When ‘Abbott’ Met ‘Sunny’: Quinta Brunson and Rob McElhenney on Their Odd-Couple TV Crossover
There have been a lot of weird TV crossovers over the years, but the upcoming union of Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia may be the first one where the creator of one half of the crossover is actively discouraging some of her viewers from watching the other half.
Yes, both are comedies set in the City of Brotherly Love, which happens to be the hometown of both Abbott creator-star Quinta Brunson and her Sunny counterpart Rob McElhenney. But Abbott, about well-meaning teachers and the kids in their charge, is aimed at families, while Sunny is an adults-only show about some of the most selfish and despicable characters in sitcom history.
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Yet somehow, the two will be participating in a crossover that begins with the Jan. 8 Abbott episode on ABC — wherein Sunny characters Mac (Rob McElhenney), Charlie (Charlie Day), Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson), and Frank (Danny DeVito) show up as volunteers at Abbott — and then continues later this year in a Sunny episode on FX. Both will cover the same events, more or less, showing them from the point of view of their respective characters.
We spoke with the creator-stars of each series about how the two Philly-born actors met and came up with the idea, how they ensured the two series would be compatible enough to do it, which character each of them would like to steal from the other’s show, and more.
How did this come about?
Rob McElhenney: We met at the Emmys a few years ago. We were backstage. Quinta won for Best Actress in a Comedy, that was the first time we had met. That’s a great time to meet someone for the first time, because they’re very very happy. Kaitlin [who is also Rob’s wife] and I had been watching Abbott since it premiered, so we were big fans of hers already. As we got to talking later in the night, we were speaking about our mutual admiration for each other. And then the idea of a crossover just popped up. And it seemed both not possible, which is always a good sign, and we knew it would confuse people, which is also a really good sign. So we just jumped in.
Quinta Brunson: We wanted to do it because it could be done, and so many people thought it couldn’t. And so I think that alone was enough for us to jump in and do it.
Why did it seem impossible to people?
QB: The tones are so totally different. But that’s the beauty of making any cool thing, even a cool dinner dish or a cool drink — you mix them together and see what happens. It felt like science.
RM: Then I think it got unlocked when we realized we could tell the same story from two different perspectives. So we have the Abbott episode and then the same story, except told through the prism of Sunny, which will air four or five months later. We thought, OK, that then gives us an opportunity for our characters to play in their tone and to make an episode of Abbott, and then their characters to play in our tone and make what will feel like an authentic episode of Sunny. The authenticity still remains between both shows.
OK, but Abbott is a family-friendly show. Sunny decidedly is not. You want to be authentic to both, Rob, but did you do anything differently with your episode, just in the event some kids who watch Abbott are curious to see the other half of the crossover?
RM: Oh, well, we’ve discussed this quite a bit. Our biggest concern is that people will watch Abbott and think, “Oh, we like these characters. We like this episode. Let’s go check out the other show with the whole family.” And we’re going to caution people against that.
QB: I know [the Sunny cast] are not new faces or new talent, but I love showcasing talent to people. But this is the first time I’m gonna be like, “Actually, don’t go watch their show!” Unless you are already a fan of both shows, don’t go looking for anything you don’t need.
RM: Quinta had a really great idea, which is curating a few episodes of Sunny that could be specifically tailored to that audience member. We could possibly put out that list, although still it would be age-gated. I think you have to go at least 16 or over, but probably 18.
QB: There’s an Abbott fan page that, after the [crossover] announcement, they decided “I’m gonna go watch Sunny and get ready for this event.” And the person keeps posting, being like, “Guys, it’s rough. It’s funny, but it’s a little rough. So, get through it!” They’re having a mental breakdown, but it’s fine.
In either episode, how much did you feel you needed to help the audience of the other show understand who Mac is, or who Janine is?
QB: On our episode, I had the philosophy that we just treat our story the way we would treat any other story. When we went to break it, I said, “We need to treat this as not the Sunny cast, but as this is the story we want to tell, which is some volunteers coming to the school who wind up being not so great.” And we could tell those stories with any number of characters, but we have the Sunny characters, which is great. They come fully locked and loaded with characteristics — you know, fears, loves, wants, whatever. But I thought the key was to treat it like a typical Abbott story.
RM: It was like we were modulating the specificity depending on which episode we were watching. So for Sunny, we just know that the audience comes in with a set of understandings. And we just jumped off from there and told the story as if we were working in a school and these were teachers. And even if you had not ever seen an episode of Abbott, you would totally understand the story based on the fact that they were just teachers.
