Comedy doesn’t need good lighting

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is one of my favorite tv shows on air. It centers on four friends who own an Irish pub and get into some pretty hilarious hi-jinks. Some critics call it “Seinfield on crack” since the characters behave in selfish, crazy ways in each episode, never learning their lesson and paying the consquences.

The first season premiered on the F/X network in 2005 to fair ratings, not that big, but okay. Since the show is made pretty cheaply with digital camcorders, F/X gave them another season. They then added Danny DeVito and generated a fair fanbase.

I managed to attend a screening with the three creators yesterday where they explained how they made the show. Rob McElhenney (Mac) wrote and directed the pilot they used to pitch the show. He told us it all started out with him making a short film, using a simple camcorder. The film was based on an just this idea he thought was funny about a guy going to his neighbor’s house to borrow a cup of sugar and the neighbor ends up admitting that he has cancer. This makes the guy really uncomfortable and he struggles to just get the sugar and get out.

The creators luckily found success by sticking to this comedy motto for all three seasons. They said they don’t really worry about lighting and production design, but really focus on making the story as funny as possible. If a take isn’t funny, it’s cut. It’s not about featuring themselves but about making just good comedy. Glenn Howerton (Dennis), Charlie Day (Charlie), and Rob are the actors, writers, and producers of the show. Those three guys were just as hilarious in person as they are on the show. Kaitlin Olson (Dee) unfortunately couldn’t make it to the screening, but they had nothing but nice words to say about her.

Here’s a clip from my favorite episode from season three, “Sweet Dee’s Dating a Retarded Person”. In this scene, Dennis and Charlie have decided to start their own band. If Dee’s retarded boyfriend can be a rap sensation, then why can’t they be musical stars as well. This clip shows how the two characters wrote the song “DayMan”:

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