As Matt discussed a couple weeks ago, Rob McElhenney (Mac) from “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” put on fifty pounds for the show’s seventh season. I’ve posted the promo after the jump, and, sure enough, he’s fat. Yup. Definitely fat.

I like to paint myself as some fancy-schmancy comedy snob, so my gut reaction to this whole story was something along the lines of “Pfft. Fat jokes? Really?” But then two things happened: First, I started watching reruns of “Sunny” on Comedy Central Monday nights and remembered how much I like the show. I decided that, at the very least, they deserve the benefit of the doubt on this one. I mean, they haven’t steered me wrong yet, right? And the second thing was that I saw one of my overweight friends fall off his chair and I laughed for like twenty minutes straight.

What can I say? I’m a man of the people.

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Last week, we learned that the previously fit and rakish Rob McElhenney gained fifty pounds to play Mac on the upcoming season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” for no better reason than he thought it would be funny if his character got fat.

However, we hadn’t seen the results of McElhenney’s gluttonous, sedentary lifestyle until now — and they’re GLORIOUS. As you can see, he’s embracing the change by wearing a Hawaiian shirt, the official uniform of overweight men. Even his beard gained weight. And I can’t tell what he’s holding in his right hand — I studied the full-size photo to no avail — but in my mind, it’s a bottle of barbecue sauce.

(thanks for the tip, @ScottyKnoxville)

I highlighted this story in the links yesterday, but none of you A-holes read the stories that I painstakingly compile for you, so here it is again: ScreenJunkies visited the set of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” where they learned that the normally fit and muscular Rob McElhenney had added fifty pounds to play Mac this coming season.

Why? For the sheer comedy of playing his character as a fat guy. “It’s been disgusting to watch him go through with this adventure,” said Charlie Day. “We were a little on the fence about it for his own personal health and safety,” he added, “but it has definitely made Mac a lot funnier.”

I absolutely love this story. The entertainment media always showers actors with praise every time they add or drop a bunch of weight to play a role, and it’s always for the “integrity of the story” and “being true to the character” and blah blah blah wank fart noise. And Rob McElhenney does it because fat people are funnier. Awesome. Now THAT’S dedication to your craft.

"I'm a doctor, not a veterinarian. Get out of my office, you whale."

For what seemed like ages, “The Biggest Loser” was the only show on NBC that resembled a true ratings hit, so it should come as no surprise that ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss” debuted as the strongest show on television last night. Each episode of the reality series follows one disgustingly obese person for a year as they waddle through workouts to become a normal person (see trailer below), and the premiere pulled in an impressive 7.1 million viewers on a holiday, improving on its “Bachelorette” lead-in.

Weight Loss had 7.1 million viewers and a 2.3 preliminary rating in the adult demo at 10 p.m., up 28 percent from the season premiere of True Beauty in the slot last year.

That’s enough to rank Weight Loss as the highest-rated show of the night, which is particularly impressive since it grew from its lead-in — The Bachelorette (7.1 million, 2.1), which was down 23 percent from last week’s premiere. [EW]

I’ve said before that there’s about an hour of good television in every two-hour episode of “The Biggest Loser,” and I appreciate TV series that show people working out and eating well, so in that regard I welcome the addition of “Weight Loss” to the reality canon. But then I read that this woman is a gym teacher:

…and I just get pissed off all over again. Seriously, a gym teacher. A 400-pound gym teacher. I wouldn’t trust her with my sandwich, much less the physical education of my children.

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A couple weeks ago, I posted a clip from NatGeo’s “Taboo” that detailed grossly obese 30-year-old Stanley Thornton’s “adult baby” fantasy, which he lives out with the help of his grossly obese roommate, Sandra Dias. Neither have a job, and both collect Social Security checks. That got the attention of Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of Congress’s premiere waste-watchers.

“Given that Mr. Thornton is able to determine what is appropriate attire and actions in public, drive himself to complete errands, design and custom-make baby furniture to support a 350-pound adult and run an Internet support group, it is possible that he has been improperly collecting disability benefits for a period of time,” Mr. Coburn wrote in a letter Monday to Inspector General Patrick P. O’Carroll Jr. [Washington Times]

I won’t get into the caveat necessary for a Moonie newspaper, but the Times emailed Thornton for a response, and it is nothing short of sublime.

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