The Side Character That It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Fans Think Is Underrated
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is just as intrigued by the supporting cast as the Gang. Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Charlie (Charlie Day), and the rest may get into all sorts of hijinks, but those escapades often put them in contention with the other residents of Philly. What's fascinating is to see how interacting with the Gang often leads to other characters' downfalls. For instance, Rickety Cricket (David Hornsby) is introduced toward the start of the series as a priest who used to have a crush on Dee (Kaitlin Olson) in high school. When he believes he can finally get with her, he renounces the priesthood, but by that point, she's already moved on and isn't interested (despite flirting with him earlier).
As the series progresses, Cricket becomes more and more deranged. He started normally and quickly became unrecognizable. Many other supporting characters fall into this trap when they get involved with the Gang, but there's one character popular with fans who started pretty messed up and more or less stayed there throughout his run.
Da' Maniac loves ya, and fans love Da' Maniac
In Season 5's "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops," we're introduced to Da' Maniac, played by "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. He's an amateur wrestler the Gang takes an interest in when they want to put on a patriotic show for the military, and after seeing him in action, they know they have to get him involved. Of course, this being "Always Sunny," things go wrong quickly, and Da' Maniac can't make it to the show due to unpaid parking tickets. He also gets engrossed in a multi-level marketing scam courtesy of the gang and quickly excels at selling Invigaron in Season 9's "Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare."
With his erratic nature, it's easy to see why Redditors have taken to the character. It also helps he's played by the late, great Roddy Piper, as u/bortbort8 writes, "Da Maniac is easily one of my [favorite] characters. Rowdy Roddy Piper (RIP) did an amazing job as him. Just something about the delivery of his lines cracks me up." The rest of the thread is filled with his many memorable quotes from his two episodes, a remarkable feat by any measure.
And Piper clearly had a good time working alongside the crew, as evidenced by an interview he did with Icon vs. Icon. He explained, "They were all so kind when I came onto the set. They let me improv, and being as talented as they are they didn't have any problem keeping up! It made the episode really special." Piper may have sadly passed away, but at least audiences got a pair of performances that will continue to make them laugh for some time to come.