The 15 Best Episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia — Ranked!

With 162 episodes across 15 seasons since 2005, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has something for every mood.

Considering the gang is in a perpetual maelstrom of chaos, there will always be the peak hijinks of Mac (Rob McElhenney), Charlie (Charlie Day), Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Dee (Kaitlin Olson), and Frank (Danny DeVito) to revisit again and again. 

It’s a show that provides a surplus of laughs, escapism, loads of recurring bits, and numerous Easter eggs for the casual viewer and hardcore fan alike. 

Taking into account that hearty amount of episodes, this ranking is entirely subjective. Grab a pint and check out all the ridiculousness of our ranking of the best 15 episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

15. The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore (Season 7 Episode 2)

Possibly one of the most extreme episodes, “The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore,” touts stray dogs, spray tans, drinking alcohol from sunscreen bottles, and a spoof on Cast Away with a rum-soaked ham as Wilson.

Nostalgia inspires Dee and Dennis to take the gang on a jaunt to the Jersey shore, the site of many of their Reynolds family vacations. However, it is not a day at the beach for the siblings — it’s quite traumatic, actually — but Mac, Frank, and Charlie have a blast. Mac and Frank get plastered on rum ham, lost at sea, and then rescued by a guido-filled party boat.

It is Charlie, though, who has the best time. After 7 seasons of pining over and stalking the Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), she runs into him on the beach and they spend a magical evening, frolicking along the shore and collecting sea specimens. It’s too bad she was tripping on ecstasy and doesn’t remember anything about it.

Charlie: I guess that’s just summer love.

14. The Janitor Always Mops Twice (Season 14 Episode 6)

A dark, seedy story involving diarrhea poisoning, a cherry racket, and the Waitress is told from Charlie’s perspective in noir black and white.

The gang assumes roles to fit the genre: Charlie is the brooding detective, Dennis is a gangster with Mac as one of his goons, and Dee starts out as a questionable goon and then switches it up to an undercover cop.  

This episode pulls heavily from a film noir aesthetic at great success, and the gang in these stereotypical roles is hilarious. It’s made even funnier when they step out of character to comment on those roles. 

13. The Gang Gets Whacked Part 1 and Part 2 (Season 3 Episodes 12 and 13)

After coming into possession of $25,000 worth of cocaine that belongs to the mob, insane scenarios play out as the gang scrambles to avoid getting whacked. The first two-parter of the series goes hard with the gang making one horrible decision after the other.

Mac’s wiseguy act earns him the name “Pussy Hands” and a list of chores, while Dee and Charlie get hopped up on their own supply.

From cutting coke with flour to stealing a racehorse named Peter Nincompoop and pimping out Dennis at a country club, they miraculously come out alive with Frank’s solid-gold pimp chalice to thank. 

12. The D.E.N.N.I.S System (Season 5 Episode 10)

The D.E.N.N.I.S System is Dennis’ fool-proof way of picking up chicks. And apparently, it’s something that cannot be taught, at least not with Mac, Charlie, Frank, and Dee as pupils. 

The funniest part of the episode is the rest of the gang perverting his system, much to Dennis’ chagrin, and coming up with their own idiotic systems. Mac’s is just “swimming in [Dennis’] wake” and Frank’s is called “scraps,” which is the same as Mac’s but he rides both their coattails.

The system is referenced many times in future episodes, making the episode a must for this list. One of those references includes It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 10 Episode 2, “The Gang Group Dates,” where Dee unveils the D.E.E. System (Do them, Establish low rating, Empower). Still, it only gets her the reputation of the “whore that bangs everyone.”

11. Charlie Work (Season 10 Episode 4)

Charlie takes his custodial career very seriously, and this episode with a visit from the health inspector is a prime example of that, and how he gets no help from the rest of the gang. He has to have some sort of superpower to get a passing grade while his cagey colleagues get caught up in a scheme at the pub that involves live chickens, 4,000 steaks, and airline miles. 

And to top it all off, Frank has clogged a toilet by flushing his shoes in an attempt to “feel in control.”

There are all kinds of shenanigans as the gang somehow hides both the mess of the bar and evidence of the steak scam. Charlie comes in clutch and saves their health rating, but the rest of the group doesn’t care, leaving Charlie’s work grossly unappreciated. 

10. The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention (Season 5 Episode 4)

This fifth season episode, “The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention,” highlights how close Frank and Charlie have become.

Frank: I don’t know how many years on this Earth I got left. I’m going to get really weird with it.

Frank going off the deep end of debauchery hits Charlie the hardest. Dictating his intervention letter to Dennis marks the first mention of the mysterious Night Crawlers game that goes on to be continually referenced, particularly in order to underscore the Frank/Charlie bond.

Ten seasons later—on the next entry, Number 9 on this list— It’s Always Sunny… continues to explore the ups and downs of their relationship. 

