Which It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia joke has only gotten funnier over time? Rob McElhenney has the answer

Rob McElhenney recently shared at It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s 20th Anniversary Panel that one of the show’s best-aging jokes is that Mac and Dennis are still roommates even in their late 40s, living in the same apartment since their 20s. This arrangement started off as slightly odd in season 2, which has now become darkly hilarious and symbolises their lack of growth.

Rather than evolving like typical sitcom characters, the Sunny gang has intentionally stayed the same, making their stagnation part of the joke. Read on to know more about the joke that got even funnier, according to the co-creator.

Which It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia joke has only gotten funnier over time?

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has embraced preserving the status quo for its two characters— Mac and Dennis, making the show funnier and sharper as it progresses. The unchanged situation of these two characters arent just a running joke, but it's a perfect metaphor for the series' twisted brilliance and its satire of traditional TV tropes.

Indeed, this proves that though the show appears purely mad, there is a sharp intelligence beneath. The show’s enduring success, especially with younger audiences, comes from how it deconstructs classic sitcom tropes in absurd and unexpected ways.

In the same outdated apartment, the chaos feels unhinged. Instead of growth, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia gives the viewers decay and even makes it entertaining. It’s this blend of smart writing disguised as stupidity that gives the show its timeless edge and keeps every generation laughing at how these characters refuse to evolve.

The apartment got destroyed in a fire, and Mac rebuilt it to look exactly the same in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

In the Season 9 finale of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (“The Gang Squashes Their Beefs”), their Thanksgiving attempt to make peace ends in disaster when the apartment is destroyed by fire. For two full seasons, Mac and Dennis crash with Dee — which is hilarious in its own right — before finally returning in Season 12.

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And what does Mac do? He painstakingly recreates the burned-down apartment — same ugly décor, same layout, same everything — as if nothing ever happened. It shows how deeply committed the characters are to their own dysfunction. It satirises the sitcom “reset button” — where nothing ever really changes, no matter what happens. That’s next-level comedy. It turns a tragedy into an absurdity, which is the core tone of the show.

In the later seasons, the only noticeable change to the apartment — after everything it’s been through — is the addition of the Ass Pounder 4000, Mac’s intense, over-the-top workout bike. It’s not just a prop; it’s a perfect symbol of Mac’s delusions of masculinity, his obsessive body image issues to impress Dennis in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

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