It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an underrated gem that deserves more success than it already has. The series, which has run more episodes than any other live-action sitcom, follows a group of narcissistic friends and takes place at Paddy’s Pub in South Philadelphia. Rob McElhenney’s series is often compared in style to Seinfeld, but you’d be surprised at the show that influenced the sitcom.
According to the talent behind the series, the British version of The Office served as a huge inspiration. Ricky Gervais’ crude humor truly amazed the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Just like The Office (and Seinfeld), the characters in the series have no growth of character and become worse people over time.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia took inspiration from The Office UK
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars a group of comedic talent, including Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, Danny DeVito, and creator Rob McElhenney. The group of actors plays the mean group of friends who spend their time scheming, arguing, or plotting elaborate cons. The Gang totally lacks awareness of basic social norms and often finds themselves in dark and embarrassing situations.
During an interview with Vice, Day shared that the series strived to make sure that the characters did not change much. He shared that the lack of self-awareness was sort of the heart of the show. This even made all the despicable things done by the main gang somewhat funny for the audience. It followed the tradition of shows like The Office UK, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
When asked about the influences behind the series, Howerton shared that The Office UK was one of the initial inspirations behind their sitcom. They were amazed at the level of crude humor that the show could pull off without the network censoring them. He shared that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was also about people, just like The Office was. Howerton shared:
As a fan of British shows, one of the initial inspirations behind our show was The Office, which I was absolutely blown away by—like, wow, you can get away with that? Just walking around an office with a camera? It’s about people. I’ve always been a little bit surprised [Sunny] didn’t take off bigger and quicker in England.
The comparisons with the older TV shows were also seen in some of its glowing reviews. Jonathan Storm of The Philadelphia Inquirer once wrote that the show was “like Seinfeld on crack.” It became quite popular and FX decided to attach the tagline, “It’s Seinfeld on crack”, to the series (via Den of Geek).
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia once taunted The Office US
Rob McElhenney once appeared on an Instagram video to taunt The Office US, years after the latter show wrapped. The video was taken outside of the Dunder Mifflin set. McElhenney’s video was captioned, “The bar inside Dunder Mifflin is now called Paddy’s.” He shared in the video:
Apparently this is Dunder Mifflin, I guess, where they shot ‘The Office.’ I wasn’t 100% sure of that. But they’re gone now. They’re off the air.
He walked across the parking lot of The Office set, sharing, “And now you got…” and panned the camera to his co-stars Danny DeVito and Charlie Day. McElhenney ended the video with “Sorry, Carell.” Steve Carell, however, had a cordial solution to this blood feud as he tweeted that they could have a crossover episode titled, “It’s Always Sunny in Scranton” (via Variety).
The show is set to air its seventeenth season on FXX in June 2025. All the episodes of the series are now available for streaming on Hulu.
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