Rob McElhenney put on 50 pounds of 'mass' and invested in a struggling North Wales football club and still gets disrespect!
BBC Radio 4's Today needs to stop corroding political discourse and the legacy of the 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' creator and star
Every weekday, at roughly 7.49 am, minutes before my shift starts, I amble downstairs, feed the cats and then make a coffee with a dash of oat milk. As morning routines go, it’s rather pleasant. The kitchen table doubling as my office means rush hour, small talk and clothes that aren’t designed for exercise are indignities unsuffered.
One thing that ruins my daily setup is my tuning into BBC Radio 4’s Today. I hate it so much. There’s the obvious; the parade of people spraffing unchallenged scapegoating guff. Alternatively, another exasperating element is when Justin Webb, Nick Robinson, et al. act as if not supplying their interviewee enough time to answer the questions is THEIR problem. That gear-grinding “OH SORRY, I'M GOING TO HAVE TO RUSH YOU!” as their subject is mid-explanation.
Loathsome as it is, there’s this obligation to continue to engage. This might be a bit ‘All The President’s Men’-pilled, but it’s a habit formed from my belief that burying your head in the sand is bad. My superficial work leaves me with a guilt to keep up with current affairs and not just the Kardashians.
Also, it’s handy to be aware of what your ideological enemies tell the nation each morning and get some semblance of their communications via the wireless.
This doesn’t just apply to the guests, as its journalism is actively bad for public discourse. Presenters can hide behind the unearned guise of “impartiality” to peddle government-backed lines on the public’s dime, sustained by that cloud of nostalgia engulfing the Beeb.
Side note, I’d like to personally thank everyone involved in today’s downfall of BBC Chairman and Boris Johnson’s financial plan Richard Sharp personally, as it vindicates my point, adds newsworthiness and makes me sound less like a conspiracy theorist!
What’s been getting my goat recently is their coverage of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s stewardship of Wrexham AFC. Last weekend, three years since they bought it, they qualified for the English Football League when they trounced Boreham Wood 3-1. Whether their celebrity backers make qualifying for the Premier League’s wrung-down after 15 years, a positive has divided football fans, a group I believe could bring capitalism’s downfall if they organised properly. Those who disagree with the fairytale framing find the equation of cold hard cash equalling success a bit much. With respect, a little razzle-dazzle from two actors is a welcome respite when the beautiful game’s top flight drowns in oil profits.
If Today’s package on it was your first taste of the story, if you missed the Hulu docu-series, ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, or the quick news hits about ‘Clueless’ star Paul Rudd being a supporter, you’d think only the ‘Deadpool’ star, 48, was the one funnelling his millions into it. The 46-year-old co-owner was wiped from the top line. Put some respect on Fat Mac’s name. He didn’t cultivate all that mass for this, you know.
A generous reading argues this is fair enough. Perhaps McElhenney’s leading pop culture legacy, the incredibly popular and long-running comedy, ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’, doesn’t fit the demographics of Today’s estimated six million listeners. Maybe old middle-class Brits, my imagined ear fellows, are not aware of the shenanigans at Paddy’s Pub.
Since its 2005 kick-off, this has included but is not limited to, the stage debut of the Dayman (fighter of the Night Man), the delicacy Milk Steak or the D.E.N.N.I.S Method. It’s only one of the most successful telly programmes of all time, and probably its 15 seasons are the only true heir of the spirit of ‘Seinfeld’. Funnily enough, ‘It’s Always Sunny’ recreated its most famous scene, the one from ‘The Wager’, in 2018.
Today’s omission could be to save face, as when they mention him, without fail, mispronounce his surname. Again, those big ol’ cheugs have poked fun at our media’s commitment to inaccurate reporting. Who knows whether they heed the correction, but it’s not the sort that will cause awkward run-ins at the Spectator’s annual garden party?
This gets me going because ‘It’s Always Sunny’ is the kind of thing that the culture wars, the ones that seem count Webb, Robinson and co as allies, deem a relic of a bygone era, collateral damage of those darn snowflakes.
Here they go again, blocking creative expression like the people who were calling for cancellation of Roald Dahl who *checks notes* were actually the ‘Matilda’ author’s own estate worried about the late author’s rampant anti-semitism impacting the profitability of the latest string of adaptations in this IP hellscape we find ourselves in.
They say this stuff with an unserious seriousness, like there isn’t a litany of problematic shit being made. If you were so concerned about preserving the integrity of arts and culture, why not ask questions about access and resources? We laugh about nepo babies, not because they need to be punished for their lineage, but because it highlights a sector denied to so many. Self-censorship is not telly’s biggest obstacle, inequality is.
This is discernible by the US sitcom scene alone. During the summer of 2020, amid the reckoning about white supremacy in all of society’s crevices after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, some treasured shows like ‘30 Rock’, ‘The Office’ and ‘Community’ were rightly condemned for their use of Blackface. Along with these 00s classics, McElhenny and his co-stars Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito rightly came under fire for it.
The whopping four episodes with Blackface, now pulled from streaming services, were probably accepted by people who should have known better (the entire industry and audience). A winning feature of ‘It’s Always Sunny’ is how the Gang are very purposefully gods awful as they manipulate literally everyone they’ve ever met for their selfish gains.
In 2021, McElhenney said at an event hosted by FX, the show’s network: “I find that my barometer is off for what’s appropriate sometimes in situations because, like, we’ve spent 15 years making a show about the worst people on the planet, and because it’s satire, we lean so heavily into this idea. And then we are always, like, right on the razor’s edge, but that’s the only way that satire works. And then I go and do something else, and I may be pitching something, and then I realize, like, oh, it’s wholly inappropriate for the show what I’m doing because these are supposed to be real human beings, whereas, on ‘Sunny,’ they are cartoon characters, and we can, kind of, get away with a whole lot more.”
Whether you accept this explanation or not, it’s not the point, but it ‘It’s Always Sunny’ disproves absolute tubes whining about how “you wouldn’t be able to make this today”. This is a frustrating attack line on many counts, and if you ever catch me saying it, put me out of my misery, PLEASE!
First of all, why are you so panicked? Things change! Get over it. You can still keep your box set.
Secondly, society getting less tolerant of racism, sexism and homophobia, and the like is good, actually.
Finally, it’s not true! John Cleese, a comedy icon who morphed into a right-wing grifter right in front our own eyes, has complained his way into a reboot of 70s favourite ‘Fawlty Towers’.
Whether someone at the public broadcaster’s flagship news and current affairs finds this or not, they should get better at talking about Wrexham AFC’s ascent. Or just say his name right….
Or forget everything I said because the real novelty of this footie saga comes from the thought Blake Lively, actual Serena van der Woodsen, knocking about the pubs of Great Britain. She’s the Queen of the Met Ball and an actual ray of sunshine. The 35-year old actress is Taylor Swift’s best friend and late 00s glamour personified so her probably having an opinion on Greggs sausage rolls is mind-boggling.
