On the pod, the guys revisit Mac and Charlie Write a Movie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 5, Episode 11.
Rob McElhenney: It’s been a minute. It’s been a minute. How was–well, how was Ireland.
Charlie Day: Uh, fucking amazing. First of all–
Rob: What a country.
Charlie: What a country. Just, just the people, are the greatest people.
Rob: Yup.
Charlie: The landscape is just stunning. Um, I am awesome at driving on the left hand side of the road.
Meg Ganz: Really?
Charlie: Yeah.
Meg: Better than on the right side, you think?
Charlie: No, no, no. I’m better on the right. But uh–
Rob: That tracks.
Charlie: Does it?
Rob: Well you’re always talking about how your brain is like, opposite.
Charlie: Oh yeah.
Rob: You think about things differently. I agree.
Charlie: Well. First of all, I like the puttering engine of a diesel engine. I was like, “This is cool. This car doesn’t, just, not a golf cart. Like a, not like a 100,000 dollar golf cart like we drive.” But um. Which is a superior machine. I will say. I will admit. I’ll take that back. I was like, “Eh this is a better car.” But I was having fun, kind of puttering around like in a diesel, you know. Half electric, half diesel I think it was. Forever, before the gas went down. Everywhere I went people fucking love Sunny.
Meg: Yeah.
Charlie: It was so heartwarming and refreshing. And people were genuinely excited, you know. We did, at one point, we drove around the ring of Beara. Which is in the southwest corner of the island. So it’s like down in western Cork. And what a drive. Just, just stunning view. And we stopped at this place called Helen’s Bar. Which is really, nothing was near it. And they were like, “How the fuck did you find this place? What are you doing here?” But it was also like, I guess everyone has television, but it seemed like a place that wouldn’t have television. You know, one of those towns that had like 5 people in it.
Meg: Uh-huh.
Charle: But they all watch Sunny.
Rob: You know what’s strange? As Glenn and I we’re just, we saw each other in the parking lot there, and as we were walking up, I for some reason, I don’t know why. I metnioend to him that I had finally seen The Banshees of Inisherin.
Charlie: Oh yeah.
Rob: Which I had not seen yet. And–
Charlie: It’s great.
Rob: It’s kind of exactly what you were talking about.
Charlie: Yeah.
Rob: Where, there was just this island. And it was what, 1923, in the movie. And there’s really nothing to do except a little bit of work here or there. And then you just go to the pub everyday at 3 ’clock, 4 o’clock. And just get hammered.
Glenn: What are you talking about?
Charlie: I was in Ireland for 10 days. Everyone there, is so wonderful about the show. And loves the show. And uh, I just loved driving on the opposite side of the road. It was just such a fun challenge. It felt like my brain like, clicked into it. I did not like it at first. The first drive out there was hairy. But by the 10th day I was like, getting in the left side of this car. The first 3 days, I kept walking to the wrong, like, the passenger’s side. To get in the car.
Glenn: Yeah. Of course.
Charlie: I gotta go around.
Glenn: Yeah.
Charlie: But then by the end, I was ziping around in that thing. Loving every second of it.
Glenn: I don’t think I’ve ever–
Charlie: I drove on the left side of the highway up here today. Just ‘cause I missed it.
Rob: Less fun.
Charlie: Yeah. Just dodging cars.
Rob: Less fun.
Charlie: Less fun no doubt. People were pissed.
*Intro music*
Glenn: Megan.
Meg: Guys.
Charlie: Megan Ganz is back.
Rob: Megan Ganz is back.
Charlie: Welcome back. Welcome back.
Meg: Aw, thanks. I missed you guys.
Rob: Great to see you.
Glenn: Holy cow.
Meg: Yeah. Here I am. It seems like it’s been weeks and weeks and weeks. Really, you guys recored things in like, the one week I was out of town. So it seems like I was gone for weeks.
Charlie: That is the uh–
Glenn: Are we telling people that?
Charlie: I think it’s fine for people to know that. Sometimes we do these things weeks apart. And sometimes we do, like 3 days in a row.
Meg: Yeah
Charlie: Because we have to.
Glenn: I think it’s important for people to know that actually, in case we bring something back. In case, you know, something from an episode that we talked about, comes back. Or something, I mean in an episode of the podcast comes back up. And we’re like, “Oh yeah. Last week.” Blah, blah, blah. And it’s something that–
Charlie: Right.
Glenn: –you now, we posted 4 weeks ago, or something.
Charlie: In fact, the one that’s the gonna air on monday. Or they probably will listen…They will have already seen this one. But The Dennis System one, we actually recorded before the last 2 that aired. Just ‘cause we had to. Just schedule wise.
Glenn: A schedule thing.
Charlie: We all got lives here. You know?
Glenn: Yeah.
Meg: Um, but yeah. It was fun. I did a little road trip. Went out to Denver and back. Uh, and it was really fun. Just me and the dog. Just hittin’ the wide open road. Didn’t get murdered.
Glenn: Yeah. Just drivin’ around with a dog?
Meg: Just me and the dog.
Charlie: Let me tell you something about Ireland has gotten right that our country has gotten wrong. Every time you stop at a little town, you’re not like “And there’s the Mcdonalds. And there’s the Walmart. And there’s the Starbucks.” Like, we’ve destroyed our, our small towns. Our small businesses. And our beautiful landscape. With the mallifaction of America. I’m running for president in 2024. I’m announcing it right here. Oh my god. I would hate to be president. That would be awful. ‘Cause wouldn’t that suck? “How’s your morning been?”
Meg: He’s on fire this morning.
Rob: Charlie’s on fire. Did you–what’s in that cup?
Charlie: I missed you guys. I’m happy to, I’m happy to be here and chat. I’m excited to hang out.
Glenn: That’s very sweet.
Rob: I’m excited as well. Now, how many cups of coffee have you had?
Glenn: You seem pretty coffeed up.
Charlie: Uh, yeah. I mean, always. But no more than usual by this point.
