History Characters / ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaCharlieKelly

** 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 sleeping together]]. Their friendship becomes slightly strained after the events of "Time's Up for the Gang", 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.]] This carried over into "The Gang Chokes" where a running gag shows Charlie not wanting to be alone with Dee and acting really uncomfortable around her, and while they do hang out after, it's far more strained.

* RapeAsBackstory: Subverted. [[CreepyUncle Uncle Jack]] has expressed a sexual interest in his nephew, and makes Charlie visibly uncomfortable. As they shared a room when Charlie was a child, the gang believes he molested Charlie and then expressed the act through his Nightman character. Charlie's insistence that they are mistaken only fuels the belief.

* SingleTargetSexuality: The Waitress, for the most part. 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 attempted to have sex with strippers in "Charlie Gets Crippled" and "Frank Falls Out the Window", hired multiple hookers alongside Mac in "Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare", 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".

* YouAreWhatYouHate: He's written an entire musical about his fear of becoming like Uncle Jack. While he's never stooped to the level of his CreepyUncle, Charlie is not exempt from predatory behavior himself, as he ''has'' stalked the Waitress for fifteen years and ignored each and every no from her.

* HatesBeingTouched: He thinks kissing, and sex, is gross and sticky. He also pulls away when people attempt to hug him, with a few exceptions. However, he likes back rubs. [[note]]He shares this trait with his [[RealLifeWritesThePlot actor.]][[/note]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: When he complains that the Waitress won't leave him alone after she baby traps him, Dee angrily points out that he's been stalking her for fifteen years. Charlie quickly ignores it and forces his way into hiding out at Dee's apartment.

* 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.
* FreudianExcuseDenial: While the sexual abuse from Uncle Jack has clearly affected him, as well as his mom being a prostitute, all he will admit to is the trauma from growing up fatherless. A BaitAndSwitch happens in "Time's Up", as he excuses his stalking of the Waitress with he was molested, and everyone assumes he's talking about Uncle Jack, but he denies that happened and calls Dee out for raping him.

* 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.

* HatesBeingTouched: He thinks kissing is gross and sticky.

* CreepyCrossdresser: Subverted. It's revealed that he can only poop while wearing a dress as a result of his mother's coddling.

* 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.
* TheDogBitesBack: After anger at Dee for assaulting him, and filming her being terrible to service workers in their many trips to get ice, he grins and seems okay with hanging out with her again, even if their relationship will never be the same as it was.
* 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.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: [[spoiler: Finally hooks up with the Waitress in the Season 12 finale, only to immediately show signs of regretting it.]]

** He eats sunscreen in "The Gang Goes to the Jersey Shore".

* 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.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Charlie is illiterate in English, but is fully capable of speaking and reading Irish Gaelic without even knowing he could.
* AddledAddict: He started huffing glue when he was a kid, bored when his mom was "entertaining", and it really messed up his brain.

** In "The Gang Reignites the Rivalry", "The Gang Gets a New Member" and "Dee Reynolds: Shaping America's Youth", Charlie attempts to invoke this trope himself only to have it backfire.
* 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.

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: While "Flowers For Charlie" ends up the placebo effect mixed with arrogance, audio books do actually help out his vocabulary as he can't read and audio is useful. "Dee Day" also has him able to focus with the promise of candy.

** The songs about ''the Nightman'' are specifically this trope: "A rape joke is not remotely a funny thing; a man writing a musical that he thinks is about self-empowerment, and not realizing that all his lyrics sound like they're about a child being molested, is a funny thing. The joke is coming from confusion and misunderstanding, which are classic tropes of all comedy."
** The Gang's insistence that Charlie was molested as a child, and his uncle Jack's aggressive sexual infatuation with him, is a recurring gag.

** The lyrics he writes for songs about The Nightman can be interpreted in a way that fits this trope. [[note]]'''Glenn Howerton''': A rape joke is not remotely a funny thing; a man writing a musical that he thinks is about self-empowerment, and not realizing that all his lyrics sound like they're about a child being molested, is a funny thing. The joke is coming from confusion and misunderstanding, which are classic tropes of all comedy.[[/note]]

* BlackComedyRape: The Gang's insistence that Charlie was molested as a child, and his uncle Jack's aggressive sexual infatuation with him, is a recurring gag. The lyrics he writes for songs about The Nightman can be interpreted in a way that fits this trope. [[note]]Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, and Rob [=McElhenney=] talked about on the podcast that they wanted to be careful with the Nightman jokes, as the idea of someone being raped isn't what's funny. The humor is that everyone keeps thinking that's what his songs are about due to the double meaning of the lyrics.[[/note]]

