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Random Things You Probably Didn’t Know About ‘Friends’!

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Matthew Perry & Jennifer Aniston sharing a joke during rehearsals

  • In real life, Lisa Kudrow was afraid of the duck that lived with Joey and Chandler!
  • The episode, ‘The One Where No One’s Ready,’ takes place entirely in Monica’s apartment because at the time there wasn’t a big enough budget for sets or extras.
  • Bruce Willis’s appearance on the show as Rachel’s love interest and father of Ross’s student girlfriend Lizzy came about as a result of a bet with Matthew Perry. Perry and Willis were working together in the film The Whole Nine Yards. Perry believed the film would be a number one box office hit on its opening weekend, however Willis didn’t agree. He was proved wrong, and as a result of losing the bet, he had to appear in Friends and donate his earnings to charity.
  • Everyone remembers the hilarious scene where a very surprised Rachel meets Joshua’s parents for the first time. Well Joshua’s father was played by John Bennett Perry, who is actually Matthew Perry’s father!

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  • On the show, Chandler loses part of his pinky toe when Monica lets the knife fall. In real life, Matthew Perry is actually missing part of his middle finger on his right hand! He slammed it in a door when he was 3 years old.
  • When the cast are dancing around the fountain in the opening credits, you can see Jennifer Aniston mouthing the words ‘there for you’ as if she’s singing along to the theme tune, however there was no music playing on the night the dancing scenes were recorded! Jennifer decided to pretend she was singing along in order to make it look realistic when the credits aired.
  • Remember Sarah Turtle, the girl guide who was selling cookies before Ross accidentally broke her leg? She went on to play George Michael’s girlfriend, Ann Veal, in Arrested Development! Here she is today!

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  • Phoebe’s pregnancy with triplets was written into the show to cover Lisa Kudrow’s real life pregnancy!
  • The doors leading into Monica and Rachel’s bedrooms actually lead to the Central Perk set! Yep, Central Perk was on the other side of Monica’s apartment! Monica and Rachel’s bedrooms were only constructed when they were needed for a scene. Also, Monica’s ‘secret closet’ (where Chandler finds the mess!) is not actually a closet. It’s the door to the back of the set.

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  • It’s hard to imagine the Friends characters being played by anyone other than Matt Le Blanc, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, and David Schwimmer, however the line up could have been VERY different! Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester in Glee) auditioned for the part of Phoebe. It’s also reported that Ellen DeGeneres turned down the role of Phoebe! Jon Cryer (Alan from Two & A Half Men) auditioned for the role of Chandler as did actor Jon Favreau, who later appeared in the series as Monica’s mega rich boyfriend Pete. Hank Azaria, who played Phoebe’s boyfriend ‘David the science guy’, originally auditioned for the part of Joey!
  • Courteney Cox was obsessed with being neat, just like her character Monica. In fact she would even clean her fellow co-stars dressing rooms.

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  • Smelly Cat just wouldn’t have been the same had Phoebe been a talented guitar player! Well we have Lisa Kudrow to thank for this! Kudrow hated playing the guitar and once revealed that she even asked producers if her character could play the bongos! The producers instead brought in a guitar teacher however Kudrow’s patience wore thin and after learning a couple of chords, she informed producers that she was finished with the lessons and that Phoebe would have to make do with only knowing a few basic chords.

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  • Who knew that ‘Simpsons’ favourites, Homer, Moe, and Mr Burns appeared in Friends? Yes the 3 actors who provide the voices for various Simpsons characters had roles in the series! Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Barney Grumble, Grandpa Simpson) played a creepy zoo keeper who tips off Ross as to Marcel’s whereabouts, Hank Azaria (Moe, Chief Wiggum, Apu, etc.) played Phoebe’s love interest David the science guy, while Harry Shearer (Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, etc.) played a dubious guy who tried to buy Ross’s monkey Marcel for competitive fighting!
  • During the first season, the street outside Central Perk was just a painted backdrop! A street set was built for the second series onwards.

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  • Larry Hankin, who played Mr Heckles, also appeared in Breaking Bad and had a small role as a cop in Home Alone. Most of you will remember him from this scene (he appears at 0.18 in)

  • Ross’s pet monkey, Marcel, was played by two monkeys, called Monkey and Katie, however the character Marcel was written out of the show because it was taking too long to shoot his scenes. According to one site, the animal trainer said Monkey was once supposed to pick up a bra, but ended up firing it at Jennifer Aniston instead.
  • When Rachel is trying to find a priest for Chandler and Monica’s wedding after Joey fails to show, she sees a Greek Orthodox priest leaving the Anastassakis/Papasifakis wedding ceremony. Anastassakis is actually Jennifer Aniston’s original surname before it was changed by her father shortly before she was born.
  • Giovanni Ribisi is best known for playing Phoebe’s brother Frank Junior however he also briefly appeared on the show during one of the earlier seasons. As Phoebe is busking, he accidentally throws a condom into her guitar case instead of money before later returning and asking for it back.
  • You know that poster behind Monica’s TV in the living room? That was there to conceal a hole in the wall that the cameras often filmed through.

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  • When the show ended, each cast member got to choose one thing from the set as a memento. Apparently Courteney Cox took the picture frame that hung on Monica’s door, Matthew Perry and Matt Le Blanc both took their characters reclining chairs, and David Schwimmer took the fooseball table. Each cast member was also given a piece of the sidewalk from outside Central Perk!
  • The fridge in Monica’s apartment actually worked and was always stocked for cast and crew.
  • June Gable, the actress who plays Joey’s chain-smoking agent Estelle, also played a midwife in the episode where Carol gives birth to Ben.

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  • Before the first episode aired, the cast were brought to Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for dinner to enjoy their last shot at anonymity. They were told to enjoy the moment because once the show aired, they would never be able to go anywhere without being recognised and mobbed. They later returned to Caesar’s Palace to shoot Ross and Rachel’s impromptu wedding!
  • The famous big white dog in Chandler and Joey’s apartment actually belonged to Jennifer Aniston. A friend gave it to her as a good-luck gift when she secured the role. She donated it to the show so it could be put it on display along with other memorabilia from the show.

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  • Crew member Paul Swain was the person responsibly for the drawings on the Magna Doodle Board that was on the back of the door in Joey and Chandler’s apartment. There is even a website dedicated to all the Magna doodles he drew on it for each episode! You can see it here.
  • Jennifer Aniston very nearly didn’t return for the final series. She later told an interviewer that she had reservations about doing another series as she wanted to end while the viewers still loved the characters. Eventually however she agreed to the final season.

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