Every character on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is equally terrible, which contributes to the show’s attractiveness over its 15 seasons.
A bunch of high school friends, Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Mac (Rob McElhenney), and Charlie, run the gritty comedy in the gloomy lighting of Paddy’s Pub (Charlie Day). They hire Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson), the twin sister of Dennis, as a bartender and later on, their father Frank (Danny DeVito), the manager. Jordan Reid played Dee in the show’s initial iteration, which was conceived by McElhenney. Olson joined the cast after the series version of the pilot was chosen.
Dee was a frustrated employee when the show initially started, attempting to get her sluggish brother and his buddies to put in more effort as she picked up the slack. Olson was fascinated by the show, but she almost declined the part because of the way her character was written. The actress told Yahoo that “Dee was the voice of reason and they were all incredibly funny.” “With all due respect, I simply don’t want to play that character, I remarked. I’m not interested in being the voice of reason.”
Dee shouldn’t be the voice of reason
Dee has the capacity to be as pitiful and embarrassing as any of the other guys in the gang. According to Olson, the “boring straight person” stereotype on the script wasn’t the most complicated character she could play. She knew she could do more, she told Entertainment Weekly. Dee shouldn’t just be a woman who “tells you guys when you’re doing anything awful,” she urged McElhenney. All of the key characters have to indulge one other’s worst tendencies for the programme to succeed. Olson proceeded to EW, “Let the world be the voice of reason and let us be silly.”
Olson was informed by the “Always Sunny” writers that they “[hadn’t] written for women that much” (per Yahoo). “Well, don’t write for a woman, was my initial reaction. Just create one more comical character,” “She answered. Day is now entirely on board. The idea that “people want to see men be hilarious and play immature, and they don’t want to see women do it,” he told EW, disgusts him. Day claims that “the public likes Sweet Dee for being as selfish and juvenile as any other character on the programme.”
Dee’s best moments aren’t feminine
Dee is a woman, something the authors are aware of. The guys in her life shun her, and she frequently needs to work hard to fit in. According to Olson, the writers give her character “some hurt-feelings stuff that’s more feminine.” The actress discovers that some of her “favourite Dee moments are very’masculine’ things,” though. Olson has established a reputation in the field of physical comedy by performing her own stunts on “Always Sunny.” For example, check out the funny sequences in “Who Pooped the Bed?” as Dee stumbles out of a shoe store.
The fact that “It’s Always Sunny” portrays a complex female character in a humorous position is part of what makes the show so revolutionary. She is completely “selfish and juvenile” in her own way, as Day said; she doesn’t play the sexy wife or the fussy mother. Without Olson’s efforts to make her job more fascinating, the show would be far more monotonous. Dee is evidence that making a woman in comedy appear equally silly as the males is the best approach.
