It’s Always Sunny

in Philadelphia
“What’s up bitches?”
A look at the greatest comedy
series you have never heard
of...

Paddy’s Pub, Philadelphia P.A, a gang of
five social misfits waste away their days by
getting into various situations for our
amusement. This is the basic premise of
American show It’s Always Sunny in
Philadelphia. It’s also a simple premise that
has provided the world with one of the
funniest TV shows in recent memory.
The tragedy for us in the UK, is that no
channel has had the guts to give the show
a series of showings. Digital channel Virgin
1 showed a few episodes late at night, but
then suddenly axed the show. While the
shows themes (abortion, racism, kidnap-
ping) may be a bit too dark for our
screens, surely the likes of More4 could
find a nice little slot to fit Philly in.
So why is the show so good? Firstly, each
main or recurring character in ‘It’s Always
Sunny…’ is, quite simply, brilliant. The
gang consists of five members. Dennis, one
of the owners of Paddy’s Pub, is one of the
vainest characters to ever grace television.
Happiness is his life is determined by what
others think of his looks and body, with
him degrading others in order to make
himself feel better “My nose was chiselled
by the gods themselves, Frank. My body
was sculpted to the proportions of
Michelangelo's David. You, on the other
‘Dennis looks like a
registered sex
offender’
hand, well; you're a pit of despair. Frank,
you disgust me. You disgust everyone”.
Next up is Dennis’ sister, Deandra, or as
the gang calls her, Sweet Dee. Dee is a
failed actress, who is constantly dreaming
of a life beyond the walls of the pub,
where she is the main (and only) barmaid.
She sees herself as above the other gang
members, but is often brought back down
to earth with a bump, with the realisation
that actually, she isn’t.
Mac, is the muscle of the gang, or so he
tells them nearly every episode. He is co-
owners of Paddy’s Pub, and if often com-
ing up with plans or schemes to drive up
the business of the pub, none of them so
far successful. He portrays a ‘bad ass’
image, but when push comes to shove,
often his confidence backfires and he is
forced to back down from a situation.
Charlie is the third co-owner of Paddy’s
Pub, and a childhood friend of Mac. Char-
lie struggles often with reading and writing,
drinks too much alcohol, sniffs glue, and
often has mini nervous breakdowns causing
him to have an angry outburst.
Frank, Charlie and Sweet
Dee share breakfast in
the pub
The final gang member was introduced to
the show in Season 2. Frank Reynolds is
the legal father to Dennis and Dee, and
possibly the biological father to Charlie,
who he lives with in the show. Frank, por-
trayed by the excellent Danny De Vito,
often exploits the gang for his own needs.
Danny De Vito joined the show after his
children began watching it. The show
needed a big name to take it to the next
level, and De Vito was the person to do it.
Each episode of It’s Always Sunny in
Philadelphia begins with a pre title se-
quence. This sequence introduces us to the
story of the episode, and often features
some of the funniest moments of the show.
Episodes are also accompanied by a title,
which sum up that episodes story in one
sentence, some favourite episode titles are
‘The Gang Gets Racist’, ‘Charlie Got Mo-
lested’, ‘The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby’
and ‘Dennis Looks like a registered sex of-
fender’. In truth, every episode title could
have been listed, they are that good.
It’s Always Sunny in Philly uses a similar
style of comedy to other American TV
show’s such as Curb Your Enthusiasm in
the way that an episodes situation and
story it set up. The majority of the gangs
mishaps come, like Curb Your Enthusiasm,
from the inability to interact with the so-

Charlie writes Dayman,
with the help of glue
cial world around them. Whether it be
through saying the wrong thing, accidental
kidnapping or through hunting a man on the
streets. The major difference between ‘It’s Al-
ways Sunny...’ and shows like Curb, however,
is that the subject matter is much darker. The
line ‘Seinfeild on crack’ follows the show
around for good reason.
The show is written by its stars, a reason possi-
bly as to why the characters have been such a
success. All of a characters mannerisms and
lines come from the minds of the actors,
therefore they know the characters better
than anyone else could.
“The line ‘Seinfeild on
crack’ follows the show
around for good reason.”
The series was developed and created by Rob
McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glen Hower-
ton, who play Mac, Charlie and Dennis re-
spectively. It was McElhenney however who
came up with the original idea for the show.
Picking up bit parts and small roles in various
TV shows, such as Law & Order, he was strug-
gling to make a name for himself. In 2004, he
decided the only work to guarantee work was
to write his own material. McElhenney’s man-
Dennis and Mac in
their party mansion
ager and agent went to the American televi-
sion network FX, presenting McElhenney’s
idea and pilot, starring Howerton and Day,
for a new sitcom. FX took the idea, and It’s
Always Sunny in Philadelphia was born.
6 years later, and the show is currently airing
its sixth season, with FX commissioning a sev-
enth to broadcast in 2011.
It’s Always Sunny... has also been moved to
the stage, with the actors and cast performing
a few small performances of the ‘Nightman’
episode for a live audience. The episode in-
volved the gang performing a play written by
Charlie, following the story of the Daymans’
fight against evil. Of course, the real reason
for the play is the fact Charlie is trying to im-
press the waitress.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one the
best comedies in the past ten years, and is an-
other example of America now surpassing
Britain in comedy writing. It is rare in British
television to find the subjects dealt with in
Sunny transformed into comedy material, and
it is even rarer for a mainstream channel to
pick up.
Due to the success of the show, the writers
have been hired to write a new series for FX.
As the show goes from strength to strength, it
is only a matter of time before a UK broad-
caster notices the brilliance that is ‘It’s Always
Sunny in Philadelphia’.
Top 5
‘Sweet Dee is dating a re-
tarded person’
This episodes see’s the birth of Dayman.
Charlie, Frank, Dennis and Mac start up
a band, leading to disagreements over
the type of music they should be playing,
leading Charlie and Dennis to start up
the Electric Dream Machine. Meanwhile,
Sweet Dee questions whether her new
rapper boyfriend is actually, retarded.
"Mac & Charlie Die (Parts
1&2)"
Mac’s father is released from prison and
looking for revenge after Mac and Char-
lie refused to smuggle drugs into prison.
Fearing for their lives, they take Sweet
Dees’ car and fake their own deaths.
Frank and Dennis find a glory hole in the
toilets of the pub, and seek to use it to
their own advantage.
"The Gang Dances Their
Asses Off"
Charlie causes big problems when he
puts the pub up as first prize in a local
radio dance competition. This forces the
gang to take part in the competition,
where the last dancer standing wins.
However, the other competitors are
made up of characters they have made
enemies of so far this series.
"Charlie Wants an Abortion"
Only the second episode ever of Sunny,
but one of the best. Mac signs up to an
abortion protest rally in an attempt to
impress a girl he has met. Of course,
this doesn’t go as planned, but it does
give Mac the opportunity to raise the
question, what if Jesus was aborted?
Charlie is also told that he the father of a
child, leading to him trying to get to
know his new son, who is now a
teenager.
"Charlie Gets Crippled”
Charlie Gets Crippled see’s the introduc-
tion of Frank into the series. After being
run over, Charlie is stuck in a wheelchair.
Noticing that is attracts the attention of
women, Charlie and Frank hit the strip
bars.