The Frank Reynolds Stealth Strategy Doesn’t Work on Cops

The cops are onto the whole “sew yourself into the couch” method of camouflage, so, from now on, anyone who attempts the Frank Reynolds special should get checked out for donkey brains.

Every It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan knows the scene well. In the 2009 Always Sunny holiday special “A Very Sunny Christmas,” Dennis and Dee attempt to give their not-father the Charles Dickens treatment by exposing his past sins, namely his annual Christmas fake out where he would purchase their desired presents all for himself. In order to theatrically illustrate his past shittiness, Dennis and Dee take Frank to his old company’s offices in hopes that he will overhear former coworkers talking shit about him during their company Christmas party, but the only problem was figuring out how to get Frank within earshot. Well, that and the fact that Frank hadn’t worked at the company in years and no one knew who he was.

In one of the most iconic and apparently inspiring scenes in Always Sunny history, Dennis and Dee sew a nude Frank into the couch of the common room, only to have him burst out of it gasping for air before the ghost of corporate Christmas parties past could scare him straight. Though Frank’s plan failed, one squatter in east England was so smitten with Always Sunny’s take on A Christmas Carol that he tried to hide like Frank before the bobbies busted him at his gaff.

And, because the universe is occasionally kind to us, there’s body-cam footage of the failed couch concealment — merry Christmas, bitches! 

Now, there are a few problems with the apprehended squatter’s attempt to escape the coppers. Most importantly, he didn’t have his bastard kids there to sew up the bottom of the couch, so his inexplicably bare body was in full view as soon as the police turned the couch on its side. Of course, the man may have considered that Frank’s undoing was the unbearable heat of the hiding spot, so the bare bottom could very well have been his attempt at improving the technique.

According to the reporting of The Sun, the couch-burrower is now in custody — if the guard looks into his cell and finds it empty, they should probably check the cot.