"The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time" is the seventh episode in the seventeenth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and the 177 episode overall. It aired on August 13, 2025.
Synopsis[]
Upon learning that Frank's making a "Hometown Visit" with his Golden Bachelor partners, the Gang rehearses their family dinner to appeal to America.
Plot Summary[]
6:40 PM On a Saturday, Philadelphia, PA
In the previous episode, the Gang watch a commercial preview of The Golden Bachelor featuring Frank as the lead contestant, learning that the show will visit Philadelphia to meet Frank's family over dinner. Dennis writes a script for the Gang to follow and employs a focus group for their rehearsals of the dinner in an attempt to avoid the disastrous outcomes of previous attempts (such as in The Gang Squashes Their Beefs wherein his and Mac's apartment burned down), and provides tanning lotion and hair removal products. Dennis stresses that his goal is bigger than them looking good on television, and that the most important thing is that they don't look bad.
REHEARSAL DINNER #1
During their first rehearsal, the Gang starts off their dinner strictly following Dennis' script. Things quickly go downhill when Charlie shows up completely hairless, having confused Nair with shampoo, and bringing volleyballs duct taped to broom handles made to look like Frank and his date. Mac's clarification as to the nature of his and Dennis' living situation comes across as them being lovers, and Dee cracks jokes at their expense, which gets the audience's approval more than their scripted lines. Dee's racist joke is poorly received, but Mac is cheered on when he asks if they want a reenactment of him yelling at a coyote. After the audience leaves, Dennis reads out the feedback from the scorecards, stating that the Gang scored a 22 out of 100. While Mac and Dee were rated the highest, with the audience having liked Dee's comedy (with the exception of her racist joke) and Mac's "bad boy tendencies", and Charlie confused the audience, with them thinking he has cancer, Dennis received the lowest individual score, due to him coming across as "bossy" and looking old.
REHEARSAL DINNER #2
The Gang all double down on the critiques they received from the first focus group: Dennis overdoes his face tape in an attempt to look more "youthful", Mac attempts to look like a "bad guy in commando" and as straight as possible but wears a near perfect copy of Freddie Mercury's 1985 Live Aid concert attire,[1] (whom Mac claims is ”the straightest man alive" which prompts Dennis to suggest he wear the duster if he wants to "look straight, and Dee attempts to offer a "clean comedy" look, bringing a rubber chicken to the dinner, which she later sits on (much to the audience's enjoyment). Charlie shows up speaking in an "Eastern European" accent while wearing Frank's toupee and having eyebrows and a mustache penciled on, accompanied by Artemis and The Waitress dressed and acting as Frank and his date. Artemis tries to improvise lines, Dee continues with her comedy routine (which the audience notes they mostly laughed at because they were uncomfortable), Mac injures himself when he fails to perform a backflip off of a chair, and Dennis' attempt to clarify his and Mac's living situation only further exacerbates the issue of them assuming that the two are a couple. The rehearsal is a marked improvement, earning a score of 75 out of 100 this time around, but Dennis takes issue with the usage of false personas, as well as the fact that he is mistaken to be confused as Mac's "old vampire lover", all of which are misunderstandings based on his own appearance and Mac's usage of the duster - which the audience mistakes as him looking like a vampire slayer. Mac suggests they lean into this further, and he "can be like a vanilla Blade", but Dennis insists that they follow his script, and he will do their costumes, hair, and makeup to avoid any "surprises".
REHEARSAL DINNER #3
"I need this from you."
Dennis comes prepared by removing Dee's props ahead of time, fitting Charlie with eyebrows and a wig that looks identical to his regular hair, and demanding Mac hand over his boombox so that he can instead play classical music. The audience is disappointed, having expected the Gang to perform similarly to their last rehearsal dinner. When Mac suggests doing a flip to "lighten the mood", one of the returning viewers insists that Dennis "let [his] boyfriend do a flip", and Charlie eggs him on against Dennis' protests, he becomes visibly upset about the audience not listening and not understanding. He stands up and attempts to explain that the Gang is classy, refined, dignified, and "not the least bit abnormal in any way", asking that the audience reflect this on the cards. He reveals that he has been afraid of being improperly represented as he was on Family Fight, begging for the audience to see him as he is. This gets the Gang a score of 3 out of 100, because Dennis "scared the shit out of them".
Once they are without the audience, the Gang reflects on their poor evaluation, and Charlie proposes that they just be themselves, because attempting to please everyone has not worked; the people who get them, get them. This is enthusiastically agreed upon by Dee, and reluctantly by Dennis. Mac remarks that he is surprised the television crew hasn't shown up to film the homecoming episode yet, and they realize that a month has passed and the episode where Frank visits his family aired two weeks prior. Frank had hired actors to play his family, worried that they would do something to embarrass him.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
- Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
- Rob Mac as Mac McDonald
- Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
- Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds
Guest Starring[]
- Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Waitress
- Artemis Pebdani as Artemis
- Eddie Shin as Moderator Mike
- Jesse Palmer as Himself
Co-Starring[]
- Cal Landgraf as Bob
Trivia[]
- Dennis calls back to "Thunder Gun 4: Maximum Cool" and "The Gang Goes on Family Fight." Mac also recalls something he said from "Sweet Dee Gets Audited."
- Frank has the line, "It's gonna be a really classy affair" which he had previously used in "Charlie Rules the World."
- This marks the first time Charlie is shown without facial hair. Charlie is the second member of the Gang who has been shown completely hairless, after Frank in "The Gang Gets Quarantined."