40 things you probably didn't know about Friends 📺
'How YOU doin'?'
Last updated 27th May 2021
Friends was one of the biggest sitcoms of the 90s and its appeal and popularity has only grown since, with a new generation of fans enjoying the show thanks to regular TV re-runs and the Netflix streaming service.
The show ran for ten series and welcomed us into a gang of six best friends Joey Tribianni, Monica Geller, Ross Geller, Rachel Green, Phoebe Buffay and Chandler Bing. Friends recently celebrated it's 25th anniversary with a special episode seeing the cast reunite and reminisce about their time on the show.
Here are 40 things you might not have known about Friends:
1) The producers originally wanted Courteney Cox to play Rachel, but she asked to play Monica because she felt the character was stronger.
2) The orange sofa which is a centre-piece in Central Perk was found in the basement of the Warner Bros. studio.
3) The apartment numbers changed when the show's writers realised that the original numbers 4 and 5 wouldn't denote an apartment on the higher level. The numbers were then changed to 19 and 20.
4) Friends co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane are also co-writers of the show’s theme song, 'I’ll Be There for You' by The Rembrandts.
5) David Schwimmer was the first of the six main actors to be cast in the show and Jennifer Aniston was the last.
6) The role of Ross was written for David Schwimmer.
7) Courteney Cox is actually older than David, despite playing his younger sister.
8) Ross and Rachel weren’t meant to be the central romance of the series, it was David and Jennifer’s chemistry which brought the characters together.
9) David Schwimmer directed 10 episodes of Friends.
10) Marcel the monkey was played by two monkeys, Monkey and Katie.
11) Lisa Kudrow hated playing the guitar so after a few lessons she gave up learning and 'Smelly Cat' was 'born'.
12) Lisa Kudrow has a BSc in Biology.
13) Lisa’s pregnancy was written into the show, but Courtney’s was not.
14) Phoebe and Chandler were originally supposed to be supporting characters.
15) Phoebe’s twin sister, Ursula was a character in another TV series Mad About You (also played by Lisa).
16) Ellen DeGeneres was offered the chance to play Phoebe, but turned it down.
17) Jennifer Aniston almost didn’t return for the last season. At the time she was one of the most famous members of the cast and married to Brad Pitt. In a 2004 interview she admitted she had had hesitations about returning for the final season. Thankfully she did.
18) When the show was first written, Joey and Monica were intended to be love interests.
19) The cast had a huddle before going in front of the TV audience every episode. David Schwimmer described the last huddle as very emotional.
20) The opening credits were shot at Warner Bros studio, not Gramercy Park or Central Park.
21) Gunther didn’t have a name until the middle of the second season.
22) He didn’t even have a line until the show’s 33rd episode, when he said “yeah”.
23) June Gable, who played Joey’s agent Estelle Leonard, also played a nurse in the episode where Carol gives birth to Ben.
24) They were the first TV cast to negotiate as a group. In the first season, each of the main six cast members received $22,000 per episode. In 1997, they negotiated a salary increase to $100,000 per episode. By the final season, they each got $1,000,000 per episode.
25) The average Friends episode took five hours to film in front of a live audience - except for cliffhangers.
26) The show was originally called Insomnia Cafe and a few other names including Friends Like Us and Six of One before becoming Friends.
27) Bruce Willis appeared on the show for free after losing a bet to Matthew Perry.
28) Three cast members from The Simpsons made guest appearances on Friends, they include Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Hank Azaria (Moe/Apu), and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns/Smithers).
29) Due to a small budget “The One Where No One’s Ready” takes place entirely in Monica’s apartment.
30) Joey plays Dr. Drake Ramoray in a fictional version of the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. In real life, Jennifer Aniston’s father, John Aniston, plays Victor Kiriakis on the actual Days of Our Lives.
31) Hank Azaria, who plays David the scientist, auditioned for the role of Joey twice before the show went into production.
32) In “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs” Ross hates ice cream, but one season earlier Ross and Elizabeth can be seen enjoying ice cream on a date.
33) Ross was 29-years-old for three years!
34) The frame around the peephole in Monica’s apartment originally had a mirror in it, but it was broken by a crew member in the early days. Producers thought it looked good so they left it.
35) Before the show’s pilot aired, the cast were taken for dinner at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas to enjoy their “last shot at anonymity”. They later returned to the same place to shoot Ross and Rachel’s drunken wedding.
36) In “The One After Vegas,” everyone was given the last name 'Arquette' to celebrate Courtney Cox and David Arquette getting married.
37) All of the six main characters have kissed each other at one point (if you include alternative “what if?” episodes), except Monica and Phoebe.
38) All six characters have lived in Monica’s apartment at some point in the series, they have all also lived in Joey’s apartment.
39) When the series ended, Jennifer Aniston and her then-husband Brad Pitt hosted a dinner party at their home. They served bottles of wine that producer Kevin Bright had saved from the first series.
40) When the show finished each cast member was given a piece of the pavement from outside Central Perk as a keepsake.
Check out all of the celebrity cameos in Friends:
Janine, aka Elle Macpherson
Joey's Australian dancer roommate who is the real reason we got to witness Ross and Monica perform 'The Routine'.
Philip Schofield?!
