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"Charlie Has Cancer" is the fourth episode of the first season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Synopsis[]

Dennis and Mac help Charlie find someone to sleep with him after Charlie announces that he's dying of cancer. Mac begins a relationship with a trans woman. Dee's friend Artemis auditions to be a Paddy's bartender.

Recap[]

1x4 Charlie 2

Charlie reveals he has cancer.

12:40 PM on a Tuesday

Dennis stops by Charlie's apartment to pick up a basketball, and Charlie reveals he might have cancer. He asks Dennis not to tell the gang. Dennis awkwardly worms himself out of talking about it and leaves, but not before reminding Charlie about the basketball.

1x4 Mac Carmen

Mac meets Carmen

At Paddy's, Dennis tells Mac and Dee about Charlie's cancer and Mac agrees to help find a woman to sleep with Charlie to make him feel better. That evening, Mac flirts with a beautiful woman named Carmen. Dennis reveals to Mac that she is transgender and has a penis. When confronting her about this, they continue to flirt, and he decides to give her a call some time.

1x4 Artemis Dee

Theater practice

Dennis convinces Dee to help them find a girl for Charlie and in exchange she gets to punch Mac in the face in retaliation for a Christmas party when he punched her in the face. At theater practice, Dee's friend Artemis breaks down because she lost her job. Dee tricks Dennis into letting her out of searching for Charlie's girl in exchange for bringing in a girl to do Coyote Ugly style bartending.

1x4 Mac Carmen 3

An embarrassed Mac

At Dennis and Mac's apartment, Dennis walks in on Carmen and Mac watching football. After questioning Mac on what he is doing with a trans woman, Dennis and Mac agree that the right girl for Charlie is the Waitress. Outside the Coffee shop, Dennis and Mac watch Charlie shyly watch the waitress. Dennis enters, trying to guilt the waitress into sleeping with Charlie, but she flirts with him instead.

1x4 Waitress money

Mac bribes The Waitress

The next morning he confides in Mac that he banged the waitress, but gives Mac $200 to bribe the waitress to sleep with Charlie. She barters up to $250. On their date, she makes him buy her an expensive watch and clothes. At the same time, Mac continues to spend time with Carmen in the hope that she will sleep with him first once she's had her operation.

1x4 Artemis Dennis

Artemis auditions for a bartending job.

At Paddy's, Dennis is upset when he finds out that Artemis is supposed to be the sexy new bartender. She performs on the bar and licks his face to his dismay. Charlie arrives in a very cheery mood, and Dennis asks him about it in the bathroom. Charlie reveals that he went out on a successful date with the Waitress and that he doesn't have cancer. Dennis gets upset, the two yell at each other, and Dennis reveals that they paid off the Waitress to sleep with him. Charlie tells him they didn't have sex. Mac meanwhile is out on a date with Carmen calling his mother, only to suddenly punch her in the face when she taps his shoulder. Several bystanders see this, thinking Mac hit a woman, and Mac explains that she has a penis, ergo is a man, and runs off from the angry witnesses.

1x4 Dennis Charlie

Dennis finds out Charlie has been lying about the cancer.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

  • Dennis Hogan as Construction Worker
  • Dennis Hart as Construction Worker #2

Trivia[]

1x4 Philly sunset
1x4 Waitress Charlie
1x4 Waitress Charlie jewlery
1x4 Mac hat
1x4 Mac Carmen penis
1x4 Mac Carmen 2
1x4 Dennis
  • The show's original pilot was a short-film version of this episode.
  • The coffee shop that The Waitress works at is called "Philadelphia Java Company".
  • This episode marks the first appearance of Charlie's apartment.
  • This episode is the first appearance of both Artemis and Carmen.
  • Brittany Daniel (Carmen) previously starred with Glenn Howerton on the short-lived That '80s Show.
  • Artemis constantly references the movie Coyote Ugly as she auditions for a position at Paddy's Pub. Kaitlin Olson had a brief role in the movie.
  • Dennis can be heard listening to Rick Astley while he is driving in his Range Rover. Later on, the same song is used to overlay a montage of Charlie's date with the Waitress, as well as Mac's date with Carmen. In both instances, the song is "Never Gonna Give You Up". It should be noted that at the time of filming the song was relatively obscure, as the meme of "Rick Rolling" that made the song popular again today did not exist.
  • Charlie is seen with a book at the coffee shop, however it is mentioned frequently that he is illiterate.
  • The scene where Mac and Carmen celebrating running up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps is a reference to a scene in the movie Rocky.
  • Kaitlin Olson's audition scene for the series was her reading Dennis' part from the opening scene of "Charlie Has Cancer". Olson later said she didn't realize it wasn't the actual dialog for her character and was disappointed that she didn't get to do the scene on the show.
  • When Dennis, Mac and Dee are discussing how to make Charlie feel better at the bar, Dennis picks up and opens a beer bottle. In the next scene, it is still unopened on top the bar.
  • The scene when Dennis talks to Dee about the waitress also has a continuity error: In one shot Dennis is seen with a rag in his pants pocket, while he talks he has his hands in the air, there is a cut, Dennis keeps talking but now the rag is in his hands, there is another cut and his hands are free again with the rag in the pocket of his pants, and then he is seen using the rag to clean a glass.
  • The scene where Mac is on the phone with his mother after his date with Carmen, then Carmen sneaks up behind him and he punches her, was shot at Pat’s King of Steaks in Philadelphia.

Images[]

< N/A Season 1 Season >
2
  1. "The Gang Gets Racist"
2. "Charlie Wants an Abortion"
3. "Underage Drinking: A National Concern"
4. "Charlie Has Cancer"
5. "Gun Fever"
6. "The Gang Finds a Dead Guy"
7. "Charlie Got Molested"
 
 
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