The origin story of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a lesson in chuztpah and initiative. Three friends and aspiring actors -- Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day -- made a pilot as a short film for themselves. But what began simply, quickly developed into something more significant. They shopped it around town as a potential TV show and got a lot of bites. FX President John Landgraf talks about how the pilot came out of nowhere from three guys with no experience but how he was taken with it immediately.
McElehenney and Howerton tell The Business producer Darby Maloney about those early days, what motivated them, and how they had the confidence to insist that they be the producers and show-runner despite having absolutely no experience producing TV. They talk about how they welcomed Danny DeVito in the second season. And even though the series is in its eighth season with plans for two more and has been sold into syndication on Comedy Central, it still doesn't feel like a huge success to them... partially because they get no Awards love.