Top 20 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Episodes

Greetings, reader!

Well, if ever there was a time to celebrate the record-breaking sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it's now - not only did the show wrap up its seventeenth season last week (and I swear to God, it's still good! No other series in the world could keep this level for 17 seasons!), but it also celebrated its 20-year anniversary this month. I was going to do a top 10, but it's so hard to limit myself to ten episodes, when a vast majority of the 179 episodes the series has produced are so awesome it hurts. So, in honor of twenty years of It's Always Sunny, here are twenty of the very best episodes!

Here are my honorable mentions: The Gang Hits the Road (Season 5 Episode 2), Reynolds vs. Reynolds: The Cereal Defense (Season 8 Episode 10), The Gang Goes to a Water Park (Season 12 Episode 2), Time's Up for the Gang (Season 13 Episode 4), Dee Sinks in a Bog (Season 15 Episode 7).

20. The Gang Buys a Boat (Season 6 Episode 3)

As the title suggests, the gang does indeed purchase a boat, and the shenanigans that follow are pure entertainment. The notorious "implication" scene alone makes the episode top-20-worthy; the dark comedy acting is outrageously good, as Glenn Howerton showcases the depths of Dennis' evil nature in a creepy yet hilarious way while Rob McElhenney portrays Mac's utter confusion with brilliance.

19. 2020: A Year In Review (Season 15 Episode 1)

I love it when It's Always Sunny, with its knack for dark comedy and topical satire, makes episodes and storylines of current events (especially ones relating to Philadelphia). I remember watching coverage of the 2020 Presidential Election with my dad and brother, when ballot-counting delays and disturbances in voting booth lines in Pennsylvania were being reported, and I said "haha, can't wait for IASIP to tackle this in their next season". And the bastards did it!

Not only that - in what has been described as the "anti-Forrest Gump", the season 15 premiere blends fiction and reality by showing what The Gang was up to throughout 2020, revealing that they were indirectly responsible for the vote delays in Philadelphia, the infamous Rudy Giuliani hair dye incident, and even the insurrection on January 6th. Brilliant.

18. Charlie's Home Alone / The Gang Wins the Big Game (Season 13 Episodes 8-9)

From one tackling of a relevant Philadelphia news story to another! The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl LII in 2018, and with The Gang being well-established fans of the Birds, it makes all the sense in the world that the season after this would have an episode just about that. In this hilarious two-parter, the first instalment focuses on Charlie who was accidentally left behind when the others went to see the game, leading to all sorts of "Home Alone, but make it goddamn brutal" shenanigans. The second part follows the rest of the gang as they travel to Minnesota to see the game live.

It's great fun, and the ending of the episode - where we see real footage of Philadelphia citizens celebrating after the game - is legitimately emotional. Amidst the end credits, we see footage of Rob McElhenney (creator and star of the show, and lifelong Philadelphian and Eagles fan), who saw the actual game live, celebrating just seconds after the victory was confirmed, and that's just such a heartwarming moment for a generally cynical anti-comedy series.

17. McPoyle vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century (Season 11 Episode 7)

At this point in the show, the collection of beloved recurring characters had become a beautiful tapestry. The utterly chaotic McPoyle family and the hilariously messy Ponderosa family are among the big cult favorites, and the show had a tried-and-true track record of courtroom-style episodes being total home runs, so the episode title alone is essentially a promise of greatness. When you have the main gang, the full McPoyle clan, the Ponderosa siblings, Uncle Jack, the underrated recurring lawyer character known simply as "The Lawyer", and a judge played by Reginald VelJohnson going at it in the courtroom, the episode can't possibly be anything but magnificent.

And so it is! A personal highlight for me was finally seeing the show's best character Charlie Kelly practicing the art of 'bird law' - this running joke had been a favorite of mine for seasons upon seasons, and when we finally see what Bird Law is exactly, the payoff is certainly worth the wait. Dynamite comedy.

