“It’s Always Sunny” and Why We Laugh at Bad People

via: complex.com

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is arguably one of the most successful comedies of the new millennium. It is set to tie The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet as the longest running live-action sitcom and has enjoyed an abundance of critical acclaim (The Hollywood Reporter). The show, which details the lives of the five owners of Paddy’s Pub in Philadelphia, has done this seemingly despite the fact that the main characters, Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Dee (Kaitlin Olsen), Mac (Rob McElhenney), Charlie (Charlie Day), and Frank (Danny Devito), are some of the worst people ever put on screen. Each of the five main characters, commonly referred to as “The Gang,” have several negative character traits that make them objectively bad people. For instance, Dennis is a vain and aggressive sociopath, Dee is short-tempered and violent, Mac is an ignorant religious zealot, Charlie is an emotionally unstable stalker, and Frank is a greedy hedonist. This, in addition to several other negative traits and a lack of shame or self-awareness, has led “The Gang” to commit several repulsive acts during the series’ run including locking people in a burning apartment, taking out a life-insurance policy on a suicidal man, and creating a funeral for a non-existent baby to avoid getting arrested for tax fraud (Wikipedia).

via: indiewire.com

At first, it may seem strange that comedy audiences would enjoy watching people exhibit behaviour that would horrify or anger us in real life. This becomes stranger still when considering that many comedies throughout history have found success with bad people as main characters such as Archie Bunker in All in the Family, Eric Cartman in South Park, and Rick Sanchez in Rick and Morty. The purpose of this article will be to use It’s Always Sunny as a case study to determine why audiences respond positively to bad people and/or behaviour in comedies. This will involve examining several theories on humour and fiction-writing and applying them to examples from the show. Through this analysis it will become clear that audiences respond positively to bad people in comedies because they release tension, allow us to confront uncomfortable truths, and vandalize social norms. It will also become clear that audiences will only tolerate bad people in comedies if they are prevented from achieving their goals and maintain moral order.

Release of Tension

One of the ways we can understand the appeal of bad people in comedies is by examining an evolutionary reason for why we laugh at all. In particular, many experts believe that “laughter is a release of tension on discovering that a perceived threat is not a threat at all.” (Carr & Greeves, 20). An example put forth by the book The Naked Jape by Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves is an early human being chased by a wooly mammoth and laughing when it falls over and knocks itself out (Carr & Greeves, 20). In this instance, the person is experiencing a release of tension (the odd incapacitation of the mammoth) from the threat of being trampled. The tension release theory of humour is supported by the fact that the neural networks for fear, pain, anger, and laughter develop simultaneously and use many of the same pathways (Carr & Greeves, 19-22).

via: tracking-board.com

This theory can be used to account for why audiences respond positively to the main characters in It’s Always Sunny when considering how they interact with tension. In particular, the show frequently uses the characters’ immorality, incompetence, and ignorance to undercut or release tension from tense situations or topics. For instance, It’s Always Sunny has had full episodes that address subject matter like abortion, gun control, and serial killers. Despite the tense nature of these topics, “The Gang,” because of their negative character traits, never treat them seriously and in doing so release the tension they build. For instance, the abortion debate is undercut by Mac and Dennis using it as a way to pick up women at rallies, the media frenzy over the gun control debate is undercut by Frank using it for financial gain, and the concept of serial killers is undercut by Dennis, Dee, Charlie, and Frank mistakenly trying to analyze, defend, or entrap Mac while they argue with each other in a real serial killer’s apartment. In situations like these, tension can only be released if the characters are bad people that disregard the seriousness of the subject matter. Conversely, the same situations featuring characters that are good people would lose much if not all its comedic potential as they would either try to avoid the tense subject or give it respect which would then maintain the subject’s tension. For example, if Mac and Dennis respected the seriousness of the abortion debate in “Charlie Wants an Abortion,” they would not use it as a method to pick up women at rallies and a core comedic plot-line of the episode would be lost. In essence, the less respect characters give to important or serious subjects, the more potential there is to create humour by releasing tension.

