One of TV’s longest-running and best sitcoms is set to return to the 2025 TV schedule this week, and I could not be more excited. Season 17 of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia will premiere on FXX this Wednesday, July 9th, with back-to-back episodes, but we are in for more than just new shenanigans from The Gang. Alongside this new season, Rob McElhenney will also be debuting his new name, Rob Mac, and his castmates, Danny DeVito and Charlie Day, had the funniest reactions to the news.
No, it’s not a joke. Rob McElhenney is legally changing his name to Rob Mac. In an announcement posted to Instagram, the It’s Always Sunny co-creator explained the reasoning behind his new “stage” name. However, apparently not everyone got the memo. In a Tik Tok via Decider, Danny Devito shared his confusion live on stage during a recent Hulu press event for the new season:
Wait, woah, whoah, whoah. You said it’s true?...I swear to god, I looked at the credits and thought they were fucked up. Somebody screwed it up, they took the…
This honestly is very similar to how I would expect DeVito’s character Frank Reynolds to act, and as it’s a typical Sunny cast interaction, Charlie Day had a very Charlie Kelly response, resulting in the following hilarious back and forth:
- Charlie Day: Wait, Danny, let me tell you a story about my old, old friend here. Spell McElhenney…Spell it.
- Danny DeVito: I barely got through eighth grade.
- Charlie Day: OK, alright, see that’s why.
See this is why I love this cast. I feel like half the time, they aren’t even really acting, they’re just messing around as a friend group while on camera. At this point, they’ve all been together for at least 2 decades, given the show just celebrated its 20th anniversary.
However, even the Fist Fight actor, who has known McElhenney much longer than that, admitted to still struggling with the spelling, saying:
I’ve known you for 30 years, and the other day I went to go and write your name out in an email, and I was like ‘Wait, M, C, E, L..’ I wish you went with Blaze, which is what you called yourself in eighth grade. And your teacher called you Blaze for a year.
While this is also on brand for Day’s Sunny character, who is illiterate, he’s one of many many people to have trouble with his friend’s former surname over the years. When I first started writing about It’s Always Sunny, I remember having to look up the spelling for McElhenney almost every time, so I completely understand the switch. The real question is why he didn’t do it sooner.
After justifying the Mythic Quest actor’s recent decision, Day brought up Mac’s former grade school nickname, Blaze. The Lost actor admitted to going by Blaze for an entire year when his 10th-grade teacher asked the class if they had any nicknames. The funniest part? He had actually responded with “Blade”, but failed to correct her when she misheard. Check out the full hilarious interaction below:
While Rob Blaze is pretty badass, I think the Wrexham owner made the right call. As to how this affects his kids’ and wife’s name, Sunny co-star Kaitlin Olson, it doesn’t. The celebrity duo told People that they are leaving the decision to keep McElhenney up to each individual person in their family.
If you are looking for a change to the High Potential star’s name in the credits of Sunny on Wednesday, you won’t find it. The Sweet Dee actress, while legally Olson-McElhenney, has always just gone by her maiden name, Olson, when it comes to her TV and movie credits. However, she has been known to occasionally respond to “Shut up, Bird!” when spotted by fans in public.
Be sure to catch (formerly) McElhenney’s first official credit as Rob Mac this Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on FXX, or the next day with your Hulu subscription.
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