The 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' guys respond to Vancouver's Green Men
Do they view the Canucks super-fans as homage or theft?
Vancouver's Green Men
Credit: Jonathan Hayward/AP
If you're a Vancouver Canucks fan, a devoted hockey aficionado or if you are, like me, a reasonably uninvolved hockey fan who has suddenly become weirdly puck obsessed during this season's NHL playoffs and Stanley Cup (Go Bruins!), you've probably noticed the Green Men.
They're Force and Sully, two devoted Canucks fans who dress in unflattering neon green body suits and sit next to the visitors' penalty box at Rogers Arena, taunting opposing miscreants with a variety of physical gags, props and the mere threat of proximity to a spandex-covered thrusting rear or crotch.
Already icons in Vancouver, ESPN has made heroes of Force and Sully, both apparently recent journalism school grads, over the course of the Stanley Cup showdown with the Bruins. For the media, the Green Men have become the ultimate super-fans, Vancouver-style, like the Canadian equivalent of Jack Nicholson at Lakers' games or John Adams, the dude who bangs the drums at Cleveland Indians games.
For FX comedy fans, Force and Sully two guys who take "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" very, very seriously.
The Green Man character first appeared in the "The Gang Gets Invincible" episode of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" as the Eagles-loving alter-ego of Charlie Day's Charlie. The character has popped up in at least two other "Sunny" episodes, most recently in hilarious fashion in "The World Series Defense."
I was on the set of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" with a handful of reporters on Tuesday (June 14) the day before Game 7 between the Canucks and Bruins and it seemed only appropriate to get their reaction to the very well publicized (but only occasionally attributed) homage.
"I think those guys are awesome," said Glenn Howerton. "Those guys have credited our show numerous times. I've gotten a lot of tweets about that, like 'Why are those guys stealing your s***?' or whatever, but they actually haven't. They've credited us a number of times. Now that ESPN's been giving them a ton of attention, ESPN literally cuts out their references to our show, because they don't want advertise our show. We're a rival cable network. But that's got nothing to do with those guys. They're just taking an idea and running with it. I think it's great."
A little bit less sure, albeit clearly kidding, was Charlie Day.
"Well, I'm more of a Bruins fan, so I'm not so excited about it," said Day, who soon amended that he's more of an "apathetic Bruins fan." "I don't know. If two kids want to go to a hockey game dressed in green... it'd be pretty moronic to try and stop them."
Day had an important caveat.
He added, "If they can keep boners to a minimum..."
Kaitlin Olson agreed, "That's the thing. It's not the most flattering costume."
Howerton concluded, "I think you either know that it came from the show, or you don't. I think that's kinda cool."
I'll obviously have lots more from the "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" set as the show's September premiere gets closer, but with the Game 7 puck dropping in less than an hour, I wanted to get this crucial story up.
Oh and Go Bruins.
If you haven't seen Force and Sully at work, here's their interpretation of Green Men (video after the break):
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupMulderism
June 15, 2011 at 8:06PM EST Reply to CommentIf you're a Vancouver Canucks fan or if you are, like me, a reasonably uninvolved hockey fan who has suddenly become weirdly puck obsessed during this season's NHL playoffs and Stanley Cup ...
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So what are you saying? You think hardly anybody in your audience is a hockey fan? I guess for most americans this is probably the case. Has anyone in the US even noticed (or care) that the Atlanta Thrashers are moving to Winnipeg?
dan Mulderism - Hmmm... It's true. I seem to have left out the possibility of actual hockey fans who aren't Canucks fans and aren't just bandwagon jumpers like I am...
June 15, 2011 at 8:12PM ESTI could revise...
-Daniel
WeebeysPlasticFish I didn't even know Atlanta had a hockey team.
June 15, 2011 at 8:17PM ESTnic919
June 15, 2011 at 8:42PM EST Reply to CommentI like how they modify their taunts, such as using Vince Vaughan in Chicago in a Canucks uniform and now using Mark Wahlberg (With a sign that says "say hello to my mother").
I also think they were hanging about during the Olympic hockey games, at least the ones where Canada was playing.
Bob They were indeed at several Olympic hockey games where Canada was playing, wearing Olympic Team Canada jerseys over their body suits.
June 18, 2011 at 4:27AM ESTEAGLES!
June 15, 2011 at 10:00PM EST Reply to CommentGreen Man is originally a Philadelphia Eagles fan who still attends home games.
Mulderism
June 15, 2011 at 11:48PM EST Reply to CommentWell at least you're a fan so welcome aboard!
@WeebeysPlasticFish EXACTLY!!
Steve
June 18, 2011 at 3:55AM EST Reply to CommentThese guys are great! You know you have made it big when a tv show recognizes you and you have your own costume. Me and a buddy are wearing these, http://www.superfansutis.com to our hometown hockey games now and everyone loves it
Bob
June 18, 2011 at 4:25AM EST Reply to CommentForce & Sully are Always Sunny fans who intended to attend a Seahawks game in the green body suits to pay tribute to "Gang Gets Invincible". They missed the Seahawks game, so they got their boss's tickets by the penalty box to a Canucks game and the rest is history.
They do seem to annoy a lot of people, but most Canucks fans love them - their taunts and antics are generally family-friendly and always funny. A highlight of an extremely ugly Boston/Vancouver final was seeing Vancouver native Bruin Lucic bantering and joking with them when he was in the box.
Go Green Men, and Go Canucks!
Peter_the_Gr8
June 22, 2011 at 10:10AM EST Reply to CommentDan, As a devout and loyal Bruins fan with 12 years of season tickets and 30 years of fandom, let me say, Thank You! I'm glad to see a reasonable article about these guys. Glad to see that they had acknowledged Sunny because that was totally cut out of all the coverage. But, more importantly, glad to see them lose to the STANLEY CUP CHAMPION BOSTON BRUINS. I still cannot believe I get to type that. Go Bruins (PS we have the #9 pick in the draft this year too!) Thanks, Toronto!