Rob: Just in a good mood.
Charlie: I’m just in a great mood.
Glenn: In a good mood. Yeah, that’s weird. ‘Cause I was driving here thinking like, not that I’m in a bad mood. I’m actually not. I’m in a good mood. I just was like–usually I’m driving over, and I’m thinking like, “Oh you know what? I wanna talk about this. Like, I bet...” You know. I’ve got something on my mind. Something that you know, irritated me. Or–
Charlie: It’s always good when you got an irritation.
Glenn: Yeah. It’s usually an irritation or–sometimes it’s a, you know, something that was awesome. And I was just drivin’ over and I was like, “I got…I don’t know man. Life’s good.”
Charlie: That’s okay too.
Glenn: But, yeah. I guess that’s a good thing.
Charlie: The weather’s good. You know what I mean?
Glenn: It’s not good for the podcast. But it’s good for my life.
Charlie: Well, no I agree. It’s not good for the podcast.
Glenn: You know?
Charlie: I think Rob’s right. It’s better when we got something to argue about.
Rob: Some kind of fightin’.
Charlie: Yeah.
Glenn: Something to bitch about.
Rob: Did that all stay in?
Meg: Yeah.
Rob: Oh good.
Meg: You don’t watch the podcast then. Is what I’m learning.
Rob: No.
Meg: Yeah.
Rob: I mean how much of a narcissist–I mean, who’s gonna sit back and watch the podcast. Watch yourself.
Charlie: Quality control. Quality control.
Glenn: QC.
Rob: I trust Megan. And Mara. And our entire team really. I mean–
Charlie: Um–
Glenn: Well that’s foolish because you know…
Charlie: ‘Cause you’re coming off terrible.
Glenn: You’re coming off real bad.
Meg: Yeah. Real, real bad.
Glenn: Coming off like a real douche bag.
Charlie: Yeah. Um–
Rob: That wouldn’t surprise me.
Charlie: No, sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t.
Rob: Maybe that’s why I don’t like to listen to it.
Charlie: I, I sometimes enjoy, you know, I’ll give like a note or two. But hardly any. You do do a very good job every time.
Meg: Thank you, Charlie. Appreciate it.
Glenn: Yeah. I don’t often get a chance to watch ‘em before we post them.
Meg: Yeah.
Glenn: I try to. But I don’t–
Meg: Running a little behind sometimes. But I watch all of them. I watched all the ones when, when I wasn’t here. And I appreciated like, I mean I definitely did leave in all the conversations about uh, bands. And your diets.
Glenn: Yeah. All the fights.
Meg: Amino acids. And all that.
Rob: Me gaslighting Glenn.
Meg: Yeah. Yeah you guys–
Glenn: Yeah. All the gaslighting.
Meg: Yeah. A lot of–um, no. I left all those. Mostly ‘casue I wanted people to miss me getting you guys back on track. So it was a strategy on my part
Rob: Well we noticed the, there was an episode where you weren’t there. And then all of sudden Mara was there. And we weren’t sure exactly why. We did ask that–
Glenn: We were fairly certain we, that it was, yeah. A wrangling.
Rob: It was a wrangling situation.
Charlie: All right.
Rob: Our other mom.
Glenn: It was like having a substitute teacher who didn’t–
Meg: Yeah. Somebody actually commented. “It was like a substitute teacher who wasn’t told that she had the worst class in school.”
Glenn: “Who wasn’t told she had the worst class in school.”
Charlie: Oh my god. Weren’t you, was it–I remember just being brutal, brutal to substitute teachers.
Glenn: I feel bad actually. Thinking back.
Rob: Oh. Of course you feel bad. Because that person looked like they were 45 years old. And most likely they were—
Glenn: 32.
Rob: Way younger. 21. Or right out of school. 22.
Meg: Making 10 dollars an hour.
Glenn: Yeah just makin’ nothing. Making nothing. Just getting abused by highschool kids.
Meg: Yeah.
Charlie: Also they’re, they’re does seem like, I get it from the kids perspective. Which is like, “Hang on a second.” You know. “The deal is, I gotta come in the class. I can’t be home with my Nintendo. I gotta come in. I gotta sit. And I listen to this teacher. Gotta learn shit. Now if that teacher bails on the deal, don’t slap in a new person, okay? I am committed to this one, this 8th grade teacher all year long. You’re gonna stick someone else in? Uh-uh. No.” And so you know, you gotta rib ‘em a little bit. I get it.
Meg: Do you think that the kids are mean to the substitute out of loyalty to the original teacher?
Charlie: No, no, no.
Glenn: Definitely not.
Charlie: Just out of like, this is a raw deal. Right? It should be like, if the teachers say–
Glenn: “If I gotta be here.”
Charlie: “Schools out.” You know? It’s like a snow day. It’s like, you know.
Rob: You’re always looking for your boundaries as a, as a kid. And you’re lookin’ to see if you can, where’s the moment, where’s the point of weakness. And like, with Mara it was clear that there was no point of weakness. We tried. We came at her. But, she kept put. She kept shuttin’ it down. She was like that one substitute you would get, and everybody would try to fuck with her. And she’d be like, “Sit down Mr. McElhenney. Or you are out–you are going.” And you’re like, “Oh. I can’t fuck with her.”
Charlie: Yeah.
Meg: There was a real moment though when she said when she said she was gonna try and wrangle you guys. Where I saw all of the hairs on your necks stand up.
Rob: Well it’s triggering.
Meg: Just the idea of being wrangled.
Glenn: Yeah.
Rob: It’s triggering.
Meg: I don’t think I do wrangle you guys though.
Charlie: No.
Meg: I–it’s not.
Glenn: You nudge us.
Meg: I wanna talk about the episodes–
Glenn: You nudge us.
Meg: Well, that’s just because I, I like talking about the episodes. It’s not because I think the podcast is better when we do. It’s just this is my opportunity to grill you guys. So I’m not personally gonna pass that up.
