Dennis Reynolds



Dennis Reynolds is the co-owner of Paddy's Pub, and Dee Reynolds' twin brother. Dennis is best friends with and Mac. Dennis is an extreme narcissist and it is hinted that Dennis may be a serial killer, but this remains ambiguous.

Throughout most of the series, Dennis is shown to be a psychopath who only cares about himself and has no feelings. Bu t by the season twelve finale, Dennis actually begins to display feelings and begins to become empathetic and compassionate by clearly showing love for his son, Brian Jr. and wanting to raise him with Mandy. This is short lived as he returns to Philadelphia and resumes his old life.

Dennis is portrayed by Glenn Howerton.

Personality
Dennis is vain, selfish, superficial, hyper-sexual, deranged, and delusional about himself. Dennis also has an extreme temper (most notable in later seasons) and will blow up in rage whenever his image is called into question, he doesn't get what he wants, or just plain gets irritated.

Dennis is frequently hinted to be an emotionless sociopath but later seasons have taken a more sympathetic approach. Prior to season 10, it was hinted that Dennis was very mentally ill, and was later diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder by a psychiatrist and was given medication for it. In season 12's, the notion that Dennis doesn't have feelings (something even he has said) is said to be untrue when Dennis reveals he's possibly the most sensitive in the Gang. This is likely another delusion, but hypersensitivity is common in people with Borderline Personality Disorder.

One of Dennis's most predominant traits is that he is extremely status obsessed and has incredibly grandiose, deluded and distorted image of himself that causes him to believe himself to be physically perfect and irresistible to others. He often "pops off" his shirt in inappropriate situations in attempts to impress others with his physique. He frequently obsesses over any possibility that he may have a visible physical flaw and often spends the remainder of the episode trying to correct it.

Dennis' appearance has changed somewhat over the years. As Dee notes in "Frank Falls Out the Window," Dennis is going bald in the back of his head, something he appears to cover up through increasingly elaborate use of product and comb-overs in later seasons. In "Dee Day" Dee forces him to remove all makeup, product and "padding" from his face and clothing, revealing a sickly, balding physique; however, he appears to still have a relatively fit appearance when shirtless in "The Gang Solves Global Warming." He is pathologically obsessed with youth and items associated with his youth, often pursuing much younger women and clinging to items such as his Range Rover as a significant part of his identity. From the effort put into maintaining a youthful façade and his immature bar-based lifestyle, Dennis has a number of chronic health issues, including a physical dependence on alcohol, low blood pressure and other symptoms consistent with an eating disorder, and a recurring addiction to crack. It is implied he regularly forges prescriptions to get pills at drugstores, and has used other drugs such as Ecstasy on a recreational basis. In addition, Dennis has suffered a number of debilitating injuries as a result of his schemes with The Gang, including broken ankles, multiple instances of food poisoning, severe beatings, and so forth.

Dennis has chronic feelings of emptiness that distress him and cause problems in his interpersonal relationships ​​​. He states that he combats this (dubbing it his 'God hole') by having sex with a lot of women.

Dennis's delusions of grandeur extend to his relationships with others. In and college, Dennis believed that he was a legend that others looked up to. He later found out that he was wrong on both counts ​​​. He often claims to be a God and believes he should be the leader in all cases of decision making. Dennis is also shown as unable to connect with people on any meaningful level. His romantic relationships are cynical, and his closest friendships are codependent.

Arguably the most depraved member of the Gang, Dennis routinely destroys others' property and casually mentions committing disturbing acts of violence which include (but are not limited to):


 * Dennis vandalized Art Sloan's house, and set his yard on fire.
 * He offered to "frame bang" the Lawyer's wife and was surprised when the Lawyer referred to it as rape ​​​.
 * Mac is disturbed when Dennis tells him that a good reason for them to have a boat is so they can get women out in international waters, where they will not refuse their sexual advances "because of the implication." He tries to (falsely) reassure Mac that he's not actually going to rape any women, only just that the women will feel like they should give them what they want, "because of the implication".
 * Dennis has many bench warrants for sexual misconduct, and is implied to be a serial rapist.
 * Dennis's fantasy in "The Gang Saves the Day" involves suffocating Jackie Denardo.
 * While he is briefly married to Maureen Ponderosa, he pretends to choke her.
 * In "The High School Reunion, Part 2: The Gang's Revenge", zip ties and other tools are found in the back of his car. Later in this episode he tells Mac he is going to kill him when he finds out he slept with his prom date.
 * In "The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods", Charlie tells Dennis he reminds Charlie of a serial killer, which Dennis takes as a compliment.
 * Dennis has a scheme in which he manipulates women into having sex with him, scaring them and threatening them, and having sex with them again only to leave them once again..
 * In "The Gang Gets Analyzed", he calmly tells the therapist he would enjoy the thrill of controlling the electric switch in an execution. He goes on to say he may not pull it, but implicitly has a latent desire and active ability to do so.
 * In one episode he claims he enjoys the thrill of "wearing another man's skin." ​​​
 * He also says "Dee you would be more use to me if you were dead" then threatens to skin Dee and turn her into a lampshade or a piece of high end skin-luggage to add to his collection.
 * Dennis thinks a woman's head in a freezer is the best symbol of love that exists.
 * List of crimes committed by the gang

