Very few television shows are anywhere near as brazen asIt’s Always Sunny inPhiladelphia. Some of the plot lines found throughout the series are seriously messed up and yet many consider it to beone 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.
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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.
Updated July 14, 2025, by Tom Bowen:Many shows struggle to remain relevant for more than just a few seasons, yet It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has never really faltered. Its fifteenth season recently finished airing on FX and, rather than getting worse, many fans actually consider it to have beenone of the best seasons of the show in years. Given its incredible longevity, it’s unsurprising that the network’s executives have already renewed the show for at least another three seasons. With a lengthy wait now expected until season 16 begins airing though, fans of the show will have to settle for re-watchingthe best Always Sunny episodesin order to get their fill of the gang.
22The Gang Goes on Family Fight (S10E08)
The eighth episode of season ten sees the gang appear on a quiz-style television show called Family Fight; a clear play on the long-running US showFamily Feudand its UK counterpart,Family Fortunes. Sadly, however, their obsession with how they’re going to come across to the nation has a huge impact on their performance, as too do some of their strange and downright ridiculous answers.
As the episode unfolds though, it becomes clear that Charlie was one of the 100 people surveyed for the episode, which allows the Reynolds family to steal their way to the final. When Franks somehow scores 195 points and finds all five of the top answers, it begins to look as though their fortunes may have changed, with Dennis only needing to score five points to secure the $20,000 top prize. The duplicate answer buzzer causes him to have a meltdown, however, and the episode ends with the Golden God begging the show’s producers not to air it; which, of course, they do!
21The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore (S07E02)
In their younger days, the Reynolds twins enjoyed many a summer down on the Jersey Shore. When the gang returns many years later, however, it’s not at all how they remember it, with drugs, crime, and pollution having completely changed the once charming resort. Dennis and Dee end up having a terrible time as a result, but the same isn’t true for everyone.
Charlie ends up connecting with the waitressin ways that he never thought possible and Frank and Mac come up with an ingenious way to get around the shore’s strict open container laws. The episode is full of fantastic and memorable moments, like when Dee and Dennis take Charlie down beneath the boardwalk while in search of magic and when Mac and Frank are stranded out at sea.
20How Mac Got Fat (S07E10)
Despite claiming to be a devout catholic, Mac doesn’t seem to have a great understanding of how the religion actually works. Viewers see this time and time again, but none more so than in the tenth episode of Season 10, How Mac Got Fat, during which he attends confession so that he can tell a priest all about his recent weight gain.
Rather than taking responsibility for his own actions, however, Mac instead blames the rest of the gang and asks the priest to smite them. Though they and their success certainly played a part in Mac’s sudden obesity, it is ultimately his own stupidity and his failure to predict his friends losing interest in yet another ridiculous scheme that are to blame for all of his excess mass.
19Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack (S04E10)
After Sweet Dee has a heart attack, the gang all begin to worry about their health, though each ends up far more unhealthy than they started. Dee and Dennis decide to join a gym to improve their fitness, while Charlie and Mac opt to take an office job that provides health insurance. Being the only one with money, Frank exploits his own health insurance, but ends up losing his grip on reality after mixing prescription meds.
While Dee and Dennis' gym antics are certainly enjoyable (particularly their interactions with the spin class instructor) and Frank’s incarceration and subsequent escape serve as a nice distraction, it’s Charlie and Mac who steal the show this time around. From Mac’s referencing of Yello’s “Oh Yeah” toCharlie’s now-infamous “Pepe Silvia” rant, they really do provide a laugh every minute and make this one of the bestAlways Sunnyepisodes to date.
18The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6 (S09E09)
The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6 touches on themes and ideas found in several of the series' previous episodes. Most notably, the quintet’s unofficialLethal Weaponsequels return, though the episode also reintroduces the arguments surrounding sex scenes in movies that were first explored in Mac and Charlie Write a Movie and the large-chested women charts used when the gang was trying to get a loan to buy gasoline back in Season 4.
Though perhaps not as good as the episodes in which these elements first featured, Season 9’s penultimate offering is still a funny one, and once again examines what should and should not be considered tasteful on both the small and silver screens. The show’s creators save the best until last, however, with Frank’s full-penetration scene serving as the perfect punchline.
17The Gang Turns Black (S12E01)
Having repeatedly lampooned the practice of using blackface in the past, The Gang Turns Black felt like a logical next step in many ways. The premise itself is a little ridiculous, though it allowed both the gang and the audience to explore the issue of racial prejudice in a humorous yet profound way. It came at a time when the subject matter really needed to be discussed and remains relevant to this day.
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The “What are the Rules?” song that punctuates the episode’s key plot lines and ties everything together is funny, but never in a way that could be construed as tasteless. The episode’s ending pulls this balancing act off particularly well, though becomes incredibly dark once viewers remember that Charlie’s alter ego is a young child.
16Mac & Charlie Die (S04E05 & S04E06)
Though they are technically two separate episodes, Mac & Charlie Die feels more like one extended episode that’s been cut in half. In it, Mac and Charlie decide to fake their own deaths after getting on the wrong side of Mac’s father, Luther, but it’s Dee who ends up paying the price once all’s said and done.
The delinquent duo decides to destroy her car as part of their cover story, though not before pulling out some of their teeth for the crime scene investigators. They then end up hiding out on the roof of Paddy’s and in the pub’s vents, where, among other things, they’re able to witness their own memorial service.
15CharDee MacDennis: The Game of Games (S07E07)
The gang doesn’t really do things in half-measures, as evidenced by their version of board game night. CharDee MacDennis is a brutal and depraved game with some of the most ridiculous rules and challenges imaginable and yet it somehow manages to remain perfectly in keeping with the gang’s usual antics. That is to say, that it’s both hilarious and shocking in equal measures.
Frank’s naivety at first seems like a bit of a handicap to his new teammates, but it’s through his diligence and astute powers of perception that he’s able to draw The Leprechauns level. Even with the odds no longer stacked against them, however, Charlie and Mac still end up losing out, with the Golden Geese once again emerging victorious from the game of games.
14Time’s Up For The Gang (S13E04)
Much likeSouth Park,It’s Always Sunnyhas never shied away from taking a satirical swipe at topical and highly sensitive issues in its episodes, nor has it ever attempted to gloss over how depraved and inappropriate the gang can often be. The Me Too and Time’s Up movements take center stage this time around and once again demonstrate just how out of touch the Paddy’s proprietors really are.
The sexual harassment seminar serves as the perfect backdrop against which to remind viewers of just how messed up the gang really is. The episode also reminds viewers that men can also be the victims of sexual harassment and abuse, something that can often be overlooked. Of course, the gang learns nothing from the experience and the whole thing is eventually revealed to be yet another one of Dennis' insane and immoral schemes.
13The Gang Goes To A Water Park (S12E02)
When it comes to overused sitcom tropes, the central characters visiting a water park is definitely pretty high up on the list. It’s perhaps understandable why too, given the many opportunities for comedy that such a setting presents. Granted, most of these tend to involve toilet humor, butIt’s Always Sunnyat least tries to put its own spin on things.
Mac and Dee get stuck in a water slide and end up causing a massive pile-up, while Dennis' pursuit of his next potential victim is interrupted when he thinks he’s found himself a new protégé. The hilarious climax, which ends with a mad panic to escape from a pool full of Frank’s blood serves as a fitting end to a terrible trip, although Mac does manage to sit on a drain during the chaos, which seems to make him happy, at least.
