The Top ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Title Cards That Always Get a Laugh

Through 16 seasons of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it’s become abundantly clear that the words “If that happens, I’ll blow myself” should never be uttered in the City of Brotherly Love.

In all of sitcom history, there has never been a show more devoted to the lost art of the smash cut to a title card than It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In fact, the episode title card itself has fallen so far out of fashion that the average TV-watcher needs to visit IMDb to figure out what the hell this week’s George and Mandy’s First Marriage was called. But for Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day, the transition from the cold open to the opening credits is an absolutely vital element of any episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and through 170 episodes and counting, they’ve had some absolute bangers.

One It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia superfan and Howerton enthusiast recently compiled all of their favorite It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia title cards into one Twitter video: 

The comedic irony of a character saying something bold like “I’m going to save my dad’s life” before the title card tells us otherwise is one of those special jokes that doesn’t lose its luster in the nearly two decades of use since It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia began. By our evaluation, the first time the show truly maximized the “What could possibly go wrong?” capabilities of the cold open was the Season Three masterpiece “Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire,” featured in @m4cden’s compilation, but the show had been honing the comedic potential of the title card since its very inception with “The Gang Gets Racist.”