Glenn: I think it’s good to have the questions too. Because sometimes I’ll watch an episode and be like, “I don’t know exactly what to talk about.” Like, I kind of want somebody to ask me questions. As opposed to just bringing stuff up randomly.
Meg: Well good news. I have some today.
Glenn: Let’s do it. Should we talk about the episode?
Charlie: Do we want to talk about the episode?
Glenn: I do. I found it very funny.
Charlie: Or is anyone coming in hot? Do we have any, any–
Glenn: I’m coming in cold. Happy, but cold.
Meg: Have you eaten enough today? Are you physically cold?
Glenn: Not physically cold. No.
Meg: All right.
Rob: I’m coming in, I’m coming in, in a good mood. I got up early. I did a radio show in Philadelphia. “The Preston and Steve Show”. We’re all aware of Preston and Steve. The voice of the podcast, the live Sunny podcast tour we’re gonna be doing.
Glenn: Dude, I’m very excited about that. We’re playing Philly.
Rob: It’s so, we had so much in the past.
Glenn: And then we’re playing Radio City Music Hall, in New York City.
Charlie: Yeah.
Glenn: I mean that is dope.
Charlie: And the venue in Philly is huge, right?
Rob: I’m gonna tell you that the, the venue we’re playing in Philadelphia means way more to me personally–
Glenn: Well, I’m sure.
Rob: –than Radio City Music Hall.
Glenn: Okay.
Rob: I have never–I would say that I have been to The Mann Music Center, which is where we’re playing, um, no less than, and I am not exaggerating, 25 times.
Glenn: Kay.
Rob: I have never been inside The Mann Music Center.
Charlie: Oh. You just out in the parking lot–
Rob: It was one of those places where–
Charlie: –to hang and score a bag of mushrooms?
Rob: Yes. Yes. It was one of those places in highschool. Uh, where uh, the, The Allman Brothers would be playing. Or um, the uh–
Glenn: Heart, maybe?
Rob: Heart.
Charlie: Fuckin’ A with the Heart.
Glenn: No, no, no. I—
Rob: Um, no. Steve, wait. Who sings “The Joker”?
Glenn: Oh, Steve Miller Band.
Charlie: The Steve Miller Band.
Rob: Steve Miller Band. You know, like that period of time. Where it was classic rock. And they were, it was yacht rock. And they were kinda coming–but you wouldn’t go to the conert. You would just go to the parking lot and it would be where highschool kids could find kegs of beer. It was also a place where you could find whippets.
Charlie: Sure.
Rob: And apparently, according to Preston and Steve this morning, the whippet market is boomin’.
Meg: Is it?
Rob: People are still doing whippets.
Charlie: Whip it real good.
Rob: Whip it real bad.
Glenn: Whip it real bad for the brain.
Rob: Yeah. Whip it real bad.
Charlie: Whippin’ it real bad. Yeah.
Rob: Now I’m hoping there won’t be any whippets in the parking lot of the Always Sunny Podcast.
Charlie: I guarantee there will be. Somebody somewhere’s got a whippet.
Meg: Um, speaking of Philly though. The I-95 collapsed. Did you have a lot of your friends texting about that? You’re like, group?
Rob: Sure did.
Charlie: A road collapsed?
Rob: A whole–
Meg: Highway.
Rob: –A whole highway collapsed.
Glenn: That’s crazy.
Charlie: What?
Meg: ‘Cause a tanker like ignited below it. And the fire collapsed the highway above it.
Charlie: Holy shit.
Meg: The whole I-95. And there was a great video which I’ll probably put in the podcast. Of a local news, of a guy talkin’ about having heard–
Rob: It’s amazing.
Meg: –I-95 collapsing. And he’s got that accent.
Glenn: Oh yes. I saw that.
Rob: It’s worth us just watching it now. ‘Cause we could talk about it. We could talk about it.
Meg: I’ll see. Rob Rosell sent it to us.
Rob: I was sent that exact clip by no less than 12 people.
Philly guy: Dude. So I was passed out and I woke up to nothing but text messages, phone calls. I had no idea what was going on. And I got dressed. I came out. I looked down and I smell like this smokey smell. And I’m like, “Damn dude.” So, it’s crazy.
Reporter: When you came out and saw it, did you know what was hapenning yet? Or did it just look like a fire?
Philly guy: Well, no. So I got all those text messages, screen shots. I’m like, everybody’s like, “Yo. Where’s this at?” Like, nobody had like a direct like, location. So I was like, looked out my window and I see a bunch of cops. And I’m like, “Bro. That’s right by my apartment.” So…
Reporter: So when did you figure out and realize that the freeway collapsed? The northbound side.
Philly Guy: Oh dude, I was passed out when that happened.
Glenn: “Passed out. Passed out.”
Rob: “I don’t know what’s goin’ on.”
Charlie: “Dude I was passed–”
Rob: Why would you lead with that? You’re talkin’ to the news, you’re talkin’ to the news. And you know your mom’s gonna see this. Your friends are all gonna see it. Which is maybe why you say it. But you lead with, “I was passed out.”
Glenn: “Passed out.”
Charlie: It’s just facts. He’s just stating facts. You know, there’s no filter to it.
Meg: Also swearing on the news.
Rob: Yeah.
Charlie: I love this guy.
Meg: You can really hear the accent on “saw”. ‘Cause they put like an L on the end of it. “Sawl.”
Glenn: “Sawl.”
Meg: It’s like uh–
Rob: Something about that Philly accent really tickles the imagination.
Glenn: It’s confounding. It’s, it is the strangest, it really is to this day, one of the strangest accents I’ve ever heard.
Charlie: It’s like a boston accent slammed with the deep south mixed with England.
Glenn: Australia.
Charlie: And Australia.
Glenn: There’s some Australia in–
Charlie: And, just like weird Bondville. And–
Glenn: Yeah. It sounds, it sounds fake. Like, you know what I mean? Like, if you’d never heard that accent before and didn’t know what it was and somebody was doing it. You’d be like, “Oh. Somebody’s doing like a really bad New York accent. Or–”
Charlie: Well, remember like when we first started the show. And we were debating like, “Should we, do we do the accents or not?” And we’re like, “People won’t know what the fuck we’re doing.”
