Kemper's Reviews > It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The 7 Secrets of Awakening the Highly Effective Four-Hour Giant, Today

Apparently there’s a lost episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia that was titled The Gang Gets A Book Deal.

Fans of the show might be slightly confused as to how these selfish, delusional, scheming, amoral, profane, drunken misfits with an uncanny ability to wreck the lives of anyone they encounter have managed to write a book, let alone get it published. (Hell, Charlie can’t even read!) The fact that it’s supposed to be a self-help book makes it even more mind boggling considering that the most important thing this pack of jackals has ever accomplished with their miserable lives is managing to somehow stay out of jail.

The introduction from a former editor of Harper Collins sets the stage that one of their employees with a substance abuse problem found his way to Paddy’s Pub and after a blackout drunk signed The Gang to an ill-advised deal. They, of course, instantly see this as being an easy way to wind up as famous authors who will be on the best seller list in no time. However, it should come as no surprise to regular viewers that things start going off the rails when they realize they’re actually going to have to sit their beers down long enough to write the goddamn thing.

The book uses the idea of each character is writing different sections to do a hilarious job of capturing the voice and tone of everyone. So we get details on Mac’s delusions of being bad ass, Dennis’ narcissism, Frank’s various perversions, Sweet Dee’s neurotic insecurities, and Charlie’s deranged worldview. It’s very funny and more than a little terrifying to spend time in the minds of these people. The running gag that The Gang is getting increasingly frustrated with writing the book and the exasperated notes from the editors that show how much money and time they’re costing the publisher also provides some of the book’s best bits.

However, it does rely a bit too much on calling back to incidents and jokes from the show. Any tie-in book like this is going to lean on the history, but when it’s done really well, like say How to Archer, it seems like a continuation of the show and not just references. When there are things like a whole chapter based on Dennis getting shushed one time it feels a little too much like a call back rather than building on what's come before.

Still it’s a pretty funny companion piece to the show. It probably won’t mean much to anyone who isn't a hard core fan, but if you aren't a hard core fan, then why would you read the book? Any member of The Gang would tell you that you’re just an idiot if you did that.