When interviewing beloved actor Danny DeVito, prepare for a fun chat—and charming tech issues.

Back in 2019, a conversation I had with DeVito on the set of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was interrupted multiple times by Siri, with the now 77-year-old adorably struggling to get his phone to shut up.

Nearly three years later, DeVito and I talked over Zoom—and were interrupted once by a call coming through his computer—about his raunchy new animated series, Little Demon. The show is a true family affair: DeVito and his children Jake and Lucy are executive producers, while father and daughter portray the same relationship onscreen (albeit with a very different dynamic than the one they have in real life). Lucy voices Chrissy, a 13-year-old girl being raised by her single mother, Laura (Aubrey Plaza). When Chrissy suddenly discovers that she is the Antichrist, it prompts the arrival of her dear dad: Satan, as voiced by DeVito.

Ahead of Little Demon’s Thursday launch on FXX, the DeVito patriarch—despite a later-than-usual night—is as lively as ever when discussing his star turns on Little Demon and Always Sunny, being a “Bernie bro,” and feeling the need to do one more specific type of film.

Vanity Fair: Danny, how are you?

Danny DeVito: We’re good. I mean, I did oversleep this morning. I had one of those nights where I started some movie really late. Did you ever see Under the Skin?

I have. Scarlett Johansson is great in that one.

I watched the whole thing, and I looked up at the clock and I said, “Ahh, it’s two o’clock in the morning!” But it was very good, engaging. I had seen it years ago, and it’s one of those things where you revisit it and you’re a different person, and so it all sinks in a different way. I love that about movies. As many times you watch them over and over again, you always get to see other nuances and it touches you in another area.

Is that a normal routine for you, winding down at night with a movie?

I’m sorry, wait one second. I’m a little technically impaired, so I just recorded everything I said to you and was about to send it to a friend.

No problem, not the first time we’ve dealt with that!

[Laughs] But yes, I do. My time is spent working on [production company] Jersey projects all day, and now, big time, Little Demon. And then I do a little bit of political claptrap because I’m a Bernie bro, and I yearn for some justice in the world—and don’t seem to get to first base in that area. But then I’ll throw a really cool movie on. Like, I watched Butch and Sundance. Just randomly I’ll go through the whole list of things.

Do you ever throw on any of your own films?

Every once in a while, somebody will be watching one of the movies and then I’ll sit in. But over the years I’ve watched all the movies, several times: [Throw] Momma [From the Train], War of the Roses, Hoffa. Death to Smoochy I’ve watched the most. Matilda, with the kids, I watched a million times. Oh, I was working with Barry Levinson recently, we did a movie called The Survivor. And when we were getting ready to do it, I just threw Tin Men on. That was a wonderful experience. And one of the big things I remember was that I was on a major diet when I made that movie because I had to get into a bathtub. [Laughs] You remember that? I had to get the waist down a little.

Am I catching you in the middle of any productions or just full Little Demon push?

Right now, no. We’re in the middle of preparing our Little Demon shows. I love working with the demons. Lucy, Jake, and I call the creators, Kieran [Valla], Darcy [Fowler], and Seth [Kirschner], the demons. And they’re young and great.

Outside of the family aspect, what made you want to play the devil?

Well, Lucy and Jake called me. We’d been looking for stuff to do, and she had these friends from the theater in New York who had an idea for a show, and they pitched it to me. And it turns out that Lucy was going to play the Antichrist, and they said, “You are a shoe-in as the devil.” [Laughs] And I said, “Yeah, man!”

By the way, playing the devil is a really great thing, because the idea is that the devil has his problems in his realms. What’s-his-name kicked him out of heaven, and there are so many intricate monster, beast challengers. He’s got friends that make Tony Soprano look like a choir boy. And so this guy has got a lot of hurdles. I’m a little rough around the edges, a little crude, and I’ve got a lot of learning to do, but I’ve got a business to run. And I need my daughter. I only get her every other weekend, but I’m not a deadbeat dad—I’m doing my best!

We’ve already seen so many versions of the devil in pop culture. How did you go about differentiating your guy?

I wanted to make it like he’s good, he’s nice, likable. I mean, he’s extreme, runs the show, but takes care of his people. So there’s a little mwah-ha-ha in it. But people have always blown that up out of proportion when it comes to the devil. Look at yourself! You want to see a devil? Look in the mirror, baby! [Laughs] Well, let’s not get too Lee Strasberg here, but why not?

You’ve had so many memorable voice credits: Space Jam, Hercules, Look Who’s Talking. Do you think there’s something specific about your voice that resonates with people?

And I did The Lorax! That was so much fun. Philoctetes in Disney’s Hercules, that was the best, I got to sing a song. It’s really interesting. I’ve always had this thing about my voice where, if you were in the back room getting dressed to go out and a bunch of friends walked in and said, “Yo, I’m here,” I’m the one they go, “Hey, Danny!” Even if they haven’t seen me, they know the voice.

