The Always Sunny Iceberg Explained 

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My friend kept trying to get me to watch this show and I kept refusing but eventually he tricked me by inviting me on a boat and waiting till we were out there he basically forced me to watch it. He never actually said something would happen if I didn't but it felt implied.

Dennis isn't bisexual....he's what ever he needs to be in that moment to achieve his goals.

It’s hilarious listening to this after listening to the Sunny podcast, and realizing that you’ve put WAAAY more thought into these theories than the writers ever did.

6:46 I love the idea that day-man is supposed to be Charlie’s childhood idolized version of mac as he’s “master of karate and friendship for everyone” and Charlie wanted mac to play day-man and if Charlie associated his uncle with night I’d make sense he’d associate his friend with the day as thats when Charlie would see mac

I love how the theory of Charlie's idiocy is based on Mac and Dennis hitting him in the head and causing a hemorage, and not the fact that he was literally SHOT in the head the season prior.

You mentioned that we see them as their ideal selves, but missed the SINGLE in-show reference to this. The high school reunion. They put together this big dance number, and it's great, until you see it from the eyes of everyone else there, where you realize it's terrible.

my favorite theory is that; every epsidoe starts with a time stamp. the whole sunny crew is just in a police intergoation room recalling events. and youbknow they are no strangers to taking up loads of time while rambling on. this also explains why their characters seem to differ between episodes. ya charlie might be literate in this episode because he's telling the story and another charlie is brain dead because dennis views him as such

It's Always Sunny on TV is a reference to the title that Glenn, Rob, and Charlie came up with in the very early stages of its conception. It was originally planned to be a show about 4 struggling actors in Hollywood trying to make it, but when it was picked up, the network told them that they had to pick a different city to set the show in and a different occupation for the characters. Therefore they changed the setting to Philadelphia and made the characters work at a bar. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was originally just a placeholder for the title until they came up with something better but they never did. To this day, the creators of the show still hate the title of their show.

“…Dennis was *somewhat* tethered, and his rage, for the most part, at least, knew *some* bounds.”

Dennis isn't a sociopath, he's a Five Star Man! THE GOLDEN GOD! HE IS UNTETHERED AND HIS RAGE KNOWS NO BOUNDS!

It's interesting how a few of these were debunked recently. Charlie's father has canonically been revealed in the new season and, on their new podcast, the writers/actors denied the Waitress is Nikki Potnick rumor. They also discuss on the podcast that the reason the gang gets more "cartoony" as time goes on is because they thought it was more fun to watch and more effectively got across the message that this show is satire and that these characters are actually awful people. They were aware of how much of a "clown baby" Charlie's character was turning into in season 2, and they consciously embraced it.

Kaitlin Olsen’s advice to the writers to “just write another funny character” is something I wish every TV writer would take to heart when writing female characters. Don’t define them just as women; they’re human beings, just as flawed or brilliant or dumb or heroic or funny or intelligent as any male character. Seriously. We’d get so much more nuance from female characters is every writer could understand this.

i find it absolutely hilarious that dennis killing a man and being bisexual are on the same tier

I absolutely agree that Charlie is the smartest of the gang. He just needs to adapt to reading.

i think charlie actually IS a genius but thanks to all the shit that’s happened and damaged him he has become what he is today, clearly talented in music even if he doesn’t have the full capacities to make use of this, has the ability to plan to pretty impressive lengths, his problem solving skills have been shown time and time again even if they are downplayed massively

The thing with Dennis blowing himself is literally he says after Charlie's says "I might rule the world", Dennis says "yeah if that happens, I'll blow myself". Charlie did rule the "world" in the game. So that's just a hilarious pay off to a joke!

Charlie is the only member of the gang with any emotional intelligence that’s why he’s so much better at manipulating people.

I love how 80% of the pulled episodes are because of Dee 😂😂😂😂

I feel like their descent into madness has been documented and portrayed pretty clearly in the show. I mean their constant head trauma, alcohol and drug use has is enough reason why they get consistently more insane. I mean at one point mac was painting with lead paint.

