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It’s Always Sunny

in Philadelphia
“What’s up bitches?”
A look at the greatest comedy
series you have never heard
of...

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addy’s Pub, Philadelphia P.A, a gang of
P 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 fun-
niest 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, kidnapping) 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. Happi-
ness is his life is determined by what others
think of his looks and body, with him de-
grading others in order to make himself feel
better “My nose was chiselled by the gods
themselves, Frank. My body was sculpted to
TELEVISION
the proportions of Michelangelo's David.
You, on the other
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 ac-
tress, who is constantly dreaming of a life be-
yond 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 coming 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 back-
fires 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. Charlie
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.
The final gang member was introduced to
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Frank, Charlie and Sweet
Dee share breakfast in
the pub
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, portrayed 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 sequence.
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 Molested’, ‘The Gang
Finds a Dumpster Baby’ and ‘Dennis Looks
like a registered sex offender’. 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
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Charlie writes Dayman,
with the help of glue
come, like Curb Your Enthusiasm, from the
inability to interact with the social 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 Always
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 pos-
sibly as to why the characters have been
such a success. All of a characters manner-
isms and lines come from the minds of the
actors, therefore they know the characters
better than anyone else could.
The series was developed and created by
Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glen
Howerton, who play Mac, Charlie and Den-
nis respectively. It was McElhenney how-
ever 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 struggling to make a name for him-
self. In 2004, he decided the only work to
guarantee work was to write his own mate-
rial. McElhenney’s manager and agent went
to the American television network FX, pre-
senting McElhenney’s idea and pilot, star-
TELEVISION
Dennis and Mac in
their party mansion
ring 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
seventh to broadcast in 2011.
It’s Always Sunny... has also been moved to
the stage, with the actors and cast perform-
ing a few small performances of the ‘Night-
man’ episode for a live audience. The
episode involved 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 impress the waitress.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one the
best comedies in the past ten years, and is
another 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
broadcaster notices the brilliance that is ‘It’s
Always Sunny in Philadelphia’.
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Top 5
‘Sweet Dee is dating a
retarded 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, lead-
ing Charlie and Dennis to start up the
Electric Dream Machine. Meanwhile,
Sweet Dee questions whether her new rap-
per boyfriend is actually, retarded.
"Mac & Charlie Die (Parts
1&2)"
Mac’s father is released from prison and
looking for revenge after Mac and Charlie
refused to smuggle drugs into prison. Fear-
ing 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 charac-
ters 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.