David Hornsby Wrote (And Regretted) One Of It's Always Sunny's Grossest Cricket Gags
One of the great challenges in being a comedy writer who also stars in the project they're writing is that ostensibly they're going to end up writing something hilarious that is absolutely miserable to film. Unfortunately for "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" writer, star, and co-producer David Hornsby, who plays the eternally cursed Rickety Cricket, those miserable moments are somewhat common. What's even more unfortunate is that one of the absolute worst moments to film ended up being written by Hornsby himself, and he came to regret it (even though it's very, very funny).
In the episode "The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell," Hornsby plays a version of Cricket who is a British soldier stationed in Philadelphia right before the Revolutionary War, and he has an unfortunate run-in with the alternate history version of the gang. On the episode of the "Always Sunny Podcast" discussing Hornsby's time on the series, he revealed that he wrote "The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell" and is wholly responsible for what happens to his character, including his disgusting rejection by Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson). Sometimes making art is unpleasant, especially when you're in comedy!
So much saliva
In the episode, vintage Cricket is just as infatuated with Sweet Dee as he is in the present. Unfortunately, she also rejects him just the same, and reacts with an "Always Sunny" staple: she spits at him. More specifically, she spits in his face. After the initial rejection, he tries to seek her out again and even proposes to her, asking for her hand in marriage. She spits in his face once more, and Charlie (Charlie Day) even jumps up and spits in his face as well, getting it in Cricket's mouth. Hornsby knows that it's funny, but he also regretted writing the bit in the moment:
"And I'm like, it's one of those weird things where you're like, you know it's best, but, like, she will be spitting in my face if I do this, if I type this. And they're gonna love it. They're gonna love that I've written something where everyone spits in my face. That's gonna — so it's definitely going in. Like, alright. But yeah, when you're on the day and it's just, take four, let's do it again."
Being spit on isn't fun (unless that's your kink, I guess, no shame), and Hornsby probably had to take quite a few shots of slobber straight to the face in order to get the shots just right. Cricket has had to endure a lot of awfulness from the gang over the years, but that's probably the worst thing Hornsby has had to endure for the sake of laughs.
Blood, sweat, and spit
Of course, some of the other actors on "It's Always Sunny" have undergone much more extreme circumstances for the series. Rob McElhenney, who plays Mac, famously gained and lost 50 pounds for a single-season joke where he was "Fat Mac," which is pretty intense, but the "Always Sunny" suffering champ has to be Olson, who throws herself into the physical comedy, often quite literally. She has fallen and hit her head, cut her shin open, and more, all in the name of laughs for the long-running FX series. While she's not a part of the writing team and hasn't had the same experience of writing her own future misery like Hornsby, she has devoted herself to making audiences laugh all the same.
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is the longest-running live-action American comedy of all time in large part because the people who create it are so dedicated to delivering the best possible version of the show, and are willing to get spit on, gain and lose a whole Golden Retriever's worth of weight, and suffer painful injuries all in the name of our entertainment.