The scariest part of the iceberg …is the implication

I'm honestly so happy that Kaitlin Olson made the writers change Dees character. If it wasn't for her I don't think I'd love the show nearly as much. It's so refreshing to see a sitcom where the woman isn't just the motherly/housewife voice of reason type. It's really incredible to see a show this raunchy and crazy treat the female character the same way as the men in terms of writing. She gets to be just as disgusting, delusional, and downright evil as all the male characters. Really makes her seem like a natural part of the main cast instead of "the woman of the group" almost all sitcoms tend to have. Plus, if it wasn't for that change we would never have seen Kaitlins incredible comedic acting! She's probably my favorite actor in the show and favorite comedic actor period!

Charlie’s illiteracy has always been consistent. He can read and write… barely, but he uses his “glyphs” when he writes something for himself, to organize his own personal thoughts and to keep them private. His music sheets, his dream journal… etc. all weird pictures and symbols and words mixed together, but when it’s for the gang or other people, he puts forth more effort, like the CharDeeMacDennis cards, bar notes… etc. So yeah, he’s always been the same level of illiterate, he just uses art to process his thoughts and feelings, he journals and writes and processes in a bizarre Charlie kinda way. Also ,I genuinely believe that Charlie is actually really smart, just in a different way. Learning instruments without sheet music, writing a pretty decent musical, running the bar almost entirely by himself, and being able to scheme and hustle to survive… he might not be book smart, but if you gave Charlie the proper job or opportunity I believe he would flourish and do a great and reliable job. I believe Frank even says at one point that the bar has never been late on payments, (short, but not late) Charlie juggles things in a chaotic dance to pass inspections and more.. he keeps all of the other useless freeloaders employed and able to dick off and do whatever because he does everything! I wish he could find a decent job, because I know he would do great without the gang holding him back.

Borderline Personality Disorder and sociopathy are NOT the same things, equating them can be genuinely dangerous. BPD has VERY different symptoms from ASPD, like almost opposite. Strong attachment to other people, intense relationships, intense anger, just intense feelings generally, and bouts of depression. Lumping in something like BPD with the serial killer stereotype Dennis embodies is incredibly harmful

I'd never heard the theory that Pepe Silvia could have actually just been Pennsylvania 😂😂😂 that makes so much sense and makes that episode even better

Usually I don’t get much past the 3rd category on icebergs but being able to recognize almost every single one of these makes me happy as an always sunny enthusiast

If I remember correctly, It's Always Sunny On TV was the title of the pilot of the show, which was then rewritten into the episode where Charlie has cancer

as someone who watched many clips of always sunny before watching the actual show , absolutely nothing couldve prepared me for the show

The It's Always Sunny on TV theory is basically that the show is a flashback from the very end of the show where the gang is either being interrogated by police or a court. The theory points to how each episode begins with a day, time, and location in a typewriter-style font that's never used elsewhere and how generally, a crime is committed in each episode. Some proponents even believe that the show will end with them either being interrogated or on the stand in their own defense. Some even say they may do a sort of meta, Dallas-style twist where they are actually the LA-based actors from the pilot, making a show about a bar in Philly where they routinely commit heinous crimes and that the show we see is a seasons-long flashback and we don't find out about this until the finale. Not saying I buy it, but it's interesting.

About Dennis being ugly in reality, I always liked the theory that he is actually handsome… he just puts off such powerful creep vibes that it cancels out his looks. It’s kind of like his own personal hell, his own curse of sorts. He was blessed with good looks, but his awful personality literally pushes people away like flipped magnets. Whereas any other man with his appearance wouldn’t have any issues getting women to talk to them and sleep with them, women are basically repulsed by him from the moment they look at him. From his eyes that stare at them like meat, and have a deadness that belies the false mismatched and forced smile, his body posture that feels forceful and intimidating like he’s trying to trap or capture them, right up to the moment when he opens his mouth and sounds like a serial killer. He just sets off all kinds of alarms and his good looks are literally the only thing in his favor… if he was any less attractive women would literally run away screaming or call a friend for backup to get away, but he preys on shallow women who think “Well, he’s hot… hot people aren’t dangerous!” or women too dumb and blind to see the massive red flags!

