We had the pleasure of talking to Rob McElhenney (Mac) and Glenn Howerton (Dennis) from FX's It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Check out what they had to say below!


I want to know, how do you guys attribute the ratings being so big now? I mean, you're in your fifth year; it's been like a slow build and it seems like it could keep going. What do you tribute that to?

G. Howerton: There are a lot of guys on the show. It's a very "guy heavy" cast. And men just continue to get more and more handsome as the years progress. And I think that it might have something to do with that. Certainly, I know I've gotten more handsome and I'm looking at Rob right now and I feel like he's definitely gotten more handsome.

R. McElhenney: So you think people are tuning in to see that?

G. Howerton: I think it might have something to do with it. In all seriousness, I think it's a show that has a real word-of-mouth quality and I think like anything that grows by word-of-mouth, it's grown exponentially. And I think there's just been a real explosion of that growth and it just continues to grow.

I think people really champion this show because they almost feel like the mass media has not done that, and they feel like it's their job to do it themselves. Because you don't see us on the covers of magazines all over the place, and people have really taken it upon themselves to spread the word themselves. That's the only thing I can think of. So people don't feel like it's being shoved down their throats; they really take ownership of it.

The show has really gone from cult status to this bit hit. I was just reading your Entertainment Weekly article and it was great. Is it really a dream come true for you guys? Did you ever see this happening?

R. McElhenney: Yes. Personally, I definitely saw this happening at some point. I think it was just a matter of time. The show is definitely an acquired taste, and that is certainly by design. We wanted to do something that was completely different; something that you're not seeing everywhere else, and often times, upon first viewing, and I hear this a lot from people, they don't know quite what to make of it. They think that it's a little bit strange, it's a little bit out there, and the characters are like nothing they've ever seen before. And as I said, that was by design. So we knew that it would take a little bit of time to catch on and I think because of what Glenn had just touched upon, things have grown at an expediential rate, but I certainly definitely expected it at some point.

G. Howerton: I guess I didn't really have any expectations, per se. I just wanted to make sure that I was making something that I personally was proud of and that we as a team were proud of. And then I just really, really hoped that people would eventually catch on. It is an acquired taste, and in today's world where things are sort of laid out very clearly for you most of the time, it is, I would say, very gratifying that people have taken the time to sort of invest in this and really figure out what our show is all about.