History Characters / ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaCharlieKelly

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Towards the end of [[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS05E05TheWaitressIsGettingMarried "The Waitress Is Getting Married"]], [[spoiler:Charlie gives the Waitress's ex-fiancé Brad a hornet's nest as an "engagement gift". Given that Brad revealed to Charlie that he only agreed to marry the Waitress so that he could dump her as revenge, and stated he was planning on doing the same thing to Dee, Charlie (who was planning on giving him the nest anyway) giving Brad his "gift" was hardly the former's most egregious crime.]]

!!Charlie Kelly

* CluelessChickMagnet: He has managed to grab the attention of multiple attractive women, but he's [[SingleTargetSexuality only interested in the Waitress]].

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Charlie loves animals, to the point there having to clear out a rat's nest gives him a minor HeroicBSOD. Although, see HeroesLoveDogs below.

** Reaches new heights in "Charlie Work", where a surprise health inspection falls on the day the rest of the Gang decide to try a ZanyScheme involving a steak delivery man and a bunch of chickens. Charlie has to scramble to move the the health inspector, the rest of the Gang, ''and'' the delivery man to the right spots with pitch-perfect timing so that the health inspector won't notice the pub's innumerable code violations or the delivery man's suspicious grievances, the delivery man will think the pub is actually a steakhouse, and [[ItMakesSenseInContext Mac and Dennis can contaminate the delivery man's steaks with chicken feathers.]] Charlie ''also'' has time to set up a BrickJoke by [[spoiler:sabotaging a particular barstool Charlie knew Dee would sit on]]. To drive home the sheer skill this kind of tactical genius would take, the majority of the episode consists of [[TheOner an extended unbroken shot]].

* WrongGenreSavvy: "The Nightman Cometh" and "The Gang Saves the Day" hint that in his view, his life is an enchanted ComingOfAgeStory meets RomCom where he's the plucky underdog hero and the Waitress is destined to be with him. In reality, his stalking of her is incredibly creepy and when they '''do''' get together, its not near as romantic and he thought.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: [[spoiler: Charlie is illiterate in English, but is fully capable of speaking and reading Irish Gaelic without even knowing he could.]]

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: This could be applied to the entire Gang, but Charlie gets it the worst. He's by far the least-intelligent member, but is desperate to play himself as well-read and knowledgeable. He'll often pass his own Cloudcuckoolander beliefs as fact and insist the people explaining the (very basic) logic needed to disprove it as idiots. He often parrots back terms and phrases he heard from more intelligent people (and episodes of Law & Order) without putting any effort into understanding their meaning.

* HeroesLoveDogs: Inverted. While Charlie is the closest thing the Gang has to a TokenGoodTeammate and a FriendToAllLivingThings, that he does ''not'' extend his affection toward dogs, which he often talks about kicking, demonstrates that he is still ultimately a pretty terrible person.

* {{Flanderization}}: He went from "somewhat awkward, sometimes loud, and occasionally dim-witted, with a mild crush on this one waitress" to "entirely illiterate, possibly insane and ''definitely'' a [[AmbiguousDisorder savant]], StalkerWithACrush and NoIndoorVoice." The episode "Flowers for Charlie" actually gives an InUniverse justification for this change, as it is explained that the much of the work the Gang has assigned Charlie to do around the bar involves him frequently handling a pontent cocktail of various dangerous chemicals, implying his increasing stupidity, illiteracy, and unhinged behavior to be the result of ever-worsening brain damage from exposure to said chemicals.

* AmbiguousDisorder: He's very brash, hotheaded, childish, has NoSocialSkills, and is very BookDumb, though he's also quite cunning when he puts his mind to it. He's often described as a savant. His strange habit of eating inedible things (pencil erasers, wolf-hair, stickers, sunscreen, paper and credit cards, etc.) imply that he suffers from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder) pica]].

* MoneyDumb: Charlie lost all of his ownership shares in the bar because he kept giving them to Dennis and Mac in exchange for things like half a sandwich.

* TheStoner: He huffs glue and spray paint, which is part of where his WildCard and ButtMonkey status comes from.

* FreudianExcuse: He was an abortion survivor (may or may not have contributed to his impaired mental faculties) with no father (though [[spoiler: he finds his father in season 15]]), an OCD, neurotic and sexually promiscuous mother, and was most likely molested as a child by his uncle. It explains a lot.

