‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’ Fans Lost It When A Real Man Named Frank Reynolds Survived A Harrowing Accident On Just Beer And Water

If you’ve ever watched a movie to the end you may have seen the disclaimer often put in the credits about coincidences and familiarities between characters in the film and those who may also share a name with real life people. That disclaimer seems to have been created for situations like one that came up on Friday, when a news story about a Frank Reynolds caught the attention of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia fans.

The show’s patriarch, played by Danny DeVito, has a long history of insane exploits on one of the longest-running live action sitcoms in television history. And though he’s an entirely fictional lunatic, an actual Frank Reynolds had a harrowing incident from his real life go viral because it sounded like something Frank from Sunny would somehow pull off.

The Associated Press shared the story of a real-life Reynolds, a 53-year-old man who was trying to round up cattle in Wyoming and was pinned underneath an ATV.

“It was scary as hell is what it was,” Reynolds said Wednesday from a hospital room.

Family thought Reynolds had gone camping or was with friends, said Quentin Reynolds, the Campbell County undersheriff and Frank’s brother.

Later Monday, they began to worry. Eventually, they learned Frank Reynolds had planned to do some work on the property, where he was laying with a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs.

That kicked off a search for Reynolds, who tried to honk the ATV’s horn to attract someone’s attention until the vehicle’s battery wore down. With no help coming and no food, the rancher made it two days by using only what was in his cooler: beer and water.

He was able to ration a couple of bottles of water and Keystone Light beers from a cooler, Sheriff Scott Matheny said.

Searching on horseback, neighbor Don Hamm found Reynolds around 8 a.m. Tuesday. By that point, Reynolds recalled he was “pretty much out of it.”

“Everything on the left side pretty much hurt, from the top of my head to my toes,” he said.

It’s an incredible story, and one that shows serious perseverance in the face of life-threatening circumstances. And thankfully, Reynolds survived the ordeal. Which is probably why people on Twitter could see the news and make some comparisons to the Frank Reynolds from Sunny without feeling too bad about it.

There were a good number of rum ham jokes, too.

Many more were simply stunned his name was “Frank Reynolds” and repeating that alone made it trend on Twitter. But the lesson here is to always be careful riding ATVs on uneven terrain. And maybe, you know, keep a cooler full of beverages on you at all times, just in case.