Cult films are defined by their status of a cult-following. When it comes to traditional weekly tv viewing formats, cult-followings are baked into the DNA of television consumption. Recall the ‘water cooler’ in the late 90’s where just about every office space lost hours of productivity to cohorts of seinfeld fans taking a break to discuss last night’s episode of seinfeld by the water cooler. By tradition, mainstream tv usually must become cult tv at some point or another. If the Office, or the Simpsons didn’t garner a cult following, then they probably would not have been renewed for nine to twenty more seasons. If a show needs to cultivate a cult following to breach mainstream status in the first place, then how does a cult-tv show stay afloat, gain popularity without ever becoming synonymous with the mainstream. One show managed to do just that and in fact just so happens to be the longest running live action sitcom to ever air. By weaponizing the status-quo, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia became one of the most Ubiquitously referenced cult-tv shows of our time.
Starting off with intertextual references, for every joke in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, there exists a website, a t-shirt, food product, viral meme, completely dedicated to re-delivering that joke in a new context. On season three, episode two, Charlie (Played by Charlie Day) introduces ‘The Green Man’ which as a prank of his where he would dress up in a head-toe green spandex suit and “run around like an asshole” (Dennis Reynolds S3E2). This episode aired in 2007, two years before Paul Sulyok founded the video game retailer ‘Green Man Gaming’ and used Charlie’s mascot as his own, without having to officially license anything since ‘the green man’ is not technically intellectual property but just a referenceable occurrence. Plenty of other referential websites exist such as “Dicktowel.com” but the websites just barely eclipse the sheer capitalization of memes and unlicensed products harvested from this show. Hopefully one will never see a cat wearing mittens in their lifetime, but if they do it was probably distributed by a lunatic fan of the series (S5E8). If a dopamine hungry teen ever scrolls upon a meme featuring the name “Pepe Silvia”, “The Trash Man”, “Mantis Toboggan”, “The Nightman” “The Dayman” “Rum Ham”, they might not know it yet but these are memes descending from the culture that Sunny indoctrinated us into.
It may seem as though It’s Always Sunny has graced audiences from all niches in one way or another to the same effect a show with mainstream status might. Naturally, this should give the show mainstream status except, the show is simply too divisive. To define ‘Cult’, Mathijs and Mendik describes cult-audiences as one who “regularly finds itself at odds with the prevailing cultural mores..that rub against cultural sensitivities and resist dominant politics”(Mathijs & Mendik 11). Too many episodes fit this description for there to be one perfect example. The pilot is a good sample to start with. Titled “The Gang Gets Racist”, Season One, Episode One of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Premiered on FX at ten o’clock at night on August 4th 2005 with a budget of $300 (Direct quote from creator, Rob McElhenny). In this episode, Dee Reynolds (played by Katlin Olson) introduces her African American friend to Dennis, Mac, and Charlie who become defensive at first sight of a black man saying “hey bro we don’t want any trouble” falsely under the impression that they are being robbed. After they share an awkward apology, the gang decide to try and prove they are not racist. Charlie does so, by bringing an African American date to the bar where his love interest works. Charlie approaches Waitress (we never learn her real name), the woman who he is head over heels for and attempts to win her favor by pointing to his date and saying “see that African American lady over there..well uh she’s my girlfriend and seeing as that I’m not racist, could I take you out this thursday” which surprisingly does not succeed to win her favor. Meanwhile Mac tries to convince Dee’s friend that he’s not racist and in a stroke of genius, he exclaims “Yes, ok, this is great. Because earlier you were implying that I was racist because you thought that I was implying that all black people are related. And then it turns out that you people actually are!” (S1E1). Silence follows for a moment, then the credits roll. The show always takes what is the current day status quo, and pits it against the Paddy’s Pub Gang. No matter what, by the end of an episode, the Gang somehow learns to become worse people. For that reason, a large sector of mainstream television audiences felt alienated by their decrepit morals, profound narcissism, and incessant need to be loud.
Most of what makes It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia successful is what also sets it apart from other shows. It provides a contrarian perspective that keeps the audience highly committed and rebellious in its appreciation just how Mathijs and Mendik Defined cult (Mathijs & Mendik 11). Although there are plenty of other cult shows it aligns with. Similar to Arrested Developtment’s habits of featuring henry winkler and jane lynch as recurring guest characters, so to does Sunny try to maintain an ensemble cast of recurring side characters (Cult TV PPXT). Including a ‘Fatty Mcgoo’ portrayed by Judy Greer (who also appeared on Arrested Development) as well as the Waitress, Rickety Cricket and plenty others. However unlike Arrested Development, only one cast member of It’s Always Sunny had stardom status before the show’s run was the one and only Danny Devito. After the first season wrapped, Fox studios posed Rob McElhenny and Charlie Day an ultimatum- either they write in a new character for Danny Devito or they get canceled (It’s Always Sunny Podcast episode 1). Low and behold Danny Devito makes his first appearance as Frank Reynolds-father to Dee and Dennis Reynolds in Season Two, Episode One. Similar to Alan Tudyk’s character in FireFly or Castiel in supernatural, the character of Frank would go on to be known by most consumers of online media whether or not they are familiar with source material it came from. Whether they knew him as Frank, Dr. Mantis Toboggan, or the Trashman, Danny Devito’s contributions to It’s always sunny not only reinvented the public’s perception of him but cemented the show’s relevance to our culture and how it represents the ever emerging counterculture to the mainstream.
No matter how successful It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia will become, their distaste for the status quo of what is right and what is wrong will always separate them from the mainstream as flagship series for counter-culture television.
Work Cited
McElhenney, Robert. Day, Charlie. The Always Sunny Podcast. Youtube 2022.
Mathijs, Ernest. Mendik, Xavier. The Cult Film Reader. Open University Press 2008.
“The Gang Gets Racist”. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season one, Episode one, FX. August 4th 2005
“Charlie Gets Crippled”. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season two, Episode one. FX. June 29th 2006
“The Gang Gets Invincible”. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season three, Episode two. FX. September 13th 2007.
“Paddy’s Pub, Home of the original Kitten Mittens”. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season five, Episode eight. FX. November 5th, 2009
Desser, David. Cult TV – Youth.pptx. December, 2022.