A Fake It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Script Had Danny DeVito Dialing His Lawyer
Through 15 seasons, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" has proven time and again that its cast and writers are willing to go just about anywhere for a laugh. Every member of the main cast — Rob McElhenney (Mac), Charlie Day (Charlie), Glenn Howerton (Dennis), Kaitlin Olson (Sweet Dee) and Danny DeVito (Frank) — has been shorn of their dignity multiple times. The sheer fearlessness of "Always Sunny" keeps viewers coming back, and leaves the show open to disgusting new opportunities.
It's this sense that there isn't a line the show is willing to cross that allowed the other cast members to pull a rather elaborate prank on DeVito. The veteran actor appears to be having the time of his life as part of this lunatic ensemble, and has hurtled himself into many an unflattering situation. But every man has his limits, and his collaborators found his red line when they presented him with a fake script.
Frank Reynolds' very bad day
In a recent interview with Uproxx, the Emmy Award-winning actor revealed that, many seasons ago, he received an urgent call from his assistant imploring him to look over a new script before the day's readthrough. It was 10 AM, and he was due to hit set at 1 PM, so the request threw him. But DeVito is the ultimate team player, so he did as requested.
The veteran actor, who directed two classic dark comedies ("Throw Momma From the Train" and "The War of the Roses"), couldn't believe what he was reading. For probably the first time during his run on the show, he was appalled. The episode opens with Frank getting busted for soliciting a hooker, which lands him in jail, where, while taking a shower, he gets raped. It got much, much worse from there.
"Then they throw me in the lockup, the big lockup. I get raped by everybody and the cops. And they kept going back to the bar and then Frank would get raped. And I go back to the bar, Frank would get raped. And I said, 'What the f***, man? Call my lawyer.' Right?"
An irate DeVito powered through to the end, where a surprise was waiting for him.
Played for an April fool
"I got to the end of the script. And the last guy that nailed me leans in. Well, Frank is now laying on the ground, [his] face is on the ground. He's been f***** by every ... And the guy leans down and he says, 'April fools, b****.' And I realized it was April 1st. They wrote this script in order to break my balls."
Fortunately, there were no hard feelings. DeVito called up his co-stars, and they were all howling with laughter. In retrospect, DeVito should've been suspicious because, as described, this scenario is way too on-the-nose cruel for "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Yes, the show loves to push the envelope, but it consistently does so in a far more creative manner than this. Still, you've got to admire the effort. Writing an entire fake script just to mess with DeVito is quite the commitment.