It is difficult to believe that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been running strong since August 4th, 2005, when we first met the gang of derelict friends and they took over Paddy’s Pub. This goofy show has been around long enough to outlive most other series and yet seems to never run out of ridiculous events and trouble to get in. How many times has Charlie’s antics brought you to tear-streaking laughter?
Let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane and recap what made each season unforgettable.
Season 1
FX
Like most beginnings, the beginning of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia came crashing in like a magical donkey on a bicycle. The first season was filled with pro-life protests, Charlie’s (Charlie Day) attempts to prove he isn’t racist, guns in the hands of idiots, the building of a nonexistent friendship with a dead guy to win his daughter over, and the gang going out of their way to make the underage drinkers more comfortable in Paddy’s Pub.
It was then that we knew we’d found a winner, and we couldn’t wait for more.
Season 2
FX
Season 2 took off with Charlie in a wheelchair, Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Dee (Kaitlin Olson) dealing with their father (who puts the “strange” in “estranged”) and then mother—then the gang threw in some Jihad action last minute to save the bar from a greedy buyer.
A little down the beaten Irish path, we watch the hilarity unravel as Dennis and Dee go out of their way to become welfare recipients, leaving Mac (Rob McElhenney) and Charlie on the side of the road regarding running Paddy’s Pub. If you need more than that to captivate you, the next bit won’t give you a chance to escape.
A little further into the season, Mac hooks up with Dennis and Dee’s mom when she tries to get back at Frank (Danny Devito); meanwhile, Dennis and Dee try their hand at performance-enhancing exercise drugs, freak out in a spin class, and when that runs out of fun, they are forced to give community service a shot after dabbling in arson. Those two are what success looks like when it runs in the family.
It only goes downhill from there when a leaky pipe gives way to a religious miracle when the Virgin Mary appears as a stain. Finally, the gang dabbles a bit in politics to defraud money from politicians, and by that time in history, we, the viewers, are out of breath from laughing at all the nonstop shenanigans.
Season 3
FX
If Season 2 still didn’t reel you in and drop you in a bucket, Season 3 will. It starts with Mac and Dee choosing to raise a baby they found in a dumpster while Dennis humiliates himself in his attempt to be an environmentalist. Frank then becomes overjoyed at the passing of his ex-wife, Barbara, while Dennis and Dee freak out over Barbara’s will.
Later, the super sketchy McPoyle brothers and sister hold the crew hostage in the bar, where things get super weird. Dee makes it a mission to take from the least popular girl in school, Fatty Magoo, when she realizes she has become a famous designer. It obviously doesn’t pan out when the crew decides to sell Paddy’s Pub after receiving a very good offer. Dee and Dennis close in on the club scene; once they tire of it, Dee starts dating a local rapper while the guys form a band. You can’t make this kind of awesomeness up.
The crew looks rough when they believe Mac is a serial killer, and Dennis is mistaken for something lower than his current state; the gang becomes in debt to the mob, and Mac and Dee become vigilantes while Frank and Dennis decide to become police officers. Charlie saves the day, of course.
Related: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Funniest Episodes, Ranked
Season 4
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Dee and Charlie run into big problems after taking a bite of Frank’s sandwich made from human meat, the gang tries their luck at door-to-door gasoline sales during the gas crisis, and Charlie tries to get Mac to beat up the waitress’s new boyfriend.
Further down the spiral that is Paddy’s Pub, Frank and Charlie fight over who pooped the bed while the gang kidnaps a reporter who claimed that Paddy’s Pub is the worst bar in Philadelphia. Dee has a heart attack then she and Dennis try to get healthy but end up with a drug problem.
Episode 10 is a special kind of debauchery when Charlie and Mac join the workforce, and Charlie goes crazy. The episode sees the birth of Pepe Silvia, a worker who never receives their mail because Charlie is sure they are not real, convinced he has stumbled upon a considerable controversy. This is definitely one of the best episodes It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has ever created.
Another genuinely classic episode is Episode 13, where the gang helps Charlie plan a music event where he will sing about Nightman and Dayman and freak the attendees out. Charlie’s song is impressive, to say the least. It has something for everyone in those chaotic lyrics.