* LukeIMightBeYourFather: In the finale of Season 2, [[spoiler: it is revealed that Frank may very well be Charlie's father]]. Season 10 reveals that the Gang didn't care enough to have it definitively tested. [[spoiler:Season 15 reveals that Frank is actually ''not'' Charlie's father, but in a rare moment of sweetness, Frank states that he still thinks of himself and Charlie as more like a father and son.]]

* LukeIMightBeYourFather: In the finale of Season 2, [[spoiler: it is revealed that Frank may very well be Charlie's father]]. Season 10 reveals that the Gang didn't care enough to have it definitively tested.

[[folder:Charlie Kelly]]

[[redirect:Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaTheGang]]

[[WMG:[[center:[-''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' '''[[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia Main Character Index]]'''\\
[[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaTheGang The Gang]] ([[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaDennisReynolds Dennis Reynolds]], [[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaDeeReynolds Dee Reynolds]], [[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaMac Mac]], '''Charlie Kelly''', [[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaFrankReynolds Frank Reynolds]]) | [[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaTheGangsFamilies The Gang's Families]] | [[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaRecurringCharacters Recurring Characters]] | ''[[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaTheNightmanComethCharacters The Nightman Cometh]]'' | ''[[Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaLethalWeaponSeries Lethal Weapon]]''-]]]]]

!!Charlie Kelly
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kelly_charles_2955.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Wildcard, bitches! Yeeee-haw!"'']]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/CharlieDay, Robbie Tucker (young, "[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS06E13AVerySunnyChristmas A Very Sunny Christmas]]"), AJ Hudson (dream, "[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS12E01TheGangTurnsBlack The Gang Turns Black]]")
!!!'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS01E01TheGangGetsRacist The Gang Gets Racist]]"

->''"I'm probably, like, the weirdest guy in the universe. Probably even weirder than someone from Saturn."''

A [[ChildhoodFriends childhood friend]] of Mac and later high school friend of Dennis and Dee. He is also Frank's roommate. Charlie does most of the dirty work (referred to as "Charlie Work") at the pub, is borderline illiterate, an alcoholic and substance abuser and is often seen huffing glue and paint. He suffers from deep psychological problems and lives in squalor. An abortion survivor, Charlie has extreme anger issues and often screams to get his point across. He also has a severely unhealthy obsession with "The Waitress", who finds Charlie repulsive and shows no interest in him.
----
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A-F]]