16. Mac & Charlie Die (Season 4 Episodes 5-6)

Yet another case where the episode title alone is nothing short of a promise of greatness (in my opinion, IASIP has better episode titles than any other series ever made, and that's why my post from 2 weeks ago was a ranking of every episode of the series based on how good the title is). But yeah, Mac & Charlie Die is exactly as hilarious as it sounds, which is saying something.

The fourth season is definitely the best season of the show's early years (and arguably the best one overall - I keep going back and forth between 4, 13 and 15, which are the high points of the three main eras in the show's trajectory). And this right here is just classic season 4 - crude, gritty and entertaining comedy mixed in with one of the better plotlines they've done.

15. The Gang Saves the Day (Season 9 Episode 6)

It's the show's 100th episode, and man, they celebrated the milestone with style. In a brilliant exploration of the inner workings of each major character's mind, we follow the imaginary scenarios playing out in everyone's head when the gang is stuck in the middle of a robbery. Every scenario is hilarious and a true testament to the character in question, gags such as Dee dying in every scenario are quite hysterical, and the way it all shakes out is just classic IASIP.

14. The Gang Misses the Boat (Season 10 Episode 6)

In an episode very similar to The Gang Saves the Day but even better in my opinion, the cold open sets the stage for what is sure to be an unforgettable character exploration. Behind-the-scenes conversations about the show's direction and future are adressed in a low-key meta, second-wall-breaking manner, as a seemingly mundane event makes every member of the gang reflect on their life and a need for change.

Every storyline in The Gang Misses the Boat is fantastic in its own way: Dennis' mid-life crisis is hilariously acted and an in-depth look at his character (it also gives us the legendary "I AM A GOLDEN GOD" monologue), while Charlie and Dee's short-lived romance is as intriguing of a plot turn as it is hilarious, and Frank's attempt of re-creating the 'glory days' with a new gang is amusing on so many levels.

13. CharDee MacDennis: The Game of Games (Season 7 Episode 7)

It's an untypical It's Always Sunny episode, especially for the early years: no political issue or relevant news story is satirized and tackled, no scheme is attempted, no major points-about-modern-life-via-dark-comedy are made. It's just the gang vibing around on a slow day, deciding to play a round of a board game they created. The episode makes it onto my list because, while it is less deep and clever than most of the show's episodes, it's magnificently, deliriously funny.

There are countless moments that'll make you laugh out loud, no matter what number of re-watches you're on. The chemistry between the main actors is at its best, and the line deliveries throughout are gold (I'm chuckling just thinking about the "BECAUSE DENNIS IS A BASTARD MAN" scene). Chaotic sitcom entertainment doesn't get much better than this.

12. Thunder Gun Express (Season 7 Episode 11)

You know the classic How I Met Your Mother episode Subway Wars, where everyone is racing to see who gets to the agreed-upon restaurant first? If you've ever watched that and thought, "this is all good but it would be so much funnier if they were all terrible people and went way over the line in their methods", then boy, do I have the episode for you. Every storyline here is pretty great, but I have to give a special shout-out to Frank hijacking a tourist boat. The character's trademark lack of situational awareness is at its very best as he recites funny old stories about his life via the loudspeaker, not realizing how utterly terrified the poor tourists are.

11. Charlie Kelly: King of the Rats (Season 6 Episode 10)

I love the deliciously rare instances where IASIP is wholesome for once - and this is the episode that walked so that a certain few (more on them later) could run. Playing out like a test run for the pitch "what if we tried an episode where, just for once, everyone isn't a complete asshole and there isn't some mega-dark ending twist", this episode works so well because at this point in the series, the first-time viewer is so accustomed to the anti-sitcom shenanigans that they keep expecting the other shoe to drop.

When the credits roll, you're almost confused - but when you re-watch the episode, you can fully appreciate how much of a breath of fresh air it is. It helps that it's not too different - it's still IASIP, so there's plenty of crude humor in the mix, and would be a less-wholesome-than-average episode for most other sitcoms. But for this show, it's just different enough to work - especially for viewers like me, who consider Charlie to be the show's best character. It feels sweet that they gave the poor guy a break for once.

