‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Perfectly Roasts Elon Musk By Making The Gang Big Fans

If you’ve ever seen the hulking, gray, dumpster-shaped shitwagon that is the Tesla Cybertruck tromping around your neighborhood and asked yourself, “What loser psychopath could ever think this car looks cool?” It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia just gave you the answer.

In tonight’s new Always Sunny episode, “Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation,” the Gang recycled an old scheme to get customers into the bar for some grueling, physical and competitive humiliation, just like Tesla “founder” Elon Musk repurposed the design for the Cybertruck from a 1990s educational computer game where the cars run on the power of algebra. “Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation” saw the Gang seemingly land themselves in hot water over their attempt to break into the semi-professional slap-fighting industry, as they lured in half-naked, oiled-up women into Paddy’s Pub with the promise of a grand prize for the last slapper standing: a Cybertruck.

However, as the events of “Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation” implied, women aren’t really the target market for Tesla’s $100,000 truck that’s infamously plagued by panel gaps, quality control issues, breakdowns and an overall aesthetic that resembles the urinals at the Pentagon. Instead, the kind of people who think the Cybertruck looks cool are usually divorced sociopaths, illiterate abortion survivors and guys who also think that “Rob Mac” is a respectable legal name.

In “Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation,” the Gang adopts the C-suite business lingo of a corporate retreat that they watched on YouTube in order to debate who should take the fall for their latest professional disaster while wearing fleece vests. As it turns out, this was the legal incident that led to the The Gang getting sentenced to another round of community service, thus setting the stage for the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia/Abbott Elementary crossover.

The scheme revolves around the growing sport of slap fighting, which the Gang attempt to turn into an erotic competition by slathering scantily clad competitors in baby oil and pitting them against their ringer, Dee Reynolds, whose low self-esteem and years of physical abuse at Frank’s hands make her a slap-fighting prodigy. Similarly to the high-stakes dance competition in the Season Three Always Sunny episode “The Gang Dances Their Asses Off,” the grand prize for the slap-fighting champion turns out to be one that’s too steep for Frank and the boys to pay: a brand-new Cybertruck, complete with all the jagged edges and gray finish that make it a mechanical mid-life crisis on wheels.

In fact, Frank and the men love their new toy so much that, after Dee suffers slap defeat at the hands of the only woman in the Always Sunny universe more down-trodden and self-loathing than her (The Waitress), Frank refuses to give up the keys to the truck, and The Waitress threatens to take the story public. This prompts a panicked Frank to dump the Cybertruck in the Schuylkill River along with all the leftover baby oil.

While the literal plot of “Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation” may seem complimentary toward the Cybertruck to non-Always Sunny fans, keep in mind that the men who couldn’t let go of their precious truck are the same guys who say that Chumbawumba is the greatest band of all time and that Dave & Busters is a classy setting for a business lunch. 

Basically, the men of The Gang aren’t exactly arbiters of good taste — they probably even pay for Twitter.