Glenn: Right.
Charlie: Like, they’re gonna be like, “What is this?”
Rob: So we just, we chose specific words. And we’ll just do it for those words.
Glenn: Yeah.
Charlie: Danny goes in and out of it.
Rob: Danny goes in and out of it.
Glenn: Yeah. He was messing around with a lot in, when he first came in, in the second season.
Charlie: He ramped it up this year a little bit. You know.
Glenn: Did he?
Charlie: Yeah.
Glenn: Suddenly decided his character has a Philly accent.
Meg: I do really wanna talk about this episode. So should we just, should jump in?
Glenn: Mac and Charlie Write a Movie.
Charlie: Yeah. Dude, first of all, Danny, doing the accent a little bit in this episode. But like, the thing that jumped out at me most was him, “Why you rubbin’ on that phone?”
Glenn: “Why you rubbin’ on it? Let me rub on it.”
Charlie: “Let me rub on it.”
Frank: Why you rubbin’ on the phone? Let me rub on it.
Dennis: What are you doing? No, no, no! Hey Frank! Get your greasy fat sausage fingers off my touchscreen phone. This thing’s new.
Frank: My fingers are not greasy.
Dennis: You have four sausage links in your pocket right now.
Frank: Yeah, but I don’t touch the sausage links. Why should I do that when I could let my shirt do the work? Watch. No touching at all.
Dennis: Animal.
Glenn: That was a Rosell joke.
Rob: Yeah.
Charlie: Totally.
Glenn: I remember that was a Rosell line.
Charlie: Same. But also, just the, the context that it was an absurd thing that Dennis was looking at this phone that much. And how sad it is that we now live in a culture where we’re all guilty of sort of acting like you’re acting in that episode. But in that episode it’s a joke that you’re this disengaged with the world.
Glenn: Yes. And now it’s totally normal.
Charlie: And now we are all so engaged with that device that–it’s horrible.
Glenn: I would also like to point out..
Meg: Was it a Blackberry?
Glenn: So that phone and I remember this, uh, this was like a year after, a year and change after, no actually. I think it was like almost 2 years after the Iphone had first come out on the market. And Blackberry, available for rental now, had just come out with the Blackberry Storm. Which was the phone that really–
Charlie: Destroyed it.
Rob: They thought was gonna take the world by storm.
Glenn: Yeah. And boy it sure did not. They rushed it to market. And I remember actually, I was like, I was wondering, it was like, “Why didn’t we–” I can’t remember why we had a Blackberry Storm instead of an Iphone. I think–
Rob: Oh. I think I can guess.
Glenn: Yeah. Can I–
Rob: Apple was like, “What? No thank you.”
Glenn: Yeah, no. And Blackberry–
Rob: Blackberry was like, “Yes please.”
Glenn: “Yes plesae.”
Charlie: “You’ll hold it in every scene, yes?”
Glenn: And I do—
Charlie: “You’ll hold it in every scene, eh?”
Meg: Very good.
Glenn: And I do remember, I do remember messing around with the phone, ‘cause I was curious about it. And, I was, I was like, “This is so weird. Like the whole screen clicked.” You know, because the whole concept behind the phone was, “It’s not gonna be an Iphone. Because it’ll be a touch screen but it’ll still have that Blackberry click.” So when you press the screen–
Charlie: I think I had one of those.
Glenn: –the whole screen would click. And it was a piece. It was terrible. It was really glitchy. It was really slow. It was very laggy.
Meg: Not anything like the movie by the same name. Which moves very quickly.
Glenn: Yes. The movie itself is not laggy at all. And um, yeah. Uh, but yeah. I remember that. It was a Blackberry Storm. And I remember thinking like. “This is not a great phone.” Um, but yeah. But it was, after touch–I mean, touch screen phones had just come out. So it was just becoming a thing. To be able to like, you know be on your phone at all times. And not be a business man.
Charlie: Do you guys remember this? ‘Cause I don’t remember this. Like why, why did we go with that story line for your character? Right. The disengaged is very funny. You know. That we’re pitching you a movie and you’re half engaged. And then you do finally get engaged to talk about the penetration. Which I thought was hilarious. But like, but do you remember like, why we went with that?
Meg: Is it that you needed the twist at the end? That he had been typing up…
Charlie: Might’ve been.
Glenn: I think we were probably just talking about it in the room, the fact that like, now with the Iphone again, had been out for a year and a half. Or something like that. And I think it was becoming very clear that people were just like, you know, even more glued to their phones that they ever had been. It was like a funny concept.
Charlie: It’s like a new kind of funny thing to bring up.
Rob: But also, you know, when we’re in the writers room, and we’re like, “Okay. Well, it’d be funny if these characters write a movie. Okay. Who are the dumbest people to write the movie? Okay. Probably Mac and Charlie. We know Dee would wanna be in the movie. We could see Frank wanting to be an agent. Okay, Dennis.” Like, what. You know. With all of our characters like, “Okay, we figured out these two. This pairing and this pairing. Now, what are we gonna do with Mac? Okay. What’s Mac gonna do?” Might’ve been, there’s just that pitch.
Glenn: Could’ve been, yeah.
Charlie: This one had the, you know, for whatever reason. I can’t remember why. But like, I don’t know why. But like, very often times we don’t send you two off to, to do on draft. Just the two of you.
Glenn: Yeah.
Charlie: And this was a, and I remember this was one that you guys–
Glenn: This was a McElhenney and Howerton joint. This one.
Charlie: Yeah.
Glenn: I remember, I remember us writing this together actually. Um, and I remember it being fun. And–
Charlie: Yeah.
Glenn: Yeah. I don’t know why we don’t do it more often. ‘Cause we usually do–
Charlie: I remember–I have a memory of you guys coming back with a draft and being like, “Oh. This is a lot of fun.” Like, all the conversations about what the movie’s about.
Glenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah exactly. And I remember thinking that concept of like, I think when we hit on that Dennis, the fact that he’s disengaged, is what makes him um, appealing as an actor. Was funny to us. As kind of an inside joke. Was like, that kind of thing of like, you have to show this, there’s this weird thing when you go into auditions as an actor. Like, if they get the sense that you really want the part, there’s something that kind of turns people off about that. Even though, you should want the actor who worked the hardest. Who wants the part the most.
Rob: Batemen has a phrase for that.
Glenn: Yeah, what is that?
Rob: Jason Batemen. “Sexy indifference.”
Glenn: “Sexy indifference.”
Charlie: Yeah, yeah.
Glenn: It’s true. It’s true. Like, if somehow–
Meg: It works in every capacity.
Rob: It works in every, in every interpersonal relationship that you have.
Glenn: And I think, I think that’s why, I’ve always–that part of the reason why I think Australians do so well in auditions. ‘Cause I think they have that kind of, “Sexy indifference.” They’re just like, it doesn’t feel like they’re that many–it feels like a lot of them are just like, they’re just rough, wild, crazy people. Who come in to, who are just like acting ‘cause it’s like, “Yeah. Thought’d it be fun you know? Just kinda go for it and just see what happens.” You know, can’t do the accent.
Rob: That’s a pretty good one.
Charlie: Yeah. So good at accents.
Glenn: You know. But it’s like, it’s almost like they, they don’t really give a shit about the, it’s kinda like, something that they’re doing that day. Is doing the audition.
Rob: Generalize a whole continent. Come on.
Glenn: No, but–
Rob: The stereotype is funny.
Charlie: You think it’s too much to give ‘em a whole continent?
Rob: You know, honestly–
Charlie: I think we should back off that a little a bit. You know.
Glenn: I think we were trying to–
Rob: It’s no longer a continent. Oceania is now–my son is big into geography these days. And they call that whole region Oceania. Oceania.
Meg: Oh. So it’s–
Rob: So it’s Australia–
Meg: New Zealand.
Rob: Yeah. And both answers are correct. If you say Australia, you will get the–
Glenn: You will get the points in trivia.
Rob: –you will get the points. And if you say Oceania–
Glenn: You will also get the points.
Rob: –you will also get the points.
Glenn: Okay. Well–
Charlie: Where are we on the continent aspect of it?
Rob: That’s where we are. That’s where we’re at.
Charlie: Oceania is the continent.
Glenn: Is now the continent.
Rob: But if you say Australia–
Charlie: I see what you’re saying. I didn’t see what you were saying before. Clearly.
Glenn: Yeah.
Meg: He’s still on the left side of the road in Ireland. In his brain right now. He hasn’t left.
Charlie: Yeah. Sometimes, I, I don’t know what you guys are talking about.
*AD BREAK*
Meg: I really have to say I love this episode because I think my favorite Sunny episodes are where the stakes are self generated from within the gang. Um, like Dee comes in with this acting job that she has. But the whole stakes of that scene where Mac and Charlie are pitching you the movie, is kind of self created. Like, Frank just says that Dennis is a producer. And then you guys are pitching to him with the like, earnest need. Like he can do something–
Glenn: Yeah.
Meg: –if you sell him this movie. And it all kind of is like, self generated within and never kind of breaks outside of the gang. Which I think is always like, really funny. ‘Cause you totally believe you all believe the stakes. Like you and, like, Mac and Charlie are just so like, “Okay. We–okay. This is our one shot.” And you’re like, you live with this guy. You talk to him every single day.
Charlie: You talk to him like he is a producer. And an agent is great.
Rob: I would just like to say to the audience out there, that’s, that’s accurate in Hollywood. There are so many people that walk around this city. They just show up and they tell people they’re producers. And the next thing you know, people are pitching to them. And I don’t know what they do. I don’t know what these people do. Think of all the people that you know who call themselves producers, who don’t produce anything. That’s a good grift.
Charlie: For the sake of not going crazy, I’m going to strongly agree with you. Um, yeah. There’s some–
Meg: Yeah.
Charlie: –there’s some um, suspect producers out there for sure.
Glenn: It is true though. That you could, you could, you could just step into a room and be like, “I’m a producer.” You know? And it, you know, where I see it a lot too is when people have production companies.
Rob: Yeah.
Glenn: It’s like, “I’ve got a production company.” And then you go on like, you know, IMDB PRO, and you’re like, you know, ‘cause some guy handed you a card. And you’re like, “Oh. What is this–what has this person done?” Nothing.
Rob: I was just in Philadelphia for an event, and I was talking to many people outside of our industry. Which is always fun. Because we live in this bubble where everybody we know works in some capacity. Or lives with, or is, we’re very close to everybody, or so many people that work in this, in this industry. And to talk to people outside of it, they’ll ask questions um, like, “What is a producer?” Like what does a producer actually do?
Glenn: Oh. That’s a tough question to answer.
Rob: And it’s a tough question to answer. Because, there’s so many, there’s so many different jobs that fall under that umbrella. And one of which is nothing.
Meg: Yeah.
Rob: The answer is nothing.
Glenn: Yeah.
Rob: I don’t do anything.
Meg: I have a name that I put on something.
Rob: I have a name that I put up there. And then they pay me for that. But I don’t produce anything.
Glenn: Yeah. They at one point did. And now they just put their name on it and that’s it.
Charlie: Like when someone’s good at it, it’s an incredible asset.
Rob: You are actually making something.
Charlie: Yeah. You’re really making something. You’re making sure it happens. It happens on schedule. You’re making sure it gets seen. You’re guiding it creatively. Um, and then there are the people who sort of, are able to like claw onto something. And then put their name on the thing.
