Rob McElhenney Reminds Us That Nobody Watched ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ for the First Decade
If you’re a massive It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan in 2025, chances are, you weren’t here 20 years ago when the budget was $200, Mac was into women and Frank was still far off-screen with his whoo-ur wife.
The humble origins of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are the stuff of TV legend. In the early 2000s, Rob McElhenney, frustrated with the constant auditioning and regular rejection that typifies an up-and-coming actor’s life in Hollywood, convinced Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton to shoot a short film about a bunch of a-holes living in his hometown of Philadelphia. Using a camcorder purchased with the proceeds from Glenn Howerton’s short-lived starring role on That ‘80s Show, the three friends filmed a rough cut of what would eventually become the Season One episode “Charlie Has Cancer” and sent it to as many agents and networks as they knew, eventually getting a bite from the rising Fox subsidiary FX.
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Today, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a sprawling, record-breaking sitcom empire, but, in McElhenney’s estimation, it took the series as long as 10 years to reach its current superstardom. As McElhenney’s second sitcom passion project, AppleTV+’s Mythic Quest, eyes a similar meteoric rise at the start of its fourth season, McElhenney appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to remind anyone who doubts that his workplace comedy about a video-game giant can become another phenomenon that Always Sunny didn’t hit the big time until around the time that they beat Wade Boggs — may he rest in peace.
“I love this show Mythic Quest, it’s very very funny, and I feel like it gets overshadowed by the (soccer) teams you own and by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia being on for, like, 28 years or whatever it’s been now,” Kimmel told McElhenney of his guest’s current scrappy, up-and-coming comedy series.
McElhenney opined of Mythic Quest’s little brother status compared to his flagship franchise, “I think it’s just waiting for its moment. I think people forget, because the show’s been on for so long, is that nobody watched Sunny for a decade.” McElhenney drove the point home, saying, “For real, (nobody watched Sunny) for six or seven seasons.”
“Nobody really watched it for six or seven years, but FX really believed in the show, and they kept putting it on the air and kept paying for it, and eventually, it just hit the zeitgeist and caught on,” McElhenney explained of those early, low-production-value seasons when Paddy’s Pub had only slightly better lighting than Charlie and Frank’s apartment when they’re playing nightcrawlers. “I think Mythic Quest is ready for that moment to happen.”
It’s no coincidence that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia took TV by storm right after it started to pump out incredibly quotable and meme-able episodes — the beginning of Season Six saw the premiere of the world-famous episode “The Gang Buys a Boat” and the introduction of “The Implication,” Season Seven brought us “Frank’s Pretty Woman” and the iconic line “Can I offer you a nice egg in this trying time,” and Season Eight featured “The Gang Dines Out” with all its classic reaction GIFs that still get regular usage today.
Mythic Quest just needs similarly meme-worthy episodes to enjoy its own time in the sun.
