Rob McElhenney dropped us a Throwback Thursday gift, featuring one of his earliest acting gigs.
This afternoon, the Philly native and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star posted on Instagram the video of an anti-smoking commercial he starred in, with the caption, “Is Throwback Thursday still a thing?” The commercial was put on by the Youth Smoking Prevention program from Philip Morris. At least one internet sleuth believes the commercial aired in the late 1990s during “Family Guy.” (Our in-house ’90s kid says this tracks.)
In what feels like an early version of Vogue’s “73 Questions” YouTube series, an off-screen cameraman asks a young McElhenney about smoking in the commercial. McElhenney’s character, a high schooler leaving class, said he tried it once when he was 14 because “he was trying to be cool or something” but didn’t pick up the habit.
“Why don’t you do it anymore?” the interviewer asks.
“A lot of reasons,” McElhenney says. “I just didn’t like it, you know? I don’t need to smoke to, like, fit in.”
The clip ends as text reading “Think. Don’t Smoke.” drapes over the screen and McElhenney asks, “Are we finished?” while viewers most likely tried not to roll their eyes entirely into the back of their heads.
It doesn’t exactly seem like he followed his own advice. Commenters were quick to point out that McElhenney once said in a podcast that while he was filming the earlier seasons “It’s Always Sunny,” he spent much of his time drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, eventually leading to a stomach ulcer.
Either way, we’re always here for a good trip down memory lane. Keep ’em coming, Rob.