You May Have Rage Issues If You Relate To These Charlie Meltdowns From ‘Always Sunny’

There is not one character in FX’s long-running comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia that could be called morally sound. They’re all terrible people, who do a lot of horrible things and don’t learn from it, which in large part is what has made the show so consistently funny. Charlie Kelly (played by Charlie Day) is as awful as the next character, but he has always been manically feral, which makes some of his bigger moments or meltdowns so fantastic to watch. Check out some of the best examples of his freak outs.


The Nightman Cometh

It’s hard to think of an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia that made as much of a cultural impact as the fourth season’s finale. Sure, the green man suit became a bit of a phenomenon, but “The Nightman Cometh” sparked a tour for the musical. While the play itself is a comedic masterclass, what makes it all the funnier is Charlie in the wings, slowly snapping under how poorly Dennis, Dee, Mac and Frank are taking direction. Then, to top it all off, Charlie appears on a hand made sun on the stage, hijacking the other four’s applause, and announcing that this had all been a ruse to win back the Waitress’s affections. Obviously, it doesn’t work.


The Mail Room

Pepe Silva. Whenever Charlie becomes obsessed with a conspiracy of some sort, there’s nothing that the rest of the characters can do to talk him out of his own beliefs, especially, as Mac puts it, when he’s “lost his godd*mn mind”. Charlie, seemingly overwhelmed by his new job in a mail room, has begun to believe that there’s no one at his and Mac’s office, and everything from his motormouth, his pronunciation of the name “Carol,” and the slight shrillness that creeps into his voice are perfect examples of what happens when Charlie flies off the handle.


Hundred Dollar Baby

While Dee gets some of the bigger and broader laughs of the episode, Charlie is still suffering throughout as he becomes hooked on steroids. The cracks aren’t completely apparent until later, at the bar, when he manages to scare Mac and Dennis off while he runs the gamut of emotions, from mania, growling anger, and open weeping. While Charlie’s complete inability at the start to figure out how to eat his sandwich is a certain highlight, it’s his and Dee’s strung out stare off and incomprehensible shouting that wins the scene.


Mall Santa (NSFW Language)

“A Very Sunny Christmas” goes about as well as viewers would expect for It’s Always Sunny, with the gang pretending to want to bring Holiday cheer but in reality, simply making the lives of those who share their orbit all the worse. The greatest example of this is when Charlie, while at the mall with Mac, spots a man dressed up as Santa and shuts down, turning into the most menacing version of Charlie that there is. This, of course, is spawned by Mac having informed Charlie earlier in the episode that Charlie’s mom had been “prostituting herself out for money and presents” when he was a kid, which sits about as well as a grown man on a mall Santa’s lap with hate in his eyes.


Rat King

“King of the Rats” is one of the best examples of just how good Charlie Day is as the character Charlie, in an episode largely set on him after he breaks from killing one too many rats that infest the basement of Paddy’s Pub. For a second, he doesn’t seem too bad off, until he starts questioning if a rat’s existence is actually as important as a human’s before getting stuck in his own head about the amount of them he’s killed. At last, we got to see the true damning effect of “Charlie Work” and the ways Charlie’s friends are slowly destroying him.


Wild Card

In season four’s “The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis,” we see the Paddy’s Pub crew trying to take advantage of high gas prices by selling gasoline to their neighbors door to door. Due to their newest scheme to screw people over, they need a precise plan, with each of them assigned specific roles, throwing Charlie the job of “wild card” to more or less get him out of their hair. Charlie takes this role seriously, and in the end, cuts the breaks and jumps out of the car screaming “wild card, bitches!” while the rest of the gang crash. Charlie takes his jobs very seriously… clearly.

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