Rob McElhenney Improvised A Hilarious, Filthy Scene in the ‘Abbott Elementary’/‘Always Sunny’ Crossover That Will Never Make It to Air
The ‘Abbott’ showrunners had to leave an entire episode’s worth of obscene comedy gold on the cutting room floor
When Rob McElhenney showed up to shoot his scenes for the upcoming It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crossover on Abbott Elementary, he apparently delivered the most hilarious performance that ABC would never condone in their most profitable public school. Next time, maybe he should leave the katana at home.
In the week since McElhenney and Abbott Elementary star and creator Quinta Brunson finally confirmed the highly anticipated collaboration between Abbott and Always Sunny, fans of both shows have questioned how Brunson and her family-friendly broadcast sitcom could possibly fit the Paddy’s Pub gang into their feel-good formula. Mac, Dennis, Charlie, Dee and Frank are all slated to appear in the ninth episode of Abbott Elementary Season Four, which just had its season premiere last night, and the Abbott showrunners have already confirmed that Charlie will play the most prominent role of all the Always Sunny characters in the storyline — probably because Mac couldn’t get through his scenes without adding in shocking and hilarious improv à la his failed “will they/won’t they” subplot with Dee in the awards episode.
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Abbott Elementary showrunners Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern recently spoke to TheWrap about striking the right balance between the chaos of Always Sunny and Abbott’s more grounded, less obscene sensibilities, admitting that, if his sitcom wasn’t on ABC, they would have happily shot an entire episode of McElhenney ruining takes with outrageous, obscene and completely broadcast-unfriendly improv.
“When we were shooting last week, Rob had this improv in this one scene with Ava that I did not know was … coming; he just thought about it extemporaneously,” Schumacker said of McElhenney’s surprise decision to bring It’s Always Sunny’s signature riffing to the Abbott Elementary set, saying that Mac’s improv “made me spit out my coffee, and then wish that we had just an episode that was like a gag reel of all the stuff that we can’t use.”
Sadly, Schumacker said that there was no way McElhenney’s riffing could possibly pass standards and practices over at ABC, though he expressed, “I hope it exists at some point in time, because it’s so damn funny.”
The Abbott team was open about their feelings toward the obvious issues posed by the crossover with Always Sunny from a parental guidelines perspective, as Halpern recalled, “When Quinta first brought it to me and Pat, I was like, ‘I don’t know how the fuck this is going to work … how are we going to marry these two tones but each show stay true to their own show?’” Though he reflected, “It was incredibly fun to do.”
Despite the clear differences between the two shows, all the concerns about poor comedic chemistry between the sitcoms evaporated as soon as the Always Sunny team was on the Abbott set. “When we started rolling, we filmed a scene with Charlie and I was like, ‘Oh, this, this actually feels kind of exactly right,’” Schumacker said. “It didn’t throw me.”
Of course, the same couldn’t be said about Mac’s scenes, but no matter how much McElhenney’s improv shocked and delighted Schumacker, the ABC standards and practices department could never abide a Mac-focused Abbott episode. Frankly, that’s all the more reason why we need the Abbott cast to return the favor and appear on an episode in Always Sunny Season 17. We all know that the FX censors give McElhenney a much longer leash.
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