Rob McElhenney

Rob McElhenney created a cult phenomenon that would vault him into pop consciousness as one of a foursome of the most narcissistic, amoral, degenerate and funny losers ever to grace American television. A Philadelphia native, McElhenney followed the well-worn path to New York and Los Angeles in search of jobs, which often wound up being in the foodservice industry. Winning supporting film roles that too often wound up cut from the final print, he and friends Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day put together a rudimentary pilot for a situation comedy show about the underbelly of the struggling actor's life in L.A. The creators tweaked it to make it even more blue-collar and anti-Hollywood, resetting it in McElhenney's hometown. "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (2005- ) premiered on FX in 2005, produced by, written by and starring the three creators, along with McElhenney's soon-to-be-wife Kaitlin Olson, as foul-mouthed, would-be cosmopolitan slackers running a Philly bar and bumbling through weekly sequences of flinch-inducing buffoonery and depraved get-rich-quick schemes. The show was soon embraced by a rabid following for its relentless disregard for politesse and a conspicuous lack of any redemptive traits of its characters. Putting his own twisted stamp on the medium, McElhenney became another successful case of unfettered creativity let loose upon an unsuspecting public.