Since its premiere in 2005, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has come to be known as one of the funniest shows on television. This sitcom follows the misadventures of a group of selfish, narcissistic friends and relatives who run a dingy dive bar in Philadelphia, Paddy’s Pub. It’s basically Seinfeld on crack (some of the characters actually do get addicted to crack at one point), filled with deranged shenanigans and characters and racy, irreverent, politically incorrect humor. Its no-name cast have all gone on to achieve superstardom, like Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, and the show’s creator, Rob McElhenney.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was nearly canceled at one point due to low ratings but was saved when superstar Danny DeVito joined the cast. The show has now been on the air for a whopping 16 seasons, making it America’s longest-running live-action sitcom. Season 17 will premiere on July 9, 2025, with an 18th season already set to follow.
With the new season on the horizon, you may be tempted to rewatch episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. If you’re looking for the funniest episodes, then MovieWeb’s got you covered. But if you’re in the mood for lesser-known, underrated gems, then look no further. Here are the 10 most underrated episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
10
“Who Pooped the Bed?”
Season 4, Episode 7
It’s Always Sunny doesn’t shy away from immature potty humor, and “Who Pooped the Bed?” is a perfect example of that. Per usual, the gang holds a ridiculous investigation over a ridiculous incident: who pooped on Frank and Charlie’s bed? The entire gang is analyzed as a suspect, and insane theories are suggested to solve the case.
The culprit is revealed at the end of the episode: it was, unsurprisingly, Frank. Why? “Poop is funny,” he says. And he’s right. “Who Pooped the Bed?” is a comical whodunnit that can only be pulled off by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
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9
“Charlie Kelly: King of the Rats”
Season 6, Episode 10
Charlie is known for performing what’s called “Charlie work” — grotesque janitorial work that needs to be done around the bar, mostly cleaning poop and killing rats. Most fans will agree that the season 10 episode “Charlie Work” is the best when it comes to Charlie-related duties, highlighting Charlie’s contributions to Paddy’s Pub in various uninterrupted takes. But there’s another overlooked gem that also gives a shoutout to Charlie work: the season 6 episode, “Charlie Kelly: King of the Rats”.
Here, the gang decides to do something nice for once and attempts to plan a surprise birthday party for Charlie based on his “dream book,” a collection of illiterate nonsense. It’s hilarious to watch the gang try to interpret Charlie’s ramblings and reproduce drawings from his book. But the real gem is when Charlie mistakes a spa day for a spaghetti day, prompting him to go from place to place eating spaghetti and asking people, “What’s your spaghetti policy here?” This quote alone makes this episode worth the watch.
8
“The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell”
Season 4, Episode 11
In “The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell,” the gang attempts to boost interest in Paddy’s Pub by linking its history with the cracking of the Liberty Bell. We’re then treated to flashbacks to 1776, which transplant the gang into American Revolution times and turn their characters into colonial variants. Every 1776 character is on point. Charlie and Frank are impoverished thieves, Dee is mocked as a witch, and Dennis looks like powdered French royalty.
“The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell” marked a departure from the show’s usual format, expanding the possibilities of what an It’s Always Sunny episode could be. Even McElhenney and the rest of the cast have called this one of the most underrated episodes. And the funniest, most low-key part: the Liberty Bell didn’t even crack in 1776.
7
“The Gang Squashes Their Beefs”
Season 9, Episode 10
Thanks to their self-absorbed and horrible ways, the gang manages to rack up quite a few enemies over the course of the series. “The Gang Squashes Their Beefs” brings every infamous supporting character that the gang has ever wronged and screwed over together in one episode. You have the bizarre McPoyles, Frank’s archnemesis, Hwang the landlord, Gail the Snail, the drug-crazed Bill Ponderosa, and, of course, Rickety Cricket, who seems to find a new rock bottom every time he appears in an episode.
“The Gang Squashes Their Beefs” is a fun, comedic medley of who’s who as we relive the past with fan-favorite characters and explore their dynamics with each other.
6
“The Gang Gives Back”
Season 2, Episode 6
For many fans, the earlier seasons are the best seasons of It’s Always Sunny. But there is one gem in season 2 that gets lost among the shuffle: “The Gang Gives Back.” Here, Mac, Dennis, and Dee are sentenced to teach inner-city kids how to play basketball after burning down a building.