* AlmightyJanitor: Charlie, who does most of the janitorial jobs around Paddy's, is actually the one keeping the bar afloat through his work ethic and bouts of ingenuity. This is especially evident in "Charlie Work" where he ensures a surprise health inspection goes smoothly and brings the bar a good grade. However, this has also been painfully subverted on occasion. In "The Gang Reignites the Rivalry", Charlie goes undercover into a fraternity, and assumes his janitorial skills will allow him to "Good Will Hunting" the frat brothers and impress them into letting him in. (They don't). In the two-parter "The Gang Gets a New Member" and "Dee Reynolds: Shaping America's Youth", Charlie leaves the bar and the Gang and becomes a janitor at a local high school, where he tries to mentor students. (Unsuccessfully).
* AmbiguousDisorder: He's very brash, hotheaded, childish, has NoSocialSkills, and is very BookDumb, though he's also quite cunning when he puts his mind to it. He's often described as a savant. His strange habit of eating inedible things (pencil erasers, wolf-hair, stickers, sunscreen, paper and credit cards, etc.) imply that he suffers from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder) pica]].
* AnimalMotif: Rats and mice. Rodents are a recurring theme in Charlie-centered stories, mainly because he's the bar's exterminator, but his mannerisms and quirks have more in common with scavenger animals.
* AntiHero: In his more humane moments, he is this, being a generally goodhearted guy who is also incredibly stupid and destructive.
* AuthorAppeal: In-universe, the songs he writes almost always make mention of "spiders, ghouls, and rape."
* BackFromTheDead: After Mac, Charlie and Dee fake their own deaths ("Mac and Charlie Die Part 2"), they hide in the office of Paddy's. When Frank and Dennis come in, they run out -- carrying sparklers -- and Sweet Dee yells "Surprise, bitches! We're alive and it's blowing your MINDS right now!"
* BadBadActing: In the Lethal Weapon sequels he's probably the worst actor as DaChief, but he's otherwise decent while playing the henchmen.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: [[spoiler: Finally hooks up with the Waitress in the Season 12 finale, only to immediately show signs of regretting it.]]
* BerserkButton: People having sex with his mom or insulting/threatening the Waitress. Unfortunately for him, both of these things happen fairly frequently.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: When Charlie has been wronged, and is on his A-Game, he can easily become [[TheChessmaster the biggest Chessmaster]] in the series.
* BumblingSidekick: Charlie almost never comes up with the Gang's schemes, and instead generally serves as the incompetent lackey to whichever one of the other four is nearest to him at any given time. Of course, since the other four are also incredibly bumbling, he's hardly ever the ''only'' reason why their schemes tend to get screwed up.
* ButtMonkey: While all of the members of the Gang suffer frequently, Dee and Charlie are by far the most prone to AmusingInjuries.
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Multiple times.
* ChaoticStupid: When the Gang determined that Charlie is the "Wild Card" of the group, Charlie took it as a cue to go completely insane. Not that he had far to go.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: A more subtle example than Dee or Mac. In the early episodes, Charlie's eccentricities were less pronounced, making him look more like an awkward loser than an illiterate lunatic. The later seasons have him fully embrace his {{Cloudcuckoolander}} tendencies.
* ChekhovsGun: Often has some sort of crazy idea, scheme or object whose meaning isn't clear until the very end, as in the episode "The Nightman Cometh."
* TheChessmaster:
** In "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom," he orchestrates a BatmanGambit [[spoiler:to go on a date with the Waitress]].
** Reaches new heights in "Charlie Work", where a surprise health inspection falls on the day the rest of the Gang decide to try a ZanyScheme involving a steak delivery man and a bunch of chickens. Charlie has to scramble to move the the health inspector, the rest of the Gang, ''and'' the delivery man to the right spots with pitch-perfect timing so that the health inspector won't notice the pub's innumerable code violations or the delivery man's suspicious grievances, the delivery man will think the pub is actually a steakhouse, and [[ItMakesSenseInContext Mac and Dennis can contaminate the delivery man's steaks with chicken feathers.]] Charlie ''also'' has time to set up a BrickJoke by [[spoiler:sabotaging a particular barstool Charlie knew Dee would sit on]]. To drive home the sheer skill this kind of tactical genius would take, the majority of the episode consists of [[TheOner an extended unbroken shot]].
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Easily the biggest one on the show. His favorite food? "Milk steak". Hobby? Magnets. Likes? Ghouls. ("You know, funny little green ghouls?") Dislikes? People's knees.
* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: For his... oddities, Charlie can be fairly sharp at times.
* ClusterFBomb: In "A Very Sunny Christmas" [[spoiler:Charlie repeatedly screams "DID YOU FUCK MY MOM?!" at a mall Santa, and then takes a bite out of his neck.]]
** In "The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award", he sings a mostly bleeped-out song.
** In "Mac & Dennis: Manhunters" Charlie drops the F-bomb. It was (obviously) censored when it aired on TV, and disappointingly censored on the Season 4 [=DVDs=].
* CreepyCrossdresser: In "The Gang Solves the Bathroom Problem", it's revealed that he can only poop while wearing a dress as a result of his mother's coddling.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Despite being childish and ignorant, he can be a vicious {{Chessmaster}} when he wants to be. He's also generally the only member of the Gang besides Frank who ever does well in a fight. He possesses a savant-like skill in music and the ability to ice skate, among other things. Hidden genius beneath salient stupidity seems to be his specialty.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype:
