Mac’s “I'm Playing Both Sides”

About

“I'm Playing Both Sides” is a memorable quote uttered by Mac from the 2005 TV comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The quote is used alongside a frame from the show depicting Mac’s character gesturing to himself while saying “I’m playing both sides, so that I always come out on top” as a reaction image and exploitable image macro to an above caption, comment or screenshot, typically to show that something or someone is playing both sides so they win no matter what. The image can also be photoshopped with other elements to create characters from pop culture in place of Mac or as an object labeling format.

Origin

The original scene that the meme originates from is in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 10, episode nine called “Frank Retires,” which aired on March 11th, 2015, on FX. During the clip (shown below), Mac is at the bar speaking to Dennis and Dee when he tells them, “I’m playing both sides, so that I always come out on top,” which is the quote referenced in the meme.

Although the exact first use of the scene as a meme format is unknown, the earliest known example was posted to the /r/IASIP^[1] subreddit by Redditor cerebral_bawlsy on November 5th, 2017. The meme (seen below) received over 26,200 upvotes and 478 comments in six months.

Spread

On September 11th, 2018, Redditor ivaaaaaaaaaan posted another image macro variant of the meme to the /r/IASIP^[2] subreddit, receiving over 37,000 upvotes and 499 comments in six months (seen below, left). On March 5th, 2020, Redditor Redgodzilla44 posted a version with the American flag overlaid on top of Mac’s face to the /r/HistoryMemes^[3] sub, receiving over 5,400 upvotes and 119 comments in six months (seen below, right).

On March 21st, 2020, the Instagram^[4] page militaryhistorymemes posted a version with Theodore Roosevelt on top of Mac, accumulating over 7,100 likes in 10 months (shown below, left). On July 28th, 2020, the Facebook^[5] page 8Shit posted another example to its page, accumulating over 31,000 likes, 9,100 shares and 1,000 comments in six months (shown below, right).

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References