Why It's Always Sunny Refuses To Reveal The Waitress' Real Name
The side characters on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" can sometimes be just as funny or even funnier than the gang themselves, and one of the most beloved of them all is The Waitress, played by Mary Elizabeth Ellis. The Waitress has been a part of the series since the beginning, appearing in the very first episode, "The Gang Gets Racist," but her real name has never been revealed. (There was a pretty funny fake-out in the season 7 episode "The High School Reunion Part 1," in which Frank steals a nametag meant for Nikki Potnik, and fans assumed that was The Waitress's nametag, but alas, that was quickly debunked by writer and star Glenn Howerton.) There aren't many other characters on the series that don't have revealed names, so what gives? Why have they kept the identity of The Waitress a secret for all of these years?
On an episode of "The Always Sunny Podcast," where Ellis joined writers and stars Charlie Day (who is also married to Ellis), Rob McElhenney, and Howerton (along with writer/producer Megan Ganz) to discuss all things The Waitress, the character's real name came up in conversation. It turns out that they've known her name for a very long time, but there's a pretty solid reason why it's never been revealed.
It's always secretive in Philadelphia
On the episode, Day jokes about revealing the character's name to all of the podcast listeners. While that idea is shot down, they do dig into the origins of the character, who existed all the way back in the original home movie pilot. Her name was sort of an "homage to where we were at that time," according to McElhenney, and they haven't decided if it's concrete that the name has stayed the same, but there's an even more solid reason for not revealing it: there's no real point of reference in the show, and it would be a big bunch of nothing. As McElhenney explains:
"But it's so much funnier, of course, that you don't know. And I remember a similar thing happening in the writers room. We realized we needed to name Mac, season whatever it was. And I think I just said, oh, let's just make him Jimmy McDonald. And then I remember you [Day] coming into the writers room and being like, 'What's his name? Jimmy McDonald?' And I was like, 'Yeah, I dunno. We just gotta come up with the name.' And you're like, 'Yeah, but we've done it for so long. We haven't revealed it. It should be a big reveal.' And I was like, 'I don't know. I just, let's just keep it simple.' And then we started pitching on it and you were like, 'No, it's definitely Ronald.' [...] I knew that we would need something equally as profound as that for the Waitress. Otherwise, if we just called her [bleep], no one would, it just wouldn't have any resonance."
McElhenney absolutely has a point, because people are going to want her name to be funny, otherwise there's no reason to share it at all.
A series full of silly names
No one likes a confusing name reveal after it's been kept a secret (looking at you, "Kill Bill Vol. 2"), and giving The Waitress a standard name just doesn't work at this point. There are plenty of other characters in the show who have nicknames that are used more than their real names (if we know their real names at all), so it's not totally unrealistic for the gang to have gone this long without knowing her name. Heck, they often forget that they went to high school together. The "Sunny" gang regularly interact with folks like The Lawyer, Rickety Cricket, and Gail the Snail, so why not just "The Waitress" now and forever?
Honestly, I hope they never reveal her name, and maybe the finale for the series can end right before she says it, cutting away like "The Sopranos" cuts away from "Don't Stop Believin'" in the series finale. The Waitress is one of the funniest characters on all of "Always Sunny," name or no, and I look forward to seeing her for many seasons to come.