** Of TheDitz; his terrible upbringing and his constant usage of drugs and inhalants render him the dumbest member of the Gang. His stupidity often ruins the Gang's plans, such as the time he cut the brakes of the Gang's car.
** Of the DoggedNiceGuy; he is so enticed by the Waitress that no other woman will catch his interest; in fact, he rejects one in front of the Waitress to demonstrate his love for her. He also goes out of his way to impress her and win her heart; eventually, it gets to the point that he stalks her and invades her house, which forces her to get a restraining order against him. [[spoiler:Ultimately, she gives in and has sex with him only because she wants to have a [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter kid]]. Not ready for fatherhood, Charlie then proceeds to ditch her, which shows how shallow his "love" for her was.]]
* DelusionsOfEloquence: Horribly misuses various legal terms in an attempt to impress the Lawyer.
-->'''Charlie:''' Look, buddy. I know a lot about the law and various other [[PerfectlyCromulentWord lawyerings]]. I'm well educated, well versed. I know that situations like this, real-estate-wise, they're very complex.\\
'''Lawyer:''' Actually, they're pretty simple. The forms are all standard boilerplate.\\
'''Charlie:''' Okay, well, we're all hungry. We're gonna get to our hot plates soon enough.\\
'''Lawyer:''' I can see clearly you know nothing about the law; it seems like you have a tenuous grasp on the English language in general.\\
'''Charlie:''' Okay, well... filibuster.\\
''[[[FunnyBackgroundEvent Dennis hangs his head in embarrassment in the background]]]''
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Threatens to smack Dee's face off of her face in the episode "The Nightman Cometh".
* DependingOnTheWriter: While Charlie is always portrayed as being illiterate, just how exactly his illiteracy manifests tends to vary. In earlier episodes, he can seemingly spell words just fine but is incapable of structuring them coherently (with Dennis even speculating that he's dyslexic). Later episodes drop this in favor of ping-ponging between him spelling words out phonetically, using pictures in place of them, or simply having no understanding of English at all (as in he can't even come close to spelling his own name correctly).
* TheDitz: While ''all'' of the members of the Gang are idiots, Charlie almost always comes off as near totally clueless, and frequently has trouble grasping basic concepts, much to the annoyance and frustration of everyone else.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Genuinely thinks he's this: quietly loving The Waitress from afar and willing to do anything to win her heart. It's [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in that he's actually a barely-contained [[StalkerWithACrush stalker]] who regularly harasses her, breaks into her house, and interferes with her life.
* DrunkWithPower: Charlie is the Gang's least ambitious member and is, for most of the time, completely happy in his job as a janitor. However, on the rare occasions that he finds himself in a position of power, he completely flies off his rocker and turns into a veritable dictator. (The episode "Charlie Rules the World" is a prime example of this trope in motion).
* DumbIsGood: Charlie is consistently portrayed as being the least intelligent member of the Gang, but also the least morally bankrupt.
* ExplainExplainOhCrap: In "A Very Sunny Christmas", after Charlie tells Mac about how men dressed as Santa Claus would come to "cheer up" his mom every Christmas:
-->'''Mac:''' Charlie, I hate to break this to you, man, but based on the story that you just told me, I think your mother was a prostitute.\\
'''Charlie:''' No, dude, they would just give my mom money and go...\\
'''Mac:''' ... yeah. Chew on that for a second.
* ExtremeOmnivore: He doesn't deny the possibility of newspaper, credit card fragments, and wolf hair being in his stool in "Who Pooped the Bed?". In "The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore", he drinks sunscreen. And he eats stickers "all the time, dude!" He also swallows copious amounts of gasoline and a inhales a number of live hornets on separate occasions. Though involuntary, he doesn't see any reason for concern.
* FakingTheDead: "Mac and Charlie Die" Parts 1 and 2. [[spoiler: He and Mac fake their death in order to escape from Mac's father, who they believe is trying to kill them]].
* {{Flanderization}}: He went from "somewhat awkward, sometimes loud, and occasionally dim-witted, with a mild crush on this one waitress" to "entirely illiterate, possibly insane and ''definitely'' a [[AmbiguousDisorder savant]], StalkerWithACrush and NoIndoorVoice." The episode "Flowers for Charlie" actually gives an InUniverse justification for this change, as it is explained that the much of the work the Gang has assigned Charlie to around the bar involves him frequently handling a pontent cocktail of various dangerous chemicals, implying his increasing stupidity, illiteracy, and unhinged behavior to be the result of ever-worsening brain damage from exposure to said chemicals.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Charlie loves animals, to the point there having to clear out a rat's nest gives him a minor HeroicBSOD.
* FreudianExcuse: He was an abortion survivor (may or may not have contributed to his impaired mental faculties) with no father (though [[spoiler: Frank may be Charlie's missing father]]), an OCD, neurotic and sexually promiscuous mother, and was most likely molested as a child by his uncle. It explains a lot.
* FunetikAksent: Whenever Charlie's writing shows up, most of the words are written phonetically, as his borderline illiteracy forces him to guess how words are spelled based on sound. In "Bums: Making a Mess All Over the City", he leaves a note for the mayor of Philadelphia labeled "4 The Mare," and in "Charlie and Dee Find Love", his list of daily activities regarding The Waitress includes things such as "woch bad stoccer" (watch bad stalker) and "chek fud fer poizen" (check food for poison).

