WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 16, episode 3!Rhea Perlman makes a memorable cameo in Rhea Perlman’s cameo finally completes It’s Always Sunny’s trend of casting the main actors’ spouses in the sitcom, as the accomplished actress has been married to Danny DeVito since 1982. Perlman actually rose to fame for starring in another popular sitcom about working in a bar in the Northeast, thus making her cameo in It’s Always Sunny season 16 extremely fitting.
In It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 16, episode 3, “The Gang Gets Cursed,” four-time Emmy winner Rhea Perlman appears as Dee’s neighbor, whose name is credited as Bertha Fussy. Perlman’s new It’s Always Sunny season 16 character continues to ask Dee to keep down the noise in her apartment until Kaitlin Olson hands her an insulting, expletive-filled trophy. Dee is then convinced that Bertha placed a curse on her in response, especially once Dennis believes that a black cat leaving her apartment could be his late ex-wife Maureen Ponderosa. While Rhea Perlman’s It’s Always Sunny cameo humorously introduced another main actor’s spouse, her meta casting could have gone much deeper by linking to her most famous role.
It's Always Sunny Season 16 Missed The Perfect Opportunity To Reference Cheers' Carla
Rhea Perlman’s most iconic character is Carla Tortelli in the bar-set sitcom Cheers, which doubtlessly set a precedent for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s successful premise. Throughout her time on Cheers, Perlman was nominated for 10 Emmys (winning four) for her performance as the titular Boston bar’s feisty and cynical waitress. Given Perlman’s history on Cheers, it’s odd that her cameo in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia had nothing to do with the show’s bar, Paddy’s Pub. Rather, Perlman’s appearance was entirely confined to her apartment building’s shared hallway with Dee.
While doing a proper crossover between NBC’s Cheers and FX’s It’s Always Sunny would be difficult, Perlman’s cameo still could have included a meta-reference to her role as Carla. Cheers and It’s Always Sunny are two of the most popular bar sitcoms of all time, so placing Perlman in Paddy’s Pub for a scene reminiscent of the ‘80s series would have made for a highly fulfilling cameo without any explicit connections. While it may have been too on the nose for It’s Always Sunny, even playing Cheers’ iconic theme song “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” during Perlman’s cameo would have sufficed for a secret bar sitcom crossover.
Rhea Perlman Can Still Return After It's Always Sunny Season 16, Episode 3
While Rhea Perlman didn’t appear in Paddy’s Pub in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 16, she still has the opportunity to fulfill this bar return in Danny DeVito’s sitcom. It’s Always Sunny has a history of bringing back seemingly one-off characters for multiple appearances, and Perlman’s role as Dee’s neighbor (and thus one of Frank’s tenants) makes her more apt to return. Given her personal connection to DeVito, Perlman’s Bertha Fussy becoming a recurring character in It’s Always Sunny is all the more likely. Should she return in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, she’ll hopefully be able to include subtle references or connections to her iconic Cheers role while visiting Paddy's Pub.