In honor of his BFF and business partner Rob McElhenney‘s birthday, Ryan recorded an entire song and music video — all explaining how to pronounce Rob’s complicated last name.
Over the course of the two-minute track, Ryan pokes fun at others who have mispronounced Rob’s name…and then sets the record straight.
“Despite the accolades, despite the load of fame, one thing they do not know is how to say his name,” Ryan sang. “Pronouncing all those N’s and E’s and H’s can perplex ’em, so here’s a little birthday gift from all your mates in Wrexham.”
Then a chant explains it all — “First, it’s Mack-le like a tackle when we take ’em to the ground. Then Henney, like the penny that he’s in for with the pound.”
The track was penned in collaboration with Academy Award–winning songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who Ryan called “beautiful, heartbreaking, and utterly charitable geniuses.”
While he may be speechless now, it looks like the ball is in Rob’s court to one-up Ryan when his birthday rolls around this August!