‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Jokes That Gen Z Fans Might Need Explained
Nearly 20 years into It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s historic campaign as the longest-running live-action sitcom in American history, many of its current fans are old enough to be the kids of the characters on the show — especially the ones in North Dakota.
It’s incredible that, for a generation whom older, dumber comedy fans constantly deride for being overly sensitive and averse to dark humor, Generation Z has shown themselves to be as big of fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as their Millennial and Gen X counterparts. It’s Always Sunny clips and compilations are major crowd-pleasers on TikTok, and the cult-like community of Danny DeVito enthusiasts counts believers of all ages amongst its ranks. Every day, a teen or twenty-something who doesn’t even have a cable subscription falls in love with FX’s biggest-ever comedy hit, and the kids are more than welcome in the Always Sunny fandom, so long as they only go down the slide one at a time.
However, 19 years is a long time on the air for a show that so often features topical storylines and punchy pop-culture references. And so, some of the subjects of early Always Sunny episodes have aged out of accessibility for contemporary viewers who didn’t even know that Mark Wahlberg was in a bullshit movie about a bartender who played for the Philadelphia Eagles.
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Thus, here are a handful of Always Sunny gags that might need an explanation to new viewers who aren’t quite sure why Mac’s recording his Project Badass series on those weird black boxes…
That “New Kids on the Block Movie” Was About A Real Bartender Who Really Made The Eagles Roster
This one is a bit of a double-whammy, because I doubt any Zoomers even know that, before Mark Wahlberg starred in a movie about a Philadelphia bartender who made it out of Eagles tryouts and after he filled up his rap-sheet with literal hate crimes, he was in a boy band called The New Kids on the Block. Then, in 2006, he made Invincible, a biopic about real-life bartender-turned-wide-receiver Vince Papale that doubled as the absolute perfect hit film for Always Sunny to parody. Sadly, when the Always Sunny crew attended Eagles open tryouts, nobody got Invincible — Frank’s hand-cannon made sure of that.
Frank’s Stint in the Psych Ward Was Both A Classic Movie Reference and A Killer Meta-Joke
Back in 1975, DeVito appeared in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, adapted from the novel of the same name. Thirty-three years later, that breakthrough gig was adapted into a killer parody as part of the B-plot of “Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack,” in which Frank, zonked out on prescription drugs, finds himself in a psychiatric facility not unlike the Oregon State Hospital where the Ken Kesey novel and Miloš Forman film take place. For fans with no knowledge of either, Frank’s brave escape in the closing scene must have felt illogically dramatic.
Maureen Ponderosa’s Chest-Pounding Was From A Different “New Kids on the Block” Movie
The characters of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia really love referencing Mark Wahlberg for some reason, but Dennis didn’t find his wife’s scare tactic when he stumbled home drunk and demanded a divorce in “Dennis Gets Divorced” nearly as entertaining as his Eagles tryout. In Fear, Marky Mark plays a charming but insidious sociopath (sound familiar?) and the self-inflicted bruising method that Maureen mastered to get Dennis and Mac out of “her” apartment was stolen straight from a pivotal scene in the 1996 sleeper hit.
Ski Movies in General
Seriously, anyone who hasn’t browsed the 1980s categories on Netflix or Max is missing an entire genre of bizarre comedy/romance/teen movies that peaked in the Reagan administration and made their last gasp with Hot Tub Time Machine decades later. Films like Better Off Dead, Ski School, Hot Dog and The Leading Edge inspired the most unexpected genre parody in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia history with “The Gang Hits the Slopes.” But it’s telling that the episode is a fan favorite even among people who don’t understand how fucking funny it is that Dean Cameron played a sex pest in an Always Sunny episode explicitly devoted to mercilessly mocking his biggest hit.