Confrontation of Uncomfortable Truths

In addition to direct comedic enjoyment, releasing or undercutting tension also allows us to relieve mental stress by intellectually and/or emotionally confronting uncomfortable truths (Rowe & Regehr, 448, 450, 455; Watson, 38). These confrontations are facilitated by the fact that joking releases the inherent tension of uncomfortable subjects and in doing so makes them more intellectually or emotionally approachable (Rowe & Regehr, 448, 450, 455; Watson, 38). For instance, medical professionals describe how dark humour can be used to allow them, their colleagues, and their patients to confront situations like death and disease (Rowe & Regehr, 448, 450, 455; Watson, 38). The ability to confront these situations lowers the amount of mental stress they can impose on an individual and makes said individual more calm. It should be noted that the releasing of tension from uncomfortable subjects does not belittle the seriousness of the situation. For example, a patient joking about their terminal illness is not an indication that they do not understand the seriousness of their condition but is rather a tool that can help them confront its seriousness.

via: runt-of-the-web.com

We can see several examples of humour providing an arena for confronting uncomfortable truths and a means of relieving mental stress in It’s Always Sunny. For instance, the episode “The Gang Finds a Dead Guy” focuses heavily on death, a topic that is presumably uncomfortable for audience members. The discomfort with the subject and its existence in the real world presumably causes a viewer some degree of mental stress. However, the show is able to relieve this stress by having characters respond to it in irrational and immoral ways. For instance, “The Gang” responds to the potentially serious and stressful set up of a man dying at the bar by openly expressing their disgust towards cleaning the booth after the fact and by Dennis and Mac using the death to hit on the man’s granddaughter. The characters’ actions allow the tension and mental stress to be released as the seriousness of death is juxtaposed and undercut by “The Gang’s” complete lack of respect, self-awareness, and immorality. This type of release in tension and mental stress would be harder if not impossible if the characters involved were good people. For instance, if good people found a body in their bar, their reaction would be likely be to demonstrate respect to the subject by taking a solemn attitude towards cleaning up and not using the tragedy for their own gain. While this would be the “right thing to do,” it would also fail to release tension and would prevent mental stress relief.

Vandalizing Social Values and Standards

Another way we can understand why audience respond positively to bad people in comedies is by considering its connection to the “benign violation” theory of humour. Benign violation theory understands humour as the intersection between socially banalities, which are concepts and actions deemed to be normal, appropriate, or acceptable, and social violations, which are concepts and actions deemed to be strange, offensive, or unacceptable (McGraw & Warner, 9-15; Plester, 107). The theory explains that humour works when it successfully mixes elements from both states (McGraw & Warner, 9-15; Plester, 107). For example, a person eating a pie, by being extremely commonplace, would be too banal an action to be funny while a person falling asleep and suffocating in a pie, by containing extremely dark themes, would be too much of a social violation. However, a person getting hit in the face with a pie is funny because it violates social standards without introducing too much discomfort.

One concept that can be drawn from this theory is that, to some degree, taboo or offensiveness is inherent to functional humour. This aspect of the benign violation theory of humour can be used to understand the appeal of “The Gang” to comedy audiences. In particular, our standards of what makes a person good or bad are connected to our values and standards of appropriateness, good people tend to follow and respect these concepts while bad tend to people violate them. Therefore, it can be assumed that bad people in comedies, by violating social values and standards, provide more opportunities for benign violations than their more moral counterparts. This indicates that the same traits that makes “The Gang” bad people also allows them to violate numerous social norms and practices in a comedic context.

via: reddit.com

The theme of social taboo and benign violation is seen throughout various elements of the show from individual lines of dialogue to multi-season plotlines. One such example is “The Gang’s” treatment of Matthew Mara aka “Rickety Cricket” (David Hornsby). Throughout multiple seasons of the show, “The Gang” is seen ruining the life of Rickety Cricket as their actions transform him from a successful priest to a disfigured, drug-abusing homeless man. During this time, “The Gang” frequently berate Rickety Cricket (usually by referring to him as “street rat”), manipulate him into performing embarrassing or dangerous acts, and deny any responsibility for ruining his life. “The Gang’s” treatment of Rickety Cricket, while not being so aggressive or malicious as to be too socially unacceptable to be funny, perform benign violations on several social standards on the treatment of clergy and the homeless, manipulation, responsibility and simple manners. Conversely, if “The Gang” acted as good people and treated Rickety Cricket with respect, there would be no violation of social norms or values and would be too benign to be funny.

