This year one of the funniest shows on television is coming out with a special Christmas dvd.  It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas just might be one of the best episodes of the show ever produced.  I laughed so hard and so often that I actually had to pause it to catch my breath.  This is so great in fact that I’m not gonna give too much away in this preview.

If you’re already a fan of the show you know that they can go some pretty wild places and take on anything, and this is certainly no different.  The episode starts off with us finding that Mac and Charlie are both huge fans of Christmas and that they have a tradition since childhood of going out and throwing rocks at trains on Christmas day.  Obviously no reason is ever given for this.  Do you really need one?  We find out in the same scene that Dee and Dennis hate the holiday because of Frank, who since they were children would find out what they wanted most and then buy those things for himself.  And this year is no different.  From there I won’t say too much more, only that Dennis and Dee try to give Frank a “Christmas Carol” experience and Charlie and Mac both learn things about their childhood christmas traditions that have them looking at things in a whole new way.

The Gang Goes Caroling.

Along the way there is just a ton of brilliant moments.  First off realize going into this that this is meant to be a straight to dvd release, not an episode of the show (although I’m sure FX will air it in a censored version) so it’s got a 45 minute running time (as opposed to the 20-something a usual episode runs) and is uncensored.  The first thing I saw of this episode was a scene shown during the Nightman Cometh Live tour they did a few months back and involves Charlie and a mall Santa.  This still stands as s series highpoint, but there are laughs that match it in this special.  You get to see all the Gang as children experiencing Christmas morning, each and every scene of which is pure magic.  You get to see a totally naked Danny Devito birthed from a sofa.  And if you needed any more how about old school “Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer” style animation including a song?  Yep it’s all in there.  And so much more.

There is no way that any fan of the show will be let down by this special.  The only thing missing was a Waitress cameo, but really I don’t even know how they’d fit that in, this is so full of stuff already.  And to top it all off it actually feels Christmasy.  I went shopping with a friend today and there was Christmas shit everywhere and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and I certainly felt no Christmas spirit, but after watching this I felt a little more in the season.  If you are not yet a fan of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia you can tune in to the current season currently airing on FX Thursdays at 10pm, buy the previous seasons on dvd, or start off with this special.  It’s actually a great starting point for a new viewer and you won’t feel like you are missing anything.  In fact go by copies of this for every non-viewer you know and get them to become It’s Always Sunny fans.  It’s already one of the best shows on television.

Alright so this comes out on DVD and Blu-ray November 17th, and you can pre-order from Amazon by clicking the format right here (and by doing that you’d be helping out the site, which would be a very Christmasy thing of you to do).