Often, when shows do crossovers, the writers on one will do punch-up for their characters on the other. Did that happen here?
QB: Rob and Charlie came to the Abbott room, which was so helpful. You guys didn’t write the script, but I would argue that the breaking part was the most vital. And then when they wrote their script, it was sent to us after the fact for whatever we wanted, but we honestly didn’t have much. I really respect what they do over there and the tone of their show, so I was very excited to get out of our boxes in our world. So nothing felt too far for me.
RM: I think that’s what was the most fun, too, for us to play the same characters, but in a different tone. I think we may have changed, like a line or two, and vice versa, if we were presenting the characters in a way that didn’t line up with some past history. But I think overall, we played in the tone that was delivered to us. Yeah, loved it
Is there anything that the Abbott characters do in the Sunny episode that they would not be allowed to do in their own show?
QB: Oh, yeah. That was the most fun. One hundred percent. One of the other things that’s cool about it, that I hope people will appreciate is, you know, Abbott Elementary is a documentary being made about an elementary school. So everyone is being themselves, but they’re also putting their best foot forward, right? They’re not necessarily being who they would always be when the cameras are off. So in in the Sunny world, where their cameras are off, you kind of get raw versions of each character — nothing too insane, but raw versions. It’s honestly a dream come true. It’s rare you get to play with your characters in that way.
RM: And that’s how we we were able to keep it authentic: When the Sunny characters go into the school, we know that we’re being filmed for the documentary, and it’s a school, so we have to essentially pretend to be something we’re not. So that is what allowed us to play in that tone.
Rob, if you could permanently take one character from Abbott and make them a part of Sunny, who would it be?
RM: I feel like it’s a tie. No offense to Quinta at all, but Sheryl Lee [Ralph] is just an American treasure. She so believes in the world of Abbott. And it’s so fantastic to watch because she’s so funny. But she’s not necessarily trying to be funny, based on what I can see. Yeah, she’s really playing the truth of the moment. And that kind of thing really plays well on Sunny. People think that what plays well on Sunny is, like, loud, obnoxious comedy. It really doesn’t work. What plays really well is when people believe that what they’re trying to do will achieve their goal. Yeah, and, and Sheryl does that, and does it so well, and is so funny while she does it. Oh, man.
QB: Sheryl’s scenes in Sunny, specifically, had me crying laughing — and I’m in them, but I could not get it together during one specific scene I’m talking about, because she’s just so invested.
RM: And Janelle [James], the principal, is just so comical.
QB: And she just fits in that world.
Quinta, same question for you. You can steal one Sunny character and make them an Abbott regular. Who?
QB: I think Sweet Dee. I don’t know, something about her dynamic in that school blows me away. Just a chaos agent in our world that was just so fun for me to watch, to play against, to see. And then I think I would also steal Frank, because he’s just fun to react to in our world. For so many reasons, I still regret that we didn’t have a scene of a kid just reacting to him. We didn’t have time. There was a version of it where there was a kid just looking at him, but he’s just fun to react to. And our show is based a lot in reactions to cameras. Although we realized in our world, we had to keep him away from the children. But he’s a riot.
RM: And Danny had a blast. He was so excited. It was really inspiring for us. I mean, Danny’s continually inspiring for us. He just turned 80 years old, and he still shows up to work every day excited and curious and ready to jump in and have fun.
QB: He was inspirational for us. Really, the whole thing was inspirational for us to be around. They’ve been on the air for so long and are just a well-oiled machine. And it’s really nice to see people not phone it in. They come, they work, they do their jobs, they do it well. They’re in tune. They’re tapped in. And that just was inspiring for us, as a show in our fourth season, to see a well-oiled machine like that. That’s what we aspire to be.
Quinta, did your bosses have any concern about things you could and couldn’t do on the Sunny episode? Just in terms of maintaining the brand of Abbott?
QB: No. I have a very good relationship with ABC, and they heard it was happening and just went, “How’s that going to work?” But then waited for us to turn in the draft, and went, “It works.” So, I have a good system of trust there that I really appreciate as a creative. Our show often pushes boundaries somewhat for the network, so that’s not abnormal for them. The first time we had a rapper rapping about ketamine and fentanyl, they didn’t like it in print, and then they saw it and they were like, “Oh, OK.” So we have that relationship. And then I also told our biggest boss, Bob Iger, and he was very into it.
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