Affirmation of Moral Order

While the previous sections have shown how comedies lend themselves to immoral and ignorant characters, it does come with one condition. In particular, comedies, much like other fictional genres, cannot allow bad people to succeed. In television comedies, this typically takes the form of the character returning to a neutral state of being and/or having their poor actions affect them negatively. This pattern is similar to the Shakespearean notion of the Great Chain of Being, which demonstrates that any disruption to the natural hierarchy of natural and supernatural entities will be punished as order is restored. For example, Macbeth disrupts the Great Chain of Being by killing King Duncan and is himself killed as the rightful heir takes the crown order is restored. This creates a satisfying narrative because it reaffirms the audiences faith in the Great Chain of Being as well as concepts of good and evil. Conversely, if Macbeth keeps the crown at the end of the play, the Great Chain of Being remains disrupted and leaves audiences uneasy and unsatisfied. While there are narratives that can use a similar uneasiness and dissatisfaction to their advantage, such as mystery or horror, comedies almost always restore their order.

The main difference between the structure of modern and Shakespearean works is that the modern works replace the Great Chain of Being concept of order with modern moral codes. For example, when Wile E. Coyote tries to kill the Roadrunner, he is disrupting the modern moral code that killing is wrong. To restore order, the show depicts him constantly and spectacularly failing to kill the Roadrunner and almost always ending the episode in the same state as the beginning of the show. It should be noted that modern narratives can sometimes allow a bad person to succeed, but only if they perform a redemptive act. For example, several sitcoms allow selfish, sexually manipulative and/or promiscuous characters to have meaningful relationships if they demonstrate some form of selflessness or personal growth. Arcs like these allow the bad person to succeed because they reaffirm the moral order by submitting to it.

via: fanaru.com

The fate of “The Gang” in It’s Always Sunny exemplifies this reaffirmation of moral order. The main characters are constantly seen failing in their various schemes, typically due to their own immoral actions or the actions of other members of “The Gang.” For instance, one episode focuses on Dennis attempting to manipulate one of his exes to sleep with him while helping Charlie manipulate the Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) into a relationship. This results with each member of “The Gang” failing to execute and/or intentionally sabotaging Dennis’ plan until he and Charlie both fail. In this instance, moral order is disrupted when Dennis and Charlie try to manipulate women into being attracted to them and is restored when they fail. Additionally, most of the main characters are seen constantly failing to reach their lifelong aspirations. For instance, until the last season, Charlie is seen constantly failing in his attempts to get together with the Waitress and when he does, he is shown instantly regretting it. The only member of “The Gang” that has arguably achieved their goals is Frank, who only wants to preserve his “fringe” lifestyle of abject poverty, substance abuse, and meaningless (usually purchased) sex. Frank is allowed to succeed because his goal of living poorly without any greater aspiration reaffirms “The Gang’s” position at the bottom of the moral order.


This article has outlined how the depiction of bad people in comedies like It’s Always Sunny can appeal to audiences by providing immediate enjoyment from a release of tension and a subversion of social norms as well as deeper mental stress relief from allowing audiences to confront uncomfortable truths. These were in addition to the condition that audiences will respond positively to bad people in comedies if they fail to succeed and reinforce moral order. As with any piece of media, it should be noted that none of these concepts work without a show that is excellently executed in all facets of production which It’s Always Sunny has been able to do for 12 seasons. It should be interesting to see where the show’s creators take the main characters in the coming seasons and what horrifying things we will find ourselves laughing at next.

Works Cited

Carr, Jimmy, and Lucy Greeves. The Naked Jape: Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes. Penguin Publishing, 2007.

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Wikipedia, 6 March 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Always_Sunny_in_Philadelphia. Accessed 13 March 2018.

“‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’ Renewed for Record Tying Seasons 13 and 14” The Hollywood Reporter, 6 March 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Always_Sunny_in_Philadelphia. Accessed 13 March 2018.

McGraw, Peter & Joel Warner. The Humor Code: a global search for what makes things funny. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014.

Plester, Barbra. The Complexity of Workplace Humour Laughter, Jokers, and the Dark Side of Humour. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2016.

Rowe, Alison and Cheryl Regehr. “Whatever Gets You Through Today: An Examination of Cynical Humor Among Emergency Service Professionals.” Journal of Loss and Trauma. 15, No. 5 (2010): 448-464.

Watson, Katie. “Gallows Humor in Medicine.” The Hastings Center Report. 41, No. 5 (2011): 37-45.

