It can be totally cringeworthy when comedians get hot. Remember how off-putting it was when you first saw Kumail Nanjiani looking extremely buff for his upcoming role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's The Eternals? Sure, Kumail looks amazing, but doesn't having a ripped body somewhat ruin the funny? The same feeling is true for the star and creator of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Rob McElhenney.
Over the course of the 14 seasons of the FXX black comedy, Rob has gone through a couple of drastic body transformations. Fans of the incredibly long-running series have seen Rob as a scrawny dude, overly husky, and totally ripped. But given all of these fluctuations in his body, one has to wonder what Rob's medical team actually thought about what he was doing. And it turns out, it wasn't good...
It Started With Rob Gaining A Bunch Of Weight
The topic about Rob's doctor's response to his body transformations of the beloved cult-hit sitcom came up during an interview with Men's Health. The company did multiple interviews with the writer/actor and also featured him on the cover of their magazine.
"My body has changed, over the years, quite a bit," Rob explained in his interview with Men's Health before explaining how and why he's altered his body so drastically multiple times. "At the very beginning of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, I weight about 135 lbs. The woman I was dating a the time, who then turned into my wife (co-star Kaitlin Olsen) said, 'Look, I'm not finding you attractive.' Not that being 135 is not attractive, it just happened to not be attractive for her."
Nevertheless, Rob kept the body that he had as he was always busy in writer's rooms and didn't have the healthiest lifestyle. When you work in television, it's extremely hard to maintain an exercise regimen and healthy eating habits.
"A few years later, I had this idea to gain a bunch of weight [for the show]," Rob said, admitting that he wanted the entire cast to gain a lot of weight for the show. Everyone except Danny DeVito said, 'No'. Eventually, Rob decided that only he was going to gain a bunch of weight for the show.
Although his goal was to gain 50 lbs, he ended up putting on 60 - 70 lbs instead. While this created a lot of comedy for that particular season of It's Always Sunny, it wasn't exactly the healthiest thing Rob did.
"My first thought [when trying to gain weight] was that I was going to do this as healthy as possible. So, I went to my doctor and he said, 'Do not do that! This is not funny.' And I said, 'Okay, I understand that. Thank you but what's the healthiest way to do [gain a bunch of weight].' He said that there is no healthy way to do that, however, 'If you want to try, get a nutritionist to help you figure it out.' So, I worked with a sports nutritionist who basically had me eating three chicken breasts, three cups of rice, and three cups of vegetables. And I had to eat that every two hours. So, I tried that for half a day."
This is when Rob realized that he could cut down on feeling as though he was eating too much by blending up a bunch of ice cream and drinking it. So... not exactly what the doctor or the nutritionist was recommending...
"It turns out if you drink a gallon of ice cream every day you will start to gain weight. Eating alone wasn't going to do it, I had to work out. So, I started lifting really heavy because it was building up ridiculously fit muscle and the fat would just sit on that. So, I put on the weight in about two and half months - three months."
Then Rob Got Into Incredible Shape
The first way that Rob started to lose weight after his fat season of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia was to stop drinking a gallon of ice cream. In fact, Rob claims that he lost the first twenty pounds in just over a week because he quit drinking the ice cream and kept up with his weight-lifting exercises.
"A few years go by and I wanted to do another body transformation because it was interesting and it was also a character choice as my character does something [the rain dance] at the end of that season and that sort of explains why his body is changing over the course of the season."
On top of quitting ice cream cold turkey, Rob started training with a celebrity trainer named Arin Babain. He also had a team of chefs cooking for him, making sure that he was eating the healthiest meals.
Unlike Rob's weight gain, his doctor was much happier with how he started to get fit. However, as Rob acknowledges, not everyone has the money or the resources to get as ripped as he did. After all, he did have an entire team behind him. Even still, Rob's incredible body transformation is inspiring to everyone who wants to work a little harder in the gym, eat some healthier food, and just get jacked.
And, fortunately for Rob, getting extremely hot didn't completely ruin his comedic skills. Although we still pine for those awkward-body moments in the first few seasons of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.