Dennis going down on himself in Charlie Rules The World is a payoff from his line right before the credits "Charlie rule the world? Yeah, if that happens, I'll blow myself."

"It's Always Sunny on TV" is actually what they had planned for the show originally, as well as what it was to be called. Since all of the actors live in LA where the show is filmed, they had strongly considered making it about three hungry failures of actors trying their best in the city of angels. At some point, Rob McElhenny convinced Charlie and Glenn that his hometown of Philadelphia would make more sense for how they were writing the characters.

The most entertaining aspect of this show, to me, now, is that every actor is on the absolute verge of cracking up in every scene and all the actors are trying as hard as they can to keep it together/make everyone else go to pieces. Cool video :)

Frank is everyone's true father. He is biologically Charlie's, he understands Mac, he raised Dennis and Dee.

_"I'M THE TRASH MAN! I COME OUT AND THROW TRASH ALL OVER ALL OVER THE RING. AND THEN I START EATING GARBAGE."_

They do outright mention Mac having body dysmorphia in the gang gets analyzed

The podcast confirms that Niki Potnick is not the waitress. The joke they made is that the waitess is so forgettable that the school didnt even make a namecard for her

I love how he says the test was inconclusive just because their was too much random blood in the bucket, not because they went in and said “is Frank Charlie’s dad” without him giving any sort of sample and without the doctor having any idea who either of them are lmao

I think you missed something really obvious on the brain damage aspect Huffing inhalants causes all sorts of cognitive issues and Charlie has had a consistent glue huffing problem; at one point fairly far in Dee even says "you huff paint every single day" And in Flowers for Charlie we see that the Gang themselves aren't above inhalants they dive *right in* to huffing that gasoline so it seems pretty likely that they've done it before

I love the idea of every shipper coming from Sherlock… like Mac’s canonically in love with Dennis think some fans could of come to shipping on their own where does this Sherlock idea come from😂

MacDennis being linked to JohnLock is the funniest thing I've ever heard

Charlie work is the best episode of IASIP. I think it's the one time that we actually get to see the real Charlie and the rest of the time we're him through the gangs "filter" or how they perceive him to be

I love how all the Hulu banned episodes involve Dee being the rowdy bird that she is

This was great, really well made. I will say though, that Charlie has slowly been giving himself brain damage since he was a child. Namely through huffing glue and paint, but it's also hard to believe that he avoided head trauma throughout adolescence. I also wondered if his reading ability and molestation might be somehow linked. If he was getting molested by his uncle during the ages you learn to read, and has succesfully repressed a lot of that period of his life, it seems to reason that they would be connected.

I totally want to work in a mail room for a big corporation just so I can re-enact the Charlie break down scene.

I like the warped perception theory, but I also love the idea that Dee and Denis are so horrendous that their good looks literally don't matter

About Pepe Sylvia, the writers told they *wished* they have thought about that, but is just an internet theory

Can we please have an updated version of this video with what we found out about Charlie when they go to Ireland? Especially about his family and with the Gaelic language

If you haven't seen their live show of The Nightman Cometh please look it up. They do amazing at re-enacting the show but add to it also in such perfect little ways. 10/10 show

I always thought “The Nightman Cometh” was supposed to kinda represent Charlie defeating Dennis for the waitress. Look at Charlie’s original casting: Mac was supposed to play the little boy/ Dayman, and Dennis was supposed to play Nightman. And if the show went Charlie’s way, Dayman (Charlie) would have defeated Nightman(Dennis) for the princess (Waitress)

Dennis was traumatized from losing his Mother. Then, Frank makes them dig her up as revenge for calling him old and that messes him up even more.

literally paused the video to like & comment because you said, word-for-word, my exact feelings for the Episode "Charlie Work". It's one of my favorite episodes, because Charlie is my favorite character. Thank you!!!!

