We always knew thatIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’sFrank (Danny DeVito) would easily matchAbbott Elementary’sMr.
Johnson’s (William Stanford Davis) weird.
But they had to cut it for time.
Danny DeVito on ‘Abbott Elementary’.Credit:Gilles Mingasson/Disney
It was that they went to high school together.
They dated the same woman who was a canonical character inSunny.
That ended up falling away just as a function of, ‘Hey, we can’t tell that story.
Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito on ‘Abbott Elementary’.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
Maybe let’s save it for another time.’
21 and a half minutes is not a lot of time to tell a story."
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did this come to be?
Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Charlie Day on ‘Abbott Elementary’.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
Was it totally spurred by the social media interactions between both casts?
PATRICK SCHUMACKER:There were a couple of points of entry.
There were two different instances where Quinta and Rob were occupying the same space in person.
Quinta Brunson and Kaitlin Olson on ‘Abbott Elementary’.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
At first, it felt like just an in joke.
Was it difficult to find the voices of these characters without having access to that explicit content?
JUSTIN HALPERN:No, because it was told from our POV.
Tyler James Williams and Kaitlin Olson on ‘Abbott Elementary’.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
We were more concerned at the start about, “Tonally will their characters be able to fit?”
rather than they can’t curse and can’t do the crazy stuff that they do?
Once we figured out the story where the tones would work, then it was fun.
Charlie Day on ‘Abbott Elementary’.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
The writer, Garrett Werner, is a massiveSunnyfan, so he had those voices down pretty well.
There was a couple lines like that, but for the most part it was pretty good.
We were able to do it lightly.
Rob McElhenney and Janelle James on ‘Abbott Elementary’.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
The next season ofSunnyhasn’t premiered yet, but have you guys already shot the crossover?
Do you know what that’s going to look like yet?
SCHUMACKER:Yeah, it’s been written, it’s been shot.
Glenn Howerton on ‘Abbott Elementary’.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
I was present for quite a bit of it, and it’s very cool.
They do very much play off of each other.
Okay, so this episode’s very self-contained.
They could easily leaveAbbottand never be heard from again.
Is there a clear throughline between the two episodes besides the characters entering each other’s worlds?
You’re seeing what they’re doing.
It’s really clever the way that they piece together their episode.
It’s really ambitious.
We have empathetic teachers.
They’re going to want to help that person."
And seeing Sheryl Lee Ralph teach Charlie how to read is really funny to us.
SCHUMACKER: Those two got along like gangbusters.
Sheryl wants to do a spinoff.
Who’s going to put two and two together when they show up?"
You often reference pop culture or celebs in the show, particularly Barbara getting people’s names wrong.
So do both Frank and Danny DeVito exist in theAbbottuniverse?
SCHUMACKER:Wow, I don’t know that we’ve explored that.
HALPERN:I would say no because I don’t think Danny DeVito and Frank exist inSunny.
SCHUMACKER:Has Bradley Cooper been in a movie with Danny DeVito?
HALPERN: You are f—ing up our brains right now.
HALPERN:That’s a good question for them.
He reads a little at the end of our episode, but he’s not taking down Cormac McCarthy.
SCHUMACKER: It’s probably a muscle he’s going to have to continue to exercise.
If he doesn’t, it’s going to atrophy.
They can do with it what they want.
I would believe it either way.
But to your point about whether there are real consequences of this episode in the mythology of both shows.
Certainly for our show, there are consequences with regard to the golf club.
This is an episode that it isn’t wholly self-contained.
Maybe it turns you ontoSunny, which would be amazing.
Was Janine calling Dee “bird-ass” intended to be a reference to the guys always calling her Bird?
HALPERN:That was serendipity.
Mac came out awhile ago onSunny, but he’s clearly not above offering Ava sexual favors.
Can you talk about sussing that out and their strange dynamic?
SCHUMACKER:His intent was not that what he was offering was overtly sexual.
He just meant anything that she needs.
She took it to mean that.
There’s nothing there."
I was like, “Okay, well that one, we can’t say on ABC.”
HALPERN:I bet they can say it onDr.
Actually, there was a man who broke his penis onDr.
SCHUMACKER: Well, see, that show has the monopoly on destroyed penises then.
Dennis refuses to be on camera.
Did Glenn Howerton have limited availability or what propelled that choice?
SCHUMACKER:You got it.
Glenn had a show that he is a series regular on calledSirens.
It’s the Netflix show, and it was shooting in New York.
He flew in specifically to work on this and had to fly back.
We had him for half a day, so we had to build that in.
But he’s very heavy in their episode.
Jacob almost says their show title at the end.
Did you go back and forth on whether you wanted to have it in there at all?
Why’d you decide to cut it off mid “Philadelphia?”
HALPERN:From the first draft, Garrett put that little touch in.
I don’t even think that was in the outline.
From the writer’s draft, it was always cut off right there.
Would you be open to doing more crossover episodes?
SCHUMACKER:One a year is probably our max, given the complexity of actually pulling it off.
HALPERN: Maybe Ava will go on vacation at the White Lotus.
