Ted Danson and Charlie Day have a lot in common when you think about it – namely, they’ve both played proprietors of dank bars in long-running TV comedies. Although, as far as we’re aware, Cheers didn’t have a single glory hole and Sam Malone never told Norm and Cliff to go fuck themselves through song.
When the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star recently guested on Danson’s podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, he took the opportunity to get the veteran actor’s advice about the best way to exit a career-defining sitcom role.
“How did you wrestle with being a television character, so (well-known) and so recognizable?” Day asked. “You’re such a staple of American television society, as this one character. Was that ever a challenge for you? I wouldn’t say it is so much for me, but sometimes like, I’m like, ‘Oh did I overstate my welcome here? Am I only ever gonna be this character from Sunny?’”
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“First off, the transition was easy, ‘cause I blew my personal life up so badly in that moment of leaving that it didn’t even dawn on me that I had quite left Cheers. For months. Because I was just dealing with myself and my personal stuff.”
Danson’s decision to leave Cheers is what led to the end of the show after 11 seasons on the air. When Day asked whether or not Danson’s personal issues were related to his departure, he confirmed that it was all connected.
“I think I left Cheers ’cause I went, ‘Well I’m blowing shit up in my life.’ For the better,” he confessed. “You know, I was changing for the better, and working really hard at that. So I thought I might as well jump completely off the cliff. And (it was) a little bit of, ‘If I don’t leave now’ – and this is not for you – ‘If I don’t leave now, I may not know if I could do anything else. And I want to see if I can do any other stuff.’”
Danson also recalled that refused to be typecast, and argued that Day had already circumvented that problem. “The whole typecasting thing is, I think in your hands… if you don’t pay any attention to that and you just keep trying to be around the most creative people. And you’ve already done that, you’re working with directors like Guillermo del Toro, give me a break! Ethan Cohen. And you’re directing yourself.” Danson added that from his “vantage point of creativity” that’s not something that Day should be worried about.
So whenever It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ends, hopefully Charlie Day won’t take a role in the Getting Even With Dad remake.