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66 Comments

  1. It’s a great show. It avoids the usual pitfalls of cringe comedy because the characters are so gleefully hateful (with the possible exception of Charlie, who is degraded and contemptible: a literal rat-man, but honest and possessed of a conscience,) that all and any misfortune that befalls them is entirely self-created and deserved, and comes like sunshine.

    I’m particularly intrigued by Dennis’s journey from vain womanizer to full-on sociopath and possible serial-killer, the hilarious morass of Mac’s sexuality, and Dee’s incredible balancing act as sometimes an object of pity, but mostly the trashiest, meanest giant bird in the world.

    • TheCropsey

      I adore this show. Although, I disagree that “‘The Gang’s’ treatment of Rickety Cricket [is not] so aggressive or malicious as to be […] socially unacceptable,” as The Gang’s behavior towards Cricket, each other, and everyone they come into contact will pushes depravity to its logical extreme, in my opinion. I always thought the nugget of comedy at the show’s center was 1) absurdism and exaggeration (parodying the acceptable foibles of classic sitcom characters from shows like The Honeymooners or Taxi) and 2) radical acceptance of everyone’s capacity to be terrible people. The Gang are almost analogous to cardinal sins personified in Early Modern morality plays: we can recognize their “bad” traits in ourselves and identify which gang member (e.g.: which variety of human weakness) we find in ourselves the most. We can then use that information to look inward, see that we ourselves aren’t so bad after all and understand the potential fallout of letting those proclivities get the best of us. I think that’s where the quazi-social acceptability of Sunny really comes in: we can confront ourselves– and ne’er-do-wells that range between the store brand hypocrites we meet every day to famous reprobates like Ted Bundy and Bernie Madoff– in a safe manner through The Gang.

  2. Hunter Starkey
    0

    I love this show and all of their characters. Great analysis of it. The cut away scene at the end of the school reunion (s07e13) to show how they’re actually dancing made me laugh so hard I thought I was going to pass out.

  3. I’ll never understand the appeal of this show.

    • It’s just brilliant. Almost slapstick like elements mixed with subtle but genius one liners and unpretentious satire makes me watch it again and again.

      And pushing Danny DeVito to do stranger and stranger things is the icing on the cake.

  4. The cast are brilliant and the side characters are all wonderful….from the McPoyle family to Artemis.

  5. I have never laughed literally out loud so much from this show but it is getting a bit repetitive.

  6. It took me a long time to decide..First I thought Charlie was the best character, then I noticed how superbly the guy who plays Dennis portrays him… then I thought it was Frank who was the best thing in the show.

    But Mac really holds his own. And in the last few seasons he has really been the best of the lot.

    • I’ve always liked Dee. She lures you in for ages, making you think ‘she’s actually pretty normal, why are they all so horrendous to her’. And then just when your sympathies are behind her, she’ll go and do something twenty times worse than any of the others, and all with a smile on her face and a song in her heart.

  7. Dennis’ descent into Ted Bundy 2 is one of the funniest and most disturbing things on television.

    • Great one! And the clip where Frank crawls from a leather couch, greased and naked, had me hyperventilating

  8. It is the best comedy on TV, my favourite ever!

    I need to watch one episode a day just to prepare me for life. I aspire to be like them.

  9. I got bored very quickly after maybe 2/3 of season one. There was something that irked me about the loathsome characters but I am no critic so shouldn’t even be typing this.

    • It improves massively once Danny Devito becomes a regular; if you want to pick and mix a few episodes for a taster, try:
      “Sweet Dee’s Dating a Retarded Person”
      “Chardee MacDennis: The Game of Games”
      “The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre”
      “Who Pooped the Bed?”
      “Charlie Work”
      “Frank Reynolds’ Little Beauties”
      “The Gang Dances Their Asses Off”
      “Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare”
      “The Gang Gets Held Hostage”
      “America’s Next Top Paddy’s Billboard Model Contest”
      “Paddy’s Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia”
      “The Nightman Cometh”
      “The Gang Wrestles for the Troops”
      “Mac and Charlie Write a Movie”
      Er, that’s more than a few; I could go on listing them, there’s loads of good ones!

