'Rowdy' Roddy Piper Went Surprisingly Method For It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
The "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" guest star roster is impressive. The series has seen special appearances by the likes of Sean William Scott, Lance Reddick, P. Diddy, Tom Sizemore, and more, but among the best of the best is "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, who played the wrestler known as "Da Maniac" in the hit FX comedy series. First appearing in the episode "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops," Piper really gives his all to the character, who is a down-on-his-luck amateur wrestler who works in the local Philly circuit. It looks like he might live out of his car and he tries to sign autographs on parking tickets, but he's pretty good at the whole wrestling thing (and he's a fantastic Invigiron berry pill salesman!).
On the "It's Always Sunny Podcast," where series stars Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, and Rob McElhenney discuss the series with writer and co-producer Megan Ganz, the crew started talking about the origins of Piper's character and what it was like to work with the wrestling and cult movie great. Many people know Piper best for starring in John Carpenter's "They Live" or for his World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling performances. However, for some younger audiences, Da Maniac was their introduction to the late, great wrestler.
Da Maniac goes method
Piper appeared in both "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops" and "Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare," playing a local Philly wrestler who goes by "Da Maniac" and is pretty much always down on his luck. He seems like he's probably taken a few too many metal chairs to the dome, too, as he mumbles incoherently from time to time and seems to misunderstand just about everything. (For example, when Mac (McElhenney) and Dennis (Howerton) try to get him in on the timeshare, he thinks that means they're now apartment roommates.) Apparently, Piper got really into character whenever he was on set, which Howerton described:
"Okay, so what I remember was when he came in, he was like, there was some like method acting s*** happening, he was in character. He would, I mean, he would interact with us, but he was — He kind of stayed in character to a degree. And I remember thinking at the time, and I think I brought this up to you guys, he was so good and playing it so real. And so his performance was so haunted that it was like I was watching him thinking he could have played The Wrestler. In Darron Aronofsky's 'The Wrestler.' He would've been amazing."
The guys went on to explain that Piper was so in character that it could be a little difficult to communicate with him on-set. They did point out, however, that he was a completely different person in the dressing rooms, where he was out of character and was just himself. It had to be pretty intimidating trying to make a comedy with a guy acting like the Maniac around, but the results are spectacular because both episodes are wildly funny.
Bringing gravitas to a silly role
In lesser hands, the role of the Maniac could have been a one-note joke, but Piper's dedication to finding the character gives him real depth. While the rest of the cast doesn't go quite as far in getting method, there is a lot of thought and passion put into the characters that make them feel more like real people than cartoons. It also honestly makes them funnier, although in some instances it can be a bit unsettling. Much like Piper getting into character as the Maniac, Danny DeVito apparently has a little pre-filming ritual where he gets into character as Frank that disturbed one of his co-stars until she realized what was going on.
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is full of really ridiculous situations, but it's also a place where actors can really show off their range and get a little weird with it. No wonder it's the longest-running live-action sitcom of all time!