Sexuality
"I'll tell you what buddy, I can help you out. I'm gonna toss a frame-bang your way. Here's how that works: I slip into your house one night while your wife is sleeping... and I ease into her real nice. That way you're both cheating on each other and she can't clean you out."

- dennis

Dennis is obsessed with sex - the perfect example of a sexual deviant. He has had sex with many women, and has both audio and video recordings of these sexual encounters. He has allowed Mac to watch these tapes (which Mac didn't enjoy due to the angle - a close-up of Dennis's "weird" balls) ​​​​​​​​​​. He's also claimed that, in his sexual encounters, the words "no", "don't", and "stop" never stop him from following his intentions. Members of The Gang comment on his attraction to teenage girls when he ends up being tricked by an eighteen-year-old high school senior into plowing her at her high school prom. Dennis also has a fascination with anonymous sex, even going so far as to install a glory hole in the men's room at Paddy's. When Charlie and Mac try writing a movie, Dennis's suggestions for how to "improve" the movie mostly involve hardcore penetration scenes (though Charlie says "I think the audience is gonna be very uncomfortable seeing Dolph Lundgren's naked penis going into this young girl that you're talking about").

Dennis is fond of BDSM. In ​​​​​​​​​​ he states, "I like to bind, I like to be bound" while pulling duct tape and zip ties out of a hidden compartment in his car during a furious rage.

Dennis enjoys flirting with men who compliment his appearance. He believes he has a comprehensive understanding of the mechanics of gay relationships. He knows what it means to be a bear or a twink and understands how a "top" differs from a "bottom"; he explains to The Gang that "speed is the name of the game" when defining the role of a "power bottom". He also states that he could "never satisfy" a twank versatile. He is very excited about seeing someone "hang dong" in the movie Thunder Gun Express. Dennis used to stick the tip of his penis in his frat brothers' mouths, and his photograph at his frat house is graffitied with the words "I chug dick". He also was prepared to have sex with a "tiny Asian boy" as Brian LeFevre, before it is revealed that the boy was a caddy. ("Frank's Back in Business").The ambiguous nature of Dennis's sexuality has been explored in other episodes and is usually connected to his vanity and need for peer approval. He refers to himself as a "straight man" ("The Gang Solves the Bathroom Problem"), though Glenn Howerton himself has stated otherwise on multiple occasions.

It is revealed that Dennis was sexually assaulted by the school librarian, Ms. Klinsky, when he was 14. Ms. Klinsky was far older (probably at least 40-50 years old), and is described as looking like Rick Moranis (Dee Made a Smut Film). Despite his insistence that he was not raped, the experience seems to have been very traumatic and has left scars. This is possibly the reason for his hyper-sexuality and treatment of women.

Need for acceptance
Dennis insults and demeans his friends on a regular basis, particularly Dee and Charlie, and never hesitates to draw attention to their flaws, shortcomings, and past failures while remaining oblivious to—or rather in denial of—his own.

Dennis's psychotically-extreme vanity, selfishness, callousness and exploitativeness belie a deep, crippling insecurity, self-loathing and fear of abandonment. Much of Dennis's inflated self-image is fueled by others, whether through their attention and admiration or through providing him with schadenfreude at their own misfortune. Any critique of his looks, however mild or trivial, deeply distresses Dennis and often leads him to extreme behavior. When Dee countered Dennis's insults by claiming that he has a "fat face," it triggered his anorexia to the point of not eating for three days.

