The actor, 45, plays the rat-killing, cheese-loving, illiterate Charlie Kelly in the cult favourite show – but one of these defining traits almost never happened.
In a recent episode of The Always Sunny Podcast, Charlie and co-stars Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney discussed season two episode The Gang Gives Back, where it is revealed, for the first time, that Charlie is illiterate.
Charlie’s illiteracy is one of the show’s longest-running gags, along with Dennis potentially being a serial killer and Mac being gay (which was famously, eventually confirmed in a recent season).
But as the gang revealed on Monday’s podcast, Charlie came up with the illiteracy gag in the middle of a scene – and everyone just went with it.
The opening to the episode sees the gang reading their letters detailing their court-ordered community service, with Charlie asking Mac for help reading his (Sanitation) (Alcoholics Anonymous) (Six) (Months!).
Glenn recalled that ‘it was not written in the script that you couldn’t read’, reminding Charlie: ‘That was just something you wanted to do.’
Charlie, just before filming the scene, said he wanted to ‘try something’ – and immediately afterwards they all thought it was ‘really dumb… but it’s also funny’.
Always Sunny creator Rob recalled asking: ‘Are we literally saying that Charlie can’t read?
‘Are we making a massive character choice, right now, on the fly in the middle of a scene?’
However, Charlie assured them: ‘I got you guys, this is gonna play’ – which it certainly did.
However, while it was Charlie’s idea to give his character ‘an incredibly stupid trait’, he is also in a situation where ‘he is constantly making his own character dumber and dumber, and also complaining about how dumb his character gets’.
Glenn, however, feels the same way about his character, Dennis, being ‘too evil’.
He said he sometimes asks himself: ‘Is he getting too serial killer-y? Is he too creepy?’, with Rob joking that asking ‘am I serial killer or am I not?’ is all part of the creative process.
In the same episode of the hugely popular podcast, the stars discussed whether they, like their characters, had ever had to do community service: and surprise surprise, they all had.
Glenn, in fact, had been charged with four felonies as a young adult, after trying to get a fake ID in the most ridiculous way possible.
Elsewhere, Rob admitted he believes he is an alcoholic, but it ‘hasn’t ruined his life’.
A previous episode of the podcast, which gives fans a glimpse behind the scenes of the longest-running live-action sitcom in the world, revealed how the stars almost quit in season one amid an argument with FX about a ‘paedophile priest’ character.
Proving the podcast is as unpredictable as the show itself, Glenn, Rob and Charlie recalled how Danny DeVito once told them how his father kept a box of teeth which he would show off on occasion.
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MORE : It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia creator Rob McElhenney believes he’s an alcoholic but it ‘hasn’t ruined my life’
MORE : It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia star Glenn Howerton recalls being charged with four felonies for trying to get a fake ID
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