‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper Improvised the Funniest Moment of This ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Episode
Remember, boys, Da’ Maniac loves you like you’re his own — so it’s probably for the best that the cops took him away.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been blessed to host so many incredible guest stars and celebrity cameos throughout the years, but only one A-lister who graced the set of the show was so good that the cast feared for both their and his safety: the late, great Roderick George Toombs, better known by his WWE stage name, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. On multiple episodes of Always Sunny, the professional wrestling legend played Da’ Maniac, an unhinged, emotional and entirely hilarious amateur wrestler whom the Gang hires and nervously befriends shortly before the police drag him away for his unpaid parking tickets.
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Piper made his It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia debut in the classic Season Five episode “The Gang Wrestles for the Troops,” and in the Always Sunny Podcast commentary about Piper’s belt-worthy performance, the Gang revealed that the funniest moment from his first appearance was less scripted than Frank believes wrestling to be:
“When he came in, there was like some method shit acting shit happening, like he was in character,” Glenn Howerton said of Piper’s dedication to da’ role of Da’ Maniac. “I remember thinking at the time … he was so good, and playing it so real, his performance was so haunted, that it was like, I was watching him thinking (that) he could have played the wrestler in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. He would have been amazing!”
As Charlie Day recalled, Piper’s stellar performance on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia hinged on his ability to stay in character and his tendency to ad-lib during takes, and the wrestler insisted that Day, Howerton and Rob McElhenney let him add in some longer lines where he felt necessary. But ultimately, Day says, Da’ Maniac’s best moment in “The Gang Wrestles for the Troops” was a surprise to Piper as well.
“My favorite thing in this episode is The Happy Accident,” Day told his castmates. “So, at the end, Roddy had a whole sort of monologue about how much he loves us and cares about us. And whoever was driving the police car got the cue wrong, so the car just takes off — it was Take One, I think — and he’s starting to say the monologue, so he just goes, ‘Oh, wait, wait!’”
“He had the idea to do a speech, and I think he wanted to improvise a speech,” Howerton corrected Day, saying of the hilarious miscommunication. “He told us, and so we knew he was gonna do (the speech), but nobody told the driver.”
So, at the end of “The Gang Wrestles for the Troops,” Piper started to improvise a touching monologue to Charlie, Mac and Dennis before he had to improvise an even funnier reaction to the police dragging him off before he could bid his boys farewell. Now I want to know what Piper would have said if the driver had known that he was giving a farewell speech, but much like the whereabouts of Da' Maniac's kids, it will always remain a mystery.
