‘It’s Always Sunny,’ ‘League’ Stars Celebrate FXX at Launch Party

The stars of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League joked around on the red carpet Tuesday night as they celebrated their new comedy home, the FXX network.

The FX spinoff debuted on Monday to solid ratings, replacing Fox Soccer Channel. New seasons of It’s Always Sunny and The League premiere on the network Wednesday night, and the series are considered key components of its launch.

STORY: TV Ratings: FXX Off to Solid Start Ahead of Big Premieres

As It’s Always Sunny prepares to debut season nine, stars (and real-life couple) Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson revealed they are excited for a special upcoming episode written by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. As the show approaches its 100th episode, star Charlie Day poked fun at the fact that it still hasn’t received awards recognition. He said there will be an episode in the upcoming season where the Sunny gang becomes annoyed their bar hasn’t won an award.

“The gang is all sitting around the bar recognizing the bar has been around a long time but never won any awards or been nominated for any awards, which is of course a little bit of a wink-wink to awards shows and the show being overlooked for nine years,” said Day. “It’s a really fun episode and I think fans will get a kick out of it.”

The League star Paul Scheer said although it’s a challenge when a show is on a new channel, he believes the series will still gain viewer interest.

“Networks always have to start somewhere,” he said. “It can’t be any worse than the O network, right?”

Mark Duplass who plays Pete Eckhart on The League, said fans are in for some surprises from guest stars this season, including Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and The O.C. alum Adam Brody. With The League centering on a group of backstabbing friends in a fantasy football league who constantly make fun of each other, Duplass feels the network change can be a good fit for the series.

“I think if anything it’s good for us because FXX is supposed to be a little raunchier and a little dirtier than FX, which allows us to do a little more crazy shit,” he said.

The League co-creator Jeff Schaffer also dished a future celebrity guest appearances on what he feels is one of their wildest episodes yet. “We’ve got a Seth Rogen, Jason Mantzoukas spectacular, where it’s 20 minutes of them and it’s bonkers and it’s insane and it’s the craziest thing we’ve ever shot,” he said.

STORY: Josh Groban to Guest Star on ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ (Exclusive)

Jackie Schaffer, fellow co-creator of The League with husband Jeff, believes the launch of the new network is risky, but said they are thrilled to be on a new network with fewer limits on dirty behavior.

“I think corporately they’re insane to trust us to launch a network,” she said. “Seems like a terrible, irresponsible idea knowing how badly we behave, but it’s really flattering, we’re really excited and we’ll do anything Sunny does. We’ll follow in their footsteps anytime.”

The celebration at Lure was followed by screenings of new episodes of It’s Always Sunny and The League at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.