9. The Gang goes to Ireland / The Gang’s Still in Ireland (Season 15 Episodes 5 and 6)

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 15 Episodes 5 and 6 is the two-parter that begins the gang’s epic international adventure all the way to Ireland, which, as it turns out, is Charlie’s homeland, not Mac’s.

This throws Mac into an identity crisis (what else is new, amirite?), and he continually reclassifies and ranks the things he identifies with, much to the annoyance of the rest of the group.

Other running bits are used and used well, but nothing compares to the genius of revealing Charlie’s fluency with the Gaelic language after 15 seasons of the gang teasing him about being illiterate.

Charlie: Well, if “Gaelic” or “Irish” is what you call the magical gibberish language that my pen pal taught me, uh, yes, Mac, I can.
Mac: So you’re telling me that you can’t read English, but you can speak and read an entirely different language?
Charlie: I can read it, I can’t speak it.
Mac: How can you read something you can’t speak? It doesn’t make any sense.
Charlie: I don’t know, it’s the mystery of the magic. Plus, you know, these are Irish words, and my mouth is made for American words.

However, when Charlie meets his pen pal, who turns out to be his biological father, he learns he can speak it as well. Father and son are even connected musically, which is demonstrated by their impromptu tag-team duet at a local pub. 

Olson’s physical comedy is a standout on these episodes, and Dennis denying he has COVID is way funnier than it ought to be. Dennis violently holding back the need to cough while at the realtor’s office is brilliantly executed by Howerton.

These two episodes set up the last two of the 15th season, concluding with the hilarious, and also emotional, finale, Season 15 Episode 8, “The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain.” 

8. The Gang Gets a New Member (Season 6 Episode 8)

There’s some reshuffling in the group on the eighth episode of Season 6, “The Gang Gets a New Member.”

Jason Sudeikis guest stars as Schmitty, a character very unlike the affable Ted Lasso. He was an original member of the gang until Charlie gave Mac and Dennis an ultimatum, him or Schmitty. They kick Schmitty out of a moving car.

Much to Charlie’s disappointment, Frank suggests they reach out to their old friend. They invite him to rejoin the gang and he accepts. Although the group dynamic has changed a lot in ten years, Schmitty is not impressed, nor does he like the rules and rituals that must be followed. 

It turns out that Charlie was right about Schmitty not being the right fit for the gang. They “kick” him out of the car again, yelling “You’re out of the gang, Schmitty!” and then go get Charlie back. He’s gotten a job as a school janitor where Dee is now teaching drama at her old high school, beginning a storyline that carries through to the next episode, “Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth.”

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

On It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 4 Episode 10, Sweet Dee has a heart attack as the title denotes, but more importantly this episode marks the birth of the Pepe Silvia meme.

It is Charlie’s hopped-up, stressed-out (and illiterate) brain that comes up with an entire conspiracy in the mail room of a job he and Mac got together (submitting a joint resume) in order to get insurance. 

Charlie: Why is the government not providing us with health insurance? What is this some kind of socialist country or some kind of communist dictatorship? This is insane, it’s un-American. You don’t pay for health insurance. That’s crazy.

His mail sorting system would make any type A’s head explode—it includes burning a lot of it. Mac is working upstairs, having co-opted an office whose occupant is on vacation, inspired by the 1987 film, The Secret of My Success, of which he can’t remember the ending, but can remember the lyrics to Yello’s “Oh Yeah.” 

While Charlie and Mac are on their corporate adventure, Dee and Dennis decide to get fit rather than deal with health insurance. Their spin class antics are hilarious.

Frank, the only one of the gang with insurance, takes a bunch of prescription pills, wanders the streets doped up out of his mind, and gets committed, which leads to a nice little tribute to DeVito’s first film role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. 

In the end, Charlie and Mac are fired, Dennis has a reaction to the Mexican collagen injected into his face by Dee, and Frank breaks out of the psychiatric facility. Each plotline branches off from Dee’s heart attack at the beginning, creating three strong narratives with endless laughs.

6. Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare (Season 2 Episode 3)

This second season episode really leans into the irreverence that the series would come to be known for, showing just how irredeemable these characters can be.

The show starts to hit its stride and play with social issues fast and loose. It also marks one of the first times (of many) where members of the gang try to scam the system.

Dennis: I’d like some welfare, please.

Dennis and Dee go to ridiculous lengths to avoid work and end up addicted to crack. Singing Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” on their stoop while drinking forties out of paper bags is a classic scene in the show’s history. 

5. The Nightman Cometh (Season 4 Episode 13)

This ambitious episode from the fourth season gives us Musical!Director!Charlie and marks the fifth appearance of recurring fan fave, Artemis (Artemis Pebdani), assisting him.

It boasts loads of quotable (and singable) lines that are sidesplittingly funny. Frank singing “boy’s hole” instead of “boy’s soul” will never not make me crack up. The same goes for Dee’s song about her character, Coffee Shop Princess, wanting to “bang this baby.”