Glenn: I do think the producers guild does try to um, does try to protect for that a little bit. Like on films, you can’t get the title of “producer”. You can get like, you know, “Associate producer”, or “Co-producer”, or “Executive producer” on a film without having to, to go through as many step as I think you have to go through for–this is from what I understand. From talking to Jill about this. ‘Cause this is what she does. But like, you have to go through a lot more steps to get that big P Producer title on a film. And it’s also different in film and television. Right? Like, the big, the best title, the best producer title you can get on a film is, “Producer”. The best producer title you can get on a TV show is, “Executive Producer”. I don’t know why.
Charlie: Yeah. It’s all–
Glenn: ‘Cause “Executive Producer” doesn’t mean as much on a film as it does on a TV show. But the average person probably just has, does not know that at all. I don’t know.
Charlie: It’s a tough thing to gage.
Glenn: It’s weird.
Charlie: What it is within a project. And what it does to make it better or make it exist. Um, and we all know, ‘cause, just from having worked with both the producers that are essential to the success of a project. And the ones that are able to kind of just be in the way. Or the ones that actively make it more difficult to succeed.
Rob: It is amazing how often you’ll see, you know, I’ll see a movie, that Ryan did. And I’ll see somebody’s name on there who I recognize. And then I’ll text him and say, “Oh. I know that person.” Or, “I’ve worked with that person.” Um, “How did you find that experience?” And he was like, “Never met that person before. Never saw that person.” Had nothing to do with the making of that movie. But even I’m, even I’m watching it and it tricks me into believing that they had something to do with the movie. But they–
Charlie: Oh yeah.
Glenn: Yeah. It’s kind of a, it’s, it’s, it’s kind of insulting to the people who really are the kind of producers who are there on set, every single day. Standing behind the, you know, behind the monitors. And are really involved. And are there on daily hourly basis. Like, solving problems as they come up. Which are, of which there a zillion on a movie set.
Charlie: Yeah.
Glenn: It’s constant problem solving. And trying to protect the director.
Charlie: And being uh, in between the studio–
Glenn: Yes. Yes.
Charlie: –and the director. And, and navigating those–
Glenn: It’s an exrtaordinarily difficult job for the people who do it, who are there on set. Like doing, like really doing the job of producer.
Charlie: I’ve done a lot of projects with John Rickard. And John Rickard now works with Peter Safran. And they uh, I think Peter now runs DC, with um, uh–
Rob: James Gunn.
Charlie: –James Gunn.
Glenn: With James Gunn. Yeah.
Charlie: But, John is a real producer. You know, John like, is making things happen every day. And making sure that, that the movie happens. And then making sure that the movie gets seen. And, and gets out to an audience. And–
Glenn: Yeah.
Charlie: –there are a million things coming at you left and right. That are either gonna compromise or ruin um. But then I’ve worked with people, you know. Or had, seen people get their name on a project at the 11th hour. Who really had nothing to do with it except maybe were somehow involved in the sale, or the distribution of something.
Glenn: Yeah.
Charlie: That’s like, oh wow. Should be a different title for that.
Meg: Do you guys remember if this episode came out of like, M. Night Shyamalan talking about that? And wanting to talk about like movies with twists and stuff? Or more out of like, wanting to skewer sort of Hollywood? ‘Cause the show has occasionally ventured into some like, Hollywood territory. You know, with the thunder guns. And like, the Lethal Weapon movies. And like, the characters are dancing around wanting to be like in the industry. Do you remember like how that kind of–
Charlie: No. I think it was that–
Glenn: I think it was that M. Night Shyamalan–
Charlie: –it’s more skewering our characters. Like what they would think a good movie was. And that was fertile ground for a really funny comedy. Just, they’re, just what their pitch was about, a guy who smells crime. Like, okay. We know that’s gonna be funny, right? With M. Night I think it was just that he was a famous, successful guy from Philly.
Glenn: Yeah.
Meg: Oh.
Glenn: Who makes all of his movies in Philly.
Charlie: Who makes all of his movies in Philly. So we’re like, well–
Rob: Our characters could potentially have access one of his movies.
Glenn: Yes.
Charlie: Yeah. And they would be aware of them.
Meg: Do you remember where Dolph Lundgren, specifically. Like, why you centered on Dolph Lundgren as a–’cause that carried through Sunny. Like, that being your sort of favorite action star.
Charlie: I think probably just because Rocky IV was such an iconic movie. Uh, at the time. And then certainly for these characters. And then we’ve already established it as that.
Glenn: Yeah. I mean we, we started talking about that in season 2.
Charlie: Here’s Sunny fan fiction that might be fun to kind of thinking about…By the time we were pitching this movie, had we already shot Lethal Weapon 7? Our characters–
Meg: Oh. Oh.
Rob: Oh.
Charlie: You know?
Rob: Yeah.
Glenn: Oh, oh, oh.
Charlie: In the timeline.
Glenn: In the timeline. Yes. Probably. Well, ‘cause that, doesn’t that–well no. Not 7. I think the first one we did was what? Lethal Weapon–
Charlie: 5? 6?
Glenn: –6? I can’t remember.
Charlie: I don’t remember. But–
Glenn: But whatever the first one is you’re talking about, right?
Charlie: Yeah, yeah.
Glenn: I, I imagine it was. Because I think we did the first Lethal Weapon episode in season 6, didn’t we?
Rob: You know what’d be fun, fun to do? For a fan to do? This actually seems like something MEg would love to do. Is to build a Sunny chronology–
Charlie: Yeah.
Glenn: Oh my god.
Rob: –from, from, from birth until like where we stand now. Because we play so many things out of timeline. And we talk back to the good ol’ days of when this might’ve happened. Or when this happened.
Meg: Highschool. Like what you guys–
Glenn: Sunny fan fiction–
Rob: Like we met Schmitty. Throwing rocks at trains. You know, where we met.
Charlie: I would think–yes.
Rob: What years.
Charlie: That either they had either already shot Lethal Weapon 7. Or–
Glenn: I think that–
Meg: Lethal Weapon 6.
Glenn: 6. Yeah.
