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Always Sunny: How "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's Da' Maniac Impacted The Gang

On what would've been the late "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's 70th birthday, a look at Da' Maniac's impact on FXX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

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On April 17, 1954, Roderick George Toombs was born – but the world would know him best as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. In honor of what would've been the late professional wrestler & actor's 70th birthday, we're sharing our look back at the major influence Piper had on one of our favorite shows of all time – FXX's Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson & Danny DeVito-starring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It all started with S05E07: "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops" (directed by Randall Einhorn and written by Scott Marder & Rob Rosell) – with The Gang enlisting Piper's Da' Maniac to help them put together a charity wrestling event for the troops… before quickly realizing that "Da' Maniac" might be a name he earned outside of the ring, too…

always sunny
Image: FX Networks Screencap

Though unpaid parking tickets kept him from seeing the "Birds of War" (McElhenney's Mac, Howerton's Dennis & Day's Charlie) hit the ring (before getting their asses handed to them – along with Olson's Dee – by David Hornsby's Cricket in full heel mode), Piper's time on the screen was another example of how he could easily blend comedy with layers of darkness by effectively tapping into some personal experiences in a number of scenes.

Fortunately, we would be visited by Da' Maniac one more time, in 2013's S09E04 "Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare" (directed by Dan Attias and written by Dave Chernin & John Chernin). Unfortunately, his last appearance would be one that was away from the ring, with his passing in 2015 wiping away any possibility of having The Gang back in the ring with him. In the following compilation video from The Always Sunny Podcast, McElhenney, Day & Howerton shared some kind words about "Hot Rod" and what it was like working with him on and off the set – with the episode examining "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops" waiting for you above:

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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