Glenn Howerton's Wife Appeared On It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's Grossest Dennis Episode

The history of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is loaded with fun facts. The show simply gets funnier when you learn that the Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) is actually married to Charlie in real life, or that the actors for Mac and Dee (Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson) fell in love behind the scenes and got married around the premiere of season 4. 

A lesser known trivia fact is that the real-life wife of Glenn Howerton (who plays beloved psychopath Dennis Reynolds) shows up in a famous season 5 episode "The D.E.N.N.I.S. System." Jill Latiano, who married Howerton around 2009, plays an attractive pharmacist named Caylee. Dennis sets his sights on her, and seduces her in a particularly disturbing way. 

The D.E.N.N.I.S. system stands for Demonstrate value, Engage physically, Nurture dependence, Neglect emotionally, Inspire hope, and Separate entirely. If this sounds inhumane already, just know that it's even worse when we actually see these steps in practice. When Dennis says "demonstrate value," he means making up a sick grandmother and forging prescriptions for her. When Dennis says "nurture dependence" he means using a voice changer and leaving Caylee threatening messages over the phone, so that Caylee will want Dennis around for protection.

In a 2023 episode of "The Always Sunny Podcast," Latiano showed up to reflect on "The D.E.N.N.I.S. System." Everyone seemed in good spirits, although Latiano and Howerton had a small complaint about the fans. 

"It's funny, we laugh all the time because we cannot post a photo of ourselves without all of the comments, or 99% of the comments, being like, 'D.E.N.N.I.S. system really works!' 'You forgot to separate entirely!'" Latiano said. 

Howerton told the audience, "Hey guys, okay, so if any of you are the ones making those comments, any creeps and listeners that are listening right now, I get it. I totally get it. ... I understand why you're doing it, but stop. Not because we're offended by it or anything like that. Just stop because it's, like, getting old." He soon added, "You can't make the same joke over and over and over."

Charlie Day remarked on getting a similar treatment when he posts a picture with wife Mary Elizabeth Ellis: "I get a lot of that too, a lot of like, 'Oh, I guess the Waitress is letting you hang around this week,' or whatever."

Soon after in the podcast, Howerton and Latiano shared some more context about what it was like filming that messed-up storyline together. "It was before we got married but then aired after," Howerton said. Latiano added about seeing the script for the first time, "I just remember thinking it's hilarious and insane and, you know, that it was gonna be super fun to work together."

The fact that Howerton and Latiano's relationship is genuine and sweet in real life helps ease the sting of the D.E.N.N.I.S. system, which is one of the darkest things Dennis has ever revealed about himself. Is it as bad as his "Implication" scheme? Not quite I suppose, but it's still up there. Dennis' method of picking up girls reveals a man who is fully sadistic; it would be far easier for him to get laid if he just acted like a normal man, but instead he must go through all those lengths to psychologically destroy the girl he's pursuing.

In a lot of ways, the D.E.N.N.I.S. system feels like the show's response to a rival sitcom of the time, "How I Met Your Mother." Instead of Dennis, that show has Barney Stinson, another amoral man who refers to the woman he seduces as "prey" or "targets." Barney's horrendous treatment of women also deserves some prison time, but "HIMYM" would never get as dark as Barney calling up a woman and telling her "you're gonna die tonight!" 

This season 5 episode of "Always Sunny," which aired mere days after the similar-type episode "The Playbook" on "HIMYM," really helped to highlight just how much darker the former show was willing to be. As absurd and callous as Barney's womanizing antics may be, he was always supposed to be at least somewhat sympathetic to the audience. Dennis in "Always Sunny" had no such requirement. By season 5 fans had fully accepted Dennis as the sleazy, irredeemable menace he truly is. Looking back at this episode today, fans are just happy Dennis didn't try to add Caylee to his collection of skin luggage.