The first season of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is solid, but the long-running FX series truly became something special with Danny DeVito’s Frank Reynolds became a part of the cast in Season 2. The character’s bottomless bank account and lack of morals have provided the show with limitless possibilities and helped make it one of the best comedy shows of all time.
In celebration of the brilliance of Frank, we’ve put together this feature highlighting his 32 craziest moments.
Frank Chooses To Live In Filth And Sleep In The Same Bed As Charlie (“Charlie Gets Crippled”)
Given the option, most people probably wouldn’t opt to live in squalor and share a bed with an adult man who may or may not be their son, but that’s the life of Frank Reynolds. The man is beyond rich thanks to his decades of immoral business practices, but his preference is to live a life of filth and degeneracy.
Frank Falls Out A Window And Loses A Decade Of His Memory (“Frank Falls Out The Window”)
It’s a classic sitcom trope for a character to hit their head and experience memory loss, and Frank Reynolds makes for a perfect victim in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. After falling out a window in 2016, he is under the impression that it’s 2006, and that leads him to somehow believe that Dee and Dennis are the inventors of the smartphone.
Frank Tries To Plug Up A Bloody Nose, Causing His Head To Swell (“Mac Finds His Pride”)
In “Mac Finds His Pride,” Frank is assigned the job of convincing Mac to be on the Paddy’s float for the local Gay Pride Parade, but he bashes his nose real good at the start of the mission. His idea of a solution is to try and plug his nostrils, but the horrific side effect is that his entire face swells up with blood. Thankfully, he eventually realizes that the best solution is just to let it flow.
Frank Becomes The Wrestling Character The Trash Man And Critically Injures Rickety Cricket (“The Gang Wrestles For The Troops”)
Frank can sometimes let his energy get the best of him, and this is well demonstrated in “The Gang Wrestles For The Troops.” During a wrestling match, he takes his persona as The Trash Man a bit too far, and when he hits a costumed Rickety Cricket with a metal trashcan, he accidentally nicks the former priest’s throat. While his victim is down for the count, all Frank can do is raise his arms and accept cheers from the crowd.
Frank Goes On The News To Stir Up Sales Of Guns And Water Filters (“Gun Fever Too: Still Hot”)
While he may prefer living in filth, Frank will never give up his efforts to try and make money when he sees an opportunity. In “Gun Fever Too: Still Hot,” he decides to attempt a bit of media manipulation by stirring up all kinds of fervor on the local news. He first tries to get people to buy guns after investing in a local firearms store, and then he starts talking about poor tap water quality in order to sell filtration systems.
Frank Messes With His Children By Buying Their Most Desired Gifts For Himself (“A Very Sunny Christmas”)
There are many things that Frank Reynolds does that would put him in the running for “Worst TV Father,” and his annual Christmas tradition is arguably the prime argument for his case. He doesn’t give out cheap, meaningless gifts; he learns what Dennis and Dee want most in the world, and then he buys those items for himself. Then, to add insult to injury, he willfully destroys the self-given presents, be it storing chocolate and cheesy snacks in an expensive handbag or rigging a Lamborghini door with a clothes hanger.
Frank Learns He Had A Split Personality When He Was Locked Up In A Mental Institution (“Psycho Pete Returns”)
Given who Frank is as an adult, it’s not altogether surprising that he spent a good portion of his childhood locked up in a mental institution – but what is a bit odd is that he spent his time in the establishment thinking that he had a “Frog Kid” roommate named Froggy… when in actuality, Froggy was just a split personality.
Frank Hijacks A Tour Boat To Get To A Movie Screening On Time (“Thunder Gun Express”)
How far would you go to get to a movie on time – even if you didn’t already have a ticket? If you’re Frank Reynolds, the answer is “I would hijack a riverboat.” Frank does exactly that in “Thunder Gun Express,” and while this action ends up getting him arrested, he gets the last laugh by calling in a bomb threat to the theater and getting the screening canceled.
Frank Pretends To Be An Art Critic To Sell Charlie’s Paintings (“Dee Made A Smut Film”)
What is art, and what determines its worth? Those are the questions at the heart of the fourth episode of It’s Always Sunny’s eleventh season, and Frank gets roped into an adventure with Mac and Charlie trying to find the answer. When Mac tries to sell Charlie’s art, one of his moves is to get Frank to pretend to be an art critic and influence the market… but Frank naturally goes way too far with the assignment and creates the pretentious weirdo character Ongo Gablogian.
