Why The It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Cast Had Some Concerns About Fat Mac
There is an unwritten rule with live-action TV shows that the cast members must get more attractive over time. Sometimes, this is an intentional choice meant to signal the character’s growing confidence; Peggy from “Mad Men” and Elliot from “Scrubs” both certainly come to mind, with their haircuts and outfits becoming far more stylish as they advanced through their careers. Other times, the change is just the result of the actors having way more money to spend on their appearance as a result of the show’s success. Suddenly, they have easy access to plastic surgery, hair transplants, expensive skincare routines, personal trainers, and nutritionists. For Rob McElhenney, this pattern was a little too played out. As he told Collider in a 2011 interview:
“I have never seen a sitcom in which the actors progressively got worse looking, which is, I think, truer to life, especially the lives that these characters lead. And, a character that’s always talking about putting on mass and all he does is eat s**t and drink beer, would eventually look like this.”
Sure enough, Mac gained 50 pounds by the start of the seventh season, although the character preferred to say he was “cultivating mass.” The decision made for some undeniably interesting television, depicting Mac as appropriately oblivious about his own eating habits and the rest of the gang as being exactly as shallow about his weight as we could’ve guessed. Dennis, in particular, is judgmental and annoyed by the so-called Fat Mac, to the point where it takes him great effort not to celebrate when Mac finds out he’s now got type 2 diabetes. The main issue with the change came behind the scenes, as the rest of the cast was a little concerned with the effect this would all have on McElhenney’s health.
Why The It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Cast Had Some Concerns About Fat Mac