I don't think Dennis is a sociopath, I think his lack of emotion is a coping mechanism for his childhood trauma

I believe Its Always Sunny on TV was meant to be the original title of the show. The original premise was the gang was supposed to be struggling actors in LA but they changed it to bar owners in Philly.

Because of this show I can't help but give people "ocular patdowns" when I meet them.

someone needs to update the iceberg with "Charlie reads and speaks fluent Irish"

Too bad Frank is not Charlie's father

I like the false image theory but I don't think it necessarily holds up: 1. Mac looks fat when he gets fat and it's addressed by other characters even outside of the gang his weight and then weight loss. So they're clearly able to look differently than their ideals. 2. Just because Dennis is good looking doesn't mean women will always be throwing themselves at him, personality does effect things. But the biggest reason I disagree is that I think Dennis enjoys the manipulation more than the sex, this is how he prefers to pick up women. And his good looks help him get away with it. If someone less attractive did these things they'd be less successful

Glenn, Charlie, and Rob have stated that Pepe Silvia was not written as a misunderstanding of Pennsylvania by Charlie. It's an amazing and fortunate turn of luck, but it was not intentional. Lol maybe the character's mentalities have taken over the writing process.

Im curious…why did Glenn Howerton say the proof the waitress’s name wasn’t Nikki Potnick was in the first 10 minutes of “Underage Drinking”? They only mention wrecking Nikki’s car.

I think Dennis has always seen Charlie's potential and actively works against it

"It's Always Sunny on TV" being at the bottom is so weird to me because, while you might not have known about it, the original title and premise for the show isn't exactly hard to find information. It's basically the same level as "Dee was supposed to be the voice of reason" EDIT: This popped into my head later, but that "the people we see on the screen are their ideal selves" thing is just a really bad theory. First, we have plenty of evidence of people finding Dee attractive from the popular guy in the reunion episode being the strongest evidence of this. Second, Dennis having to do schemes to get women to sleep with him has nothing to do with whether women find him attractive or not, it's that women won't just suddenly sleep with someone just because they're attractive. Not to mention that there are times where Dennis doesn't need to put in a crazy scheme and the amount of times he's not treated as attractive in universe are very limited. There's also the whole thing where it's based on the trope of ugly=bad person which isn't really something the show does anywhere else.

26:36 They should do a British version of Sunny, and call it It's Always Cloudy in Birmingham.

I’m gonna tattoo Dennis wiping the bar saying “Alright, alright alright” 😂😂😂😂 CHARLIE WORK HANDS DOWN BEST EP

The IASIP podcast by Charlie, Rob and Glenn proved that Nikki Potnick isn’t the waitress. They said they weren’t smart enough to think about the consequences of Frank taking that name card. 🙃

I’m surprised you didn’t mention Mac mentioning “browning out” in the Halloween episode when talking about the word “brown”. Also, with the MacDennis segment, you definitely should have brought up the fact that maybe then hooking up wasn’t consensual because of how it was described in “Times Up for the Gang”

On the Dennis being bisexual point, don’t forget S1 E1 where Dennis clearly loves the attention he’s getting, albeit for tips too, and the bit at the very end. Also does anyone else think Dennis is responsible for the heads in the fridge in Mac is a serial killer? His reaction to them seems a little forced like as though he knew they were there all along and there was the hole ‘head in a freezer’ to symbolise the preservation of love in Chardee McDennis 2: Electric Bugaloo.

"Mac, Dee and Dennis aren't shown as their true selves" is a theory I really love. I hope this is true.

“It’s Always Sunny On Tv” was the original title of the show (inspired by a similarly named A-Ha song). The show was originally meant to be set in LA and be about 4 unsuccessful actors. They changed it because executives thought there were too many shows set in LA.

I think the reason Dennis "blows himself" during his time in sensory deprivation is a realisation that he is losing control over his world and the gang, as Charlie gains power over the others, something which Dennis has always taken pride in having. At the start of the episode he says in reference to Charlie suggesting he might rule the world, "Rule the world huh, if that happens i'll blow myself". In this case, Dennis blows himself as he questions his power over the gang and the world around him.

