Posted in: FX, Preview, TV, YouTube | Tagged: always sunny, danny devito, frank reynolds, FXX, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Always Sunny: Celebrating The Episode That Changed The Gang Forever

With Danny DeVito's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia debut anniversary hitting this week, it's only right that we honor Frank Reynolds.

As much as we've been enjoying the 16th season of FXX's Kaitlin Olson, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, and Danny DeVito-starring comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, we couldn't let this week wrap up without recognizing a very important moment in the long-running, record-setting sitcom. On June 29, 2006, "Charlie Gets Crippled" (directed by McElhenney and written by McElhenney, Howerton & Day) hit our screens and introduced us to DeVito's Frank Reynolds – causing Dennis (Howerton) to hit Charlie (Day) with his car. And with that – as the cliche goes – history was made, and the series would never be the same in so many amazingly great ways.

What follows is a look back at DeVito's first moments as Frank from the second season opener. But this is Frank Reynolds that we're talking about, people! So we're also offering an extensive look at how DeVito came to join the cast, what the experience has been like for him, and some of Frank's best "worst" moments:

First up, we look back to 2020 when McElhenney was a guest on CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. During his visit, he explained to Stephen Colbert how they were originally "forced" to give DeVito a chance in what can best be described as one of the best (and rare) moments when a network offering creative notes actually worked:

A year prior, DeVito checked in with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live to explain to Jimmy Kimmel his shock and surprise over just how much viral fame he's gained since joining the series. Following that, DeVito stopped by The Jonathan Ross Show to offer a play-by-play on his (in)famous crawling-naked-out-of-a-couch scene from S06E13 "A Very Sunny Christmas":

Back in 2015, The Gang visited TBS' Conan, where Conan O'Brien asked DeVito what it was like working on the series and what they can get away with now as opposed to when he was on Taxi. And from there, O'Brien presented a "supercut" of examples of what DeVito had already gotten away with up to that point (ahhh… the younger days!):

On The Rich Eisen Show in early 2022, Day shared a wild story with Eisen and the audience about what he considers his favorite DeVito story… and it involves Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Previously, DeVito shared the story during an interview of a particularly wicked April Fool's Day joke McElhenney, Howerton & Day unleashed on him. "You want to shoot me in the back of the head and take part of my memory away, or I fall down? I always say to them, the 'Sunny' guys, take it as far as they'll let you. And Landgraf and FX have been very, very good about all that," DeVito explained before sharing what went down with the prank. "We, once in a while, run into things. There was one show that we didn't do. That was a joke that they did for me. It was an April Fool's [Day] joke. 'I'll do anything, basically,' I said to them. Come out of a couch naked. You do this, you get slimed, whatever it is." Okay, you've been warned, so consider this an NSFW warning moving forward (because we like you staying employed).

"They once put me in a situation that was like, I was in jail being raped by various inmates, and I was at the end of my rope. This was not recent. This was a while ago. Somewhere in the middle," DeVito began his anecdote with- and it was more detailed from there. "And I got a script that my assistant said, 'Oh, the guys, Charlie and Glenn and Rob called up this morning.' I was going to work that day. We were going to read through. He said, 'Well, they're changing it up. They're doing this one first instead of that one. So you should read it.' And I thought, 'Really? It's like 10 o'clock in the morning.' I said, 'Well, I'm going to work at 1:00.' 'No, you should read it. They want you to read it.' So I read it, and I go to pick up a hooker, and I get busted, and I get raped in the jail, in a shower. Then they throw me in the lockup, the big lockup. I get raped by everybody and the cops. And they kept going back to the bar, and then Frank would get raped. And I go back to the bar, Frank would get raped.

And I said, 'What the fuck, man? Call my lawyer.' Right? And then I got to the end of the script. And the last guy that nailed me leans in. Well, Frank is now laying on the ground, [his] face is on the ground. He's been fucked by every… And the guy leans down, and he says, 'April fools, bitch.' And I realized it was April 1st. They wrote this script in order to break my balls." But as DeVito sees it, that's just another example of what makes the show work so well and for as long as it has: "It's love. They love me. I called them up. They were all on the call, laughing their asses off. And then we went and did some other crazy show."

And just to be clear, FX Networks has also done its part over the seasons to recognize the greatness of DeVito's Frank Reynolds. As you're about to see, we've had retrospective compilation videos honoring Frank's many noises, some of his more memorable alter egos, his mastering the art of flirting… and how loaded our lovably amoral & adorably corrupt head of Wolf Cola truly is:

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