With 15 seasons under its belt, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia continues to be one of the funniest and most interesting shows on TV.
With 15 seasons aired and more on the way, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia has proved to be one of the most enduringly popular sitcoms of the 21st century. Considering it’s also one of the most rewatchable sitcoms of all time, fans of the show aren’t likely to run out of content to enjoy anytime soon.
For those fans who are interested in knowing all there is to know about It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, there are also tons of fascinating details about the sitcom that many aren’t aware of. From the show’s origins to the present, there is enough trivia out there to satisfy any hardcore fan.
At the time of its conception, friends Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day were out-of-work actors struggling to find their break in the acting world. As reported by the New York Times, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia began with an idea they had for dark comedy sketch that would eventually become the plot for the fourth episode of the show’s first season.
The group filmed the material in their own apartments using camcorders and eventually it was picked up for a show by fledgling cable television network FX. Though the show was initially made on a very small budget, it didn’t stop it from gaining a cult popularity that would fuel its eventual success.
At a time when many sitcoms were based in Los Angeles or New York, the show’s creators were tasked with making a show that had much less of a Hollywood feel. Philadelphia was chosen as the setting due to McElhenney’s connection with the city in Pennsylvania, and the show’s central characters given unglamorous jobs at a failing Irish bar.
With the setting falling so close to home for McElhenny, it was easy for the team to portray the city as accurately as they wanted, with the opening credits being footage they collected from driving around the city at night.
In the pilot of the show, the role of Sweet Dee was given to Rob McElhenney’s girlfriend at the time, Jordan Reid, and the character was set to be a more positive presence to balance out the chaos of the rest of the gang. At the time, there were issues in the relationship which led to the couple breaking up and her having to leave the show, as she told The Observer.
Though Kaitlin Olson ended up playing the character named Dee on the show, it ended up being a slightly different character to the positive influence she was supposed to be. Dee became one of the most likable characters on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and a big part of that was her ability to match the rest of the gang for unhinged immorality.
With the show struggling to gain traction outside of the small cult audience it initially garnered, executives reportedly wanted to bring in a recognizable name to attract more viewers. But according to Howerton, as reported by Business Insider, the group liked that they were all “no-names” at the time and felt the group’s chemistry could be affected by bringing in a star.
When it was put to them that the show would have to be canceled if they didn’t agree to take on the Hollywood legend, they swiftly agreed. In the end, of course, Danny DeVito proved to be an amazing addition to the show and the best character on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia introduced after season 1.
It’s likely when Charlie Day’s character gave himself a poorly written tattoo of the words “BAD NEW” on his forearm, intending to write “BAD NEWS”, the actor had no idea just how long the show would continue and that tattoo would have to continue to appear. Nevertheless, as eagle-eyed fans may have noticed, in every episode since, the character has had the tattoo in the same place.
For what was intended to be a brief silly joke, the tattoo became a permanent feature of the character and it is a testament to the attention to detail that goes into making the sitcom that the tattoo has continued to appear ever since.
Titled “The Nightman Cometh” and based on the season 4 finale of the show with the same name, the show featured the main cast and was performed in six cities in the United States. The episode made the perfect basis for the live show due to its plot, which centered around the gang attempting to put together Charlie Kelly’s unique vision for a rock opera.
The stage show was essentially an expanded version of the episode with more songs, more moments with the characters, and more content to enjoy for fans of the show who went to see it for its run in 2009.
Titled “The Gang Gets Successful,” the episode was written, filmed, and was intended to be shown in the show’s sixth season. It was directed by Randall Einhorn, who directed a large chunk of the season six episodes, and a few scenes from the episode can be seen in promotional material for the season, despite it eventually being left out.
Scenes of the unaired episode may be familiar to fans of the show, however, as much of the material from it was used in the season 7 episode “How Mac Got Fat”. The original plot of the characters achieving sudden financial success and handling it badly became the basis for the origin story of Mac’s dramatic increase in weight in season 7.
In 2016, when it was announced that the show would run for at least 14 seasons, it meant that the show would become tied with The Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet, a popular sitcom of the 1950s and ’60s, for the title of being the longest-running live-action sitcom in terms of seasons. Since then the show has aired its 14th and 15th seasons and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is also one of the longest-running TV sitcoms by duration, though Curb Your Enthusiasm and animated-comedy royalty like The Simpsons have been on the air for a lot longer.
Though Charlie Kelly’s one-sided, stalkerish behavior towards The Waitress in the show is the model of an awful unhealthy relationship, surprisingly, Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth, their respective actors, have been married since 2006. It’s not unusual for on-screen couples to become real-life couples but, in this case, almost the opposite occurred.
Likewise, a viewer would be hard-pressed to identify much romantic chemistry between Dee and Mac in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia but the actors who portray them, Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson got married in 2008.
Though described as an unofficial It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Podcast in the podcast’s description, the show features the show’s creators, Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day, as they discuss the show in-depth and go on many tangents along the way. It is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Youtube and they recently began filming episodes after initially being audio-only.
With the show not currently on the air, the podcast is one way hardcore fans of the show have been able to fulfill the craving for It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia content, and, with over 20 episodes out, there is already plenty to enjoy.
A freelance list writer for Screen Rant, Jordan Woods has already written well over 100 pieces for the site since he began in 2021. Though he has been writing for most of his life, having been a content writer in the past and had his work featured in magazines, it was only recently that he combined this with his keen interest in all things film, TV, and video game-related. He enjoys the research side of writing for Screen Rant, as that often means watching the TV and movies he wanted to anyway. Though he has been writing ever since he first found inspiration in the fantastical worlds of the Star Wars movies and The Legend of Zelda games, he was able to hone those skills during his time studying English and Creative Writing at Coventry University. These days, he mixes writing about movies with writing his own, often spending his free time drafting screenplays based on movie ideas he has.
