In It's Always Sunny, Failure Is The Default And We Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
The latest season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is here, and it has revived one of the gang's longest-held traditions: failing miserably. Charlie (Charlie Day), Mac (Rob McElhenney), Dennis (Glenn Howerton), and Dee (Kaitlin Olson) have never been successful at much of anything. Their only successful business venture to date is Dennis and Mac's "Dick Towel" enterprise, which netted them several thousands of dollars that they immediately spent on a decrepit "P. Diddy-style shrimping vessel." Their failures are as varied as they are numerous, ranging from getting addicted to crack instead of becoming a veterinarian to accidentally clothing the January 6 insurrectionists with their furred costume business.
The only reason that Paddy's Pub is still open is because Frank (Danny DeVito) continues to pump money into it, and he has had a number of successful business ventures. Frank is utterly ruthless, a former business shark people called "The Warthog" (think Logan Roy by way of Jerry Springer), and he's managed to stay wealthy and keep Paddy's afloat, somehow.
The inflated furniture business is far from the gang's first or worst investment, but it certainly is a funny one. The gang is always destined to fail, and that's vital to the series' success. Catch more of these lovable losers when new episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" premiere on Thursdays on FXX and the next day on Hulu, and read on to learn why the gang's failures are as much a part of them as their alcoholism or their love of Boyz II Men.
Kitten Mittens, Fight Milk, and more
It's hard to quantify which of the gang's many business failures was the worst, but they've definitely failed big-time more than once. Their first semi-official attempt at a business was in season 3's "The Aluminum Monster vs. Fatty Magoo," when the whole gang tries to start a women's garment factory and end up with dozens of dresses they cannot sell. Prior to that, there were plenty of schemes, but they didn't have Frank's capital to get them started. So what about their other attempts? Mac and Charlie's drink "Fight Milk," made with real crows, makes people violently ill and got several UFC fighters expelled. Charlie's sound-dampening Kitten Mittens might have made him money, but he accidentally sold the rights to a lawyer. The guys' door-to-door gasoline business in "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis" was a giant bust, their attempts at commodifying Paddy's have mostly ended in felonies, and they just can't seem to succeed at anything. So why do fans keep tuning back in to see them fail again and again?
This should go without saying, but the gang are terrible people. To see them succeed would make "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" a very different show. Part of what makes them lovable is that they cannot win, which makes them a bit easier to identify with. It's also just funny to see terrible people suffer the consequences of their actions. Just as "Succession" is a tragedy about terrible people who have it all and still can't win, "It's Always Sunny" is a comedy about terrible people who have nothing and can't win. The important part is that they don't win.
Even the wins are losses
When you really think about it, the greatest success in Mac and Dennis's lives was the success of dicktowel.com, which netted them $2,500. They've never really beaten that, despite having more than a decade and all of Frank's money to try different schemes. Their one success hangs over them, mocking them as surely as Dennis making fun of the tiny penis on one side of the towel.
The gang is always doomed to fail, and fans tune in anyway because it's so much fun to watch it happen. They always fail spectacularly, and it's sort of like the base parts of human nature that make us stare at the aftermath of a car crash. We have to know just how badly they're going to screw it up. Will Hugh Honey and Vic Vinegar make a reappearance? Will someone commit arson? Will Charlie pull a wild card? It's not the results of the gang's schemes that are what make them funny, it's the ride getting there.
I can't wait to see how the gang fails this season, because they've upped their game every year and the failures keep getting more spectacular. They've teased a bunch of fun callbacks to previous seasons, so maybe we'll even get to see some old failures made fresh all over.