Slowly, we are returning to something resembling a pre-Covid state. In England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales at least, the final remaining restrictions have been lifted, or are likely to be lifted in the coming weeks. Offices are filling up, the queues at your chosen sandwich shop chain are getting longer, and for many the dreaded commute to work has returned. Which, in turn – for some of us – means the return of something else: the strange looks from other commuters as we try (and fail) not to laugh at podcasts.
I felt that familiar rush of embarrassment earlier this week when, on The Always Sunny Podcast, Rob McElhenney recalled how, as a child, his mother would spray him with vinegar at the beach. I’m still not entirely sure why McElhenney’s mother sprayed him with vinegar on the beach – something to do with horseflies I think – but his description, and the comedic savaging he received from co-hosts Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day started me snorting.
The Always Sunny Podcast is nominally a companion piece to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the long-running, much-loved sitcom starring McElhenney, Howerton and Day, as well as Kaitlin Olson and our lord Danny DeVito. I say nominally a companion piece: while each instalment of the pod is supposed to be a discussion on a corresponding episode of the sitcom – which, if you haven’t seen it follows the truly reprehensible owners of a decaying Irish pub in Philadelphia – the hosts usually abandon that premise a couple of minutes in to instead ramble about weird subjects, argue with each other, attempt bizarre impressions and generally try to make each other laugh.
In fact, sometimes they don’t even bother to cover an episode of the show at all: last week they hosted a phone-in with members of the public, which not only managed to include a touching call with a woman who had recently undergone brain surgery, but also an eye-wateringly scatological convo with someone who was on the loo at the time. What’s particularly fun about the podcast, if you’re familiar with the show (I doubt the pod makes much sense if you aren’t, so it’s worth taking in the two in tandem), is how McElhenney, Howerton and Day resemble the mannerisms of their characters, without ever reaching the heights of their awfulness. The trio were friends before the pitched the sitcom to US network FX, and the podcast gives a glimpse into how they built the series from their own interactions: the bickering, the teasing, and the enjoyment of being in each other’s company.
In short, The Always Sunny Podcast is fantastic, but it does present a bit of a problem on public transport. Do I just try to stifle a laugh? Or try to bury it in my sleeve as if I’m sneezing? Or do I just full-throatedly own the laughter, and risk the weird looks? Any advice from experienced comedy podcast commuters would be gratefully received!
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