42 years later, Taxi co-stars Danny DeVito and Carol Kane are showing the world that their chemistry is still there.
**Spoiler alert for the Season 17 finale of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia**
In the Season 17 finale of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which sees Frank Reynolds (DeVito) living out his turn on The Golden Bachelor, Kane plays Sam, a quirky but down-to-earth contestant who surprisingly turns Frank’s discriminiting eye. While Frank initially shows up at the Bachelor Mansion with incredibly high standards, shocking real Bachelor host Jesse Palmer by asking during the limousine entrances: “Are all these whores gonna be this old?”
After initial hesitation from Frank and some conceding from The Golden Bachelor producers, the show brings on a 20-year-old TikTok influencer named Cock Chewa (Audrey Corsa), and another more age-appropriate contender, Sam, who immediately takes Frank by surprise, asking, “You’re kidding me — this cretin is The Bachelor? I have better looking boils.”
For DeVito, who sat down to talk with DECIDER about Kane’s appearance in the It’s Always Sunny finale, it was a perfect intro into the world of the supeficial gang from Philadelphia, more than 40 years after playing Simka Dahblitz-Gravas (Kane) and Louie De Palma (DeVito) in a TV comedy of their own.
“Carol and I have known each other for many, many years, since the ’60s. And she worked on Taxi in the ’70s, but we’ve been friends forever and we talked to each other all the time,”DeVito shared. “You’re always looking for ways where, you know, if there’s somebody in your arena that you can coerce into being on the show. This was perfect, this part was perfect for her and she loved it and they loved her and that was, that was a gift.”
On Taxi, DeVito played the loudmouth dispatcher while Kane portrayed the wife of cheeky mechanic Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman). The series also starred and helped to launch the careers of Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, and Christopher Lloyd, and ran for four seasons on ABC from 1978 to 1982 and one on NBC from 1982 to 1983.
Despite four decades having passed, DeVito told DECIDER that the group remains close, so much so that when they come back together, be it via on online meeting or an in-person get-together, it’s like no time has passed. That’s what happened with Kane’s appearance on Sunny, as he shared they “sit right into each other” whenever they’re around one another.
“We have this thing that Marilu Henner sets up for us every month or so, and we do a Taxi zoom and it’s amazing because we just never lost touch. We’ve been doing it for like years now,” DeVito shared of how the group stays close, adding that after Kane’s guest starring role ended in an open-ended invite for more of her character in the future, there is always the possibility that other Taxi cast mates visit Philly.
Thus far, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has welcomed Kane, Lloyd — who appeared conspicuously as a Santa Claus in Season 6 Episode 13, “A Very Sunny Christmas” — and had an on-the-nose mention of Danza in Season 16 Episode 5, when Frank tells Dee (Kaitlin Olson) that she had just eaten decades-old oysters “You ate those oysters? That can’s from a shellfish company I started with Tony Danza back in the ’80s,” Frank tells Dee as she reads the label and responds, “Tony’s oysters in a canza?”
So, could Hirsch or Henner — or even Lloyd in a more forward-facing role — appear in a future season of the FX comedy, given that they are full-speed ahead on Season 18? Well, DeVito said that he is confident series creators and stars Rob Mac, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton could figure out how to bring this vision to life and give Taxi fans everywhere the reunion they are hoping for.
“I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. We got to get there, it’d be great. Can you imagine Judd on the show or Tony?” DeVito said with a laugh. “It would be great to have everybody on somehow without making it like too surreal. But I think Rob and Charlie and Glenn could figure that out if they sat down and went into the writers room.”
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 is now streaming on Hulu. Taxi is currently streaming on Paramount+.
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