As of season seven, he says he does not eat lunch anymore and on odd days doesn't eat breakfast, and as of season fourteen he claims he is ‘allergic’ to sugar and gluten. Blood work indicates that he is severely malnourished ​​​​​​​​​​. He frequently becomes incredibly upset when he is unsuccessful at sleeping with women, feeling like their rejection is directly responsible for triggering his ever-present fear that he is actually worthless. This fear of rejection and abandonment also manifests prominently in "The Gang Broke Dee" and "The Gang Group Dates." Dennis's idea for getting his sister out of her depression is to find her a man with no self-esteem, like her, and by putting them together he will be able to continue controlling Dee and preventing her from ever leaving him. He becomes disturbed when Dee becomes successful and initially tries to tear her down verbally like always, but by this point Dee has regained too much self-esteem to listen. Believing that his sister was soon going to leave him behind and go onto a better life that was more successful than his, a blow to both his ego and his fear of abandonment or rejection, Dennis becomes increasingly upset and desperate. When discovering that he, along with Dee, was actually on the receiving end of an elaborate prank by Charlie, Mac and Frank, Dennis tries to deny the hurt and trauma of the ordeal through hysterical laughter, though the others think that they "broke" him as well and that "he might go kill himself".

Glenn Howerton has said in interviews that he believes that Dennis is not actually a complete sociopath; and, deep down, Dennis is actually very fragile and has very strong emotions and is in fact the most sensitive and insecure member of the Gang. However, the only way he knows how to show it is by getting really angry. This suggests that Dennis's frequent outbursts of rage, particularly in later seasons, are actually a dysfunctional defense mechanism to cover up how vulnerable he is to any sort of perceived criticism, social rejection, or emotional upset.

The above comes to its height in "The Gang Tends Bar." The Gang believes that the reason why Dennis avoids Valentine's Day festivities and focuses on work is because he doesn't have any feelings, before he finally blows up and admits that he has big feelings, which have been hurt over the years when the Gang neglects to think of him on Valentine's Day, causing him to put "anthrax" (powdered sugar) in the Valentine box. The fact that Mac shows him affection and gifts to him an RPG, the exact thing Dennis has always wanted, causes Dennis to revert back to a cold and emotionless facade even though it's obvious that he's holding back tears while thanking Mac. Similarly, the thought of his illegitimate son growing up without a father around, much like he did, causes him to renounce his life of debauchery with the Gang under the roof of the bar and causes him to leave for North Dakota to tend to his new family. ("Dennis' Double Life"). However he soon was back at Paddy’s, forgetting his son, and went back to his old ways.

Skills and Abilities
Dennis has some artistic talent that he expresses by drawing cartoonish large-breasted women (which pretty much describes his crude behavior), which Charlie finds enticing.

Dennis claims that he is going to look twenty forever, asserting that "the older [he] gets, the more vigilant [he] becomes". For instance, he professes that he does not eat lunch anymore (and on odd days he doesn't eat breakfast). Also, Dennis's body is constantly in motion. For example, he is capable of doing leg lifts that are "imperceptible to the human eye" while standing (a technique which he calls "hummingbirds"). He perseveres with these actions despite the misery they bring him ​​​​​​​​​​.

Dennis can turn his penis from flaccid to erect in a moment's notice, and vice versa.

Along with Mac and Dee, Dennis has been shown to be an excellent skier (though the rules are different on the mountain) ("The Gang Hits the Slopes").

Due to his emotionally and psychologically abusive upbringing, it is demonstrated throughout the series, and outright stated in Chardee MacDennis, that Dennis, along with his sister, has an extremely high tolerance for emotional battery and public humiliation, hence why he is always able to rebound from the Gang's constant failures and disappointments and the various traumatic things that occur to the him throughout the series, such as his father figure disowning him and later trying to pimp him out.

Dennis has a distinct gift for manipulation, a skill in which he takes tremendous pride. He takes the process of conning very seriously, even referring to it as an "art" ("The Gang Goes to a Water Park") and himself as an "Artist." An extension of this gift is his relative ease in creating false identities for himself. Strangely, he does not seem to use these aliases for money or other material gain, but rather for the pure pleasure he derives from deceiving others, or "getting off."

Weaknesses
Dennis is extremely vain, obsessed with his appearance, has an incredibly fragile ego, and is in constant need of attention, and as a result any sort of critique or attack on his self esteem will destroy his confidence. For example, in The Gang Exploits a Miracle, after Dee says he has a "fat face," he starves himself for days.

Early Life
Dennis was born on August 18, 1976, an unknown amount of time after his sister Dee, to Barbara and Frank Reynolds. Dennis's grandfather was a decorated officer in the Nazi Party. Later, Dennis and Dee discover that he took them to a neo-Nazi camp when they were small children.

Dennis had a well-loved stuffed elephant named Mr. Tibbs.

There was an incident in his childhood when Dennis killed four crows in a row in front of Dee ("Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer"). It's unknown if this was an isolated occurrence or one of multiple acts of animal cruelty Dennis committed throughout his youth.