Season 5
FX
The fifth season starts with sweet Dee deciding to be a surrogate for a wealthy couple, then the gang decides to take a road trip to see the Grand Canyon and is discouraged when Charlie refuses to leave the state. They are terrified and happy to see Charlie pop out of the trunk once they arrive at the canyon. How does he even survive such escapades?
Season 6
FX
Hilarious and hypocritical enough, the season begins with Mac’s desire to protect the sanctity of marriage by banning gay marriage. The crew does not agree with him as usual. Oh, and Dennis gets married and then divorces quickly. Dee becomes a happy homewrecker for a hot minute, and Charlie hunts rats in the basement. Next is the episode where the gang decides to get a boat and fix it up in order to party with the drunk ladies and possibly kidnap them. This, of course, goes poorly.
Dennis and Mac go shopping for party favors, which becomes a dark endeavor once Mac sees the tools Dennis has collected. Charlie loses the boat keys and spends a lot of time diving for treasure since he knows his shrimp boat is a lost dream. The boat catches on fire and sinks.
The episode is filled with implications. Also, in Season 6, we have the time Charlie and Mac get stuck in an empty pool after not being allowed in a private pool, and when Mac’s mother moves in with Charlie’s mom when her house burns down. The gang also tries to figure out who got Dee pregnant and what to do about Charlie’s obsession with the rats.
Season 7
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
The ridiculous friends go to the Jersey Shore to relive the show. Charlie hallucinates a great night with the waitress while Dennis and Dee have a terrible time. Frank finds himself in the pageantry business, to everyone’s surprise, and he does what he can to prove he isn’t a predator.
Mac has gained 50 pounds, and the gang makes fun of him. Finally, he confesses and tells the priest about his friends causing him to get fat.
The gang goes to their high school reunion, where they try to play off that they are all something they aren’t, and everything gets crazy. Of course, everyone still makes fun of them, especially Sweet Dee and her scoliosis brace. But they stick together and beat the bullies with a wicked dance routine.
Season 8
FX
The hilarious group gets too creative with Dee and Dennis’s grandfather’s Nazi paraphernalia, and the siblings try to figure out how to pull the plug on Grandpa. But, first, they try to fight the trash union when Frank comes up with a plan to take over Philadelphia’s trash collection to get rich.
Later, Charlie’s mom is diagnosed with lung cancer, and the gang tries to raise money by having a Beef, Beer, and Jesus fundraiser at Paddy’s. But unfortunately, the gang becomes obsessed with computer games, causing things to get reckless.
Later, Frank hits Dennis’s car while Dennis is inside eating cereal, and the gang holds court in Paddy’s Pub for the two. Dee and Charlie naturally play the part of the lawyers.
Charlie’s feelings get hurt when he saves the waitress’s bike from being stolen, only for her to yell at him to stay out of her life for good. Dee’s car gets rear-ended while driving herself and Charlie away from stalking the waitress. The man who hits Dee’s car and the man’s sister happens to be from one of the wealthiest families in Philadelphia. Dee and Charlie find love in the upper class for a little while.
Season 9
FX
Dee becomes a stand-up comedian after deciding to make something of the horrible things the gang has said about her all these years. Frank chooses to speak about gun rights on television while the gang debates and tries to find common ground for everyone on the issue.
Mac has “Mac Day,” and Country Mac comes to visit. Of course, everyone realizes that Mac is ruining their lives.
The Flowers for Charlie episode is another classic as the gang tries to figure out how to do Charlie’s job at the bar. Charlie is illiterate, which makes this even funnier.
In the Thanksgiving episode, the gang makes amends with their enemies, but everything goes wrong.
Season 10
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
The gang attempts to beat Wade Boggs’s record-breaking beer drinking by drinking more than 70 beers on a cross-country flight. They keep tally by marking the number of beers they’ve had on their shirts. This is absolutely a hilarious episode. Later on, Charlie learns that the health inspector is coming to the bar, he tries to get it under control without the gang’s help. Lots of chickens are in this episode.
This season shows Mac and the others trying to learn who they really are, but of course, everything goes poorly, and they end up back together again. But during this venture, Mac meets Dusty, and they hit it off. The gang is confused because they think Mac is gay. Sadly, it turns out that Mac wasn’t hooking up with Dusty but paying her in PCP to pretend like that was happening.
The most magical part of the season is when Frank brings a rum ham into the bar. Rum ham is iconic for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Don’t forget; this is also the season where Frank tries to get anyone to eat a feces sandwich. Of course, he is delighted by the joke.