10. The Gang's Still in Ireland (Season 15 Episode 6)

The multi-episode Ireland arch in the second half of season 15 is probably my favorite thing the series ever produced. It's hard to rate and rank its instalments as individual episodes, because the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts - but those parts are still pretty damn amazing. The writing by the MacElhenney-Day-Howerton trio is as sharp as ever, while the fantastic Megan Ganz's directing makes the end result the funniest possible version of itself. Every storyline is gold, every moment is entertaining to the maximum, and it leaves you begging for more.

9. Mac Finds His Pride (Season 13 Episode 10)

After the show dipped its toes in the water in terms of wholesome and unassuming episodes with Charlie Kelly: King of the Rats, it was a great many years before they continued on that path. Eventually, when us fans least expected it, they hit us with this emotional gut punch. No one was prepared for the season 13 finale, after one and a half decades of cynical anti-sitcom storytelling, to deliver a heartfelt, moving episode without a major rug-pulling twist at the end - and that's why it hits so hard.

I love that out of all the themes such a groundbreaking episode could've dealt with, they went with Mac's sexuality - apparently Rob MacElhenney, who is straight himself but grew up with multiple queer family members and has always strived to be a good ally, felt that he needed to do that to balance out what a pure joke the 'gay Mac' storyline had been up until that point. Mac Finds His Pride is, against all odds, a legitimately beautiful and even artistic piece of television, and one that truly showcases the show's range and depth.

8. The Waitress Is Getting Married (Season 5 Episode 5)

When I made the ambitious list of the 100 all-time greatest TV acting performances last spring, Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly was literally at #1 - ahead of Bryan Cranston as Walter White, ahead of James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, all of 'em. And I stand by it. You'd have to watch the whole series to fully appreciate Day's unique comedic genius in the role, but if you want to get as much as possible from a single episode, you can't do much better than this one.

The character's chaotic nature, hilarious stupidity as well as his endearing underlying fragility beneath it all are on full display. I must have watched the scene where Mac and Dennis try to set up his dating profile tens (if not hundreds) of times, and it somehow still feels funnier and funnier each time, because that's how great the character is. The comedic timing and spectacular delivery of lines like "Oh, put milk steak! She'll know what it is" is phenomenal.

7. Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack (Season 4 Episode 10)

Another big classic from the early days. What is an average premise for an IASIP episode turns impressively into one of its finest instalments, as the storylines blossoming from the initial narrative escalate into some wonderful entertainment, culminating in a truly iconic scene. If you ask me, Charlie's conspiracy rambling is up there in the sitcom hall of fame, standing tall next to Frasier and company in the ski lodge, Dwight Schrute's fire drill and George Costanza's "The sea was angry that day, my friends" monologue.

No other actor in the world could work the script of that moment to full effect like the great Charlie Day - and kudos to Rob MacElhenney as Mac balancing him out, as his reaction is almost as funny as the Pepe Silvia monologue itself. "Not only do ALL of these people exist - THEY HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR THEIR MAIL ON A DAILY BASIS" is perfection.

6. The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award (Season 9 Episode 3)

The meta layer defining this episode is just subtle enough to not feel out-of-character for the show, yet just heavy-handed enough to be utterly hilarious - a true breaking of the third wall if I ever saw one. Watching this episode, you can feel the thought process that must have gone into writing it:

"Man, I'm pissed off that we've done this for eight seasons and we keep getting snubbed at award shows"

"Yeah, it's so clear how they don't look at all comedy equally but rather prefer the bright-color banter-filled feel-good ones"

"How should we channel this rage?"

"I mean, we could do an episode about it"

And by God, they did. The jokes are delightfully clever, and Charlie's unhinged musical number is the ultimate cherry on top.

5. A Very Sunny Christmas (Season 6 Episode 13)

You know shit is about to get real when It's Always Sunny releases a Christmas episode. In what is undoubtedly the most batshit, dark-comedy Christmas special in the history of TV, we follow hilariously clever and brutally bleak storylines as the gang celebrates the holidays in true IASIP fashion. The visual of a naked Danny DeVito emerging from inside a couch is bested only by Charlie Day's delivery of "DID YOU FUCK MY MOM, SANTA CLAUS?!". No other series could've ever come up with this.