It was revealed that Dennis went to Waldron Mercy Academy for elementary school ("Sweet Dee's Dating a Retarded Person"). Dennis started a psychological dossier on his sister when he was in the second grade.

Dennis believed himself to be extremely popular in, but his prom date had sex with another student. Mac told Dennis that the other student had been Tim Murphy, but later Tim revealed to Dennis that it was Mac who had had sex with his prom date. Dennis also learns that the rest of the students never considered him cool as he would always hang out with Charlie and Mac while declaring himself a "golden god." ​​​​​​​​​​

When Dennis was 14, he had sex with his 50 year old librarian. Dee correctly identifies this as rape, but Dennis is in denial about the whole thing saying that you cannot rape a man. This has some unfortunate-in-hindsight implications due to Dennis in an earlier episode saying that he has not had feelings since he was 14. Later, Charlie and Dennis discuss the latter's trauma about the incident, with Dennis reluctantly being more open to the idea that the event was somewhat traumatic. ("PTSDee")

Dennis was once dismissed from a counselor position at a summer camp because he was accused of the statutory rape of an underage teenage girl, although he maintains he just kissed the girl, who was only a year younger than him.

He earned good grades at the University of Pennsylvania and minored in psychology, though his original ambition was to become a veterinarian. Later on Dee suggests he wanted to be a veterinarian so he could keep the skins and he does not deny this. However, he does seem to sometimes like cats; he had a cat as a child and showed fondness for Agent Jack Bauer (his junkyard cat). He has no problem suggesting that Dee let her cat die in a wall rather than rescuing it so she would pay attention to him, so clearly his views on them are situational. Dennis is also a self-proclaimed "dog hater", despite having appeared comfortable with buying Mac a dog without being provoked to do so in "Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs". He says that he fairly strongly dislikes dogs, and that if "[people] can eat a bucket of fried chicken, then [he] should be able to eat a bucket of fried dog" ("Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare"). Despite this, he seems disturbed at the implication that Mac fed Dennis the dog in "Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs".

While at Penn, Dennis was a member of the Delta Omega Lambda fraternity, where he considered himself a legend and a "king of that place". However, when he goes back to the frat house, no one there knows who he is, and he finds that someone has written "I CHUG DICK!" over his picture in a gallery of former members. They also taze him and think it is hilarious. .

Religion
Dennis is an atheist, as he has stated that he doesn't believe in God, as mentioned in "Sweet Dee Gets Audited", "Reynolds vs. Reynolds: The Cereal Defense" and "Mac Day."

Living Situation
In Mac and Charlie Die, Dennis says that he and Mac had been living together for approximately a decade. This seems to be correct as he and Mac were 28 in season 1, which would put them at 32 for season 4 and thus would have them moving in together right after Dennis graduated college. They then live in Dennis and Mac's apartment together until season 9, putting them at around fifteen years living together. Dennis briefly lived with a European roommate while Mac was pretending to be dead, and he lived with Maureen for a few days when they were married. Mac and Dennis moved in to Dee's apartment after their apartment burned down in "The Gang Squashes Their Beefs" and they are still living there after living in the suburbs for one month. As a result of a bet they made with Frank that they could not last a month in the suburbs, he, Mac, and Dee have to sleep with an old man (known only as Old Black Man) for a year. By Season 12, their old apartment has been rebuilt and refurnished to it's original design, which disturbs Dennis, except Mac's bedroom only contains the Ass Pounder 4000; he expected them to share Dennis' room. Dennis later elects to leave the Gang and Paddy's to move to North Dakota and take on his responsibilities as a father to Brian Jr (Dennis' Double Life). He later returns to his old living situation.

