The real-life married couple and co-stars of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson, brought their signature blend of toxic codependency and delusion to the screen for Imagine Dragons’ music video for the song “Follow You.” The clip featured Olson staging a “private concert” specifically to indulge her own fandom of lead singer Dan Reynolds, resulting in a scene of hilarious marital tension where McElhenney’s jealous fantasy stole the spotlight.
The music video, released in March 2021, was a brilliant comedic narrative directed by Matt Eastin, designed to capture the “realistic” yet imperfect love that the song—written by Dan Reynolds after reconciling with his wife, Aja Volkman—is about.
The Selfish Surprise
The video’s premise features Kaitlin Olson surprising her husband, Rob McElhenney, with a private concert at the Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas for his birthday. The humor begins immediately when Olson pretends the headliners are his favorite band, The Killers. McElhenney’s initial enthusiasm quickly turns to visible disappointment and fury when Imagine Dragons—Olson’s favorite band—take the stage. Kaitlin Olson secretly stages a private concert for Dan Reynolds, the set erupts. Olson’s bold staging of an expensive private event just to see Dan Reynolds in front of her husband was the ultimate act of selfish love, a dynamic perfectly mirroring the characters they play on television (Dee and Mac in It’s Always Sunny). Audiences erupted when actress Kaitlin Olson boldly staged a private concert just to see Dan Reynolds in front of her husband, and Rob McElhenney’s jealous reaction, which led him to fantasize about being the lead singer, stole the spotlight!
The Jealous Fantasy and the Spotlight
As Imagine Dragons, led by the charismatic Dan Reynolds, begins to perform the hit song “Follow You,” McElhenney’s frustration boils over. He begins to have an increasingly wild fantasy that captures the core of his jealous reaction. Unable to handle his wife’s obvious adoration of Reynolds, McElhenney begins to fantasize that he is the lead singer. Rob McElhenney’s jealous fantasy of becoming the lead singer hijacks the entire “Follow You” video. His imagination is fully deluded: He strips off his clothes, proudly baring his chest to mirror Reynolds’ own muscular physique (a known gag from It’s Always Sunny). He imagines himself commanding the stage, trying to recapture his wife’s attention through rock-and-roll glory. Kaitlin Olson, meanwhile, fantasizes about being the band’s cool, mustachioed drummer, embodying the energy of the performer she truly admires. The story revolves around Kaitlin hiring a band just so she can see Dan, causing her husband Rob to become furious and start imagining himself performing on stage to regain his wife’s attention.
Enduring Loyalty and Humor
The hilarious contrast between Rob’s imagined rock god persona and his real-life, disgruntled expression in the audience instantly stole the spotlight. The entire studio watching the premiere of the video erupted in laughter at the perfect blend of celebrity self-awareness and narcissistic comedy. The video ends on a final comedic note: after the performance of “Follow You,” the couple attempts to sneak out before the band plays another song. When Reynolds points out they have ten more songs left, they still leave, joking they need to get out “before they play ‘Radioactive.'” The cameo was a huge hit, celebrating the fact that the couple’s famous, imperfect love endures, even when one half of the relationship prefers another man’s musical talent. The “Follow You” music video quickly became a viral favorite, praised for its self-aware humor and its perfect casting of the beloved, chaotic couple.
Would you like to find the official music video for “Follow You” or learn more about Rob McElhenney’s fitness transformation that is often joked about in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia? That’s a great question! I can certainly provide the link to the music video or detail Rob McElhenney’s famous body transformations, which is a hilarious ongoing joke in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
🏋️ Rob McElhenney’s Body Transformations for Mac
Rob McElhenney has famously undergone two dramatic and extreme body transformations for his character, Mac, in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, using the changes themselves as a source of comedy to mock the vanity often seen in long-running TV shows.
1. “Fat Mac” (Season 7, 2011)
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The Goal: McElhenney intentionally gained 60 pounds (about 27 kg) to make his narcissistic, hyper-vain character look obese. He did this to satirize how actors and characters on sitcoms often become unrealistically better-looking as a series progresses.
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The Method (The Unhealthy Way): After trying and failing to gain the weight healthily (by constantly eating chicken, rice, and vegetables), he resorted to extreme calorie loading. This included drinking a gallon of melted ice cream mixed with weight gainer every day and eating cottage cheese right before bed because it metabolizes slowly.
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The Joke: Mac’s excuse for his weight gain became the iconic line: “I’m cultivating mass.”
2. “Jacked Mac” (Season 13, 2018)
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The Goal: McElhenney dramatically dropped the weight and became incredibly muscular (often referred to as “Jacked Mac”) for the 13th season. This transformation was tied to his character’s major, emotional storyline—the revelation of his sexuality—with the irony that he became hyper-fit after coming out.
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The Method (The Sarcastic Truth): In a widely shared interview, McElhenney mockingly outlined the steps to achieve his physique, satirizing the unrealistic expectations celebrities set:
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Quit your 9-to-5 job.
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Stop drinking alcohol and don’t eat anything you like.
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Lift weights six days a week and run three miles a day.
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Hire the personal trainer from Magic Mike and a personal chef.
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Have a production studio pay for the whole thing.
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The Joke: He concluded that the body type was an “absolutely unrealistic body image to compare oneself to,” effectively highlighting the privilege and dedication required.
The bare-chested scene in the “Follow You” music video is a direct, hilarious nod to his “Jacked Mac” physique and his character’s constant delusion of being a muscular, attractive god.