Movies - TV
It’s Always Sunny’s Most Profitable Joke Came From Rob McElhenney’s Moms
By DANIELLE RYAN
In the season 5 episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," titled "Paddy's Pub: Home of the Original Kitten Mittens," the gang comes up with promotional items they can sell.
Mac, played by Rob McElhenney, has an idea that ends up being profitable for the gang: Dick towel, a towel that folds over to reveal different-sized male genitalia.
As McElhenney revealed on the "Always Sunny Podcast," the idea for the towel came to him when he visited Venice Beach with his mothers.
While walking on the boardwalk, they saw stores with silly t-shirts outside, like those with massive cartoon breasts. McElhenney's mothers were delighted by them.
On the podcast, McElhenney recalled: "Both my mothers [...] come back from the beach and they're both wearing them, and they're like, 'Look at these! This is hilarious!'"
It made Rob think about how to do something similar but with a towel instead. When FX passed up on the idea, they teamed up with Suburban Riot, and dicktowel.com was born.
Right after the episode aired, the website crashed on the East Coast from high traffic. According to McElhenney, they sold 50,000 of the towels in just a few weeks.