Ray’s name may be in the title, but Everybody Loves Raymond would be nothing without Frank, and here are 10 of his most hilarious moments.
Everybody Loves Raymond is a unique television sitcom because it relies on humorous supporting characters. The story may revolve around Ray Barone (Ray Romano), but you wouldn’t have a show without his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), his brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), his meddling mother, Marie (Doris Roberts), and his hilarious, sarcastic father, Frank (Peter Boyle).
Frank isn’t afraid to tell people exactly what he thinks. His reactions—“Holy, crap!—and blunt, hard-nosed demeanor are often the funniest moments of the show. Throughout the show’s nine seasons, Frank is featured in many episodes. Let’s take a look at the funniest and most memorable episodes featuring your favorite TV dad.
Keeping An Historic Football
In the season six episode “The Kicker,” Frank and Robert return from a college football game, and Frank boasts about catching a football from a record-setting field goal. Of course, Frank loves this and isn’t going to let go of his prized item. When the kicker asks if he could have the football, Frank refuses unless the college player wants to pay $10,000 for it.
Word of this eventually gets back to the local sports community, and every sports fan wants to steal the football from Frank. The Barone family try to devise a plan to get the football away from Frank, but, knowing him, he is too clever for them.
The Unfortunate Halloween Candy
In the season three Halloween episode “Halloween Candy,” Ray buys a box of colorful condoms to use after trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Earlier in the episode, Debra mentioned Ray should get a vasectomy so they don’t have to worry about using condoms or being on birth control. Ray decided against it and bought condoms instead. This might have been a harmless idea, but it turns into a disaster once Frank is involved.
While Ray and Debra are out trick-or-treating with their children, Frank stays behind at their house to handle the trick-or-treating festivities. Thinking the package of condoms were actually chocolate coins, he accidentally hands them out to children. Oops!
Losing His Sense Of Taste
If there’s anything to know about Frank, it’s that he loves to eat. He has a large appetite, and he is always requesting food from Marie. So, it surprises everyone in the season nine episode, “Tasteless Frank,” when Frank seems to have lost his sense of taste as a side effect from a pill to help with his “manhood.”
Everyone is concerned about Frank. He could no longer enjoy the food he once loved. Naturally, this causes some awkward conversations, but everyone just wants Frank to be the same person he always was.
The Ping Pong Competition
Frank treats his sons with tough love. He isn’t afraid to tell them what he thinks or how they should behave. But, in the season three episode “Ping Pong,” Ray thought he truly beat his father in a table tennis game when he was younger. So, he’s surprised to find out that Frank let him win all those years ago.
Furious that his father lied to him, Ray demands a rematch. The father-son duo plays ping pong, but Ray lets Frank win just so his father can know how it felt. But, was Frank happy about this? Of course not.
Frank, The Writer
On Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray works as a sports columnist. He’s the writer in his family, so he’s shocked in the season one episode, “Frank, The Writer,” when he finds out Frank had a humorous story published in Reader’s Digest. Suddenly, Frank thinks he’s a talented writer and that he should have a column, just like Ray.
Ray tries to help his father, but his editor says the column is horrible and embarrassing. Of course, Ray is too scared to break the news to Frank, who would probably be upset.
Frank, The Painter
Everybody Loves Raymond Frank Paints the House
Even though Frank is sarcastic and shows tough love, he often goes out of his way to help his family. In the season five episode “Frank Paints the House,” he decides to help Ray by painting his house. He takes pride in his work and wants to do a good job.
However, things don’t turn out well. Frank wants things done a certain way, resulting in a disaster. When Ray fires Frank from working on the house, his father responds harshly. Ray later finds out that this reminded Frank of when he was fired from a career in his younger days. This episode provided a serious, in-depth look at Frank’s character that you often don’t see.
Driving Mr. Barone
Sometimes, people don’t want to admit that they’re aging. It’s a harsh reality, and Frank has to come to terms with this in the season three episode “Driving Frank.” Debra expresses concern for Frank’sdriving, especially when he’s driving his grandchildren. Of course, Frank doesn’t want to admit that he can’t drive as well as he could before he started growing older.
The episode is full of amusing one-liners from a stubborn Frank. It results in Robert, a police officer, giving Frank a ticket and Ray trying to work with Frank during a particularly rough DMV test.
Frank’s Special Birthday
Everybody Loves Raymond Frank Birthday Gift from Robert
Ray and Robert often have a super-competitive dynamic on the show. Robert knows Ray is favored by his parents, and viewers feel bad for the older brother. In the season two episode “The Gift,” Frank celebrates his sixty-fifth birthday. Ray didn’t realize he had to buy his father a gift, and Robert thinks he finally scored big with his father by giving him a “remote boat.”
However, Ray splurges on a large fish tank complete with varieties of fish. Frank loves the gift, and Robert’s “remote boat” is forgotten about. However, when Frank’s favorite fish dies, he wants nothing to do with the fish tank. Ray believes this reminds his father of his own inevitable death, but Frank was just upset because he found out Ray bought an expensive present for him.
Frank’s Tribute
Everybody Loves Raymond Frank Tribute Frank and Marie
In the season three episode “Frank’s Tribute,” Frank’s lodge friends vote him “Man of the Year.” Of course, he’s overjoyed with this recognition. Ray and Robert must make a tribute video for their father, including speeches from Frank’s friends.
However, they find out the men at the lodge actually don’t like Frank. Wanting to paint their father in a positive light, they ask the men to think of chocolate instead, using editing trickery to make it seem like they’re talking about Frank. This is a memorable episode, but, unfortunately, Frank catches on to the gag and realizes people don’t like him. Poor Frank.
Frank’s Downstairs Accident
In the season six episode “Frank Goes Downstairs,” Frank, once again, tries to make repairs at Ray’s house. When he hears Ray and Debra fell down the stairs—though they really got hurt falling out of bed during sex—he decides to fix the stairs.
However, this results in one of the most famous moments of the show when the stairs collapse, and Frank falls into the basement. He breaks a rib, and Ray feels guilty about lying to his father. As you can imagine, there are many humorous lines and exchanges as the truth finally comes out.