    • I love this show, and have done for a long time. In contrary to many others, I think the earlier seasons are the best. Season one is just so audacious, season 2 seriously funny, season 3 is just outrageous and so inventive, while season 4 might just be the peak of their brilliance and on-screen chemistry. Also, in these earlier seasons the screenplays, scripts and interaction felt, and still feel, so fresh! Especially the last few seasons are more hit-or-miss in this regard, and similar to South Park the series seems to live of of past glories and inside jokes. Although this is sometimes very funny indeed, in my view it too often feels too much like a fan-pleasing affair. Nevertheless, it still is one of my favourite shows, and I am glad that they continue to create it. 🙂

    • Ossie Hyman
      0

      The first few episodes are a little awkward and stiff, but by season 2 its well on its way and flows really well.

  10. Rectule
    0

    It’s ebbed and flowed over the later seasons, but can be absolute genius.

    If you haven’t seen it, give it a shot!

    • Nicely summed up. There can be some episodes that don’t quite hit the mark but I think with the hardhitting, controversial, whatever you want to call it nature of the show, there is always going to be that risk.

      It’s still one of my all time favourite shows and there are very few comedies that can reach such high standards after so many seasons. I started watching it on the Virgin channel or whatever it was called but after 2 series I don’t think it was ever shown on UK TV. At least other criminally ignored and underappreciated shows like Seinfeld and Arrested Development made it onto BBC, even if they were subsequently hidden away late Sunday night.

      I have a lot of friends in America who watch it but never hear of any controversy around it, which always amazes me, given how close to the bone a lot of the shows get.

    • Lombardo
      0

      I found some of the most recent season were heading a little downhill, but they pulled it back with that incredible arbitration episode about the lottery ticket in the most recent season. Absolute gold.

  11. This show sounds really dark!

  12. Anyone who hasn’t, should pay the troll toll (Netflix sub) and watch this immediately.

  13. Sanjuan
    0

    Thanks for writing about my favourite comedy. I watched season 1-5 3 times.

  14. Unquestionably the funniest, most original comedy on TV.

  15. nolarmade69

    The concept of the “Homer Simpson” and “Peter Griffin’s” stupidity will never get old. This is the evolved form as audiences have also evolved.

  16. Something that I think is missing here is a point dedicated to how STUPID they all are. In my opinion their stupidity causes more things to happen in the show than them being bad people.

  17. I love it’s always sunny because all of the characters are flawed, even the ones they victimize are often so broken themselves that even though they’re portrayed as innocents, they’re really just as weak as “the gang”. My favourite part of the show is the constant fluctuations of power dynamics, it doesn’t apply to just one character but all of them.

  18. I’m constantly telling people to watch it. It’s my comedy version of The Wire. For some reason but, unlike The Wire, no one (and I mean no one) takes up my advice to watch it. It’s their loss

    • Nobody would listen to me with regards to the ‘The Wire’, only when the BBC told them it was alright. Have Netflix for the month (Orange Is The New Black season 2) so will try and get into ‘It’s Always Sunny”.

  19. I have to say I didn’t really get into it til about Season 4. It’s very about anti-bonding with the characters. You do have to be familiar with who they are to get the thing.

  20. I’ve noticed this trend since Seinfeld. Perhaps it’s the values of postmodernism that these shows, whether consciously or not, predictate themselves on.

  21. I’ve been with “Sunny” since the beginning. I couldn’t say what it would be like for someone who is introduced to the show at a later season, but for my experience the development of the show is vital to watch it in its present form. At the beginning of the show, the Gang is not altogether too bad. The humor, too, is more downplayed and not so bombastic as it becomes. We can more easily accept the premises and implications of the earlier episodes.

    The introduction of Frank is an important plot device. Frank, with bottomless pockets and willingness to fund schemes, enables much of the ridiculum that develops. He lets the latent debauchery within the gang awaken and flourish.

    What’s also interesting is that the characters themselves have verbally recognized this development and many others. Instead of becoming either tired or quaintly familiar with the realities of the show’s intercharacter dynamics and character roster, they have explicitly embraced it in such a way as to create a semi-permeable sort of fourth wall to delight the viewer.

    All in all, the show is brilliant. I can’t wait for the next season.

  22. Interesting analysis, but I think the author missed the main reason we enjoy It’s Always Sunny; because we’re mean and despicable and unlikable too. We all express, at some point or another, the negative qualities embodied by Dee, Charlie, Mac, Frank, and Dennis. Watching the gang do these horrific things lets us vicariously express those negative qualities of ourselves without the shame or fear, and that release from our own guilt is the real catharsis.

