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Rob McElhenney Explains Why He Changed His Name to Rob Mac
By Kyle Pagan
Published:
Rob McElhenney changed his name to Rob Mac. Why? Well let him tell you:
Now originally when I saw this headline I assumed this was a bit for the new Always Sunny season, kind of like when he gained 30 pounds for one of them. Well it turns out it isn’t. He seriously went through with Rob Mac and he acknowledges right off the rip how douchey it sounds, which it does. Now I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched Sunny since the Eagles won their first Super Bowl (god it feels amazing to write that). That was a great season. They obviously put out The Gang Wins the Big Game, but also produced the classic The Gang Beats Boggs. I tried to watch Season 15, but I think them gradually getting hotter and hotter every season and seeing them in other shows/movies turned me off to the show. That’s honestly a testament to how good they were. You saw them as four scumbag Philadelphians running a bar because they were at one point four scumbag Philadelphians. You liked Mac’s character writing a letter to Chase Utley because you knew he was just another delusional Phillies fan who Utley would taze if Mac got within 15 feet of him. Now Rob and Utley are directing MLB promos together with Bryce Harper. He’s rubbing shoulders with Ryan Reynolds and making videos about changing his name doing an impression of Ryan Reynolds. Charlie Day is doing regular movie cameos, and the other two have been leads in multiple TV shows.
It’s just not like it used to be and that’s fine. Doing 18 seasons of TV and still getting a laugh has to be near impossible. It’s just like this is Hollywood Rob talking here. Imagine telling 2004 Rob he’d one day be sitting in his mansion with his artificially chiseled jaw and dyed hair that he was recording a video telling people why he changed his name. He’d kick his own ass. He’s too far deep in Hollywood. Now does this happen if he doesn’t have a front row seat to the absolute PR shit show that Blake Lively and his business parter have been going through? Maybe, maybe not. But he’s not South Philly Rob anymore no matter how much he wants to be. You gotta be a little douchey to think anyone cares about you changing your name because you were introduced on a couple talk shows and podcasts as Rob Mac.
I mean we had an entire song to help us…
Kyle writes blog posts and does Man on the Street-style videos all around Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University (a basketball school) in 2015. contact: k.pagan@sportradar.com