Rob McElhenney on His Birthday Prank War with Ryan Reynolds: ‘He Started It’
The actor said he feels the need to try and "top" his Wrexham co-chairman's elaborate pranks, which started in 2022
Rob McElhenney is blaming Ryan Reynolds for starting their birthday prank war.
The actor, 47, who co-owns Welsh soccer team Wrexham A.F.C. with Reynolds, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 17 and discussed the duo pranking one another on their birthdays and feeling the need to one up his friend.
“He started it,” McElhenney insisted. “A few years ago on April 14th, which is my birthday, I just went on to Instagram. Kaitlin screamed from — my wife Kaitlin — from upstairs, ‘Check your Instagram’ so I checked my Instagram and I see that Ryan had done this video of this dedication that he had made at the stadium in Wales.”
“The 'Robert Lucinda McElhenney, which is not my middle name, ‘memorial urinal’ and he put a plaque next to the urinal,” the star continued. “And now anybody can go there and do their business on my plaque, my face.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Related: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney Hilariously Recreate Classic Wham!'s ‘Last Christmas’ Album Cover
“And he said 'happy birthday’ the end of it so then it became, I had to try and top that so the following year I got him a blimp with a terrible picture of — I don't know if you've seen the movie Deadpool?,” McElhenney continued. “Ryan's very handsome in the movie until he gets burned very badly so I took that image of him being burned very badly and put it on a giant blimp and I sailed it across the town of Wrexham.”
He added, “We broke a bunch of Welsh Aviation laws.”
Kimmel, 56, then displayed a photograph of the prank Reynolds, 47, did for McElhenney this year, which consisted of a hand-drawn portrait of McElhenney laying down shirtless in the style of Kate Winslet's nude drawing as Rose in the 1997 movie Titanic. The host also revealed that Reynolds had set up a website and started selling merchandise with the image on it.
Related: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney Have Lost $12 Million from Wrexham AFC: ‘I’m Gonna Go Throw Up’
“Once again I heard my wife scream, ‘Rob check out your Instagram’ so I was like I know it's Ryan, king of Instagram, so I go to it and there's a whole video about how April 14 which is my birthday is also the day that the Titanic sank and also the day that President Abraham Lincoln was shot. So it's a real great day in history,” McElhenney continued.
The It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star added, “Anyway, Ryan made this video about how they made an expedition down to the Titanic and they were looking for Wrexham lager because Wrexham lager, which is a beer that is actually distilled in Wrexham, was on the Titanic.”
“So he went down to go look for Wrexham Lager and what he found was a sketch pad and the sketch pad was not Rose from the movie Titanic but this hairy gentleman right here,” McElhenney explained as he referenced the hilarious sketch of himself.
Sharing a video of his prank on Instagram on April 13, Reynolds wrote, "It felt like Rob’s birthday was today but apparently it’s tomorrow? I’m posting because it’s now the 14th in Wrexham and I’ll bet people are still up! Happy Birthday, @robmcelhenney, and LFG, @wrexham_afc!!! Thanks to @vistaprint & @TyPawb."
"Didn’t miss a single chest hair. Amazing. 😂," wrote McElhenney in the comments section.
In the video, Reynolds also revealed that the drawing of McElhenney is set to hang in the Tŷ Pawb Gallery in Wrexham — an art museum in the Welsh city — among actual works of art.
The duo began pranking one another in 2022, with Reynolds kicking things off on McElhenney's 45th birthday.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.