Danny DeVito on the ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Finale and “Crazy” Script That Almost Made Him Call His Lawyer
[This story contains spoilers from the season 17 finale of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.]
In the Golden Bachelor spoof finale episode of season 17 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Frank (Danny DeVito) steps outside of his customarily creepy character when he picks Sam, a seasoned contestant on the parodied reality dating show played by DeVito’s former Taxi co-star Carol Kane, over 20-year-old Cock Chewa — a caricature of Haliey Welch, the originator of the viral “Hawk Tuah” street interview catchphrase — with whom he’s been sleeping with on OnlyFans.
The episode ends with Frank professing his love for Sam and offering her his gold rose, which she accepts, before the pair shares a passionate kiss in the rain. But according to It’s Always Sunny star and executive producer Charlie Day, there could be more to the story.
“I am sure we will write [Kane] into next season as well,” Day tells The Hollywood Reporter. “She seemed to have a lot of fun, so I would assume she would come back and do it, which would be great.”
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DeVito feels the same way about the prospect of Frank having an actual love life in the already renewed season 18 of the FX comedy. “I am way down with that,” the 80-year-old actor tells THR. “I mean, you get up there in age, it’s nice to have a steady girlfriend.”
Below, DeVito shares more thoughts on the future of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which Day previously told THR could likely come to an end soon, the one storyline he (sort of) said no to since joining the show in its second season and partying with Michael Jackson in the ‘80s.
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In episode two this season, “Frank’s in a Coma,” the Paddy’s Pub crew thinks your character is in the hospital dying, but it turns out his body is really a cake. How do think that ranks among Frank’s many fake-outs over the years?
I don’t know if I could speak to how it ranks… I look at the shows and I say, “Well, this is what we’re doing in this season,” and just dive in. I don’t compare ’em, but sometimes I watch things more than once — I had to see myself come out of the couch naked a few times — just because you can’t believe you did it. (Laughs.)
In a 2019 interview on The Jonathan Show, you said there’s pretty much nothing you’ll say no to on It’s Always Sunny. Has that held true? Can you recall anything that you’ve said no to over the years?
We had one incident that was kind of a faux situation because — I didn’t know it — but it was April 1st, and we were going to start shooting an episode that week. We were ready to go, and the morning of, I got a phone call and somebody said to me, “They’re going to change up the first show, but they want you to read it before you come in.” They had all this planned, of course — the nut jobs I work with, who I love dearly — so I started reading [the script] and it was really, really bad. I was abused in this show to the point of, I can’t even tell you. Midway through, I said, “I’m not going to do this. There’s no way I can do this. This is really crazy.”
Long story short, the last line in the script, there are cops all around me with nightsticks, and they’re all going to have their way with me in a jail. I say, “I’m leaving,” and the cop says, “You’re not going to leave without saying goodbye, are you Frank?” And they all get their nightsticks in their hand, I get thrown down on the ground and I’m on my stomach and the guy leans down into my ear, and he says, “April Fools motherfucker,” (laughs) and I realized at that time that they had me totally wrapped around their little finger. I seriously was going to call my lawyer [and say], “Lawsuit, no way!”
Good thing it was just a prank.
I got ‘em back. We all went to some Upfront thing in Washington, and it was a big hotel packed with TV people. I got there early, and we all had rooms that FX had given us on our own, so I talked to the manager, and I said, “Look, don’t give them their rooms. Give me a small room with one bedroom and get me a bunch of cots and tell them that the place is filled.” The guy did it and he played it to the hilt. They were all in the room, and I was in a closet with a bottle of tequila and glasses watching them react to the fact that this guy is telling them there’s no room in this hotel and this is the room that FX booked for them and they all had to sleep together on cots. Rob [Mac] got on the phone. He was going to call the big shots, and then I came out of the closet. I had ’em good.
They deserved it.
They did deserve it.
What was your reaction to the season 17 script, including your Golden Bachelor storyline?
Oh, I loved it. I loved everything. It’s something that you don’t want to miss, as an actor, the chance to do. And then we have incredible fans who constantly tattoo me on their butt and whatever, so I love it. It’s been a hell of a ride.
How do you feel about the prospect of It’s Always Sunny ending after one more season?
Well, as long as we have a good ending — I don’t know what the ending could be, they probably have one already figured out in their head. It would be hard to let go, but if it’s right and the audience is happy with it, then I think it’s a good thing to do. I had an experience like this with Taxi. We were canceled after four seasons by ABC, and Grant Tinker and Brandon Tartikoff [at NBC] picked us up for the fifth season [in 1982]. We did 22 shows that year, but prior to that, we didn’t know. In fact, we’d all won Golden Globes and Emmys. I was in New York, all set to do Saturday Night Live, and we got the call. [Co-creator] Jim Brooks called us up, and we were devastated. We all got together and got drunk. I brought everybody on the show. Lorne Michaels was nice enough to let us on, but what I was getting at was we knew that that was going to be the last season [when we got picked up], so we all had it in our bones that we were doing the last episode.
But we were party animals anyway. Every Friday night we had a big party. It was really wild. For five years on Taxi, we worked from Monday to Friday. We did the show on Friday night, and then we had a party and everybody came to that party, from people who were on the sets of all the other shows, like Laverne & Shirley, Happy days — Henry Winkler used to come. We had people like John Belushi play at our wrap party. Michael Jackson was there. Michael loved our show. He used to come and watch in the booth up in the top where the technicians were. Robin [Williams] was there all the time, and we visited him too. But what I was getting at is, when Sunny comes to an end, we’ll know it and we’ll all embrace it. We really dig each other and we’ll always work together.
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The 17th season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is now streaming on Hulu.