4. The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis (Season 4 Episode 2)

This right here is the archetypical IASIP episode. If you want to get what the show is all about from one episode, it's this stone-cold classic right here. The character dynamics at the core of the show are at their very best, with the dialogue being absolute gold throughout. The scheme at hand is a semi-basic premise, but one that utilizes each character and the show's style with perfection. And who could forget that iconic ending scene with Wild Card Charlie cutting the breaks? The stuff of legends.

3. The Nightman Cometh (Season 4 Episode 13)

Probably my most-rewatched episode of the series, and for good reason. The episode where Charlie writes and directs a musical is some of the all-time funniest shit ever seen on television, not to mention insanely creative and groundbreaking for the show's scale and direction. Every musical number is hysterically funny in its own way, following the chaotic production as it comes together is extremely entertaining, and the dialogue is some of the most quotable material found from any show. The Nightman Cometh became such a massive fan favorite that the cast eventually did a few high-demand live shows, and honestly, no wonder.

2. Charlie Work (Season 10 Episode 4)

Yeah, this masterclass earned every drop of its whopping 9.8 on IMDB. After countless re-watches and endless over-analyzing of what makes it so great - it's not even about the cinematography in the iconic tracking shot being outrageously good for a sitcom, or the timing and skill required by the cast to make the shot good, or the hectic Birdman-style drum soundtrack marking the atmosphere. Although those elements do help - coupled with the episode's plot (both the main thing with the health inspection and the hilariously unexplained side-hustle subplot), they help the chaos that has always been inherent to the series reach its peak form.

As conceptual and gimmick-y as Charlie Work is, it also feels like IASIP at its IASIPiest in some strange way, because the chaotic vibe we fell in love with all those years ago is just ultimate here. And, when really looking at what sells the end product, we find the same culprit as always with great It's Always Sunny episodes - Charlie motherfucking Day, in the greatest television acting performance of all time, just putting his heart and soul into his role, reaching unforeseen levels of hysterical comedy genius in the medium.

1. The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain (Season 15 Episode 8)

"GODDAMMIT! I can't do this! I'm sorry, Dad, I can't do it. This isn't fair! I shouldn't have to carry you up a hill! You never carried me up a hill! You never picked me up from school, you didn't read me bedtime stories, you didn't carry me on your shoulders, you didn't bounce me on...you weren't there! AND I NEEDED YOU!"

It took a solid while to think which way to put my top two, but I ended up listening to my heart. While it has its funny moments, this isn't a typical IASIP episode as the comedy element isn't the foremost element in why it's such a huge favorite for viewers like me. I know, it's terribly cliché - putting 'the emotional episode' from a sitcom as your #1 is like ranking the one acoustic ballad that a rock band does as your favorite song from them. These takes are often looked down on, as many fans view it as belittling the series (or band) for the core thing they're known from and what they do best. I hear that, but at the same time; trust me, I have the utmost appreciation for IASIP's humor. That being said, very few episodes from any TV series have made me feel as powerful emotions as The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain.

It's not just Charlie's monologue to his father's corpse, but everything around it - how the whole episode (and whole series, really) has built up to that point, as well as how it's followed up with those brilliant final scenes. The whole 22-minute runtime is perfect. But, yeah, obviously that scene is the individual highlight - when I made my ranking of the all-time top 100 TV acting performances, Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly would've been in the top 5 even without this episode, but he wouldn't have clinched that #1 spot without that moment. In that acting masterclass, the essence of Charlie's character is revealed with raw, vulnerable perfection.

No other actor has put as much creativity, passion and pure genius into a television role as him, and that's never as clear as it is when he's shouting the words quoted above to his dead dad. Charlie as Charlie is the funniest character performance I've seen in all the TV (and movies) I've watched, but he also goes beyond humor to make the character tragic, endearing and deeply amiable and humane beneath the layers of chaos. Actually, that may be a part of why he is so funny as well - as f**king bonkers as the character is, there's so much genuinity, so much heart.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my ranking of every Black Mirror episode.