Frank And Charlie Find A Treasure Trove Of Stuff At The Local Dump (“The Gang Finds A Dumpster Baby”)
Frank Reynolds is an awful person for many reasons, but one can’t accuse him of being wasteful. This is, after all, a man who can travel to the dump and dig into dumpsters and regularly find what he considers to be treasures. This unfortunately devolves into hording behavior, and the result is that Frank and Charlie have to sleep on the street because there is no more room in their shared apartment.
Frank And Charlie Spend Time Together In The Sewers (“Dee Gives Birth”)
It’s largely considered uncouth behavior to dive into the sewers in the pursuit of rings and coins, but it’s a regular activity for Frank and Charlie. The latter even talks about enjoying the feeling of walls of sewage and street runoff flowing past him, which is about eighteen levels of disgusting.
Frank Hangs Out With Duncan, Z, And Their Crew ("Charlie Kelly: King Of The Rats")
The members of the Paddy’s Pub gang are strange, but their strangeness is nothing compared to what’s going on with Frank’s friends, Duncan and Z. It’s bizarre enough that Frank likes to hang out with them under a bridge, but there are no words to describe what Dennis, Dee and Mac witness when they go to Duncan’s apartment.
Frank Makes A Wild Bet To Prove That Dennis And Mac Can’t Live In The Suburbs (“Mac And Dennis Move To The Suburbs”)
Frank’s extreme wealth allows him to do many things that normal people can’t, and that includes making wild, high-stakes bets. When Mac and Dennis try to make a go of living in the suburbs, he is so convinced that they will go crazy that he makes a bet to pay their rent for a full year. That’s a lot of money, and winning doesn’t even really get him anything: when Mac and Dennis eventually lose it, Frank’s victory is getting them to share a bed with an old man.
Frank Puts Himself On A Billboard And Puts Male Models Through Meaningless Tryouts (“America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest”)
Don’t ever call Frank Reynolds ugly. Dennis learns this lesson the hard way in “America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest.” Not only does Frank run his son through the wringer competing against male models for the chance to appear on a billboard, but he ends up revealing that the whole game is rigged: there was never a model opportunity because he posed for the Paddy’s billboard himself.
Frank Gets Revenge On Dee For Trying To Gaslight Him (“Charlie's Mom Has Cancer”)
Frank has been slowly losing his mind ever since he first appeared on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, but in “Charlie's Mom Has Cancer,” Dee makes the mistake of trying to take advantage of him and severely punishes her for it. How? He convinces her that her dead mom is still alive, and then he gets her to dig up the grave.
Frank Sucker Punches A Guy During A Boxing Match And Accidentally Breaks A Woman’s Neck (“Hundred Dollar Baby”)
There is no ability to count the number of lives that Frank has ruined (it has to be in the thousands), but one we can directly point to is Brianna Thunderson. When Frank sucker punches Brianna’s dad during a boxing match, he knocks into her, and she breaks her neck on a stool (a la Million Dollar Baby). A promising career for her is ended in an instant.
Frank Tries To Exploit A Water Stain That Looks Like The Virgin Mary (“The Gang Exploits A Miracle”)
Frank will happily exploit anyone or anything if there is a profit in it. When Mac finds a water stain at Paddy’s that looks like the Virgin Mary, he doesn’t hesitate for even a second before explaining that it’s a potential goldmine.
Frank Pretends To Be Dee’s Boyfriend In Order To Get In On His Ex-Wife’s Inheritance (“Dennis And Dee's Mom Is Dead”)
Dee isn’t actually Frank’s biological daughter, but he is still the man who raised her, and it’s exceptionally weird in “Dennis and Dee's Mom Is Dead” when he tries to pretend that he is Dee’s fiancée just so that he can try and get in on his dead wife’s inheritance. Let’s not ignore the fact that they are legally wed in this episode.
Frank Gets Trapped In A Coil In A Playground (“Mac And Dennis Buy A Timeshare”)
What is Frank doing in a playground coil in “Mac And Dennis Buy A Timeshare”? That’s not a question that is actually answered in the episode, but it’s weird enough behavior that it easily qualifies for this list.
Frank Runs A Sweatshop In The Basement Of Paddy’s Pub (“The Aluminum Monster Vs. Fatty Magoo”)
When Dennis claims to have successfully sold a dress design to a local clothing retailer, Frank doesn’t waste even a second before converting the basement of Paddy’s Pub into a sweatshop – complete with an abusive steam whistle that is used to blast the eardrums of the abused immigrant workers he employs.
