Charlie Day Is Always Shocked When Today’s Teens Are Huge Fans of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’
Two decades into its record-breaking run, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has many fans who are younger than the show itself, which makes sense when considering the fact that the “security detail” at Paddy’s Pub doesn’t check IDs.
When It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia first premiered on FX in 2005, the show was the iconoclastic, punk-rock, anti-rules alternative to the mainstream sitcom genre that had become bogged down by crowd-pleasing convention and a focus on likability over laughs. As opposed to the many other shows featuring a friend group of twenty-somethings who spend most of their time in a major city hanging out at a bar and doing almost no work, the characters of Always Sunny were unapologetically crass, morally bankrupt and, often times, deliberately grating, both to the audience and to each other. As such, Always Sunny became a huge hit with a younger generation that loved a little rule-breaking.
Fast forward to 2025, and the original It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia youth fandom is now a bunch of mothers, fathers, 401k-havers and back-pain-sufferers just like Trey and Tammy. However, as Charlie Day discussed during a new interview with Boston.com, today’s young people are just as enamored with the show as their parents were back before they were born, a fact that floors Day every time a starstruck teenager approaches him in the street.
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I guess those young fans missed the memo on how Charlie deals with kids.
As Day explained during the talk, the idea for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia arose from his conversations with the series creator formerly known as Rob McElhenney in which the two friends complained about how shows like Friends and Frasier dominated the TV comedy industry, but were too “sanitized” and were “playing by the typical TV rules.” Said Day, “While they were funny, we didn’t really feel like they were particularly honest to the world that we felt like we were living in.”
So, Day, McElhenney and Glenn Howerton pulled together a shoestring budget — mostly from Howerton’s work on the doomed sitcom That '80s Show — and made something that was darker, grittier and had more attitude than any other sitcom of the mid-aughts. And, while Always Sunny may not have been an immediate hit upon the launch of its first season, as time went on and word of mouth spread, the show became a sensation among Millennials who craved comedy with a real edge.
But now that the entire Always Sunny cast is pushing 50 and their original audience spends more time watching Bluey with their own kids rather than on FX, some shows would fear that their youth appeal has run out — but not this one. Said Day of the continued success of Always Sunny with the younger generations, “What really surprises me is how much it still resonates with a young audience. I meet teenagers who just started watching it. It’s one of those pinch-me moments — I’m surprised it’s worked so well, but I’m happy it has.”
The continued success of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia shows that, even in an age when the sitcom itself seems to be on its last legs, there will always be a market for humor that breaks the mold and pushes back on mainstream standards and network trends. And, wherever there is artistic rebellion, teenagers will follow, possibly on bikes that they stole from a couple of guys in their 40s.
