It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's "Being Frank" proves to be just as debauched and gross as it sounds. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia debuted in 2005 and despite being a dark sitcom based around the often immoral antics of its lead characters, it's run for fourteen seasons, with at least four more on the way. Part of this is down to the comic ensemble, but hard as it is to imagine now, one key component originally wasn't there.
When the first season of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia aired, it attracted a cult but didn't receive great ratings. While FX liked the show they were on the verge of canceling it unless a star could be secured for the second season. That's when Danny DeVito was called in to play Frank Reynolds, who not only proved to be just as bigoted and generally offensive as the rest of the Paddy's Pub gang, he was much, much worse. Frank ended up producing some of the show's most famous moments, from crawling naked out of a leather sofa to the meme spawning "So anyway, I started blasting."
Frank is one of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's most popular characters, and in season 11 audiences got to go inside his head in a very literal way. "Being Frank" is shot entirely from Frank's perspective, and in the first minute alone, fans are treated to him waking from a hangover, relieving himself into a pot - with a spare pot to catch any excess - and are given what feels like a virtual reality tour of his and Charlie's scuzzy apartment.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's "Being Frank" then sees him stumble into one of the gang's latest schemes, which reveals that not only can he not remember Dennis' name, he has no idea what their plan is. He's later confronted by his hated landlord Hwang (Shelly Desai), but as he's taking glee in watching him choke to death on a snake meat sandwich, Frank takes a bite out of it and also starts choking. He passes out before waking in the hospital, with a doctor revealing his accident was fortunate, as an X-ray reveals he has a tumor on his frontal lobe; instead of taking this news seriously, he rushes out to find the gang.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's "Being Frank's" later antics see him ingest dog poison by accident, crash a "sitting" shivah with Artemis and her mourning family, snorting "uppers" and going on a wild rampage that ends in some POV vomit. "Being Frank" is something of a storytelling experiment, and what could feel gimmicky ends up working quite well. It provides unique insight into how Frank's addled mind works - he always resorts to mocking Dee to distract the others whenever he's asked something he can't answer - and that Charlie seems to be the only one of the gang he likes. The episode is also one of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's shortest, clocking in under eighteen minutes.