History Characters / ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaMac

** In earlier seasons, Mac is portrayed as straight (with a fetish for older women). In later seasons, he's a closeted, bigoted gay man. This is possibly an example of negative CharacterDevelopment: presumably, as Mac's attraction to men grows more pronounced and harder to deny, he becomes more [[TheFundamentalist reactionary and pseudo-religious]] in defense.
** He was originally TheLeader of the gang and the main instigator in their adventures while Dennis was TheLancer. However, as his codependency with Dennis became more pronounced, along with his repressed homosexuality, Dennis became more dominant in their social circle to where he and Mac have essentially switched places.

* WhatTheFuAreYouDoing: On the occasions where he shows off his martial arts skills it becomes painfully obvious that he has none. He also consistently uses the term "roundhouse kick" to describe what's closer to a leaping version of a Taekwondo-style spinning hook kick. An actual roundhouse kick involves no spinning or jumping whatsoever.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After finding out Dennis, his best friend, has been keeping letters from his incarcerated father from him (and ripping them up). Rather than become angry and trying to attack Dennis, like he normally would, Mac is totally quiet and sadly sits on the floor, despondent.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: He's constantly pining after and pursuing Dennis, only becoming more blatant when he comes out. Dennis is clearly repulsed. This is toned down considerably in Seasons 15 and 16, as while Mac obviously still has feelings for Dennis, he backs off him almost completely. At the same time, Dennis has grown far more comfortable with being near Mac again, to the point of even sleeping in the same bed together with no one between them.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Country Mac is better at everything Mac claims to be ([[MilesGloriosus not that Mac was actually good at these things in the first place]]). He's better at fighting, he can do death-defying stunts (such as jumping off a bridge) without hesitation, he is even better at accepting his own homosexuality. The rest of the Gang loves Country Mac immediately, which sets off Mac's inferiority complex throughout the entire episode. And to make matters worse, [[UnknownRival Country Mac seems to be entirely unaware of this]], as he's completely willing to fight for Mac when the latter gets hurt by another fighter.

* EatTheDog: Literally. After spending a month [[SanitySlippage going insane]] from living in the suburbs and feeling like Dennis is neglecting his feelings, Mac spitefully allows their dog Dennis Jr. to starve to death and secretly feeds it to Dennis. When Mac reveals the truth, Dennis is appalled while Mac belts out an EvilLaugh far more terrifying than anything we've seen from him before.

* ReallyGetsAround: Back when he was in the closet, he pulled more tail than Dennis or Charlie because Dennis's standards were too high (which he calls him out on in an early cold open) and Charlie [[SingleTargetSexuality was obsessed with a single woman]]. This continues with men after he comes out, where he describes himself as "S-ing and F-ing [his] way through life" when the subject of his sexual escapades comes up.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: He's constantly lusting after Dennis, only becoming more blatant when he comes out. Dennis is clearly repulsed.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: His hair goes from fluffy to slicked back after “The Gang Gets Whacked”, as he hero worshipped the Mafia and still wanted to be like them, along with the fact his father wears his hair the same way.

* LimitedWardrobe: Mac has been wearing the same black combat boots and blue Dickies chinos since Episode 1, with few exceptions beyond costumes. Rob [=McElhenney=] claims Mac only owns the one pair of pants, and that the wardrobe department has altered them for [=McElhenney=]'s various weight fluctuations. Also tends to wear a grey t-shirt with "RIOT” written on it a lot. Like Charlie Mac also grew up poor so re-wearing a lot of the same shirts is realistic.

* MusclesAreMeaningful: In Season 13, his new muscular physique makes him strong enough to lift Dee up by the crotch one-handed.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Admits along with Charlie that they emotionally tortured Dee way too hard in one game of "Chardee [=MacDennis=]" and seems to genuinely feel terrible for making her cry for a solid month after.

* SleevesAreForWimps: Mac usually wears sleeveless t-shirts in order to appear more badass and show off his tats, and even makes the rest of the Gang do the same when they have to all listen to him for the day in "Mac Day".

* ComingOutStory: Over Seasons 11 & 12.

* EpicFail: Mac thinks of himself and tough, strong, and a capable fighter, and he is none of these. Whenever his combat abilities are tested, the results are both pitiful and hilarious.

* GreenEyedMonster: Subconsciously aware that Dennis is more fixated on his sister than returning any feelings for him, and when Dennis gets pissy at him being an ExtremeDoormat, “save Dee from choking” is when he decides to stand up for himself.
* GrewASpine: In “The Gang Chokes”, he decides to grow one at the worst possible time, when Dee is flatlining and Dennis actually wants him to follow an order to save her.

* HolierThanThou: Mac is prone to being very self-righteous, though he's definitely not a shining pillar morality.

* IncompatibleOrientation: He has a thing for Dennis, who is at least ostensibly straight and outright tells Mac that [[ShipSinking it's never going to happen]].