I am always so surprised no one ever mentions Charlie's sister. He references her only one time in the final episode of season one at the very end when he is in the back seat driving back from his mother's home. I was certain it would be on the iceberg but I guess not. Great video BTW. Keep it up!!

I’m not sure what it means in reference to the iceberg but the creators said that “it’s always sunny on tv” was one of the names or alternate titles they had for the show

If you want a really good stomach workout, watch Always Sunny bloopers every day. Every time I watch I am in tears.

Charlie said he dodged uncle Jack actually. He says it once in an almost throwaway line that I refuse to hunt for. But yeah I think someone else got to him as a kid. Might even explain why he was so vigilant around Jack as a kid

Dude super stoked you mentioned MacDennis in this (and it wasn't that far down the iceberg lol) but shipping them most definitely was NOT a result of the JohnLock fandom. Or any fandom aside from the Sunny one. I don't know how much crossover their was between Sherlock fans and Sunny fans (I love sunny but i never watched sherlock). I know shipping is a big part of tumblr culture (ie: all of it) but really MacDennis came about from IASIP itself. Like if you look back on AO3, the first MacDen fic is written after the s5 ep Mac and Dennis Break Up. Tbh the MacDen ship is nothing more than the result of people having eyes. I guess on the surface it could look like there was a JohnLock to MacDen pipeline but really that's not the reason for the inception of MacDen. And the CharDee MacDennis thing, while a small part of something shippers refer to in the case for Canon MacDennis, it's really just...a fun coincidence people like the point to as "proof". Anyway. I know this wasn't a MacDennis centric video --and honestly that itself could be it's own iceberg haha. Appreciate the work you put into this as a huge Sunny fan myself! Totally gonna check out your other Sunny vids too!

The podcast is so much fun. It’s the only podcast that literally makes me laugh out loud.

Pepe Silvia = Pennysylvania actually blew my mind, mostly because It's been 13 years and I'd never thought of that...the jokes around Charlie's illiteracy are sometimes so subtle!

I believe “It’s Always Sunny on TV” is referring to the original title and concept Rob McElhenney was proposing for Always Sunny, which was mostly the same, all the same characters, except they were struggling actors in LA, not bar owners in Philly. It could also be talking about more specifically the pilot of this, that I believe has never been fully recovered, but mostly just follows a lot of the season 1 plotlines (Mac dating a trans woman, Charlie faking cancer)

I always say 'if you want to be trash, do it with your chest' it makes all the difference. I have mad respect for this show👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Personally I think when things are examined like this, although fun, it is connecting dots that are just coincidences of writers doing what they think will be funny. We want to try and find some meta to a thing we love, but ultimately it is just a meandering series of stories designed to keep people watching.

I always figured Charlie’s uncle had issues with his hands because he thought there was something wrong with them because he’s always trying to touch people and they tell him not to and he simply doesn’t understand that people don’t want him to touch them

"Its Always Sunny on TV" is a reference to the original title of the show. As stated on the newly minted podcast hosted by Rob, Charlie and Glen...

I heard a theory that each episode is a part in a trial where they are all on trial in the final episode and it’ll be named “the gang vs. the State of Pennsylvania”

Dennis literally sleeps with two men in the very first episode of the show. Granted, he's black-out drunk, but idk what better evidence you could have for him not being straight! (That, and RCG confirming multiple times that the sexual tension between Mac and Dennis is deliberate - off the top of my head the audio commentary for Mac and Dennis Break Up is particularly clear on that point, and there's also a Conan interview somewhere with Glenn Howerton saying that all the characters are somewhat gay.) EDIT: Had to come back because I couldn't stop thinking about how I forgot to mention That Deleted Scene from Mac and Dennis Break Up. It may not have made it into the final cut, but listen to the words "beautiful lips" and tell me Dennis is straight.