Phillip Schofield shocked This Morning viewers by admitting he'd been on Friends, well, kinda. He's a superfan of the show, and so he actually went along to a viewing of Friends in the 90s.
His laugh can be heard in a scene between Jennifer Aniston's Rachel and Matt Le Blanc's Joey in series three.
He said: 'I have actually been on Friends. I've been in an episode of Friends. The one where they keep the scary books in the fridge. When I say I was on Friends... my laugh was on Friends.'
Sandy, aka Freddie Prinze Jr.
The male nanny who Ross had an uncomfortable, definitely not okay, problem with.
Melissa Warburton, aka Winona Ryder
Remember the big kiss? The one that Rachel apparently had in college with Melissa but no one believes her? That was with Winona.
Ben, aka Cole Sprouse
Ross's son with Carol was not in the show anywhere near as frequently as he should have been. But the episode where Rachel teaches him how to pull pranks is gold.
Ralph Lauren, aka Ralph Lauren
Kind of makes sense to have the real life fashion person referred to in Rachel's TV world job, played by the real life person.
Susie Moss, aka Julia Roberts
Susie stole Chandler's clothes after having him undress in a cubicle in some restaurant toilets as revenge for teasing and pulling up her skirt when they were at school.
Officer Goodbody, aka Danny Devito
Phoebe's last minute stripper for her bachelorette party was a fantastic dancer, and I won't hear otherwise.
Dr. Michael Mitchell, aka George Clooney
Meet hot doctor number one who somehow finds himself in the middle of Rachel and Monica's identity swap after Monica loses her health insurance.
Jamie, aka Helen Hunt
Helen popped up way back in the first season to give Friends a weird cross over into the Mad About You world. She tries to order coffee from Phoebe. It's a bit awks.
Cousin Cassie, aka Denise Richards
Ah cousin Cassie Gellar. A relative who comes to stay with Monica but is oogled at a bit too much by Chandler so then goes to stay with Ross and has a weird moment over there too.
Andrea Waltham, aka Jennifer Saunders
What a role, eh? Andrea played mother to Emily (Ross's wife who's name he did not say at the alter) and answers the phone to poor pregnant Phoebe who wasn't able to fly to London for the wedding.
Tim and Tomas, aka Billy Crystal and Robin Williams
The award for the most out of nowhere cameo probably goes to these two guys who sat on the gang's sofa in the coffee house. Robin's character thinks his wife is cheating on him and for such an impromptu skit, it's pretty funny.
Will Colbert, aka Brad Pitt
Aka co-president of the 'I Hate Rachel' club and lover of Thanksgiving food.
Paul Stevens, aka Bruce Willis
Paul is dating Rachel after she breaks up with Ross who is dating Paul's daughter Elizabeth. It's one of the best awkward relationship squares that I can think of and that pep-talk moment in the mirror is A-grade brilliance.
Richard Crosby, aka Gary Oldman
If you thought the guy who plays opposite Joey in a film then here's why. There's an awkward joke about an Oscar that he hasn't won (in real life and on the show).
Leonard Hayes, aka Jeff Goldblum
Leonard/Jeff ends up getting peed on by Joey while congratulating him for a great audition, and I think we'll leave it there.
Erica Ford, aka Brooke Shields
Yep, Joey's creepy Days Of Our Lives stalker is played by the Brooke Shields.
Zack, aka John Stamos
To jog your memory, Zack is someone Monica and Chandler want as a sperm donor - they just don't tell him this!
Amy Green, aka Christina Applegate
Here we have one of the Green sisters. We only meet Amy twice, and she has a real issue with getting Rachel's daughter Emma's name right.
Jill Green, aka Reese Witherspoon
And here we have the other Green sister. She's Rachel's younger sister who comes to find her in the city hoping to start a new life like Rachel did but, well, doesn't. We think dating Ross to spite Rachel might have had a little something to do with it...
Tommy, aka Ben Stiller
Remember Tommy the screamer?
Erica, aka Anna Faris
Fun fact, Monica and Chandler's baby girl (one of the twins they adopted from Erica) would be about 17 now.
Ryan, aka Charlie Sheen
Ryan, one of Phoebe's old flames, comes into town for a couple of weeks and hangs around even though Phoebe has the chicken pox. I suppose you could say it's kind of sweet.
Kristen, aka Gabrielle Union
Kristen is one of the many women that Joey and Ross bicker over. She appears in The One With The Cheap Wedding Dress (when the girls go to that crazy discount store to help Monica find her dress) and ultimately choses to date neither of them.
Wendy, aka Selma Blair
Miss Oklahoma runner up and causer of Christmas friction between Chandler and Monica.
Jessica Lockhart, aka Susan Sarandon
We really hope no one took Jessica's screen kissing tips seriously. She's one of Joey's Days of Our Lives co-stars who is involved in that weird brain swap scenario.
Mackenzie, aka Dakota Fanning
Nine-year-old Dakota Fanning played the little girl who chats to Joey when he's taken by Chandler and Monica to visit a house out in the suburbs. Neither of them wanted the sale to happen so they bonded.
Guy on plane, aka Hugh Laurie
Let's have a moment for the unfortunate, nameless guy who has to sit next to Rachel on the flight from New York to London when she's adamant about telling Ross how she feels.