It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the Economy
The FX comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia prides itself on its ability to take culturally sensitive topics and skewer them in a satirical fashion. From babies abandoned by their mothers in dumpsters to drug addicts on welfare to gay marriage, no topic has been off limits for the critically acclaimed sitcom. While casual viewers may believe that Always Sunny is simply crude with a lack of redeeming values, the series actually acts as a commentary on society by pulling back the scab of today’s headlines and mocking what lies beneath.
“We’re not simply going out and trying to push the envelope for pushing the envelope’s sake,” co-creator Rob McElhenney told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in August 2010. “We’re trying to introduce into comedy a part of the national conversation that we see and hear people talk about behind closed doors but aren’t doing in public. I’ve never seen an episode of any show that addresses gay marriage. We can have a distinct and different take from any other show on television.”
During the series’ fifth season, the economic downturn and resulting financial crisis of 2008 served as a plot device for not one but two episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia—“The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis” and “The Great Recession.” Between the dual installments, a very precise and effective overview of both the causes of the crisis as well as the resulting fallout is portrayed within the narrative.
The mortgage business and real estate market were the first industries to experience the pending disaster and served as precursors for what would follow. During the early part of the decade, sub-par interest rates and easier credit applications created a housing boom. Many of those home buyers, however, overextended themselves in the process and eventually could not afford their mortgage payments. Frank Reynolds, the wealthy patriarch of Always Sunny who has launched a number of “get rich quick” schemes over the years, discovers a way to profit from the situation in “The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis” when he purchases one of those homes at a foreclosure auction.
“Now is the time to invest because all the prices are low,” he tells the others. “As soon as the market turns around, I’m going to make a boatload.”
Dennis, Mac and Charlie join in on the plan and accompany Frank to his newly purchased house. They are shocked to find the residence not only clean and undamaged but fully furnished—it turns out that the family living there had not yet vacated the premises and, according to the law, have ninety days before they can be evicted. This unsettles the group as they are convinced the extra time will allow the current occupants to trash the interior and in turn diminish their potential profit. Dennis and Mac thus pose as real estate agents Hugh Honey and Vic Vinegar in order to sell the house more quickly. Playing the roles of “good real estate agent” and “bad real estate agent,” the two both sweet talk and intimidate perspective buyers until Mac’s Vic Vinegar receives a “binding verbal agreement” from a terrified young couple.
In the end, however, Frank is forced to relinquish the house to its original owners when he uses the family’s children to strip copper pipes from the basement and faces the threat of criminal prosecution for his actions.
While “The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis” has an exclusive focus, “The Great Recession” serves up a buffet of buzz words and predicaments that directly stemmed from the resulting financial meltdown. From ponzi schemes to bailouts to stimulus packages, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was able to incorporate all the nuances of the economic crisis into a broadly-stroked laugh fest that effectively spoofed a dire situation.
Wikipedia describes a ponzi scheme as “a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned.” In early 2009, Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty of operating one such scam that cost investors an estimated eighteen billion dollars. On Always Sunny, it is Frank Reynolds who loses his substantial fortune in a similar scheme and suddenly finds himself broke. Despite continuously relying on Frank’s money to bail them out through the years, the rest of the gang do not comprehend the seriousness of Frank’s predicament and act as if it’s business as usual.
For Dennis and Mac, this includes elaborate steak lunches at Dave and Buster’s and the belief that they are entitled to bonuses even though Paddy’s Pub, the bar they own and operate, is an utter failure. Many CEOs during the early part of the Twenty First Century received similar financial rewards, although on an obviously much larger scale, despite the fact that the corporations they oversaw often teetered on the brink of financial ruin.
In order to make Paddy’s more successful, Dennis and Mac decide to downsize the bar by firing both Charlie and Dee. Feeling invigorated from that experience, the two then embark on another lunch at Dave and Buster’s, only this time Dennis concocts a “stimulus plan” designed to create a “self-sustaining economy” for the establishment. Using the D&B Power Card as inspiration, Dennis and Mac print up their own money—called Paddy’s Dollars—and pass them out to the many newly homeless people in the area. Since the currency can only be used at the bar, the two believe the recipients of the play money will be forced to both drink at Paddy’s Pub and then purchase additional Paddy’s Dollars once their free allotment runs out.
The plan ultimately fails when the “customers” simply clean the bar out with the fake bills and leave without making any real-currency purchases. Frank, however, comes to the rescue when the government reimburses him for his prior losses, in effect giving him his own personal “bailout.”
Both “The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis” and “The Great Recession” contain a number of humorous quotes that both skewer and mock the financial tragedy. Some the best include:
“You’ve got to look for shit on the walls because that’s what they do. When they know they’re getting thrown out of a place, they smear feces all over the walls.”
“Your mom and dad aren’t at work. That’s why they lost the house. They’re probably at the dog track getting wasted.”
“Ever since the recession hit, waves of new people are suddenly broke. These people have no idea how to live without money. They’re what’s called ‘new poor.’ We’re old poor.”
“Maybe we should take this time to streamline Paddy’s. Make it run as efficiently as the government.”
“When people stop buying vacuum cleaners and knives door-to-door, it can mean only one thing—goodbye recession, hello depression.”
“We have no money and no inventory. There’s still something we can do, that’s still a business somehow.”
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has proven over the years that it is not a traditional sitcom but a television comedy that’s not afraid to tackle politically sensitive topics. Although the economic crisis of 2008 negatively affected millions of Americans and wreaked havoc on the financial security of the nation, the series still found a way to not only satirize the situation but poke fun at the absurdity of the many extreme practices of both Wall Street and the U.S. government in the process. Always Sunny may not be a comedy for everybody but it is both funny and relevant nonetheless.
Anthony Letizia (August 11, 2010)
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