[[/folder]]

[[folder:G-N]]

* GeniusDitz: Charlie is good at piano, sewing, songwriting and ice-skating; wrote and directed a musical despite being functionally illiterate; and can pull off some very Machiavellian plots when properly motivated.
* HairTriggerTemper: Much like everyone in the main cast, Charlie has serious anger issues and tends to act loud and aggressive when he's upset such as when he violently bites a fake Santa after finding out that his mother had sex with several men every Christmas when he was young.
* TheHeart: He's easily the sweetest member of the Gang, and is the only one who has a genuine friendship with each of the other four.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Frank. He's also this with Mac, who he has known since childhood.
* HotBlooded: Pretty much comes with being the LargeHam that Charlie is.
* HypercompetentSidekick: Along with his many hidden talents, "Charlie Work" reveals him to be the only reason Paddy's hasn't been shut down for its countless health code violations.
* IdiotSavant: Charlie is an illiterate moron, but he has genuinely exceptional musical talent--he can sing, play piano, and write songs, and a brief scene in "Charlie Work" shows that he has perfect pitch. He occasionally displays skill in other areas as well, though music is by far the most common.
* IncrediblyObviousBug: When he and Mac fake their own deaths, they hide in the air-vent during their joint funeral at Paddy's, talking at full volume. This alerts Dennis that they aren't actually dead.
* InnocentBigot: Like the other members of the Gang, he often makes racist and sexist remarks, but that's largely due to his lack of social skills and being too dumb to know better, and he doesn't mean to hurt anyone.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Other than joining in on the guys' verbal beat downs and general mistreatment of Dee and Cricket, Charlie almost never intends to offend anyone, he's just really, ''really'' stupid and naturally violent. "The Gang Misses the Boat" even has him admit he only messes with Dee out of peer pressure.
* InsufferableImbecile: Charlie is easily the most innocent member of the Gang, but this stems more from his sheer immaturity than any genuine moral standing, being an unstable PsychopathicManchild who has spent over a decade stalking a woman he doesn't even know the name of. He likewise is stupid to the point of flat out rejecting basic knowledge, common sense and even reality. Over the course of the show he's cut the breaks on the Gang's van (twice) out of spontaneity, was convinced that a little person he caught in a trap on St. Patrick's day was really a leprechaun (to the point of threatening him with a straight razor for not giving him his gold), kidnapped a critic who wrote a bad review on impulse, and flat out ignoring any evidence that his blatantly incorrect views are wrong.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: To the Waitress, but instead of letting another guy have her, he agrees to stop stalking her. This ends poorly for her, because his "activities" have actually been keeping her out of a lot of trouble. [[spoiler: It turns out that him not stalking her was just a part of his plan to pull an OperationJealousy]].
* JerkassBall:
** He often comes across as the nicest and most innocent member of the Gang, but his shocking cruelty and vindictiveness in "Charlie Has Cancer", "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom", and "Charlie and Dee Find Love" are excessive, [[EvenEvilHasStandards even by The Gang's standards.]] It would appear the Waitress brings out the worst in him.
** Briefly mentions in "The Gang Group Dates" that he once kicked a dog for barking at the Waitress and chuckles as if it's normal. In "The Gang Goes To Hell: Part 2", he imagines a dog at their pretend dinner and starts kicking it despite the others telling him to stop.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He shows more empathy than any other member of the Gang and seems to have slightly higher ethical standards.
* KavorkaMan: He gets two very attractive girls interested in him, despite being a spastic weirdo. He has no interest at all in either, preferring to continue stalking the Waitress.
* {{Keet}}: He has a near-limitless supply of energy and enthusiasm, which unfortunately goes misplaced most of the time due to his incompetence and selfishness.
* KindHeartedCatLover: Loves cats, eats cat food, and sometimes glues cat hair to the back of his neck and pretends to be a cat man.
* KindHeartedSimpleton: Well, "kindhearted" is pushing it, but Charlie is consistently shown to be the most decent member of the Gang in spite of his spectacular idiocy. Most of his mean-spirited actions also come off as him being more InnocentlyInsensitive than anything else.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: This could be applied to the entire Gang, but Charlie gets it the worst. He's by far the least-intelligent member, but is desperate to play himself as well-read and knowledgeable. He'll often pass his own Cloudcuckoolander beliefs as fact and insist the people explaining the (very basic) logic needed to disprove it as idiots. He often parrots back terms and phrases he heard from more intelligent people (and episodes of Law & Order) without putting any effort into understanding their meaning.
-->'''Dennis:''' As I've tried to explain before; you cannot get honey from a hornet's nest.\\
'''Charlie:''' I just don't think there's any science to support that, trust me, pal.\\
'''Dennis:''' There's some very basic science supporting this.\\
'''Charlie:''' No, there's not!\\
'''Dennis:''' I-It's actually a fact, alright, it's not even science- aargh...
