Very few television shows are anywhere near as brazen as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Some of the plotlines found throughout the series are seriously messed up and yet many consider it to be one of the best TV comedies of the 21st century. Were it not for its wonderful cast of characters though, that might not be the case.
Dee, Dennis, Mac and Charlie are all incredibly dysfunctional human beings with some rather severe emotional and psychological problems to contend with. Frank, on the other hand, is just a senile old man who’s looking for a chance to relive his wasted youth. Together, they’ve shared plenty of wild and inappropriate adventures; the best of which are some of the funniest to have ever appeared on television.
10 The Gang Tries Desperately To Win An Award (S09E03)
Upon realizing that Paddy’s is one of the only bars in Philly to have never won an award, the gang tries to emulate one of their rivals with hilarious and catastrophic results. Charlie has little interest in their endeavors, however, and instead opts to write a special song for the occasion. It’s certainly memorable, although perhaps not quite what the gang were hoping for.
Mac’s inability to understand even the simplest of concepts and Dee’s incessant vanity may have caused a lot of the problems, but none of the gang really come out of this episode smelling like roses. Dennis is his usual neurotic self while Frank’s perverse nature yet again shines an ugly light on proceedings. Unsurprisingly, they don’t win the award and end up spitting on the judges in order to make them leave.
9 Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare (S02E03)
Fed up with being pushed around by Frank, Dennis and Dee decide to quit their jobs and sign up for welfare. Unfortunately, they don’t quite meet the criteria and so come up with a scheme to help them game the system. Things don’t quite go to plan though and the siblings end up developing a rather nasty drug problem instead.
While the welfare slaves and spending spree subplots each provide some great moments, it’s Dennis and Dee’s escapades that really make this episode so memorable. Up until this point, their reckless actions had gone more or less unpunished and so to see them having to face some fairly life-changing consequences this time around felt a lot like karma finally catching up with them.
8 The Gang Gets Analyzed (S08E05)
One only needs to watch a few episodes of the show to realize that each of the gang has a lot of issues, although it’s nice to have them all laid out in just one place. From Frank’s first kiss to Mac’s issues with his weight, each of the vignette’s used to explore their many problems is punctuated with fantastic humor and some wonderfully bizarre revelations.
That the gang would go to such lengths to determine who has to wash the dishes says a lot about the group’s dynamic, as too does Dennis positioning himself as a co-therapist of sorts. It all works out in the end though, with everybody but Dee coming away from the therapy session with a smile on their faces.
7 The Gang Solves The Gas Crisis (S04E02)
The gang have come up with plenty of get rich quick schemes over the years, but none have been quite as memorable as their door to door gas sale venture. Armed only with Dee’s life savings and Frank’s creepy panel van, they purchase several trash cans worth of gas in the hopes of flipping it for a healthy profit. Predictably, perhaps, both their plan and the van go up in flames.
It’s an episode that’s packed with funny moments; from Mac, Dennis and Charlie attempting to seduce a bank clerk in order to get approved for a loan to Frank’s continued obsession with his dead wife’s lover Bruce. It all ends with Charlie living up to his wildcard status and Dee once again finding herself severely out of pocket.
6 Mac & Dennis Move To The Suburbs (S11E05)
After Dee gets fed up with Mac and Dennis staying at her place, the pair end up moving to a little house in the suburbs. What starts out as their dream home though quickly becomes a nightmare and pushes both men to the very brink of insanity. Unfortunately an ill-conceived bet with Frank means that leaving just isn’t an option and they’re forced to stick it out to avoid having to share a bed with Dee and an old man.
The tragic demise of their new dog Dennis is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this episode’s many messed up moments, but there’s plenty of humor sprinkled in there too which serves to break up the darkness just a little. As an added bonus, the old man from the bet goes on to become a semi-regular character in later episodes of the show.
5 Thunder Gun Express (S07E11)
With the president in town and the streets of Philly gridlocked, the gang risk missing out on the biggest action movie of the summer. Every avenue they take seems to lead to yet another roadblock and they’re forced to separate along the way. Amazingly, however, they all make it to the movie theater just in time. Well. Apart from Frank, that is; although despite being arrested for stealing a boat, the old man still has one last trick hidden up his sleeve.
Listening to Frank regaling a group of Chinese tourists with tales of the gang’s past adventures really does put some of the show’s ridiculous episodes into perspective; this one included. What’s more, seeing how quickly the gang are willing to abandon each other shows just how selfish and uncaring each of them really is.
4 A Very Sunny Christmas (S06E13)
While most Christmas episodes are packed full of holiday cheer and feelgood moments, A Very Sunny Christmas is instead one of the darkest and most depressing episodes of the show to date. The gang are all forced to reflect on how crummy their childhood Christmases were and they ultimately end up getting held up at gunpoint by one of Frank’s old business partners.
That Mac’s father is a criminal, Charlie’s mom is a whore and Frank is a terrible father isn’t really news to the audience at this point. Seeing the true extent of these things is really quite shocking though and goes a long way to explaining why the gang are all as messed up as they are. The episode’s highlights include Frank getting sewn naked into a sofa, Charlie attacking Santa and the gang celebrating Christmas Day by throwing rocks at trains.
3 The D.E.N.N.I.S. System (S05E10)
Dennis regularly displays sociopathic tendencies throughout the series, whether by taking advantage of ‘the implication’ attached to a situation or demanding that women sign contracts and other legally binding documents. The true scale of his issues doesn’t really come to light though until he unveils his foolproof pickup techniques to the rest of the gang.
The Dennis system is problematic on a number of levels and perfectly captures how misguided and manipulative Dennis is when it comes to hooking up with women. That both Mac and Frank each have their own systems for swooping in once Dennis has ‘separated entirely’ shows that they too are a little clueless when it comes to the opposite sex.
2 Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth (S06E09)
Having quit their jobs at Paddy’s in the previous episode, Dee and Charlie find employment at a local high school. While the former is filling in for her former drama teacher, Charlie instead uses his experience and enthusiasm to land a role in the school’s custodial department. Back at the bar, Dennis and Mac can’t agree on whether or not their homemade Lethal Weapon movie is appropriate for the modern era and decide that they need a few more opinions in order to make the final call.
Those hoping to watch this episode on Netflix or any of the other major streaming platforms are out of luck, as it’s one of several episodes of the show to have been pulled for its inclusion of blackface. Some may argue that it’s used satirically to highlight how problematic and offensive the practice is rather than as a means of ridiculing people of color. Given recent events though, it’s perhaps understandable why decision makers might have opted to err on the side of caution.
1 The Nightman Cometh (S04E13)
Charlie’s mother’s profession clearly had a big impact on the way that he turned out, but there’s a side to his childhood that manages to be darker still. It’s never implicitly stated what happened between Charlie and his uncle Jack, although if the lyrics to the Nightman songs are anything to go by, it definitely wasn’t pleasant.
These experiences are ultimately what inspired Charlie’s rock opera, which he uses to try and finally win over his soulmate. When all’s said and done, it’s a bizarre yet surprisingly moving performance with some hilarious moments and brilliant dialogue. Sadly, however, it’s not enough to impress the waitress and she storms off after declining his marriage proposal.
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