doesn't sound very funny to you, then you're not alone. Even Howerton admitted that it "wouldn't be funny at all until it just kept going and going and going and then it becomes funny again, hopefully" (via Conan).
Day wasn't the only one that was dreading this scene. Olson also found the prospect of kissing her co-star — the one she isn't married to, anyway — to be sufficiently awkward. "Charlie's like my brother," she interjected. "It's very strange. He doesn't like to be touched at all, ever, and I had to kiss him."
Despite the anticipation leading up to the day of the shoot, the actors still managed to have fun with it. "Look, it ended up being great," Olson added. "We were very nervous about it for a while and at the very end he was like, 'We don't really get to kiss other people very often, let's just enjoy it.' And I was like, 'That's cool."
Even though what Day said was true, it was still a pretty bold thing to say to his friend's wife. So, how did McElhenney react to his long-time collaborator being so forward?
Day and Olson enjoyed the kiss in the end
He might have been the one to orchestrate a kiss between his co-star and his wife, but McElhenney never thought Day had actually enjoyed the scene in the end. It might be an on-screen kiss between two actors, but it's a fairly tender and passionate scene in a show that doesn't have a lot of sweet or sincere moments. The whole joke for the co-creators was how uncomfortable it would make Day and Olson, but they made lemonade out of lemons and decided to just enjoy the kiss.
McElhenney was shocked to learn that Day and Olson had a good time and never knew Day had made such a bold remark. When Olson told the story on Conan, her husband confirmed that this was "new information" to him. "I thought you were being professional about it," he said to Day.
Day didn't seem to recall things the same way as his female co-star, but it's all water under the bridge for this group. "Did I say that?" he asked. "Hey, man, they've all slept with my wife on the show, so I mean, I think it's, you know ..."
The "Horrible Bosses" star isn't bluffing — every other man in the gang has been sexually involved with his wife's character at some point in the show. DeVito interjected to remind everyone that he "banged her season 2," while McElhenney added that Mac and The Waitress had only done "hand stuff" — perhaps another allusion to his sexuality, which was still a secret at the time.
This might seem like a touchy subject, but the "Sunny" gang has a free-flowing attitude about this stuff. They are all so secure in their relationships, their friendships, and their comedy that they're willing to risk it all for the bit — and that's why they're the longest-running sitcom of all time, folks.