* LargeHam: In a world of hams, Charlie is one of the biggest. He often screams to get his point across or when he's met with resistance, and he describes his politicking within Paddy's as follows:
-->'''Charlie:''' If you're not as educated or as informed, what you do is you start your own party and you yell the loudest!
* LimitedWardrobe: Charlie is the only main cast member seen wearing the same clothes over and over, emphasizing his poverty. In one episode he states that he repairs his old clothes rather than buy anything new. Notable favorites include his black and red horse t-shirt, green army jacket and long thermal underwear. Some of these clothes are Charlie Day's actual property.
* LovableCoward: Downplayed. He does have some DirtyCoward moments [[note]] (leaving Dee behind when running away from a mugger, fantasizing about saving the waitress by pushing Dee (instead of {{h|eroic Sacrifice}}imself) in front of her to prevent her from getting shot, etc)[[/note]], but he is the most likable and pitiable member of the Gang by far.
* LukeIMightBeYourFather: In the finale of Season 2, [[spoiler: it is revealed that Frank may very well be Charlie's father]]. Season 10 reveals that the Gang didn't care enough to have it definitively tested.
* MadeOfIron: It is almost canon that Charlie cannot be killed or permanently hurt.
** Charlie's mom had an abortion while pregnant with him, but he still managed to survive it, along with living through that hilariously revolting life style of his.
** He's literally shot in the head by Dennis in "Gun Fever".
** He's also been electrocuted "like, 500 times" according to Mac.
** Charlie eats a brownie filled with drugs, even though Mac claims it has enough drugs in it to kill a gorilla. Charlie replies "I can handle my sedatives, bro." He ends up outlasting most of the contestants after several hours (despite being barely conscious), and manages to come in third place before finally passing out.
** He mentions to Dennis in one episode that he's thrown himself in front of cars several times to swindle the drivers.
** Mac and Dennis consider him to be almost indestructible. They train him to be a pit fighter by repeatedly smashing him with various objects.
** In “Charlie's Home Alone”, he falls victim to a variety of his own ''Film/HomeAlone''-like traps. He gets his leg caught in a spiked bear trap, burns himself on red-hot metal, accidentally drops a full can of paint on his head, steps on broken glass barefoot, and gets shot repeatedly with a nail gun. In the next episode, he gets his leg stuck in the bear trap ''again''. He shows no signs of suffering from any long-term injuries afterwards.
* {{Malaproper}}: Throughout the series, Charlie's illiteracy causes him to confuse words when they're spelled somewhat similarly, such as paragon/paradigm, pirate/private, pride/prize, and Coors/closed. In "[[spoiler:The Waitress]] is Getting Married", he attempts to impress a date by telling her he works as a philanthropist, but struggles to pronounce the word and tells her he's a ''"full-on rapist"'' instead. It's also not just limited to single words:
-->'''Charlie:''' ''[reading a sign]'' "Brett [=DeLawyer=]. A denial correlation." What does that mean?\\
'''Mac:''' Pretty good. That's close. It's "Brett [=DeLawter=]. A dental corporation." Guy's a dentist.
* ManBitesMan: Charlie realizes that his mother was a prostitute who slept with men at Christmas, and those men often dressed (sometimes shabbily) as Santa Claus to fool Charlie. He has something of a freak-out, and winds up sinking his teeth into the throat of a mall Santa.
* ManChild: His general CloudCuckoolander personality, and the fact that he found himself to have plenty of things in common with a 12 year old all give this impression.
* ManipulativeBastard: Not his most defining trait, but when he really puts his mind to it, he can be quite effective. Best seen in "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom" and "Charlie and Dee Find Love"
* MenCantKeepHouse: Played with. On the one hand, he can't be bothered to keep his apartment clean (and its horrible state reflects that). On the other hand, he shines in his job as a janitor at Paddy's.
* MisplacedRetribution: In "A Very Sunny Christmas", after realizing what the guys dressed as Santa were really doing with his mom during his childhood, he goes to the mall, screams "DID YOU FUCK MY MOM, SANTA?!" at a random mall Santa and bites him.
* MoneyDumb: Charlie lost all of his ownership shares in the bar because he kept giving them to Dennis and Mac in exchange for things like half a sandwich.
* MoodSwinger: He's one of the most emotional members of the Gang and is known for his intense rage, so he naturally has extreme mood swings.
* MoralityPet:
** A ''very'' mild example of this to Frank, as he appears to be the only person Frank genuinely cares about besides himself. This doesn't mean much most of the time, but occasionally causes Frank to back down.
** For Dennis at times; Dennis seems to be the best at calming Charlie down when he's upset and he treats him noticeably better than he does the rest of the Gang whenever they're alone together.
* NeverLearnedToRead: Charlie has difficulty reading and writing, which is often pointed out by the rest of the Gang as a learning disability or outright illiteracy. His writing is either garbled gibberish or at least partially in pictoral form, though he does manage to write a musical, albeit translated by Artemis to proper English for the rest of The Gang's sake.
* NoIndoorVoice: After the first season, '''CHARLIE SCREAMS ALL THE TIME.'''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:O-Z]]

