Stream It Or Skip It: ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’ Season 16 On FXX/Hulu, Where The Gang Does The Same Hilariously Stupid S**t As They Did In 2005

Just when you think you’ve had enough of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, or that the misadventures of the five idiots who hang around Paddy’s pub can’t possibly be funny anymore, or that it’s just pathetic that the gang is deep into their 40s (and Frank deep into his 70s) and still doing this stupid shit, the first two episodes of its 16th season still make you laugh your ass off. It’s the reason why the show has been on our screens since 2005 (yes, you read that correctly).

IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA SEASON 16: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “11:47 AM. On A Friday. In Philadelphia.” We’re at Paddy’s. Charlie (Charlie Day) talks to Frank (Danny DeVito) about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while Mac (Rob McElhenny) and Dennis (Glenn Howerton) are at the bar.

The Gist: Somehow, the subject of inflation comes up; Frank, being a shewed businessman, knows all about it, and Mac, being Mac, thinks that the way to combat inflation is to take a pay cut. There’s talk of making sure you “cover your nut.”

The entire time, Dee (Kaitlin Olsen) keeps calling the bar and the gang; she’s about to get evicted from her apartment over her landlord jacking up the rent, and she’s super-glued her hand to the door in protest. The workers trying to get her out seem undeterred by her “protest.” After Dennis and Mac lament that they finally had to give up the couch they’ve been renting for 15 years, Frank estimates that they spent almost $20,000 on that couch.

Back at Mac and Dennis’ apartment, Mac shows Dennis their new inflatable couch and the massive tin of “fancy” nuts he bought in an effort to cover his nut. It gives Dennis an idea: rent out inflatable furniture as an inflation buster.

Later, Frank finds a lamp and Charlie tells him to put it in the storage closet. That’s when Frank finds out that not only does the shitty apartment he and Charlie share have a bathroom, but it has an entire bedroom that Charlie never told him about. Charlie keeps complaining that “I have to walk a mile” to answer the door, but Mac and Dennis use the empty room to pitch Frank the idea of the inflatable furniture, using Kim Kardashian photos as examples of how inflatables are great. Frank agrees to lend them money and asks to keep the pictures “for other purposes.”

Dee keeps gluing her hands to doors and walls, especially after she finds out that Frank was the landlord that upped her rent. Charlie finds out that Frank hopes Mac and Dennis fail so they end up owing him money for the rest of their lives. Mac keeps eating nuts, despite the fact that his face is swelling and he wheezes while he sleeps.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Is there any show quite like It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia? We can’t think of one, especially one that’s run this long.

Our Take: As usual with Always Sunny, some episodes are funnier than others. While the first episode, “The Gang Inflates” was funny but silly, we truly laughed at the second one, “Frank Shoots Every Member Of The Gang,” even though the premise of that one was just as silly. In that one, Frank brings a gun and a anchovy tin to dinner with Dennis and Dee as they once again appeal to him to be included in his will. He uses the gun to try to open the anchovy tin and accidentally grazes his “kids” with a bullet, and it seems that no one in the restaurant flinches (it’s Philly, after all). Dennis and Dee decide to take Frank on a “special day,” which includes peeing at fire hydrants, to try to separate him from his gun. In the meantime, Charlie tries to retrieve a family heirloom — a jar full of historical teeth — from his influencer sisters, and Mac tries to retrieve letters from his father from his uncle.

That episode was laugh-out-loud funny because of some of the more ridiculous, and disgusting, aspects of the story, like Charlie’s mom (Lynne Marie Stewart) crying while her mouth cascades blood; she pulled out her own tooth to try to make a new jar. There’s also Mac’s terse mother (Sandy Martin) saying she has to “smash” and keeping Mac quiet by putting out her cigarette on his knee. And the site of DeVito peeing on hydrants with his leg up will never not be funny.

But that’s why Always Sunny is such a fun show, even this long into its run; it never tries to be anything more than what it is, which is a live-action cartoon. It’s built up so much goodwill in this respect that we can accept the fact that Frank brings a gun to a restaurant and no one even bats an eye, or that Mac can’t understand why his throat is closing with every fancy nut he eats. Dee and Dennis will never get anywhere, Charlie is always going to be feckless, and Mac is always going to put himself in physical jeopardy.

And despite the fact that everyone in the cast has done other projects, some that have raked in awards and accolades (Olsen on Hacks, McElhenny on Welcome to Wrexham and Mythic Quest, Howerton on AP Bio, Day in I Want You Back, DeVito in, well you know his career), the site of them together being insane at Paddy’s still makes us smile. It’s like the members of a band doing their solo projects before coming together for a new album and tour; they have set this up where they can explore their careers and then come back to the main project when they’re ready.

Sex and Skin: None in the first two episodes.

Parting Shot: Mac, looking like the Elephant Man, points to the empty nut can and says he needs to go to Costco for more nuts. He’s mumbling so much, the gang doesn’t know whether he said “hospital” or “Costco.”

Sleeper Star: Despite the universe of great side characters the series has put together, episodes like the first one, which is largely just the core gang, are always welcome sights.

Most Pilot-y Line: “It’s a new form of protest, Charlie. People do it to bring attention to injustices or some shit; I don’t know, I’m locked in,” Dee explains to Charlie why she glued her hand to his door (the other hand has a piece of her apartment door on it).

Our Call: STREAM IT. Always Sunny never changes, and that’s a beautiful thing. The show can’t go on forever, but it’s a great thing that the gang can still get together and make us laugh.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.