"Dennis was somewhat tethered and his rage, for the most part, knew some bounds" was too good to pass up, I love it

The Carol person who Charlie was looking for in the Pepe Sylvia skit was actually "Care of"

Who else was disappointed when they revealed Charlie’s real dad

about browning out, there's also a episode where mac "creates" it, where he states that is not as bad as a black out, because you can remember a few things

I have some additional entries to add to the iceberg: - There's a common theory that the entirety of the series is actually being told as a testimony in a court case against The Gang. The Gang are reciting several testimonies and are getting their facts mixed up, explaining why a majority of the episodes open with a date, time and location. It's Always Sunny is also heavily inspired by Seinfeld, even being called "Seinfeld on crack" by FX itself in promoting the show. It would be fitting that It's Always Sunny would end in a similar way to Seinfeld; having every character The Gang has interacted with testify against them in court. - The actor for Bruce Mathis was caught doing inappropriate things with minors. This is ironic as Dennis, Dee and Frank conspired to drag Bruce Mathis's name by saying he "diddled" kids. It's tragic that that would be true. - About two years ago, before Season 13 premiered, Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton both got into a spat on social media, with Rob even saying that Glenn was always a "bully" on set and that he's more similar to his Dennis character than a lot of people know. This controversy has seemingly buried itself, however. - Danny DeVito almost died during a stunt in the episode "The Gang Goes to Hell: Part 2," when The Gang are accepting their fate and holding hands underwater as the cruise ship sinks. According to Charlie Day Danny was lightweight enough to float to the top of the water and so they had to weigh him down to get him to stay within the scene. After the scene was shot however, Danny had difficulty getting out due to being weighed down and he almost drowned because of it. Supposedly the show will never attempt a stunt like that again, out of concern for Danny DeVito's safety. - The show was originally going to be called "It's Always Sunny on TV" and was going to be about a troupe of amateur actors trying to find work. The second name considered was "Jerks". - Sweet Dee was originally going to be played by Rob McElhenney's then-girlfriend in 2004 but due to both her poor acting and their subsequent breakup she never became Sweet Dee. - According to Rob Elhenney the series premise came to him in a dream where one man had cancer and his friend was too uncomfortable to really care. That dream inspired the premise of the test pilot and the episode "Charlie Gets Cancer".

“Its Always Sunny on TV” was the original title of the show when the characters were supposed to be struggling actors in LA, but FX suggested that they change the setting and have the gang own a bar instead.

It's Always Sunny on TV is a reference to the original name of the show. Glenn, Rob and Charlie discuss it on episode two of The Always Sunny Podcast! Essentially Rob was at the gym stretching, listening to an Ah-Ha album (The one with Take on Me in it) and there was a song along the lines of "It's sunny on television"

For Charlie having brain damage I figured it was because he'd been huffing/sniffing glue since he was a child; as shown in their Christmas special.

As much as I love the Pepe Silvia theory it has been confirmed by the writers that it was not meant to be a misreading on Charlie’s part of Pennsylvania.

Of course it's now confirmed Frank is not Charlie's father.

It’s always sunny on TV is the title of the original pilot shot by Rob,Charlie and Glenn. It’s basically a first draft of the show where Mac, Charlie and Dennis are three out of work actors living in Hollywood. The plot of the episode is loosely based around the season 1 episode “Charlie has cancer” with one scene being recreated in the show. The name change and the characters career change was due to the network not wanting another show taking place in L.A. , so they moved it to philly where rob grew up. It’s a very interesting pilot to watch if you’re a fan of the show and I believe you can still watch it on RU-vid

"It's always sunny on TV" was the name of the show before they changed it to Philadelphia, and the premise was that the gang were actually a bunch of struggling actors looking for work.

The pepe silvia=Pennsylvania theory was debunked by glenn

Borderline personality disorder is entirely different than sociopathy, so they never "confirmed" his sociopathy. if you don't even know definitions, you probably shouldn't be diagnosing fictional characters because these kinds of misconceptions are incredibly harmful

It's Always sunny on TV was their first, or was it second, pilot that they made to show to producers before the show got greenlit.

borderline is not psychopath antissocial (can be) they are totally different mental illnesses