* OddFriendship:
** He gets along rather well with Dee, especially in comparison to how the other members of the group treat her. This is most notable in "The Gang Misses the Boat" where when the Gang breaks up, he and Dee spend the time bonding, encouraging each other [[spoiler: and eventually making out and maybe sleeping together]]. This may no longer be the case as of Season 13, however, where [[spoiler: Charlie admits that he was raped/molested by Dee, as she ignored him telling her to stop and told him to "be quiet and hold still" so she could get off. Dee doesn't deny that it was non-consensual.]]
** His friendship with Frank seems to be this at first, until it becomes clear that they're NotSoDifferent and actually closer to BirdsOfAFeather.
* OnlySaneEmployee: While Charlie is about as far from sane as you can get, several episodes, most notably "Charlie Work", show that he's the only employee at Paddy's capable of doing his job (as a janitor) competently, albeit only in the form of a last minute game of XanatosSpeedChess.
* PasteEater: Aside from his regular choice of foods, Charlie likes eating things that no one should be eating and has at one point asked to eat an eraser just because he's hungry. This earned him the nickname "Dirtgrub" back in high school.
* PerpetualPoverty: While none of the Gang are financially secure, Dennis, Dee and Mac live in nice apartments and frequently spend far more money than they actually possess, putting them all in severe debt. Charlie on the other hand lives in an apartment that is nothing short of terrifying, lives off of cat food and wolf hair and generally never seems to have any money whatsoever.
* PhraseCatcher:
-->"God damn it, Charlie!"
-->"So stupid, Charlie..."
* ThePigpen: He lives in squalor and has limited personal hygiene. Mac says that he has never seen Charlie put on deodorant.
* RapeAsBackstory: Very strongly implied to have been molested by his uncle.
--> '''Mac:''' You wrote ''a whole play'' about it!
** Sadly, he's been the victim of sexual assault more than anyone else in the Gang, as Season 13 reveals he was raped by [[spoiler:Dee]], who made him be still and stop talking so that she could "get off."
* RelationshipUpgrade: He actually manages to maintain a relationship with the Waitress during the TimeSkip between Seasons 12 and 13. [[StatusQuoIsGod It doesn't last,]] and she breaks up with him in the Season 13 opener.
* RejectionAffection: The Waitress has told Charlie, point blank, on numerous occasions, that she will never ever go out with him. Despite this, Charlie continues to pursue her.
* RenaissanceMan: Surprisingly, despite his lack of intelligence, Charlie is shown to be the most artistically gifted and versatile of the group.
* ScreamingWarrior: While assaulting a mall Santa in the Christmas special.
* SevenDeadlySins: Wrath and Gluttony.
** Wrath: To fit his PsychopathicManchild tendencies, Charlie has a habit of shouting at random and acting without thinking.
** Gluttony: He has a strange addiction to cheese, indulges himself by huffing paint and eats various inedible things including wolf hair, paper, erasers and gasoline (and this is not to mention his alcoholism). In "[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS11E09TheGangGoesToHellPart1 The Gang Goes To Hell Part 1]]", Charlie and Frank end up getting thrown in the brig in their efforts to find alcoholic drinks, something lampshaded by Dennis.
* SingleTargetSexuality: The Waitress, obviously. In thirteen seasons, Charlie has dated exactly one other woman, with the sole intention of using her to make the Waitress jealous. When the Gang tries group dating, Charlie explicitly says multiple times that he's only doing it to improve his game with the Waitress. Despite this, he has also made out and slept with [[spoiler:Dee (though the sex is later revealed to have been non-consensual on Charlie's end)]] in "The Gang Misses the Boat", as well as had ''very'' explicit sex with a prostitute named Tatiana while on a ski trip. The latter instance can at least be explained by the episode's central mantra of "things are different on the mountain". After Charlie's relationship with [[spoiler:The Waitress]] falls apart, he and Frank end up having sex with two co-eds they meet through Airbnb in "The Gang Gets Romantic".
* SonOfAWhore: In "A Very Sunny Christmas", Charlie reflects on what his childhood was like during Christmas. A bunch of Santas would come in, give him presents, then give his mom money and go upstairs with her to "cheer her up". Mac suggests that his mom was whoring herself out on Christmas day. Charlie doesn't take the realization very well.
