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If you tried to describe the iconic American sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to someone who’s never seen it, you might say something like, “Well, it’s a show about a group of friends that own a bar and get into hijinks.” And, while that description pretty much sums up the premise of the show, it doesn’t really do it justice.
What makes It’s Always Sunny so amazing are the unique quirks and idiosyncrasies that each member of The Gang brings to the table. Charlie is illiterate, sometimes a genius, and has a weird fascination with rats (and Pepe Silvia). Mac is a staunch Catholic that can’t admit to himself that he’s homosexual. Dee is a talentless alcoholic who believes she’s going to be a Hollywood star despite never having landed an acting role and being in her 30s. Dennis is a flat-out narcissistic creep.
But, while It’s Always Sunny was undeniably hilarious in its first season using the formula I’ve just spelled out, the show really blossomed in its second season with one major addition: Frank Reynolds. The casting of Danny DeVito into the show as Frank brought an element into It’s Always Sunny that boosted it to another level of hilariousness. Frank is raunchy, despicable, heartless, and (certainly not least of all) disgusting.
Yes, since he made his debut in Season 2, Frank has done some unspeakable gross things in It’s Always Sunny. But we’re going to speak about them anyway. And, as the 16th season is set to premiere in 2023, there’s no shortage of nasty Frank moments to recall from some of the best It’s Always Sunny episodes. However, we’re going to narrow it down to the very worst. These are the 5 most disgusting things Frank has done on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
1. Frank Escapes the Couch
In the “A Very Sunny Christmas” episode from Season 5, Dennis and Dee recount all of the times when Frank was horrible to them on Christmas morning while they were growing up. Frank would always buy expensive gifts for himself and nothing for them.
In fact, during this episode, he continues that tradition by buying himself a Lamborghini and getting nothing for his kids. So, in an effort to make Frank reckon with how horrible he is, Dennis and Dee hatch a plan to take Frank to the Christmas party of his old company so he can hear his former co-workers talking negatively about him.
So, naturally, they decide to sew Frank into a couch in the office so he can remain incognito. However, this plan backfires when Frank is immediately noticeable in the couch; he gets too hot and then emerges from inside the couch, naked and incredibly sweaty. It almost looks like he’s being birthed. Now, no one’s saying that the miracle of birth is gross, but a sweaty old man emerging from a couch definitely is.
2. Sex in the Wendy’s Bathroom
Frank and Artemis have a long sexual history throughout It’s Always Sunny, and, to say the least, the two of them get pretty kinky. However, in some of Frank’s descriptions of their love-making, things go from kinky to downright crusty. First of all, in the “The Waitress Is Getting Married” episode, Frank and Artemis get kicked out of Sweet Dee’s get-together for being overly passionate. Unbothered by this, Frank proclaims that they’re going to have sex in the bathroom of Wendy’s instead.
But that’s not the only time the duo does the nasty at Wendy’s. In fact, in the “Who Got Dee Pregnant?” episode of Season 6, Frank describes another sexual encounter that they had in a dumpster behind a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant. It’s never really explained why they chose to have sex in a dumpster, but he does clarify that Artemis incorporated an old hamburger bun in a sexual way. Truly disgusting.
3. The Toe Knife
Frank is a lot of things, but a doctor is not one of them. And that’s never more evident than in the “Mac and Dennis Break Up” episode of Season 5. In this episode, Mac and Dennis fear that they’re becoming too codependent and decide to spend some time apart.
So, Dennis decides to spend some time with Dee, and Mac decides to visit Charlie and Frank at their apartment. However, when Mac arrives at the apartment, he’s horrified that Frank is using a “toe knife” to clean the “gunk” out from under his toenail.
Obviously, since using a steak knife to clean under your toenails is an awful idea, Frank cuts his toe (a phenomenon he refers to as a “botched toe”). To demonstrate his lack of medical knowledge even further, Frank then claims that he needs some trash to plug up the cut. I don’t know who needs to hear this but don’t plug up your cuts with trash.
4. Stuck in the Playground
Now, this incident is disgusting in a slightly different way than the other incidents mentioned thus far. In the “Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare” episode of Season 9, Dee gets involved in a pyramid scheme called “Invigaron,” which has something to do with berries. Unsure of how the scheme works or how to sell her product, Dee seeks out Frank’s help. But, when Dee asks Charlie about Frank’s whereabouts, Charlie says he’s been missing for days.
Eventually, they’re able to locate Frank. He’s at a playground, stuck in a coil, and wearing nothing but some dirty underwear. Now, at no point in the episode does Frank ever explain what he was doing at a playground in the middle of the night, why he’s almost naked, or how he got himself stuck in a coil.
But it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that he was doing something rather shameful and disgusting. Or perhaps we all have very dirty minds, and Frank had a perfectly legitimate reason for being there and being almost naked. Probably not, though.
5. Pooping the Bed
This particular incident was so disgusting that they actually centered an entire episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia around it. Yes, in the “Who Pooped the Bed?” episode of Season 4, The Gang spends the entire episode investigating an essential question: Who pooped the bed?
The whole fiasco begins when Charlie and Frank, who sleep on the same bed/couch, wake up in the morning to find a dookie betwixt their bedsheets. Both of them pointing the finger at the other, The Gang launches a full-scale investigation.
At one point, they even take the poop to a lab to be analyzed. Somehow, despite the fact that the poop contains newspaper, a piece of a credit card, and wolf hair, they still can’t figure out who the poop belongs to. At one point during the investigation, another poop appears in the bed.
Towards the end of the episode, a flash of lightning cuts the power in the bar, and a third poop appears on the floor. Around the same time, Artemis comes in and spins a wild yarn about where both poops came from. But Artemis was wrong. Both poops came from Frank. He pooped in the bed both times, and he pooped on the floor. Why? Because poop is funny.