* LoveMartyr: Later seasons increasingly portray him as harboring romantic feelings for Dennis, who routinely abuses, belittles and demeans him.

* NeverMyFault: Whenever he fails to perform well in something he brags about, whether his fighting prowess, bouncer skills, religious knowledge or physical toughness, he always has an excuse. These range fron the light in his eyes to an undetected slope in the terrain, but often revolve around somehow being ''too'' strong, fast or smart to properly react to the problem. After coming out as gay, he blames his lack of a boyfriend on how "it's difficult out there."

* PaperTiger: To his credit, Mac ''is'' fairly impressively muscular, but Dennis claims that he only works out his "glamour muscles", meaning he only builds muscle to look good and is actually worthless physically. From what we see of Mac's athletic abilities, Dennis wasn't lying. Played with in Season 13 in which he manages to lift up Dee by the crotch with one hand; however, despite his improved physical abilities, Mac is still a terrible fighter as in Season 14, Charlie manages to overwhelm him in a fight. In Season 13 he also instead beats up a group of kids with Charlie for stealing their bikes, when he could’ve easily taken on of the kids’ fathers who happened to be a childhood bully of theirs, but he backed away all because he said "What are you gonna do about it?".

* RomanticisedAbuse: He thinks love is dominating another man and getting him to submit to your will.#

* WellDoneSonGuy: Mac, still stuck on adolescence, desperately seeks the approval of his creepy wayward father Luther. While Luther is in prison, Mac tries unsuccessfully to show him that he's "hard." When Luther first gets out of prison, Mac becomes emotionally invested in getting his parents back together, sputtering, "This is about happy boys!" He even tries to bond with his father by driving him to the houses of everybody who was responsible for getting him convicted. In the end of "Mac & Charlie Die Part II," Luther leaves a note telling Mac that he still loves him, even though Mac has driven him away with his constant screw-ups.

* {{Catchphrase}}:
** "What's up, bitches?"
** Many episodes start with Mac entering the bar and saying "Guys, I've got news!" or a variation thereof. Lampshaded in "Chardee Mac[=Dennis=]" when the Gang are bored out of their minds and get excited when Mac walks in because they think he'll have some big announcement to make that will absolve them of their monotony.

* SlutShaming: Away from her he’s actually quite impressed that Dee is banging all over town, but to her face he calls her a nasty fucking slut.

* GrewASpine: In “The Gang Chokes”, decides to grow one at the worst possible time, when Dee is flatlining and Dennis actually wants him to follow an order to save her.

* MyMasterRightOrWrong: To Dennis in season fourteen, to the point where Charlie’s noir fantasy compares him to a dog being trained. He comes out of this in later seasons.

* NoAccountingForTaste: When he still slept with women, he'd hook up with girls he was actively repulsed by just to say he'd had sex with somebody. Doesn't carry over to his taste in men, where he seems to only go for attractive, musclebound studs or [[PrettyBoy Dennis]].

* JerkassToOne: While Mac can be a pretty big jerk to the entire Gang, he’s generally at his most vicious towards Dee, and has no problems snapping at her and telling her to "shut the fuck up." [[note]]Ironically, their actors are HappilyMarried in real life.[[/note]]

* FatandProud: Played with, as while the others mock him, he actually prefers being fat in the seventh season, and has no issue going shirtless still, although after it’s revealed he was gaining weight (which he insisted was him "cultivating mass") for a scheme that unbeknownst to him the rest of the gang dropped as soon as it was created, he’s furious at them and goes to his church confessional to have God smite them. After losing the weight he reveals to a therapist he enjoyed being fat because people saw him as intimidating and "like a monster barreling towards them" and now feels tiny “like a postage stamp". The therapist tells him he likely has body dysmorphia.

* ExtremeOmnisexual: Had sex with Margaret [=McPoyle=], a woman he's openly disgusted by, simply because she offered. In general, during the early seasons, if Mac has the option of having sex with something, he'll have sex with it. This is probably due to him being a closeted gay man; he was so adamant about proving his non-existent heterosexuality that he was willing to have sex with any woman who would accept him, regardless. He also isn't at all repulsed when Frank tells him that a monkey may have "fucked [his] mouth."

* FakingTheDead: "Mac and Charlie Die" Parts 1 and 2. [[spoiler:He and Charlie fake their death in order to escape from Mac's father, who they believe is trying to kill them.]]

* AttentionWhore: Much like Dennis and Dee, Mac is an attention-seeker who desperately craves the attention of others in order to feel pleased with himself. Charlie lampshades his fluctuating weight - going from skinny to fat to muscular - as a cry for help and to basically treat it like a baby so ignore it.

* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Has a sad self-aware moment of every single thing the Gang does turns to shit, mostly because they’re cruel assholes, and he wanted them to succeed just once by getting to the Super Bowl.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Admits along with Charlie that they emotionally tortured Dee way too hard in one game of emotional battery and seems to genuinely feel terrible for making her cry for a solid month after.