  23. Sarai Mannolini-Winwood

    A great discussion and a really good theoretical analysis that could be used to apply to other shows. It could just as easily apply to shows such as Unreal and You’re the Worst. Great work!

  24. Foul, depraved, immoral and disgusting. Probably the most brilliant television series of our time.

  25. This show really reflects the personality of our current generation, obsessed with dark humor and making light of uncomfortable situations. While I never could get into it this article really made sense as to why it’s been on for so long.

  26. This article was nicely put and is backed up by citing their sources. I absolutely agree with the statement “audiences respond positively to bad people in comedies because they release tension, allow us to confront uncomfortable truths, and vandalize social norms.” I always was so intrigued as to why people such as myself enjoy watching such horrible things being done to others and this article did put it more into perspective. *aplaude* very well done.

  27. Personally, I justify enjoying the gang’s awfulness because the writers don’t try to excuse it. My mind goes to Big Bang Theory, where the characters’ rudeness and misogyny is looked over because nerds are treated poorly. Here, sure, sometimes people are jerks to the gang, but as viewers we know that they are bad people. When they do something bad we are still laughing at the awful thing but still distancing ourselves from being someone who would ever do something like bully someone into becoming a homeless crack addict or goring a mall Santa. Whether or not thins is moral for us ass viewers, who knows? But damn if it’s not absolutely hilarious.

  28. I love this show. I think that the reason why it’s so successful is because it is not like any other sitcom. It’s because they’re so terrible that we watch it. It’s Always Sunny doesn’t cross the line, but leaps over it and sets it on fire. The situations are so ridiculous and the characters degenerate each season rather than get better. They never learn so it makes for a loop of comedy and endless material. It was called “Seinfeld on Crack” and while some just find it as people yelling over each other it fits completely to my dark sense of humor.

  29. “Affirmation of moral order” is a great point. I also think another important part of why the show works is because the characters are generally the right amount of self-aware. They can act outlandishly but in a way that is also usually reasonable given the context.

  30. Never properly got into this show- think I will after reading this.

  31. This show is awesome, what’s even better is the oddity that we are all so intrigued in watching these awful people continue to destroy each others lives. I got to write a fun paper for class on this same subject, but focused a little more on the psychological disorders that these characters have individually, and how they affect the gang all-together. Such an interesting and intelligently written show, and a great article!

  32. I love your analysis of why the Always Sunny style works, especially with the concept of dark humor as stress relief. I think it would be interesting to look at this approach to dark comedy in shows like Bojack Horseman, that are comedies but also wallow in serious drama and consequences for the characters.

  33. Very accurate and well written! Such a good, thought-provoking read

  34. Always sunny fuses escapism with familiarity. The situations are basic yet outlandish. I think its that paradox that makes it so enjoyable. The characters are consistent and well-developed. I think that is why the show has been so successful for so long.

  35. the new season is the best

  36. You raise some interesting points. I guess most things that are remarkable are multifaceted.

  37. I love the series as it brings joy and sunshine to my world. As a viewer of the show, I intend to come to liking all the characters.

  38. I’ve only seen a few episodes of the show but one thing I noticed right away was that the characters felt really real. It helped to grab my attention. I find that most comedies today are a little more predictable and follow a very safe story line (one that viewers are familiar and comfortable with), but this show and its characters are great at presenting more realistic situations that are easier for audiences to grasp.

  39. Very nice analysis for a very morally bankrupt and often nonsensical show. I was wondering if you considered that some people may enjoy the show by living vicariously through the characters moral ineptness. I don’t have any academic arguments to back this up but it seems to me that some may watch shows and characters featured in shows like “Always Sunny in Philidelphia” in order to “experience” bad, risky, or just plain degenerate behavior without having to face the repercussions of said actions. While we may not idolize or wish to mimic characters like Mac, Dee, Charlie, and especially Dennis, we may still express a desire to shed off social inhibitions that prevent us from acting how we desire in certain situations or to avoid topics we just don’t want to discuss or be exposed to. In this sense, I think characters with negative attributes may serve a fantasy or daydream like purpose for audiences to live indirectly through.

  40. totally worth diving into why exactly this show is so funny as often is directly contradictory to traditional comedy. Love the article.

