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The Always Sunny Podcast E05 Review: Guns, Gum, Brad Pitt & Tons More

Earlier this week, FXX's Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson & Danny DeVito-starring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia returned for its record-setting Season 15 and did it without missing a beat (check out our review here). Which makes it the perfect time to check out the next episode of Day, Howerton & McElhenney's The Always Sunny Podcast. Having previously covered "The Gang Gets Racist" (review), "Charlie Wants An Abortion" (review), "Underage Drinking: A National Concern" (review), and "Charlie Has Cancer" (review), the trio turned their attention to S01E05 "Gun Fever." But before we get to our biggest takeaways from this round, a quick update that the podcast will now be dropping new episodes twice per week. So what that means is you'll be getting another review later this weekend for S01E06"The Gang Finds a Dead Guy" (directed by Dan Attias, with a story by Day & McElhenney and teleplay from McElhenney). But for now, let's take a look at what the trio had to say about "Gun Fever."

Now before we go into any details, I think it's a good time for a line in the sand to be drawn. If you're tuning into the podcast looking for a detailed, "Master Class"-like breakdown of every first season episode, then this might not be for you and you may want to check back in once they get to the second season. But if you're looking to learn a little about the episode, to learn a lot about the "Always Sunny" universe, and to hang out with three guys whose flow reminds us of a conversation going on in a diner booth at around 3 am on a Saturday morning. I am whole-heartedly in the latter's camp which is why the fifth episode (as was the case with the previous four) works for me. So with that in mind, here's what we learned:

S01E05 "Gun Fever": Day, McElhenney & Howerton couldn't say enough nice things about Shelly Desai aka Hwang (also "Being Frank" & "The Gang Squashes Their Beefs")- though they readily admit they're not sure he really understood what the show was about. The trio's running joke of asking "Where's the food?" after ordering originated with the first season's wrap party and the first thing Desai said to McElhenney & Day when first seeing them. This was also the first appearance of Guigino's Italian Restaurant (though not formally named yet), named after actress Carla Gugino (who was amazing in the film adaptation of the comic book series Watchmen). Sadly, the Guigino's set no longer exists after the building was sold and redeveloped.

S01E05 "Gun Fever" Extras: Okay, there was a lot of ground covered so I'm thinking the best way to handle this is to just throw out some bullet points (and because there's no way I could do it any level of the comedic justice that it deserves):

The podcast episode actually kicked off as a two-man audio drama from Day and Howerton that I believe was either a cautionary tale about the dangers of caffeine or an infomercial for the benefits of caffeine.

McElhenney harbors some inner bitterness over his dogs' inability to walk themselves. Just to be clear, we're not judging. I have similar thoughts at 5:12 am on a Tuesday when the fate of how my day will go depends on the poop patterns of a half-Yorkie.

A conversation on the irony of how loud some boom mic folks can be while filming turns into a "fire & brimstone" take on gum chewing and the noises people make with their gum from Day & Howerton. While I would say that I agree with them mostly, in some instances loud gum-smacking can be kinda hot (don't judge me).

Day, McElhenney & Howerton explained their positions on guns and gun control. Unless my read is wrong, it sounded like they fall in the very large pool of most Americans. They either support owning a gun or actually own one, but also realize that gun control laws are a disaster and that we can longer ignore what is clearly an American problem and for obvious reasons.

CONSPIRACY! Just because you might be paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, Howerton! We've been listening to the "origin story" of Howerton slowly taking on the role of show host for four episodes. Now, it feels like a foregone conclusion.

CCH Pounder Returns! Yup, Howerton brought back his classic CCH Pounder impersonation from S11E09 "The Gang Goes to Hell," with mention of The Shield actress shifting the conversation to the trio's love for the FX series.

The Moment We Felt a Part of the Podcast: After Howerton brings up the broken arm scene in the montage that runs during Sylvester Stallone's arm-wrestling "so-bad-it's-good" classic Over the Top, McElhenney asks Howertom & Day about when the director should've called cut after the arm was broken. It was a nice callback that established consistency with the previous episodes and also left me feeling a bit proud that I knew what he referring back to with his question.

I thought I was a fan of Brad Pitt and David Fincher's Fight Club. Howerton convinced me otherwise. Someday, I want someone to say words like that about me.

Day and Jimmi Simpson (Liam McPoyle) used to make everyone laugh during editing by sketching on top of images of people to make them look different and mock-up funny headshots. That led to a story from Day of what his now-wife Mary Elizabeth Ellis (The Waitress) confronted in his and Simpson's fridge the first night she stayed over: Strawberry GoGurt and a mound of ground beef shaped into a penis (for a short film that Day & Simpson were working on).

The episode ended with a return to "Birds of War" and an appreciation of just how many times they look to remind everyone that they're also men and not just birds, with Howerton teasing a future performance where… wait for it… everyone knows the word. And I can't think of a better note to wrap up this The Always Sunny Podcast recap/review than on a note like that.

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