Posted in: FX, Hulu, streaming, TV | Tagged: always sunny, Charlie Day, FXX, hulu, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Always Sunny: Charlie Day and Portugal. The Man Team for "Dayman"

Charlie Day & Portugal. The Man teamed for a cover of "Dayman" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia S04E13 "The Nightman Cometh."

We warned you last week that with FXX's Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito -starring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia being one of many shows being impacted by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA & WGA strikes, our "'Always Sunny' Strike Survival Guide" was going to be covering a whole wide range of random topics – for example? Day joining Portugal. The Man at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night for a cover of "Dayman " from S04E13 "The Nightman Cometh" (though previewed the season prior). But while this might be their first duet, Portugal. The Man is no stranger to the classic episode, having performed "Dayman" 120+ times since 2013. Here are some screencaps from before and during the performance shared on Instagram – and you can catch some videos on Portugal. The Man's Instagram Stories:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia S04E13 "The Nightman Cometh!"

Here's a look at what Day, Howerton, McElhenney, Olson, DeVito, episode director Matt Shakman (WandaVision), and others had to share about how the episode came to be, what it was like performing live, and their thoughts on the episode's endurance even after all of this time:

On the risk of doing a musical episode that comedically blurs the line between "a boy's coming of age story" and a story about pedophilia and rape and how the show handled it seriously, Day explained, "Any time we deal with that kind of subject matter, I like to think it's coming from a more intelligent place. A rape joke is not remotely a funny thing; a man writing a musical that he thinks is about self-empowerment, and not realizing that all his lyrics sound like they're about a child being molested, is a funny thing. The joke is coming from confusion and misunderstanding, which are classic tropes of all comedy." Olson followed up, "We look back at some of our past shows and wonder if we'd still be able to do that. I hope the answer is yes because if you're paying attention, we're pretty good people with fairly liberal views on things. We're making a social commentary."

Thankfully, the cast had enough collective musical experience to make the episode's creative process a little easier. Well, almost everyone had musical experience. "I'm not musically inclined in any way, shape, or form. But Charlie is an incredible musician, so he and [composer] Cormac Bluestone wrote the majority of the music. In terms of lyrics, we all had a hand in them. But Charlie definitely took the lead," explained McElhenney.

Working with piano player Gladys (Mae LaBorde), who was constantly confused over what exactly she was playing piano for – represented a "first" for Shakman. Day explains, "They would say "action" and she was just, like, talking. She would tell us that we're all wonderful, beautiful people and she was happy to be there. Which was really charming but also very funny, because she had lines and she wasn't saying them." For Shakman, LaBorde represented one of his longer filming experiences: "When you get to be as old as she was, you can do whatever you want… Just getting the lines out was very difficult. I remember being backstage with her, talking about Calvin Coolidge, she just went on for so long. It might've been the longest scene I've ever shot for Sunny."

Performing 'The Nightman Cometh' on the road for a mini-tour of six cities (New York, L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Philadelphia) gave DeVito an opportunity to perform where his career first started: "We played the Beacon Theatre in New York, where I once saw Bob Marley play in the early '70s. I lived on 89th Street when I was starting out, so this was my home turf. I invited everybody I could think of to come. Some of my friends came backstage; they were like deer in headlights. They had no idea what was going on." For Olson, the live shows gave the cast a better understanding of how strong and loyal their fanbase was: "It really gave us our first insight into just how many fans we had. Because we were basically being told: Nobody's watching the show, but FX likes it, so that's why you're still on the air. We weren't having huge ratings, but we had a big fan base. And those people traveled and packed those theaters."

So why has 'The Nightman Cometh' not only endured but grown in popularity over the years? For McElhenney, it was something different that kept to the heart and spirit of the series while also showing a little heart: "Ultimately, in a show that is so inherently profane—and the characters are so difficult and hard to watch at times—the ending of that particular episode was very sweet. You find out that Charlie's doing the whole thing because he's in love with somebody, and he's asking her to marry him. Of course, the Sunny version of that is that the relationship is exceptionally unhealthy and that she says no, but I think his motivation comes from a really sweet place. So that buys us a lot in the episode. Also, like it or hate it, we've always strived to do something that nobody else is doing, and I think some people respond to that. It just feels very specific to us and to the show."

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