‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Secures the Fan Vote for Best Nude Scene in Hollywood History

As any It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan could have predicted, Frank Reynolds is the star of the scene that was just voted “The Best Nude Scene That Hollywood Has Ever Produced.” If there is ever a poll for “The Best Uncomfortably Unsimulated Sex Scene That Five Maniacs Have Ever Produced,” he’ll probably top that list, too — for Lethal Weapon 5.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is not a show that shies away from sensuality, sexuality or the beautiful nakedness of the human form. In fact, the show embraces all of those primal aspects of human nature, sometimes using zip ties, duct tape or other tools to do so. Since its beginning, It’s Always Sunny has put an emphasis on eroticism with tact, grace and and a gratuitous spirit that is embodied in one single character who might as well have a PhD in performative nudity — after all, it’s never established exactly how Mantis Toboggan earned his doctorate.

In a recent Reddit thread, users offered thousands of different answers to the question, “What’s the best nude scene Hollywood has ever produced,” with one perfect choice rising above the rabble: Frank Reynolds emerging from a leather couch drenched in sweat from the two-part special, “A Very Sunny Christmas.” It’s good to know that the internet is still willing to get real weird with it.

Back in 2022, Danny DeVito broke down the iconic couch scene in a conversation with Nikki Glaser on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, saying of the special, “When I read that scene, you know, it’s in the script, ‘Frank wants to see what people think about him, they sew him into the couch, he comes out naked.’ So you read that, and you go, ‘Okay, I’ll do that.’” Then the day of shooting came, and the reality of the nude scene started to set in. “You go into the thing, and they had this hide-y kinda whatever it was, with a slit in it so I can get through the couch,” he recalled, saying that, despite the appearance of the shot, he still had some coverage, “You can’t come out in front of 50 people you don’t know with your wanger hanging out, right? So they put a little cap on it, know what I mean?”

So, the director called action, DeVito crawled out of the couch covered in oil made to look like sweat, ready to behave like a professional. “You come out and plop, all these people looking at you, and my line in the thing was ‘hot, hot, hot, hot,’” he explained, “And Kaitlin (Olson)’s got the first line, there’s a great thing on YouTube somewhere where Kaitlin forgets to say her line, she’s just looking right at me like a big blob of greasy flesh.”

Maybe Olson flubbed her line because she knew she was witnessing history in the making.