Mac: Laughs are cheap. I’m going for gasps. Gasps are where it’s at.

“The Nightman Cometh” produces both laughs and gasps the whole way through as well as succeeds in getting inappropriate lyrics stuck in one’s head.  

The episode was such a hit with audiences that the real gang took it on the road with “The Nightman Cometh Live!” tour that had additional songs. The show proves it can really do any genre — its noir episode made it onto this list at number 14 — and can even branch out into live theater with great success. 

4. The Gang Gets Analyzed (Season 8 Episode 5)

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 8 Episode 6, “The Gang Gets Analyzed,” is in my personal top 5 as well. Mostly because of the therapist’s reactions to their mental mayhem. Kerri Kenney is a brilliant straight man to the gang’s debauched comedic antics, and it makes the gags even funnier.

She goes toe to toe with Ivy League-educated Dennis who thinks of himself as her colleague rather than a narcissist who is gaslighting Mac into taking “size pills,” which is actually Mexican ephedra. Mac’s session—which includes his classic quote, “First of all, through God, all things are possible, so jot that down.”—further reveals his issues with body dysmorphia and Dee just lies the whole time.

Frank, who doesn’t believe in therapy, folds rather quickly, telling the therapist “you unzipped me.”

Yes, the gang needs therapy for many reasons, but dirty dishes get them in there. The therapist finally cracks when they all yell at her to decide who should do them. “Dee, do the fucking dishes!” to which Dee responds in a rage, breaking said dishes—that they brought along with them in a garbage bag, naturally.

3. Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs (Season 11 Episode 5)

This episode lets us glimpse into Mac and Dennis playing house. Dennis is in the husband/provider role and Mac is his neglected, stay-at-home partner. This dynamic is hilarious, as are their struggles with suburbia.

The nights play out like a horror movie with obnoxious house sounds. The daily irritations of “existing” in this environment exacerbate their bickering in the funniest of ways. By the eighth day, they are ready to tap out. 

Dennis: I thought this place would soften my edges but they’re sharper than ever. 

Due to the (super weird) nature of the bet they made with Frank, they have to stick it out. The montage that follows perfectly encapsulates the jokes thus far. It features Dennis’ commuter road rage, Mac neglecting the dog, neighbor Wally pushing Dennis to his breaking point, and a bit that becomes one of many great memes from the show’s legacy (see also: Pepe Silvia at Number 7 on this list) when Mac serves Dennis his “famous” mac and cheese for the umpteenth time. 

They miraculously make it the whole month but, sadly, the dog does not.

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

Charlie: Cheating is tolerated, it’s accepted. It’s like a big part of the game.

With a rule like this, you know that a game created by Dee, Dennis, Mac, and Charlie, is bound to be pure bedlam. And it is, in the most delightful of ways.

A mash-up of board games with a helluva lot of nonsense thrown in becomes CharDee MacDennis: The Game of Games. It consists of three levels; the first is Mind: Trivia, Puzzles, and Artistry, advancing to Body: Physical Challenge, Pain and Endurance, and lastly, Spirit: Emotional Battery and Public Humiliation.

The Season 11 opener becomes a sequel to this popular episode, “CharDee MacDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo,” wherein Frank suggests a fourth level: Horror, to which no one agrees, obviously.

From a civilized pre-game wine and cheese reception to an all-play grape gobble, watching this classic bottle episode is almost as fun as actually playing it.

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

On this episode, the gang tries desperately to win an award all while feigning disinterest over such a thing. 

Their attempt is so far off the mark and ends with the gang spitting on their customers to get them to leave and no award to their name. At least the episode gets the Number 1 spot on this list. That’s something, right?

The service and environment of Paddy’s Pub is a wholly unique and one-of-a-kind experience. By trying to emulate the popular bar, Sudz, the gang’s true colors inevitably bleed through, like having Mac and Dee recreate the sexual tension between two of Sudz’s employees.

Dennis: This isn’t will they or won’t they? This is I know they won’t, and I know I don’t want them to.

Anytime Charlie gets to demonstrate his musical talents is a wondrous treat. During this episode, we are treated to two songs, written and performed by the artist himself. For some reason, he gets it in his head to do a Best Song as well, which confounds the others.

The intended Best Song is a charming little ditty à la Randy Newman. The one he actually performs for the Paddy’s patrons is after escaping the basement where Frank locked him so he wouldn’t do the song. He’s filthy and high from sniffing spray cans, and his song is nothing like the original.

Going for mainstream popularity and public recognition spotlights just how dysfunctional the gang is and how ineffectual they are at running their business, which is the very reason to watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

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Do you agree with the ranking? What does your list of top 15 episodes look like? Let us know in the comments below!

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Seasons 1-15 are streaming on FXX and FX on Hulu.

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