One Of Rob McElhenney's Favorite Always Sunny Episodes Involved A Head Injury
As of the end of season 16, there are 162 episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," and the vast majority of them are great. There are a couple of stinkers like the almost universally reviled "Frank's Brother" or the overly nihilistic "Charlie and Dee Find Love," but for the most part, "Sunny" is fantastic. That's what makes trying to select a favorite episode so difficult, not only for fans but also for the people who make the long-running show. It's tough to pick a favorite when there are so many truly terrific episodes, but series creator and star Rob McElhenney somehow managed, and it's an episode that gave one star a real head injury.
In an FXX promo interview with the cast for season 13 of the series, McElhenney was asked about his very favorite scene in the show and he brought up an infamous moment in the season 4 episode "Who Pooped the Bed?". (Incidentally, "Who Pooped the Bed?" is the episode I used to introduce people to the series — it's a perfect intro to the gang and the humor without needing to know any in-jokes.) The scene in question features everyone's favorite bird-woman, Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson), taking a dive off of some ill-fitting shoes and it ends in some very real pain.
Dee hits her head, hard on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
In the interview, McElhenney revealed his favorite scene by explaining the (admittedly funny) injury:
"Kaitlin was doing a scene in season 3 where she was coming out of a door and she smashes her head into a car. She comes stumbling out and she goes headfirst into this car and puts a nasty-ass dent in it. And the car, we just rented it for the day, we didn't prime it for any kind of stunt, but it wound up going in the episode."
McElhenney is a little mixed up about the whole thing, as the episode is actually in season 4 and Olson has said that there was originally a stuntwoman who was going to take the fall, but that she wanted to do it herself. They ended up getting it in one take because she really threw herself full-speed into the door and hurt herself (and they were running out of stunt car doors), but Olson told Yahoo! News that she actually wanted to try several more times. "I think that's part of the acting. I don't want someone else to do it for me," she explained. She also said that she had to see a chiropractor "many times afterwards," but she felt that it was a win in the end. The scene is one of the first times that Olson really cements herself as a comedic threat to rival the rest of the gang, but it was not the last time she would injure herself for the sake of the scene.
Injuries in the name of comedy
While the gang themselves have all gotten injured a few times over the course of the show (starting with "Charlie Gets Crippled" back in season 2), none of the actors have put themselves in harm's way quite like Olson. Sometimes the injuries occur because she's adamant about doing her own stunts, but sometimes it's just because she's rather clumsy, like when she hurt her leg so badly the bone was sticking out, forcing co-star Glenn Howerton to leave the room because it was so gruesome. Olson really doesn't hold back on her stunts or her performance in any way, giving every moment 110%. Whether she's pretending that she's about to vomit or throwing herself around like a human ragdoll, she's giving it her all.
It has to be difficult playing the only female member of the gang (and she is a member, whether the boys will admit it or not), but Olson does it with her own unique, hilarious style. She's seemingly fearless in her comedy, without concern for embarrassing herself or even causing herself serious bodily harm. Dee is hilarious, and while the show has great writing, the character simply couldn't work without Olson's no-holds-barred performance. Injuries and all.