Charlie: 6. Or they shot it immediately after this whole episode of Dee being in a movie.
Glenn: Second swing at it.
Charlie: And they were like, “Yeah. You know what? We should make a movie.”
Meg: “A sequel would be easier. We start with a sequel.”
Glenn: “We don’t have to come up with the like, whole clothe.” Yeah.
Meg: Um, I think that in this episode my two favorite scenes are the one of, Mac and Charlie brainstorming the idea for the movie. Which is so funny. And it really captures that feeling in a writers room. Where you feel like you get on a roll. And then you’re all like, and people are going, “Yes!” And you’re getting so excited about it. And then that one person goes a little too far. And you’re like, “Well…”
Glenn: You’re like–
Charlie: It was kinda funny for me like, watching that, to be like, it kind of does mirror our relationship. Where, how many times have we been in a room, kind of pitching ideas and getting each other excited about our idea. Like, many, many times. For many, many, many years.
Rob: We both have the realization at the same time. “We’ve got something here. And we’ve gotta get it on paper.”
Charlie: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Charlie: ‘Cause I want the movie to be big. Right, you know? And like, a box office smash. And like, we wanna put like a lot of meat in the seats. You know?
Mac: Yeah. You know what I’m thinkin’, dude? You know what I’m thinkin’? Something that’s happening in Hollywood that’s like pretty cool, they take an underrated actor, right? Who’s career’s in a slump. And then they make him a star again.
Charlie: That is awesome, right?
Mac: Yeah.
Charlie: Yeah. Let’s do that.
Mac: Yeah. So, who is the most underrated actor of all time?
Charlie: It’s Dolph Lundgren.
Mac: Correct. Why?
Charlie: Well because of his spikey hair.
Mac: Yeah.
Charlie: And his ice cold demeanor. And his big muscles.
Mac: Absolutely. Okay. All right, all right. So we have our actor. Okay, that’s great. Now we need a really great role for him.
Charlie: You know what I was thinkin’? Scientist’s are cool. What is he’s a scientist?
Mac: Okay. Okay. A muscular scientist. I’m into that.
Charlie: Right.
Mac: As long as we don’t cover up that body with lab coat bro.
Charlie: Dude, he’s wearing like a hot mesh tank top.
Mac: I like that. Now does he like fight crime or somehting?
Charlie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He fights crime uh, with his brain and his braun. Should we be writing this down? All right!
Meg: But it also I think mirrors, like, you seem to like, Charlie seems to be like pure like, creative kind of uh, output with no structure.
Glenn: Unfiltered.
Meg: No filter or structure at all. And then Mac is sort of like, “Well, you know. Let’s put that into something–”
Charlie: “It can’t be sheer madness.”
Meg: “He can’t run around like a dog.” And then the other great one is the pitch. The pitch scene. Where they are then pitching to Dennis their movie.
Glenn: That is a, yeah. That–
Charlie: That scene is fucking great.
Glenn: The scene in the, you’re talking about the scene in the trailer?
Meg: In the trailer.
Charlie: And then Danny in that scene is amazing too.
Dennis: All right. You guys got 30 seconds. Blow my mind.
Charlie: All right! Okay!
Mac: Okay, okay.
Charlie: Guys, guys. It’s the prequel to the 6th Sense. The 5th Sense. The sense of smell. Imagine a super ripped, supper smart scientist in a mesh tank top. Named Doctor, Dolph Lundgren.
Mac: No. That’s, that’s not his name. He’s played by Dolph Lundgren. But that’s not the character’s name.
Charlie: No. It could be the character’s name.
Mac: No, that’s–a doctor played by Dolph Lundgren named Dolph Lundgren?
Charlie: Yeah.
Mac: That’s confusing.
Charlie: More confusing than making up an entirely new name for a person? That’s gonna confuse people.
Mac: I’m taking over. I’m taking over.
Glenn: You are losing me.
Mac: Okay! All right! Imagine a super smart, ripped scientist played by Dolph Lundgren. Who after a terrible accident in his lab, blows off his nose. After reconstrucive surgery, he soon realizes that he smells something stinks. Crime.
Meg: But I think what makes it for me, it’s so stupid. But the crumpled papers that you’re all holding. The like, the loose leaf paper that you’re just, you’re just like, it’s all a mess. And you’re holding onto it.
Mac: Well we gotta get, there’s genius here. And we just gotta get somebody to put it in order.
Charlie: Type it up.
Glenn: Yeah. Type it up. Get it in order.
Charlie: Yeah. It’s funny. Those two scenes for me, super funny. Danny with the sausages in the beginning, great. The episode itself like, wasn’t my favorite like from a structure, like the story standpoint. Um, but, I don’t know.
Glenn: But it’s funny.
Charlie: It’s just funny.
Glenn: It’s just funny. And yeah that, that speech that we wrote for, for Dennis. It’s still, I remember, just was one of those things, where as an actor. Where you’re just like, “Oh man. This is like, this is exactly what I want to do.” You know what I mean? Like, you know? You get those, you have those moments where you have a thing and you, you’re like, you have this moment where you step outside of yourself or you, you’re able to reconnect with the child inside of you who wanted to be become a professional actor. And go, “Oh my god. I get to, I get to deliver this speech. Like this is so funny.”
Dennis: Now in terms of the story, uh, clearly it’s brilliant. It’s amazing.
Frank: Great idea. Brilliant idea.
Dennis: And I like it a lot. But there is one critical element that’s missing. It needs a sexual punch up. We need to get a female lead character in there that Dolph can bang throughout the whole movie.
Mac: Yeah. I kinda hate women though.
Charlie: Oh.
Mac: I feel like they just slow action movies down too.
Charlie: Right.