And a lot of it’s got to do with the accent. I have a Brooklyn accent because my father is from Brooklyn, but I also have a Jersey accent because I was born in New Jersey. And then when you go do It’s Always Sunny, you talk a little bit more like the Philadelphia people, which is kind of like the Baltimore people. I just did a movie, The Poolman, with Chris Pine—he’s directing and starring in it. I was doing some monologue, and he says, “You’re starting to sound British.” I was like, “What the fuck you want from me? [British accent] It’s not British. [Baltimore accent] It’s from Baltimore, I’m from down the shore. [Jersey accent] I’m from New Jersey!” Anyway, it was funny.

Speaking of A-list actors, you scored your Twins and Junior partner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, for a guest spot on the show. Was he an easy get, and were you able to be there when he recorded?

[Schwarzenegger voice] Of course he wants to do a voice on the show, he’s my buddy. We go to a realm where I am trying to entertain, and he’s got a great announcer bit. He’s really a lot of fun. And the same thing happened with Mel Brooks. He’s executive-producing a show called History of the World, Part II, and I’m playing Czar Nicholas. And I said, “Look, in the interest of, I’ll scratch your back, you scratch my back, how about playing a millipede in the Little Demon?” [Laughs] We got to do that on Zoom, and he had the headset on, he was in his T-shirt, which he loves to wear.

Also, Dave Bautista! I’d been friends with Dave for a while. I happened to be in Atlanta when I was doing Haunted Mansion, and he was there shooting, and so I took up one of his Saturday mornings. He came in and we got to hang out. He plays one of my best buddies, Baka, and we go to a bachelor party together—bad news.

Little Demon was obviously a no-brainer for you. But generally, what are you looking for in projects at this point?

You’re right, Little Demon was a no-brainer to pick. But it’s an intricate thing. We’ve been working on this for a few years. What really rings my bell is I’m now looking for characters to play. Like, for Barry, I went to Budapest to do a little part in his Survivor movie, and I happened to be working in London, so it was an easy thing. The Poolman was a fun character; you get to work with Annette Bening and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Chris is really great, and it was a good part. So the part is big. Disney’s different. Haunted Mansion, it was just a bunch of crazy people. Justin Simien, I loved Bad Hair and Dear White People, and you got to work with Tiffany Haddish—she is, like, off the charts, just so great. LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, she and I have done a couple of movies together. So it’s fun to be with people that are fun-loving.

There’s no better transition to It’s Always Sunny than that. Having already been renewed for three more seasons, do you know yet when you’re set to start filming again?

They were threatening. The boys are doing so many things; they’ve got other shows, they’ve got podcasts. But I think January we’re supposed to start again. That would be 16 [seasons]. I mean, sweet 16, you gotta do it, right? They do all the work. They write it, they edit it, they do everything. And I go and hang out.

Could you have imagined when you signed on to the second season that here you’d be 15 years later, still on this show?

Well, it’s really interesting. [FX chairman] John Landgraf sent me the eight episodes that they did, and right away I thought it was great. When they decided to add a character, I wanted it to be an integral part, so they made me their father, basically the guy with all the money. Everybody around me was saying, “What are you doing? This is like doing a comic strip.” But I just had a feeling. First of all, I was going to have a lot of fun, which it has been—a blast. I was going to do some silly, crazy things, which I have. And I’m sure that next year, if all goes well, we’ll do some sillier, crazier things. I did [Rudy] Giuliani’s hair last year. [Laughs] I was responsible for the drip. So you get to do stuff like that, and fall out of windows, lose your mind, take acid, come out of couches naked. Life is a wonderful thing.

I know you will do almost anything for a laugh, but would you draw the line anywhere?

I did. At one point I drew the line. There’s a famous show that they wrote, but it was a joke. I started reading it and it was horrible. Every turn, Frank was getting raped in prison. What the fuck? Come on! It was a whole script they wrote with, going back to the bar and doing their antics, coming to the jail, I get raped by white supremacists. Coming back to the bar, I’m raped by the Puerto Ricans. Then, at the end, the cops say, “You’re free to go,” and I said, “Ah, great.” And they go, “You’re going to leave without saying goodbye, are you?” And they all rape me. I seriously had my lawyer on speed dial. And the last line of the thing, a cop leans into my ear and goes, “April Fools’, asshole.” I realized it was April 1 that I was reading it.

Having already done so much in your career, what’s left on the bucket list? Is there anything you haven’t gotten to do?

Lucy and I are going to Vermont in a week to do a workshop of a play we’ve been working on that was written as a three-hander for Lucy and I and another actor. We’re going to do that on Broadway or Off-Broadway, depending on how we situate it, and that’s going to be in a year. So it’s stuff like that. I’m really lucky because I’ve been doing it for a long time, but you never know when that one part is going to come. You have to just keep open to all the good things. Like, look how beautiful it is today! The sun’s shining, it’s a great day, talking to you, got an article going to be in…where’s this going to be again?

Vanity Fair.

No shit! So there you go.

I do think we need to find you a rom-com.

You know what I want to do? You just said it: I want to do a Bollywood movie. [Starts dancing] Oh baby, now we’re talking!