* StalkerWithACrush: Has been obsessed with the Waitress for years, to the point where he often has to live off of cat food because he spends all of his money paying spies to follow her. He even wrote and staged a musical to propose to her. She has multiple restraining orders against him. Ironically, the actress who plays the Waitress is Charlie Day's wife.
* TheStoner: He huffs glue and spray paint, which is part of where his WildCard and ButtMonkey status comes from.
* StrawLoser: Charlie manages to make Mac, Dee and Dennis look pretty successful and well-adjusted in comparison, as they all have fairly nice apartments and have had multiple relationships in contrast to Charlie's near literal Hell Hole of an apartment and fixation on a single woman who hates his guts.
* ThrowTheDogABone:
** Dennis, Mac, and Dee spend an entire episode trying to do this to Charlie when Frank tells them it's his birthday and he seems pretty depressed. Though things like taking him to a movie and a spa backfire horribly due to his insanity, they eventually find a book where he catalogs his dreams in pictographs and recreate some of the items in it. Charlie feels pretty happy.
** Gets a more legitimate one in "[=McPoyle=] vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century" where the numerous antics from the rest of the Gang nearly cost Ponderosa the case. Through the whole thing Charlie is the closest thing to an OnlySaneMan, and his seemingly ridiculous Bird Law-heavy approach to proving Ponderosa innocent turns out to be ''correct'', with the case ultimately thrown out [[spoiler: and the Lawyer losing an eye to add injury to insult]].
* TokenGoodTeammate: Charlie is the closest thing the Gang has to a moral compass and genuinely seems to have a good heart under his rage and idiocy.
* TookALevelInKindness: Combined with TookALevelInDumbass; in Season 1, Charlie was a loser but not insane, and lied about having cancer and exploited an ex-girlfriend's child in order to win over the Waitress. After {{Flanderization}}, his actions seem more based in insanity than malisciousness, making it easier to sympathize with him.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: The mysterious "milk steak". His addiction to cheese is also a RunningGag. It's also lead to many fans to assume that "milk steak" is actually his terminology for cheese.
* UnknownRival: He believes himself to be the Lawyer's WorthyOpponent despite it being about as far from the truth as possible. The Lawyer frequently reminds him that this isn't the case but occasionally plays along to get him to leave him alone. [[spoiler: Despite this, [[DarkhorseVictory he actually ends up defeating the Lawyer the one time they actually go against each other in court]] in "[=McPoyle=] vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century" (or rather, the judge threw the Lawyer's case out as a result of all the CourtroomAntics that went on).]]
* VerbalBackspace: In "Mac Kills His Dad", while trying to get his mother to disclose information about a criminal with whom Luther associates:
-->'''Charlie:''' Tell me everything!\\
'''Bonnie:''' Okay. They were both here. They were both inside me. Eduardo was in my mouth, and Luther was in my butt.\\
'''Charlie:''' Oh my God, no. Don't tell me everything.
* VillainousBreakdown: He gets even more shrill and angry after gaining power in a social game in "Charlie Rules the World" and having his plans compromised.
* WeWantOurIdiotBack: In "Flowers For Charlie," a pair of scientists study Charlie after giving him an "intelligence pill." The rest of the Gang get irritated by his new stuck-up behavior, with Frank saying they need to talk him down because he's their foundation (and foundations belong on the bottom). It's all subverted when the pill turns out to be a placebo; the scientists note Charlie only ''thought'' he was smarter, when the only uptick they saw was his arrogance.
* WildCard: Mac assigns him this role in "The Gang Solves The Gas Crisis"; however, it ends up deconstructed when Charlie's randomness ruins the Gang's plans in the same episode. In the sequel "The Gang Recycles Their Trash", the rest of the Gang, now knowing better, have to get rid of him so that their get-rich scheme can actually succeed.
-->'''Mac:''' Charlie, having somebody making wild decisions that make no sense, that benefits nobody.
[[/folder]]
----

'''Mac:''' Charlie, having somebody making wild decisions that make no sense, that benefits nobody.

* WildCard: Given the title of by Mac and Dennis in "The Gang Solves The Gas Crisis."

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Wildcard, bitches! Yeeee-ha!"'']]

->''"Bro, I can handle my sedatives."''

!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/CharlieDay, Robbie Tucker (young, "[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS06E13AVerySunnyChristmas A Very Sunny Christmas]]"), AJ Hudson ("[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS12E01TheGangTurnsBlack The Gang Turns Black]]")