Dennis: Now see Mac, you’re dead wrong on that. You’re dead wrong. See, one of the problems with Shyamalan’s movies is they lack a certain eroticism. What if we were to bring an incredibly hot, but skeptical female lab partner into the mix? And then that way, whenever Dolph’s not out busting heads because he smelled crime, he’s back at the lab performing outrageous sexual experiments on her supple young body. Now here’s the twist. And there is a twist. We show it. We show all of it. Because what’s the major thing missing from all action movies these days, guys? Full penetration. Guys, we’re gonna show full penetration. We’re gonna show a lot of it. I mean we’re talkin’ graphic scenes of Dolph Lundgren really going to town on this hot young lab tech. From behind. 69. Anal. Vaginal. Cowgirl. Reverse cowgirl. All the hits. All the big ones. All the good ones. And then he smells crime again, he’s out busting heads. Then he’s back to the lab for some more full penetration. Smells crime. Back to the lab, full penetration. Crime, penetration, crime, full pentertaion, crime, full penetration. And this goes on and on, and back and forth for 90 or so minutes. Until the movie just sort of ends.
Rob: And then it became apart of our everyday vernacular.
Glenn: Yeah. The end of it. Yeah.
Rob: The end of it, that it just sort of goes on and on and on.
Charlie: That’s what it was from. It was that moment, right?
Rob: “And then it sort of just ends.”
Glenn: “Sort of ends.”
Rob: Which is, I believe how people would think of a movie, you know or a TV show, or any story, it just–
Glenn: Somebody who doesn’t know–
Rob: –there’s a beginning, a middle, a bunch of things happen. I mean we actually, we set that up in the very beginning. We’re just telling a series of events that happens, and then it ends.
Meg: Yeah.
Rob: And that’s the story.
Glenn: Yeah. Yeah.
Meg: But it’s the way you tell it. And then you say, the way you told it was by far the worst part of–
Glenn: The worst part.
Charlie: That’s great.
Meg: But also, within that big speech, I also love–and it’s just such a silly little thing, but you say, um, “All the hits. All the best ones. All the good ones.”
Glenn: “All the big ones.”
Charlie: Yeah.
Meg: “All the big ones.”
Charlie: That’s something I feel like you kept saying.
Glenn: Yeah, “All the big moves.”
Meg: Yeah.
Glenn: “All the, all the main sex moves.”
Meg: Yeah. Also Charlie thinking the twist of uh, The 6th Sense is that “That guy in the hair piece was Bruce Willis.”
Charlie: Yeah. That was a joke I remember being in there from the original outline. Like all the way, like–
Glenn: Yes. Did Charlie–Charlie watched The 6th Sense not knowing that that was Bruce Willis because he had hair.
Charlie: Because he had hair. Yeah.
Glenn: ‘Cause he had hair, so he didn’t know that was Bruce Willis and then–
Charlie: John Mcclane doesn’t have that much hair.
Glenn: No. Exactly. And then he sees the movie and he realizes at the end, he’s like, “Oh my god. That’s Bruce Willis.” And he thinks that’s–But it was just because that’s the, that was when he rezlied it was Bruce Willis. And so that was the twist.
Charlie: “It’s Bruce Willis instead.”
Glenn: “Instead.”
Charlie: Instead of that guy.
Glenn: You know who else is amazing in that? Is Donnie Wahlberg.
Rob: Yes.
Charlie: Yes.
Glenn: Can we give it up for Donnie Whalberg who’s incredible in that film.
Rob: Yeah. Give it up. All right.
Glenn: He had the right stuff.
Charlie: Donnie Whalberg. Yeah. He’s great in that. He’s great in that movie. That movie’s a delight. I haven’t watched that movie in a long time. I should rewatch that movie. Went over my head?
Glenn: Well, yeah. ‘Cause like–it’s fine. I said Donnie had the right stuff.
Charlie: Yeah, yeah. “The right stuff.” I get it.
Glenn: Oh so you got it. You just didn’t care. You just didn’t care for it.
Charlie: Um–
Glenn: It’s fine, we don’t have to talk about it.
Charlie: Yeah, it’s fine.
Glenn: It was fine. Yeah no, it was a joke and it was fine.
Charlie: It was fine.
Rob: It wasn’t worth slowin’ down.
Charlie: Stop the train.
Rob: Slowin’ down.
AD BREAK*
Meg: Um, I think my favorite line in this episode is very small. But in the library scene, where you guys are lookin’ for somebody to type up your script for you. And you point out that older lady. And then Charlie says, “I don’t care for her demographic. I find them judgemental.”
Rob: “I find them judgemental.”
Charlie: “I find them judgemental.”
Meg: Was that in the script, or did you just have an extra that day?
Charlie: No idea. I mean, sounds like it was scripted.
Rob: That sounds scripted.
Glenn: Yeah.
Charlie: It must’ve been because, we feature the lady so…
Meg: Yeah. Okay. She was a “featured extra.”
Glenn: It is still–yeah.
Charlie: She was a “featured extra.” Exactly.
Glenn: A “featured extra.”
Rob: Mac hating women was not in the script. That was, I remember that specifically–
Glenn: Well, and ‘cause your reaction to it is like, you’re expecting him to say something that you’re 100% on board with. He starts to say something, you’ve got the pen in your hand, and you’re pointing to him, and you’re like…And then he says that. And you’re like, “Oh.” Like, that’s not what I thought you were gonna say.
Rob: I think there might be even outtakes of, of that.
Charlie: Yeah, yeah. I think–
Rob: I think the line was something like, “Women always ruin action movies.”
Meg: “Slow down.”
Charlie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rob: Yeah, they “slow down” movies. Which I follow up with. But yeah, I lead with “I kinda hate women though.”
Charlie: Yeah.
Glenn: Yeah, I think–
Charlie: I think you’re starting to go that way with your character right around there.
Glenn: Yeah.
Rob: We planted a flag right there.
Glenn: Yeah yeah. At the time it didn’t have as much significance as it took on later.
Rob: It was just pure misogyny.
Glenn: Yes. Just pure misogyny. Not–
Rob: That was like, that was just misogyny. And then from there–
Glenn: But I think–
Charlie: Your character hadn’t looked
[End Credits]