Chit Chat Gal Spends A Few Minutes With ' It's Always Sunny In Philadelpha' Funny Man Charlie Day
Chit Chat Gal got a chance to speak with Charlie Day, one of the stars of 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia' about the show and his love for the Red Sox. A new episode of 'Sunny' airs tonight at 10:00PM EST on FX.
What is the genesis of the show, how did it all come about?
Rob, Glen, and myself all came up with some ideas and ended up deciding to film what we came up with and that ended up being the Cancer episode. We just walked around the streets between my place and Glens and shot a bunch of stuff and then we started shopping it around town and FX took it and we were so happy to do it with them.
There are rumors that that episode cost very little, can you tell us how much it actually cost?
Pretty much nothing, I would say at most $200 because we borrowed the cameras from friends, and the location was my dingy apartment and outside and we might have paid for the tape to record it all. We then edited it ourselves on our laptop at home so not much at all.
How much of the show is scripted and how much is improv because it seems to all be done flying by the seat of your pants?
It is heavily scripted. Each script is about 35 pages. And we shoot it directly from the script at least a few times and then we go in and since we are a bit looser at that point we have some fun with it. So I would say only about 20% of the improv ever makes it to air. I think the reason it feels and looks improv'd is because we are always talking over one another in the scenes which is more natural sounding and looking although our editors don't like that a whole bunch. Plus we constantly have two cameras filming at one time so that we can get reactions and such from all different angles which makes it more natural too.
I don't think a lot of fans know that your wife Mary Elizabeth Ellis plays the waitress on the show. What's it like working with her knowing how much her character loathes Charlie?
[Laughs] It actually has been quite great. We had worked on Reno 911 together and we are always involved in making those home videos together. We have a great working relationship and joke around at home all the time in various characters even the ones from the show. It is just really enjoyable and so it is easy for me to like her on screen although I wonder why it is so easy for her to loathe me on screen ? [laughs]
Speaking of your wife. On Philly she has slept with Frank and Dennis and not you. Since it's "Philly" Mac seems like too obvious a choice as the next bedmate. Any chance in some drunken night she sleeps with Sweet Dee?
[Laughs] Oh my gosh that is great. Well I guess there is actually a good chance that could happen and I wonder why we haven't thought to go in that direction before. We may have to find a way to do that. Especially since the guys try to find every way possible to have her sleep with as many people besides me as possible on TV.
If you could capture one Charlie moment from "Philly" and send it into space to be found 1000 years from now what would it be and why?
Well I am pretty fond of everything Charlie has done, but if I had to pick one I would say when Charlie was eating the sandwich on steroids because it was so much fun to play this person who was just loosing his mind.
Any news or an idea of when we will find out about a 4th season?
It is still top secret and only the FX officials know what is going on, but I would say the decision will be based around the writers strike because they won't want to greenlight something that will have to be paused in the middle of it.
What's it been like having Fred Savage aka Kevin Arnold from Wonder Years directing episodes and will he ever make an actual appearance on the show?
We would love for him to make an appearance in fact we have begged him because he is very talented and funny and we would be lucky to have him on the show. I have been a fan of his since he was a kid and he is also a great director as well.
How much of the show is actually filmed in Philadelphia?
Well we write each episode as if we were actually going to film it in Philly but of course financially we can't do that so we figure out what really needs to be filmed there and what can be done in LA.
A little off topic but as a guy born in the Bronx what do you think about the Yanks. Should they get rid of Joe Torre?
Well yes I was born in the Bronx but we actually moved to Rhode Island when I was a kid so I am actually a Red Sox fan so the Yanks can go F themselves [laughs]. But I think it would be very low class to get rid of Joe Torre because they didn't win and I thought it was terrible that was said before the game took place. Joe is a real human and should be treated with respect. And you can tell George Steinbrenner I said so.