'''Dennis:''' Oh, no, he got you. He got you.\\
-- Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS13E04TimesUpForTheGang

* BlackComedyRape: The Gang's insistence that Charlie was molested as a child, and his uncle Jack's aggressive sexual infatuation with him, is a recurring gag. [[note]]Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, and Rob [=McElhenney=] talked about on the podcast that they wanted to be careful with the Nightman jokes, as the idea of someone being raped isn't what's funny. The humor is that everyone keeps thinking that's what his songs are about due to the double meaning of the lyrics.[[/note]]

'''Dennis:''' Oh, no, he got you. He got you.

* BlackComedyRape: The Gang's insistence that Charlie was molested as a child, and his uncle Jack's aggressive sexual infatuation with him, is a recurring gag. [[note]]Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, and Rob McElhenney talked about on the podcast that they wanted to be careful with the Nightman jokes, as the idea of someone being raped isn't what's funny. The humor is that everyone keeps thinking that's what his songs are about due to the double meaning of the lyrics.[[/note]]

* BlackComedyRape: The Gang's insistence that Charlie was molested as a child, and his uncle Jack's aggressive sexual infatuation with him, is a recurring gag. [[note]]Glenn Howerton talked about on the podcast, the Idea of rape itself isn't what's funny, but it's funny that everyone keeps inferring that meaning in his song lyrics.[[/note]]

* BlackComedyRape: The Gang's insistence that Charlie was molested as a child, and his uncle Jack's aggressive sexual infatuation with him, is a recurring gag. [[note: Howerton talked about on the podcast, the Idea of rape itself isn't what's funny, but it's funny that everyone keeps inferring that meaning in his song lyrics.]]

* BlackComedyRape: The Gang's insistence that Charlie was molested as a child, and his uncle Jack's aggressive sexual infatuation with him, is a recurring gag. As Howerton talked about, it's not funny that Charlie was raped, but it's funny that he's in so much denial while writing a musical about it.

* BlackComedyRape: The Gang's insistence that Charlie was molested as a child, and his uncle Jack's aggressive sexual infatuation with him, is a recurring gag.

'''Dennis:''' Oh, no, he got you. He got you.\\

--> '''Dennis:''' He did get molested by his uncle Jack.//
'''Mac:''' His uncle Jack got to him pretty good.//
'''Charlie:''' No no no, uncle Jack never molested me. I dodged him.//
'''Dennis:''' Oh, no, he got you. He got you.//

* RapeAsBackstory: Very strongly implied to have been molested by his uncle. He'll deny it when the Gang calls him out on it, but he's deeply uneasy around Uncle Jack, calls the Nightman his greatest fear and considers his mom a UselessBystanderParent.

** Sadly, he's been the victim of sexual assault more than anyone else in the Gang. Season 13 reveals he was raped by [[spoiler:Dee]], who made him be still and stop talking so she could "get off."
* RapeLeadsToInsanity: It's not the only reason (huffing glue definitely helps), but as detailed by his musical, a lot of his unpredictable and entitled-stalker behaviour is down to being sexually abused by Uncle Jack, with his mom turning a blind eye.

* 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.

* TheCaretaker: To his mom, which he has marked resentment about. In "Frank Shoots Every Member Of The Gang", he complains he's the one who stayed and looks after her, but his sisters got the inheritance of the teeth instead. In a nicer way, he's also looking after Frank a lot of the time, calming him down with gum when he gets claustrophobic and cat food when he gets into a state about Dee cutting her hair.

* 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.

* BetterWithNonHumanCompany: It really depends on his mood, because he can still be BadPeopleAbuseAnimals, he just has an affinity for horses and rats, and NoSocialSkills when it comes to people.

* BizarreTasteInFood: Charlie has some rather... [[{{Understatement}} strange]] eating habits. One of his signature dishes is a "Grilled Charlie", which is a toasted sandwich with chocolate, peanut butter, butter, and cheese. He says his favorite food is "milk steak," which his friends have never heard of, but might be a steak boiled in milk. He eats cat food as a sedative. He requests "raw jellybeans" at a restaurant. In a movie theater, he eats spaghetti out of a Ziploc bag. And his eating habits don't just extend to food -- one episode implies that traces of wolf hair and newspaper can be found in his stool.

