‘Always Sunny’ star Charlie Day signs bottles of his whiskey at Sacramento area’s new Costco
Katryna Remy waited patiently in line Thursday afternoon at the new Costco store in Loomis, her cart filled with a blanket, snacks, water and two 750-milliliter bottles of Four Walls Irish Whiskey.
“I haven’t tried the whiskey yet,” said Remy, of Citrus Heights. “I’m sure it’s good.”
She was the first in line, waiting for more than two hours to meet Charlie Day, one of the stars of the long-running FX sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” He’s also one of the celebrities behind the Four Walls whiskey brand.
“It’s just a comfort show for me. I just rewatch it all the time,” Remy said of the outlandish TV series that is still running after 16 seasons.
She brought some headphones along while she waited in line, but she never used them. Instead, she passed the time meeting other fans of the show as they waited to have their bottles of whiskey signed by the Hollywood star.
“We’ve made a lot of friends; just a really good memory,” Remy said. “I’ve been doing a lot of people-watching.”
She was talking about the crowded store filled with shoppers Thursday as Costco celebrated its grand opening at the Loomis location. Costco openings around the region have become a community celebration for residents as well as elected officials.
A few dozen fans greeted Day with applause and cheers as he approached the table with posters of the whiskey brand and its creators.
Day, Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton, stars and co-creators of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” which is set in a bar, initially released a premium, collector’s edition bottle of Four Walls whiskey to benefit the bartending community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The creators of the whiskey brand have since released an everyday-drinking version of Four Walls.
“We wanted to create a brand celebrating the four walls that have held our favorite memories in and kept our troubles out — the bar,” Howerton said about their whiskey on the brand’s website.
Day, also known for movie roles including “Horrible Bosses,” “Pacific Rim” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” warmly greeted fans in line for his whiskey and posed for photos with them.
Noah Benjamins of Rocklin bought five bottles of the everyday-drinking version, but he also brought along his collector’s edition bottle of the whiskey for Day to sign. He had been waiting in line since about 11 a.m. for the 2 p.m. bottle-signing event with Day.
“He’s awesome. He’s great,” Benjamins said with a huge grin while displaying his signed collector’s edition bottle. “When I got here, I was shocked that I would be the 10th or 12th person in line. A lot of people were coming up asking, ‘What are you waiting in line for?’”
Costco’s newest location in the Sacramento region, opened about 7:30 a.m. Thursday in the nearly 160,000-square-foot store at 4101 Sierra College Blvd. While the store was less busy by the afternoon, Day’s appearance resulted in a minor traffic jam of shopping carts in front of his table as he took photos with fans.
Miracle Rodriguez of Citrus Heights was one of Costco shoppers who lined up outside the store overnight, sleeping in sleeping bags just to be among the first who entered Thursday morning. After she did her shopping in the morning, she left Costco and returned a short time later meet Day.
She caught onto “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” during its eighth season and has been a devoted fan ever since. Rodriguez is enamored by Day’s character on the show, Charlie Kelly, a slow-witted, somewhat naive, high-energy hard worker among a gang of buffoons running a dive bar in Philadelphia. The series, available for streaming on Hulu, also stars Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito.
“He’s my favorite. His character is like a little kid,” Rodriguez said of Day’s character. “It’s been the time of my life. Memories forever.”
