Posted in: FX, NBC, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: always sunny, FXX, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, jerry seinfeld, nbc, opinion, seinfeld

Always Sunny: McElhenney's Response to Seinfeld: Meet Rickety Cricket

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney had the perfect response to Jerry Seinfeld criticizing the current state of sitcoms.

It wasn't the kind of fight that FXX's Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson & Danny DeVito– starring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia needed to lower itself to getting into – but we're really glad it did. In case you haven't heard, Jerry Seinfeld has joined the ranks of bitter, aging comedians who cry, "Woke!" like they know what it means and whine about their fears of being "canceled" simply because their audiences have evolved more than their acts have. But it was the way that Seinfeld chose to drop a steaming pile of nonsense on the current state of the situation comedy (sitcom) that was a slap in the face to a lot of folks who are laying down excellence week in and week out (we would love to see Jerry say that to Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson's face).

"Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it so badly, and they don't get it. Used to be you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, 'Oh, 'Cheers' is on. Oh, 'M.A.S.H.' Is on. Oh, 'Mary Tyler Moore' is on. Oh, 'All in the Family's' on. You just expected, 'There'll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight.' Well, guess what? Where is it?" Seinfeld asked rhetorically during The New Yorker Radio Hour, describing a television landscape that no longer exists because cable and streaming offer viewers hundreds of options at any given time. But that's not as sexy of an answer as the direction that Seinfeld went with his response.

"This is the result of the extreme left and PC crap and people worrying so much about offending other people," Seinfeld argued, a position that probably won't surprise a ton of people. "When you write a script, and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups: 'Here's our thought about this joke.' Well, that's the end of your comedy. They move the gates, like in skiing. Culture, the gates are moving. Your job is to be agile and clever enough that wherever they put the gates, I'm gonna make the gate." But there was one quote from The New Yorker that appears to have been a bridge too far for McElhenney, who responded the best way possible on social media.

"We did an episode of the series in the nineties where Kramer decides to start a business of having homeless people pull rickshaws because, as he says, 'They're outside anyway.' Do you think I could get that episode on the air today?" Seinfeld asked rhetorically during his interview, offering an example of something from his series that he believes would never see air these days. Well, that's when McElhenney decided to retweet an article covering Seinfeld's comments with a picture of none other than David Hornsby's Matthew "Rickety Cricket" Mara. If you're an IASIP fan, then you know all of the wonderfully tasteless things that The Gang has done to Cricket – and Cricket has done to himself. Seriously. Do we need to bring up what happened with Cricket's neck wound from S05E07: "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops"?

Here's a look at McElhenney's post from earlier today, stepping up to defend the state of sitcom comedy from yet another comedian aging poorly:

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!