In typical Sunny fashion, the gang gets overly competitive and ends up using their community service to attack and one-up each other rather than help children in need. This episode also expands upon Charlie’s crush on the Waitress, delving deeper into their dynamic while they attend AA meetings.
5
“Time’s Up for the Gang”
Season 13, Episode 4
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has a knack for addressing timely subjects — and also for stirring up controversy by poking fun at those subjects. “Time’s Up For The Gang” comes hot off the heels of #MeToo, the social media movement that took on sexual harassment against women. Here, Paddy’s Pub finds itself on an internet list of unsafe bars for women, forcing the gang to take a sexual harassment course. And things go pretty much as you’d expect.
The gang spends the seminar saying absurd and offensive things that have no place in a sexual harassment setting. But the real kicker comes at the end, when it’s revealed that Dennis actually created the internet list and organized the seminar, just so he can lecture everyone about how to avoid sexual harassment accusations. It’s a classic and underrated sociopathic Dennis moment.
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4
“The Gang’s Still in Ireland”
Season 15, Episode 6
The later seasons of It’s Always Sunny don’t get as much love or attention as the earlier seasons. Season 15, however, features one of the best storylines in the entire series. It shakes things up by taking the gang out of Philadelphia and bringing them to their ancestral homeland of Ireland. It’s a pretty awesome idea that leads to some pretty awesome moments, especially in the episode “The Gang’s Still in Ireland.” It’s laugh-out-loud funny to see Dennis catch COVID and deny his health problems, including a cough that he tries desperately to control and his deteriorating mental health that causes him to lose his mind.
“The Gang’s Still in Ireland” also solves one of the show’s biggest mysteries: who is Charlie’s father? He’s revealed to be Charlie’s lifelong pen pal, an Irishman named Shelley Kelly who also has a penchant for cheese and bashing rats. As it turns out, Charlie’s illiteracy isn’t gibberish; it’s actually him writing and speaking in Gaelic. “The Gang’s Still in Ireland” is a gem of an episode that balances out the laughs with surprising emotional moments.
3
“The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award”
Season 9, Episode 3
Although It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia mostly dabbles in offensive and racy humor, there are plenty of moments where the show gets cleverly meta. “The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award” is such an episode. Fed up with their lack of nominations for the Annual Bar Association Award, the gang sets out to change Paddy’s image by studying another bar in the area and mimicking its style. The whole episode serves as a social commentary on the jarring lack of Emmy nominations that the show itself has received over the years. “The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award” pokes fun at its own existential angst while parodying other sitcoms with their tropes and clichés.
It’s hilarious to see the gang get emotionally invested in the employees of the other bar. But the funniest and most memorable moment is when Charlie, after being locked away in the basement, emerges from the floor, high on spray paint, and sings a song that tells everyone to go f*ck themselves. And that’s basically the show’s message to its critics: this is who we are, and if you don’t like it — well then, you can go f*ck yourself.
2
“The Gang Does a Clip Show”
Season 13, Episode 7
“The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award” is an incredible meta episode. But the season 13 episode, “The Gang Does a Clip Show,” may be the best meta episode of the entire series. And also one of the show’s most underrated offerings. We all know the clip episodes of sitcoms — episodes that are spent entirely showcasing clips of past episodes — and we all hate them.
It’s Always Sunny parodies this classic sitcom trope. What starts out as a clip episode morphs into a surprisingly brilliant, thought-provoking episode, as the gang misremembers key details of their lives and ends up reliving false memories. We’re even treated to seeing the gang as Seinfeld characters, a clever and amusing move that pokes fun at the comparisons drawn between these two sitcoms. By the end of the episode, we’re not sure whose head and whose reality we’re really watching. The episode ends with a spinning top, a nod to Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending film, Inception.
1
“Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs”
Season 12, Episode 5
Most episodes of It’s Always Sunny revolve around all five members of the gang, but some episodes focus on specific characters, giving them a chance to really shine. “Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs” is such an episode. Here, Frank bets that Mac and Dennis would never be able to survive suburban life. To prove him wrong, they move out of the city and into a suburban neighborhood.
Things start out innocently enough. But in classic Sunny fashion, things quickly spiral into madness. Literally. The quiet normalcy of suburban life causes both characters to gradually lose their minds, leading to hysterical outbursts and manic moments as Mac and Dennis fall into the stereotypical bored housewife and working husband roles. We all know Mac and Dennis have a bromance that borders on toxicity. “Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs” delves into these characters’ love-hate relationship, making this one of the funniest and most underrated episodes of the series.
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