  41. I had seen this whole series several times over through reruns on Comedy Central before I ever took the time to watch each episode in order. One of the best aspects of this show is that you can watch it either way and still enjoy it. The very first episode has just as little context leading into it as any other. You can watch any episode out of order and it will hold up on its own. However, if you choose to watch the series in order, it offers a whole new perspective. Although the premises and types of humor remain consistent throughout the series, there is a clear progression of absurdity that presents itself as you watch each consecutive season. You can tell that the producers were aware that they had a cult following on their hands, and rewarded the audience with more and more outlandish plots, clearly pushing the envelope of what they could get away with. The show started out ahead of its time, and had to adapt to stay ahead of itself, since it most definitely paved the way for many others like it. I strongly believe that without “Always Sunny,” we might not have some of the other raunchy and cringe-inducing shows we have today.

  42. Firstly, it is remarkably simple. People laugh at the kind of behaviour mentioned in the article because it is ridiculous. Everyone with half a brain knows it is “Bad” to do these things in real life. Some sadistic part of us will always want to see our darkest fantasies played out in make-believe.

  43. It is remarkably simple. People laugh at the kind of behaviour mentioned in the article because it is ridiculous. Everyone with half a brain knows it is “Bad” to do these things in real life. Some sadistic part of us will always want to see our darkest fantasies played out in make-believe.

  44. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on how the Gang always ends up at the bottom of the social order, yet they have wreaked havoc on other lives in the process and brought them lower as well. For example, Rickety Cricket, or the man who got hit by the car during the car accident episode in one of the earlier seasons. So, the Gang never truly ‘gets ahead,’ but they do ruin others’ lives in the process.

  45. ralphpolojames

    It’s interesting to consider someone as ignorant and slow-minded as Charlie Day as a legitimately emotionally unstable stalker that assists in the ruining of people’s lives. For someone who is typically favored by younger audiences for his jolly, happy-go-lucky attitude, Charlie would be labeled in real life as exactly this, a lost and curious gnat-like human that is completely incapable of getting the hint as to when to leave someone alone. Perhaps that’s what provides such immediate comic relief, realizing that in real life Charlie Day and The Waitress are actually married, but on screen, their lack of chemistry is clearly apparent although Charlie (the character) will refuse to admit it. I really enjoyed the scope you put on this article, it was incredibly well done.

  46. The idea I love the most about the show is that Dennis and Dee are the way the are because Frank raised them. 15 or so years into the show and its hard to remember that they used to refer to him as “Dad” until they found out who their real father was. At the same time, their personalities are all different. Like you mentioned, Dennis is a vain and aggressive sociopath, Dee is short tempered and violent, and Frank is a greedy hedonist. The only thing they share in common is that they are all inherently shallow, and that quality informs all of their decisions throughout the show. To me “Always Sunny” has one of the best apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree parent-sibling relationships in TV history. It’s right there with The Simpsons and Arrested Development.

  47. Comedy is one of the last free laughs left!

  48. Joseph Cernik
    Joseph Cernik
    0

    I like the section in here on the appeal of bad people, although I could never get into enjoying this show.

  49. Pamela Maria

    One of my all time favourite comedies. This analysis was a pleasure to read!

  50. A rather intriguing piece on the change times and themes of sitcoms, through an example as iconic as “It’s Always Sunny In Philedephia.”

    While so much of it is amazingly scripted, there’s no doubt that it opens itself up for a debate on issues that concern social and moral aspects of every day life.

  51. A rather intriguing piece on the changing times and themes of sitcoms, through an example as iconic as “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.”

    While so much of it is amazingly scripted, there’s no doubt that it opens itself up for a debate on issues that concern social and moral aspects of every day life.

  52. Interesting article!

    According to Steve Kaplan in his book “The Hidden Tools of Comedy”, comedy occurs when “an ordinary guy/gal faces insurmountable odds to what he/she wants to achieve, without adequate skills to achieve it, yet never losing hope.”

    He stresses how the gap between the skill set of the character and the skills required to achieve their goal creates comedy. For example: watching a character played by Danny DeVito in a high jump competition is likely to be funnier than watching a character played by LeBron James attempt the same feat.

    If we argue that the ability to perceive moral consequences is a skill required to function in society, then it would make sense why “bad people” who lack this skill would be entertaining to watch.

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