It’s borderline impossible to imagine “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” without Kaitlin Olson. As “Sweet” Dee Reynolds, an aspiring actress and comedian who takes nonstop abuse from her cohorts — brother Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton), father Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito), and “friends” Ronald “Mac” McDonald (Rob McElhenney) and Charlie Kelly (Charlie Day) — and dishes it back in return, Olson is a vital part of the series. But as it turns out, she almost didn’t get the role … because her future husband, McElhenney, had a problem with her audition.
In a Variety profile focused on Olson and McElhenney, who are now a major industry power couple, McElhenney admitted that, between him, Day, and Howerton — who all developed the series together — he was the least interested in casting Olson. Part of this is due to the fact that, during her audition, Olson skipped one line written specifically by McElhenney while reading with Day. When she was asked to improvise without the sides, Olson went for it. “I let go of the already funny stuff and concentrated on leveling up the rest of the material,” the actress remembered. “After, I called my manager and said, ‘The audition was great. I want this job. But I’m so pissed that I left out the funniest line that was already in there, because I was so focused on just making everything bounce better.'”
“So she leaves the room, we’re no doubt 100% thinking she was awesome,” McElhenney added. “But I don’t know if her instincts were 100% right, because she left out the funniest line. Now, is it a coincidence that I happened to write that line? I was 26 years old, and probably very precious with what I was writing.”
McElhenney ultimately gave in … but this casting journey still wasn’t finished “He caved and settled,” Olson said. “And then I passed on the project.” When Olson finally agreed to play Dee, another roadblock presented itself, which was that Dee was a sitcom stereotype, a “nagging” woman who just scolded the boys for their bad behavior. In the tradition of female characters permitted to be as messy as “the guys,” like Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Elaine Benes on “Seinfeld,” Olson wanted more from the role. “When they offered me the part, I asked for four scripts,” she said. “And I was shocked, because they didn’t have anything funny for Sweet Dee.” McElhenney did some rewrites, Olson finally agreed to play Dee, and the two were off to the races. Little did they know that a showmance turned lifelong partnership would arise before long.