Trivia

 * Dennis often takes to making contracts for many types of situations, claiming that, now that it is in writing, "no one can do anything to stop me".
 * He claims to have an academic background in psychology from an Ivy League college.
 * The shadow of his penis can be clearly seen in "Mac and Charlie Die (Part 2)."
 * Dennis' taste in music is primarily what Mac calls "early-eighties glam rock femme shit" ​​​​​​​​​​. Dennis is seen singing along with songs of Rick Astley on multiple occasions.
 * Despite making less than $400 a week at the bar, Dennis' family's wealth enables him to wear stylish clothing and drive a Range Rover. However, some of this may be due to the fact that these items are old. Dennis' car is now viewed by other people as a starter car and he still wears many of the same clothes that he wore in season 1 despite being larger than he was back then.
 * It is implied that Dennis has multiple bench warrants for sexual misconduct.
 * Dennis has both audio- and videotaping his room on 24/7 basis. He also has a dresser full of his sex tapes ​​​​​​​​​​.
 * Dennis keeps "psychological dossiers" on each member of The Gang and always updates them. He started his file on Dee in the second grade.
 * Apparently, Dennis was the one who came up with the idea of calling their group "The Gang".
 * Both his friends and enemies refer to him as "a piece of shit" within the series. In response, Dennis usually smiles or laughs and rarely disagrees with their sentiment.
 * Dennis is younger than Dee.
 * Despite being depicted as cold-hearted and even "feelingless," Dennis sometimes shows moments of emotional connection with members of the gang. Most consistently Charlie, to whom he has shown many moments of genuine fondness. Examples are shown in "Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer", in which he is only photographed looking content in the pictures with Charlie, or "Charlie and Dee Find Love", where he suspects Charlie of falling into a Les Liaisons Dangereuses scenario. Other examples of Dennis having a very strong friendship with Charlie and a very tolerant attitude towards Charlie's strange actions are shown in numerous episodes, though this may be a case of him being wary of what Charlie might do if he were to have his illusions shattered  (See: "The Waitress is Getting Married"). Further evidence for this is "Charlie and Dee Find Love", where he suspects Charlie of falling into a Les Liaisons Dangereuses scenario, while expressing no concern for Dee, stating, "she'll bounce back, she always does".  Dennis has expressed emotion to/for Mac as well on multiple occasions, presumably because of their insinuated codependent relationship.  (See: "Mac and Dennis Break Up") In "The Gang Tends Bar", Mac and Dennis have a somewhat heartfelt moment after Dennis receives his first ever Valentine's Day gift from a member of the gang, an RPG given to him by Mac. Dennis also expressed great fraternal love for Dee and remorse for his past actions in "The Gang Broke Dee"and "The Gang Goes to Hell: Part Two", telling her that he loves her.
 * Dennis is right-handed ("Dennis' Double Life").
 * Dennis is 5'10.
 * Dennis does an excellent C.C.H. Pounder impression ("The Gang Goes to Hell: Part 2").
 * Dennis loves the show The Shield. ("The Gang Goes to Hell: Part Two").
 * Dennis does not appear in the episodes "The Gang Beats Boggs: Ladies Reboot", "Charlie's Home Alone", "The Gang Wins the Big Game" and "Mac Finds His Pride".
 * Dennis is the only member of the Gang with no confirmed bangs within the Gang. Dee and Charlie had sex (evidently non-consensual) and Charlie, Mac, and Frank participated in an three-way/orgy with a Dennis sex-doll while Dee watched.

Relationships

 * Charlie and Dennis
 * Dennis and Mac
 * Dennis and Dee
 * Dennis and Frank

Bangs

 * The Waitress
 * Rebecca Keane
 * Azrael
 * Various older women while working as a "handsome companion" ,
 * Caylee the Pharmacist
 * Maureen Ponderosa (the ex-wife with a dead tooth)
 * Elena — at least, a handjob
 * Two guys after getting blackout drunk
 * Danielle — well at least a blowjob
 * Mile High Club Tilapia Farm Trash
 * Mandy, the mother of his son Brian Jr. ("Dennis' Double Life")

From his sex tape drawer ("Mac's Banging the Waitress"): From his sex tape box in his car ("Thunder Gun Express")
 * Solana
 * Svetlana
 * Vivian
 * Victoria
 * Victoria Z
 * Veronica (mailman)
 * Vanessa Z
 * Wanda
 * Wende
 * Tracy Wilson
 * Weather Girl
 * Waitress (Italian)
 * Waitress (Surf n Turf)
 * Wendy
 * Waitress (Airport Bar)
 * Waitress (Bar and grill)
 * Waitress (Coffee Shop)
 * Waitress (French)
 * Waitress (Indian)
 * Waitress (Chinese)
 * Waitress (Vegan)
 * Waitress (Korean)
 * Waitress (Steakhouse)
 * Waitress (Mexican)
 * Waitress (Japanese)
 * Waitress (Deli)
 * Samantha W.
 * Yolanda
 * Yolanda M.
 * Yental
 * Yazmine
 * Yoga Instructor
 * Zookeeper
 * Zoe
 * Zenia
 * Allison
 * Amanda
 * Brenda
 * Collette
 * crissy
 * Crystal
 * Leah
 * Mary Jane
 * Rebecca
 * Samantha
 * Stacey
 * Vanessa (it is unclear if this is the same as Vanessa Z)

Images

 * See more: Category:Images of Dennis Reynolds