Frank Sets Dee On Fire Multiple Times Trying To Film A Fake News Report (“Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire”)
The title of the episode “Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire” really says it all. While trying to fake a perilous news report, Frank sets his daughter aflame not just once, but twice. He’s truly not “Father Of The Year” material.
Frank Convinces Charlie And Dee That They Are Cannibals (“Mac And Dennis: Manhunters”)
Selfish and manipulative are not great qualities, but Frank Reynolds is definitely both. In “Mac And Dennis: Manhunters,” Charlie and Dee eat some venison that Frank hunted and is keeping for himself, so he decides to exact revenge by setting them up to think that they’ve become cannibals. He tells them that he has tricked them into eating “human meat,” but really it’s just raccoon meat that is infested with parasites.
Frank Tries To Keep Dee Sick So That She Will Take Care Of Him When He’s Old (“Mac's Mom Burns Her House Down”)
Fearing that his children won’t take care of him when he is infirm, Frank decides to practice a bit of Munchausen by proxy on his daughter in “Mac's Mom Burns Her House Down.” Though the eponymous character is excited to go to a Josh Groban concert, her dad decides to try and foster dependence by getting her sick and moving her into his disgusting apartment.
Frank Eats A Dead Crow In Order To Try And Survive In The Woods (“The Gang Gets Stranded In The Woods”)
Hunger makes people do wild things, but most of us might be able to avoid feasting on the carcass of a dead crow. But as seen in “The Gang Gets Stranded In The Woods,” Frank is not most people… and he pays a horrible price for it, including violent stomach cramps.
Frank Puts The Gang In A Saw-Like Trap While Trying To Put His Stamp On Chardie McDennis (“Chardee McDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo”)
Frank is constantly trying to ingratiate himself with the gang, and in the case of Chardee McDennis, that goes to some extreme places. In “Chardee McDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo,” he not only adds a new level to the game (“Horror”), but introduces a Saw-esque game that he creates as a spin on Operation.
Frank Loses His Mind While The Gang Quarantines During A Flu Epidemic (“The Gang Gets Quarantined”)
It turns out that Frank isn’t a stable person when locked inside for too long. In “The Gang Gets Quarantined,” his response to a flu epidemic is full-on madness that includes a close association between germs and hair.
Frank And Mac Get Stranded At Sea, And Frank Considers Cannibalism (“The Gang Goes To The Jersey Shore”)
Getting stranded on a float tube in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is terrifying, but making it all the more terrifying for Mac in “The Gang Goes To The Jersey Shore” is that he is stranded with Frank. When the duo loses their precious rum ham, it takes very little time at all for Frank to consider turning on his “friend.”
Frank Keeps His Father-In-Law In A Poorly Maintained Hospital Room While Trying To Discover Nazi Treasure (“Pop-Pop: The Final Solution”)
When Dee and Dennis’ father is on life support and nearing death, Frank tells the hospital staff that he can handle taking care of the man… but to paraphrase Dennis, he don’t “got it.” The man’s room is left in a state of extreme disrepair and is filled with half-eaten containers of old soup.
Frank Tries To Get Cult Members To Eat A Poop Sandwich (“Mac And Charlie Join A Cult”)
In the Season 10 finale, Frank gets the opportunity to discover the full capacity of his manipulative abilities. It’s his goal to get a member of Dennis’ cult to eat a poop sandwich, and it’s ultimately something that he achieves.
Frank Sells A Soda That Becomes Popular With Boko Haram (“Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare”)
The episode “Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare” features a classic Frank scheme: always happy to earn a buck no matter what the cost may be, he actually goes as far as to defend the militant group Boko Haram when he learns that they are the main buyers of his proprietary soft drink, Wolf Cola.
Frank Gets Becomes Overly Careful When Hosting A Child Beauty Pageant (“Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties”)
In “Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties,” Frank understandably doesn’t want to be accused of doing anything inappropriate, but the man way overshoots the mark in his efforts to avoid accusations. His efforts are insane, including hanging out with a decrepit mortician (thinking that the man’s creepiness will obfuscate his own).
Frank Tries To Throw A Surprise Birthday Luau For Himself ("Charlie Kelly: King Of The Rats")
Frank levies a fair criticism against the gang when he accuses them of being cynical in "Charlie Kelly: King Of The Rats," but those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Case in point: Frank convinces Dee, Dennis and Mac to throw a surprise birthday luau for Charlie, but in reality, he just wants them to throw a surprise birthday luau for him.
