The most popular sitcoms today are the ones that can be easily translated into memes. It’s what has made Bob’s Burgers one of the biggest animated comedies in years. It’s also why mockumentary series like Parks and Rec, The Office, and Modern Family are so popular – the characters’ talking heads, where they talk to the camera and deliver hysterical one-liners, are basically memes already.
With its running gags and wacky characters, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of the most meme-able shows on the air. So, here are the 10 Funniest It’s Always Sunny Memes We Can All Relate To.
“It’s All Coming Back!”
In the season 8 episode “The Gang Gets Analyzed,” every member of the Gang has a short session with Dee’s therapist. At first, this is just so the therapist can determine which one of them will do the dishes following a dinner party. However, as each of them sit down with her, it becomes clear that they all have deep-rooted psychological issues. When it’s Frank’s turn, he starts talking about his childhood stint in a mental institution. He made friends with “a frog kid” and had his first kiss there with a girl who accidentally suffocated herself with a plastic bad. Frank hates the therapist for bringing back all these repressed memories.
Single-Player Games
This quote has been recontextualized for a gaming meme about the virtues of single-player games like Grand Theft Auto, but it’s originally from the episode “Frank’s Back in Business.” A man named Brian LeFevre loses his wallet at Paddy’s and Dennis decides to assume his identity. Later, it turns out Brian is dead. There’s actually a fan theory that Dennis murdered him in order to enjoy the thrill of being in another man’s skin. This was bolstered in “Dennis’ Double Life” when it was revealed that Dennis has been raising a son in a different state under the name Brian LeFevre.
“Everywhere Trees?”
This Always Sunny meme is a little meta, because it alludes to how people feel when they’ve spent days doing nothing but watch Netflix, and if they’re a fan of It’s Always Sunny, then they probably spent those days watching the adventures of the Gang.
So, after watching five seasons straight, they’ll leave their bedroom and come outside to find that there are trees everywhere. Naturally, they’ll be freaked out and react the same way Charlie did when he left Philly for the first time and got stuck in a forest in the episode “The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s Testimony
It’s Always Sunny tackled Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook in the episode “The ANTI-Social Network,” but this meme is actually referencing season 12’s “Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare,” the episode in which Wolf Cola – a soft drink sold by one of Frank’s shell corporations – is praised by a terrorist group. When Facebook’s shady use of people’s personal data was exposed in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Zuckerberg appeared in court to offer a testimony that was as irrelevant and unwieldy as Dennis’ rant about whether or not he should be able to eat a dog on a morning show in that episode.
Snoke
This one is more of a Star Wars meme than an Always Sunny meme, but it uses Always Sunny imagery to make a Star Wars joke, so it counts. The image of Mac serving Dennis a plate of mac and cheese and Dennis tossing it aside has been used for a ton of memes, but the funniest is arguably this one, which articulates Rian Johnson’s handling of Snoke. In The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams (represented here as Mac) introduced Snoke as a powerful and mysterious villain with a lot of backstory to explain. In The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson (represented here as Dennis) brushed over that backstory and killed him off almost instantly.
99.99% Bacteria
In the season 3 episode “The Gang Gets Held Hostage,” the McPoyle brothers burst into Paddy’s Pub and tell the Gang that they’re taking them hostage. They barricade the doors and tell them that the police are outside and they refuse to negotiate with them. However, as it later turns out, the police were never there and it was never a real hostage situation. That doesn’t stop Frank from going all John McClane in the vents and eventually pushing Ryan off the roof with a stick. Here, that stick is used to represent hand sanitizer in a strong hygiene-related meme.
A Beard And A Good Haircut
It is often said that what a man can do to their appearance with well-groomed facial hair and a rearrangement of the hair on their head doesn’t compare to what a woman can do to their appearance with the wonders of cosmetic products. However, as shown by this meme, regular, out-of-character Charlie Day at a red carpet event with no beard has an appearance that is worlds apart from his appearance when he’s in character as Charlie Kelly with a scruffy beard and then in character again as a European henchman with long, blond hair in one of the Gang’s homemade, unauthorized Lethal Weapon sequels.
The D.E.E. System
In the early seasons of It’s Always Sunny, Dennis was actually pretty nice to Dee (as hard as it is to believe). Since they were siblings who were both raised by Frank in a life of luxury that they no longer enjoy, they had enough in common to share a lot of the same storylines.
However, over the years, it has become clear that it’s funnier when Dennis and Dee hate each other. Glenn Howerton has always played Dennis’ anger hysterically, so when he hurls insults at Dee, it’s impossible not to crack up. This is a prime example of that.
Hulk Hogan And Ongo Goblogian
Frank Reynolds has a number of aliases, from his doctor persona Mantis Toboggan to his drug-addled alter ego Frankenstein. The one that appears in this beautifully Photoshopped meme in his art collector character, Ongo Goblogian. He appeared in the episode “Dee Made a Smut Film,” and thanks to Danny DeVito’s uncanny portrayal of a Warhol-like art type and his zany white hairdo, he quickly became an icon. In this meme, his hair has been Photoshopped to become Hulk Hogan’s mustache, which ties in with an earlier Hulk Hogan reference in the season 5 episode “The Gang Wrestles for the Troops.”
“Get Outta Here, Snail!”
Gail the Snail is one of the funniest recurring characters in the Always Sunny universe. Mary Lynn Rajskub is a hilarious comedian who has appeared in equally fun roles in 24 and Mr. Show with Bob and David, and she always plays Gail’s scenes as suitably gross. Dennis and Dee’s habit of throwing salt on Gail the Snail to get rid of her seems mean at first (with Charlie even pointing this out), but after a whole episode of the Gang being bothered by her, Charlie decides to do it himself, lashing her with table salt to get her out of the bar.