Season 11
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Everything is sideways in Season 11 when Frank falls out of a window and forgets everything. The crew tries to change the past even though they are in the present. Dee and Dennis try to convince Frank to give his money to their made-up charity. Eventually, they succeed, and Frank writes them an $8 million check, but when they go to the bank, nothing can be done because the check has expired since Frank wrote 2006 for the date.
Frank has strange flashbacks when he sees things like his super gross toe knife and finally remembers everything after eating some legendary rum ham. Dee tries to make money off of a memoir about Dennis’s fantasies, and Charlie is said to be a gifted artist by Frank.
The gang goes on a cruise, and when things get ugly at sea, they are forced to make amends with each other.
Season 12
Hulu
Season 12 started with racial tension and an electric blanket malfunctioning. Suddenly the crew went from basic white people to shape-shifting into a black family. Who writes this stuff? It didn’t exactly improve from that moment, either. During this chaotic season, we see Dennis pushed to the limits when a past hookup during a layover in an airport tells Dennis he is a father. Choices must be made, and we all know what he will choose.
Dee takes a nasty hit to her self-esteem when a male stripper tells her that she is his version of rock bottom, and our favorite inappropriate princess takes matters into her own hands as we all knew she would. Charlie is always a bit off; every season, he gets weirder and more hilarious. The show would be lost without Charlie. Frank tries to hook up with Mac’s mom after the gang decides to plant cameras in their home to see what Charlie and Mac’s moms are doing. It’s hysterical. Related: Ryan Reynolds wants to Cameo in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Mac’s Boyfriend
Season 13
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Another stellar season with these clowns was off to a great start with Dee’s hilarious escape room planned in Mac and Dennis’ shared apartment and the Dennis look-a-like sex doll Mac brings into the bar, which warrants interesting conversation and speculation about Mac. We are again back for a second installment of the Wade Boggs drinking competition at 30,000 feet in the air, only this time, the plane is filled with ladies on their way to a march. Also, Frank is turned down when purchasing a new vehicle because his license expired in the 1980s.
Oh, and Mac and Charlie get in touch with their biker sides—bicycle, that is.
Season 14
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
This is another giggle-fest of a season, and it all starts with Mac helping Dennis and Charlie scheme. Dennis, of course, is trying to fool ladies into renting his bedroom, while Charlie and Frank want to attract coed students that are going through a sexual experimentation phase. Clearly, both are terrible and creepy ideas.
Later, these crazy kids see Thunder Gun 4 and decide to bring America’s values back on their terms. By that, they mean bringing back eroticism in the Thunder Gun movies. Then comes the Dee Day episode, where Dee makes a lot of weird demands and even gets the gang to dress up and act out her favorite show. One of the most fantastic episodes is when the gang takes a trip to the zoo, and to locate each other, they text. May we remind you, Charlie is illiterate, which makes this pure gold to watch.
Season 15
FX
This is by far the season with the most real raw emotion but also the most flaws. The gang takes a trip to Ireland, which sounds like a blast, especially to Mac with his shamrock tattoo. He cannot wait to prove how Irish he is to the gang. Mac’s mom tells him that he is Dutch (which is incorrect, but the gang puts her up to it) which breaks his heart and drives him to attempt to become a priest. He realizes he’s gay and tells everyone, though they already know it.
Charlie is dedicated to finding his long-time pen pal, who turns out to be his birth father. They are completely smitten with each other, and Charlie decides to stay in Ireland with him. Sadly, Charlie’s father catches COVID—probably from the gang, since Dennis has it—and then dies. Frank is heartbroken because Charlie no longer sees him as his father and seems not to think he’s funny anymore. They all come together in the end and help Charlie take his Dad to his final resting place; the side of a cliff. Charlie and Frank reunite, and they all go home.
Cheers to the Future
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Season 16 is currently filming, and we can’t wait to see what the gang has in store for us next. Though no release date has been given, we know the gang gets back into their authentic characters for Season 16. Charlie is back wearing his American flag bandana and killing rats, and the world is right where it needs to be again.
So, with only this and two more seasons left, what will become of the gang as they wrap it up? Who’s betting they’ll leave us with some of the craziest It’s Always Sunny episodes yet?
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