It’s crazy to think that a low-budget comedy with a punk-rock mentality from the earlier days of the FX Network has somehow turned into the channel’s flagship program. It’s also about to enter its fourteenth season and will therefore share the record for the longest-running live-action comedy series. Against all odds, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has proven itself to be a massive success. It helped to launch the careers of its entire cast and ushered in a more twisted brand of comedy into the mainstream.
It’s Always Sunny has subtly changed over the course of its decade-plus run, but it’s always remained the same at its core and has never forgotten what it is. As both the series and the creators and cast have grown throughout the years, it’s only natural that It’s Always Sunny has taken a number of risks and made ambitious plays, introducing more wacky characters and storylines. The series may have an exceptional core cast of characters that is the opposite of bloated, but it has also introduced many bizarre ing characters to help flesh out the series.
With that said, here are the 20 New Character Additions That Saved It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (And 10 That Hurt It)!
Saved: Ernie
Ernie is a character who is so integral to It’s Always Sunny that you may not have even noticed that he’s quietly been present through much of the series. Ernie is simply a barfly who is always seen in the background of Paddy’s Pub.
During the show’s earlier years, there was much more of an effort to crowd the background of the bar with derelicts to help sell the dive bar aesthetic. Sadly, David Zdunich, who portrayed Ernie, ed away in 2009. However, in memoriam of the actor and his character, a picture of him still hangs up in the bar to this day.
Saved: The Moyles
It's Always Sunny went a bit overboard with the Moyles. The Moyles act a lot like the family from Texas Chain Saw Massacre, if they were transported into a comedy and things only became progressively weirder.
The Moyles are a milk-loving bunch of lunatics who are a persistent thorn in the gang’s side. It’s truly impossible to predict what these characters will get up to next. Just when you think you’ve met all of the clan, another one pops up (Pappy Moyle was even played by Guillermo del Toro). The Moyles are often too much to handle and, thankfully, the show has started holding them, though they’ll probably never completely leave the series.
Hurt: Pop-Pop
Heinrich “Pop-Pop” Landgraf is Dee and Dennis’ grandfather and he basically spends his limited appearances in the series confined to a hospital bed on life . Pop-Pop may seem like an ordinary elderly loved one, but the show slowly reveals that in his younger years, he was not only an esteemed Nazi, but also a personal friend of its previous leader during WWII. It’s certainly a discouraging light to paint the character in.
Dennis and Dee have to deal with their grandfather in “Pop-Pop: The Final Solution”, when they must decide if they should take him off life or not, a decision that they hand over to the Lawyer.
Saved: Duncan & Z
Duncan and Z are too raggedy vagrants who Frank inexplicably meets under a bridge and then befriends. Frank tries to inject these strange personalities into the gang's activities in "Charlie Kelly: King of the Rats", though they also make an unusual appearance in "Dee Gives Birth" as musicians of sorts.
Z has popped up a few more times in the series, even as recently as season twelve, so the show may not be done finding unusual uses for this character. Frank shows off so few of his friends that these two make for a satisfying reveal.
Saved: Josh Groban
Musician Josh Groban has turned into an interesting running joke throughout the course of It’s Always Sunny. Dee and Artemis have both voiced their love for the singer during the show (and have even gone so far as to call themselves “Grobanites”), but in the fantasy-heavy “The Gang Saves the Day”, the series takes this one step further.
Dee’s fantasy sequence in the episode sees her become a celebrity who is even married to Josh Groban (before she inevitably divorces him for Brad Pitt). Groban appears in the episode, lovingly by Dee’s side, and it’s a rather fun gag.
Hurt: Mac’s Mom
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with Mac’s mother, it’s just that there’s really not a lot to this one-note character — actually, calling her a half-note character might even be more appropriate. Mac’s mom likes to smoke and to grunt, and that’s about it.
This isn’t exactly a character who's going to spill into flowing monologues. You could probably count the amount of words that she’s said throughout the course of the show on one hand. It’s her simple nature that makes her so reliable, but that’s about it. Mac’s mom is often played in contrast in Charlie’s mom, which creates quite the volatile dynamic.
Saved: Da Maniac
The gang have a knack for making friends with unstable homeless characters, and Da Maniac is one of the better examples of this. Da Maniac is laden with problems and handicaps, most notably a heavy case of paranoia and PTSD.
When the gang puts together a wrestling scheme, they enlist the efforts of Da Maniac (playing into the fact that he’s played by former wrestler, Roddy Pipper). However, it soon becomes clear that his skills might not be worth the hassle. Da Maniac strangely returns in “Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare” when the gang ropes him into their Invigaron pyramid scheme, though he turns out to be an incredible salesman in the area.
Saved: Bruce Mathis
During the earlier seasons of It's Always Sunny, when Frank is still new to the show, the series dips its toe into a few storylines that deal with Dee and Dennis’ somewhat complicated family tree. Bruce Mathis turns out to be Dennis and Dee’s biological father and, when the two make an effort to reconnect with him, they realize that he’s basically the opposite of Frank and themselves.
Bruce is selfless, caring, and giving with his money, and this clash in personalities is frankly too much for the group to bear. After Dennis and Dee’s mother es away, Bruce comes back into their lives, but they make things even worse between them. He even calls them “the most horrible people alive.”
Hurt: Barbara Reynolds
Barbara Reynolds, Frank’s ex-wife and the mother of Dee and Dennis, may not appear in many episodes, but she’s still easily one of the most wicked characters to appear throughout It’s Always Sunny.
Barbara is a callous and selfish character who’s clearly transplanted many of her undesirable qualities onto her own children. Barbara wreaks emotional havoc on the gang when she starts up a “relationship” with Mac and gets under everyone’s skin. In the show’s third season, it’s revealed that an unsuccessful neck lift surgery leads to Barbara’s end, but perhaps it’s a good thing that the show didn’t get more time to experiment with this brutal character.
Saved: Principal Brian McInytre
Brian McIntyre is a high school principal who enters the gang’s orbit when he hires Dee as a substitute teacher and Charlie as a janitor. Problems quickly arise for both Charlie and Dee, and the beleaguered McIntyre is the one who consistently has to reprimand them and try to comprehend their nonsense. McIntyre gets worn down more and more and this is made all the better by the fact that Dave Foley plays the character.
McIntyre returns in “Gun Fever: Still Too Hot”, albeit as a middle school principal. He explains that his tenure led to him transferring schools rather than an outright termination.