* AgentMulder: Has no time for religion, but needs to do all his superstitious rituals before the Super Bowl, and gets the others to believe they're cursed when bad things keep happening.
* 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, usually due to him attempting to invoke this trope with [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome surprisingly realistic]] results. 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). Basically, as long as he is unconsciously playing the trope straight, he's fine, but the moment he tries to invoke it himself, it all backfires.

* AuthorAppeal: In-universe, the songs he writes almost always make mention of "spiders, ghouls, and rape."

** 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 sleeping together]]. Their friendship becomes slightly strained after the events of "Time's Up for the Gang", 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.]] This seems to have carried over into "The Gang Chokes" where a running gag shows Charlie not wanting to be alone with Dee and acting really uncomfortable around her. However, in "The Gang Solves Global Warming" he joins her on her excursion to get ice/document it for social media after she bribes him with cat food, and they run a face mask/costume business together during the COVID-19 pandemic.

* LimitedWardrobe: Charlie is the only main cast member seen wearing the same clothes over and over, emphasizing his poverty, as his clothes can be seen gradually getting more worn and tattered as the seasons go on. In one episode he states that he repairs his old clothes rather than buy anything new, likely due to the fact like Mac (who also tends to rewear clothes) he grew up poor so he learned how to be resourceful. Notable favorites include a green army shirt jacket, a black and red jacket with a tiger patch, a grey sweatshirt, and black and red horse t-shirt paired with long thermal underwear for sleeping, while usually wearing the same pair of jeans and black and red sneakers. He also wears the same undersized brown-and-black necktie when a situation calls for formal attire. Some of these clothes are Charlie Day's actual property.

** 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]]. Their friendship becomes slightly strained after the events of "Time's Up for the Gang", 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.]]

* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler: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.

* TheToothHurts: While it's mostly an InformedAttribute as they don't ''appear'' decayed or crooked, Charlie's teeth are sometimes mentioned to be in very bad shape as part of his non-existent hygiene. When Mac tries to extract one with pliers to fake their deaths in "Mac and Charlie Die", he's shocked to witness it come out quick and painlessly, with a soft squishing noise and no blood, and Charlie pulls several more single-handed out of curiosity.

** * Of the [[DumbIsGood innocent idiot]], whilst easily the stupidest member of the Gang, for the most part, he is the least morally bankrupt, his stupidity and immaturity granting him a level of innocence the others lack. However, Charlie's inability to gage the consequences of his actions, mood swings and lack of impulse control also means that he's easily the most unpredictable, chaotic, and violent member with his go-to response to provocation being to destroy the closest thing to hand and regularly casually attacking the individual in question, with him possessing a disturbingly casual attitude to inflicting harm upon others. This likewise coupled with his stupidity and nonsensical logic often results in situations where the provocation only exists within his mind, leading to him randomly assaulting passersby. Thus, despite lacking the other member's greed or malice, Charlie manages to be arguably the most dangerous member of the gang. Likewise, underneath his stupidity, Charlie has shown to possess on several occasions a surprisingly vindictive and vicious streak, sometimes even to levels that shock the other members of the gang, making it clear that he's not a good person and at best only looks better in comparison to the others.

* DumbIsGood: Charlie is consistently portrayed as being the least intelligent member of the Gang, but also the least morally bankrupt.

* NeverMyFault: Charlie refuses to admit to any wrongdoing in regards to his treatment of the Waitress. When faced with a hypothetical scenario involving a waitress being stalked by a customer, he says the blame goes to ''her'' because she doesn't realise "true love is in front of her stupid face" (clearly projecting his feelings about his relationship with the Waitress). He then tries to downplay his behavior by claiming that he gets a pass because he was molested by Dee in the past - which, while terrible, still doesn’t excuse his stalking.

* MentalHandicapMoralDeficiency: While he ''is'' nicer then the rest of the gang, that's not saying much. There's been several moments (most famously "[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS08E04CharlieAndDeeFindLove Charlie And Dee Find Love]]") where it's made clear that, despite his disabilities, he's still a ''total bastard'' and very much capable of genuine, intentional malice.

* NeverMyFault: Charlie refuses to admit to any wrongdoing in regards to his treatment of the Waitress. When faced with a hypothetical scenario involving a waitress being stalked by a customer, he says the blame goes to ''her'' because she doesn't realise "true love is in front of her stupid face" (clearly projecting his feelings about his relationship with the Waitress). He then tries to downplay his behavior by claiming that he gets a pass because he was molested in the past - denying completely the assumption that it was Uncle Jack - but instead revealing he's talking about Dee, which is terrible but still doesn’t excuse his stalking.