Danny DeVito Nearly Died on ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Set, New Book Reveals

A new book about the history of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia reveals a scary behind-the-scenes story.

In doing research for her new book, It’s (Almost) Always Sunny in Philadelphia: How Three Friends Spent $200 to Create the Longest-Running Live-Action Sitcom in History and Help Build a Network, author Kimberly Potts discovered that Danny DeVito nearly died on set while filming an underwater stunt.

The Season 11 finale, titled “The Gang Goes to Hell: Part Two,” sees the show’s main friend group trapped in a room filling up with water on a cruise ship. “​​They’re swimming, they keep rising to the top. And to shoot that scene, they were underwater,” Potts told the New York Post in an interview published on Tuesday, June 24. “At one point, Danny got accidentally kicked, I think, in the shoulder — close to his head. As I’ve been told, he nearly drowned.”

Potts noted that the accident “certainly had everyone afraid he was in trouble.” According to the author, DeVito was “very frustrated by that situation” and “quietly left” the set after being rescued.

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“Even he has a threshold for how far he’s willing to go. But for the overwhelming majority, their experience with him is great,” Potts added. “Kaitlin Olson has called him the happiest person she’s ever known.”

As Pott’s book title states, the pilot of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia only cost stars Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day $200 to make. The show premiered on FX in 2005 and was acquired by Comedy Central for syndication in 2009 for $30 million.

FX

“In the beginning, FX didn’t have a lot of money for marketing, so they’d do those wild creative marketing campaigns with graphics and go to college campuses,” Potts told the outlet of the show’s rise to success. “They had a huge college and high school fan base. Those people graduated, and now they have [teenage kids] they watch it with.”

The underwater stunt is one of several crazy antics the cast of It’s Always Sunny have gotten up to throughout the show’s 16-season run, from the group’s “The Nightman Cometh” play to their recent crossover with ABC’s Abbott Elementary earlier this year.

Fans will get to see the second half of the crossover event on the show’s upcoming Season 17, which premieres next month. The trailer for the new episodes also teases a Golden Bachelor-themed episode, with DeVito’s Frank Reynolds taking on the ABC reality series’ titular role.

“Can’t wait to find a Grade A, prime cut piece of a** … to love,” he says in the sneak peek.

It’s (Almost) Always Sunny in Philadelphia: How Three Friends Spent $200 to Create the Longest-Running Live-Action Sitcom in History and Help Build a Network hits bookshelves on Tuesday, July 1.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 17 Premiere, Wednesday, July 9, 9/8c, FXX (Next day on Hulu)

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