How DOES one measure men’s pants? Does the tailor not have to go up one leg and move the tape measure over? (I get that the cupping part is unnecessary)
And a tailor’s tape has a two inch piece of metal on the end. It holds the end straight so you can slide the tape up to the proper place and never have your hands brush or touch genitals. Sometimes people will have the person hold the tape in place themselves.
Omg seriously, and also....is she real??? Or is she a figment of Phoebe's imagination, or someone she made up last minute so Rachel wouldn't move in with her at that time (for whatever reason)?
I think she just made Denise up because she didn’t want Rachel to move in with her, and when she saw that Rachel would have nowhere else to live she decided to say Denise wasn’t there. And I say this based on that Vegas episode when she says that Rachel will hang around naked in the apartment and Rachel says something like: “you live alone and you don’t walk around naked” and Phoebe answers “why do you think it takes me so long to open the door?”, and that episode was supposed to happen like a week (?) before the whole Denise and moving in thing.
I’m pretty sure the writers made up this Denise character so that Rachel couldn’t move in with Phoebe, and then would end up moving in with Ross…with hilarious effects.
Then Denise disappeared suddenly on some trip, so that Rachel could move in with Phoebe.
For me, it’s some of the references to television stars like Liza Minelli, Karl Malden etc. because I simply didn’t know them. It’s because my age and non-US
It’s not a set joke really- it’s subjective humour? Like, young boys would probably laugh at a dick answering the phone but adults not so much- it’s there to show the difference between tag and Rachel and his maturity level in comparison to her
Yeah, that's pretty much it. He's answering the phone with his dick. To him, that's hilarious. To Rachel, it's juvenile.
I'm on Tag's side though, that is pretty funny.
Joey runs into his ex Angela at the coffee shop, she’s dating a guy named Bob but Joey wants her back, so he tells her he’s dating Monica and asks for a double date (with intent to win Angela back I’m sure?). He then “sets Monica up” with Bob, telling her that Bob and Angela are brother and sister, to convince her to go to dinner. At the table, Bob and Angela start making out and Monica is shik shak shocked because she thinks they’re related!
Who was the guy that married Monica's cousin? She wasn't invited to the wedding and came as Ross' date, and it turns out she had dated the groom. But to my knowledge we'd never seen that guy before.
My question there was this: Monica knew Cousin Frannie was getting married, so wouldn’t she have had some idea who the groom was long before the actual event, and, therefore, wanted to steer clear if he was an ex? Maybe if he had a really common name or something, I could see it, but…🤷🏻♀️
Right! And Ross received an invitation that very likely had the groom’s name on it, and he was the one to make a comment about him being an ex of Monica’s. This whole episode has some plot holes
Good to know! Seems like it’d been funnier to actually use a guy we’d seen her with before. I’ve been watching Friends forever and that always bothered me.
That always tripped me up too until I watched it a million times and could confidently confirm we’d never seen him. But they frame it as if we had and I was confused for the longest.
In a different episode Monica admits to having dated dozens of other guys, but we don't see her go out with that many. We only see some of her life starting in her late 20s, early 30s, so this guy was probably someone she dated back then.
I hate that scene because it wasn't explained at all! I think the implication is that it's an ex of Monica's and that's why she didn't get invited, but yeah the guy was a total unknown person and that backstory wasn't developed at all.
Also in that episode, Monica says she hasn’t seen her cousin since they were kids. So how would her cousin even know that Monica dated him? I guess it could have come up at some point if the couple was talking about their exes but I always found that to be a bit of a plot hole.
The other thing I always think about in this scene is Monica not seeing the groom until that very moment. Had she not been to the ceremony? (Usually the middle of the reception is not the first time you see the couple together lol)
Though I will say the whole reception scene is confusing in terms of timing: when the scene first starts Monica says “limited seating my ass!” as she and Ross are sitting down which suggests they had just gotten there. Then right before she gets up to go say hi to Frannie the room was all clapping suggesting maybe Frannie and Stuart had just walked in? But then when Monica is talking to them you can see people dancing behind them suggesting the dance floor is already open and the whole formal portion is already done? Who knows haha 🤣🤷🏻♀️
a group of writers, actors, etc in NYC from, I think 1920-1930, who would meet at the Algonquin Hotel and have lunch, collaborate, and play games including poker.
“Don’t eat yellow snow”
It was in TOW the joke and he had decided to make note of every time he made a joke so no one could steal it. And he said this.
Is chandler referring to peeing in snow here?
Two belts!
Noticed this on my rewatch, Gary oldman, Joey and Monica all have an instance where they realize they're wearing two belts. I assume it's just a repeated throwaway gag?
I couldn't understand that episode where Ross is supposedly horrible at flirting and Chandler comes to his rescue .. since Ross was always dating hot women (and marrying them) while it was an ongoing joke that Chandler struggled with the ladies.
Chandler is quicker with his wit and his issues with dating are mostly when he gets in his own way with confidence or commitment issues.
But despite his reputation of struggling, he gets a lot of dates and often puts himself out there and is successful partially by using wit and humor to disarm some of the awkwardness., which several results in him and a stranger quickly hitting it off.
I think because Chandler was more secure with himself after marrying Monica.
But there’s the one (forget episode name) where Joey and Ross dated the same girl and Chandler was so embarrassed to meet her lol
And there’s also the one where Rachel moves on and Ross is so mindless crazy to find a woman that Chandler says (sarcastically) that he wishes he never got married
I like to think Chandler was a work in progress.
Chandler was good at it cause he didn't care about the outcome of the flirting. He was with Monica. So, he was just having a conversation without the anxiety of "I hope she likes me. I hope I don't say something stupid."
I think Chandler was comfortable chatting with Caitlin the pizza delivery girl because he and Joey likely order a lot of pizza so he probably saw her a lot and therefore was not nervous to talk to her.
Yeah. He's clearly a struggling artist. He was a lawyer who quit to play piano. In one of the deleted scenes Phoebe mentions he gave his trust fund to charity
They were very famous actors (I mean, in short). Marcel Marceau was a mime, and Ingrid Bergman was probably one of the most famous and talented actresses of the 40’s and 50’s. Soupy Sales was an actor and a comedian I think.
Very scandalous for the time as Ingrid was married and had an affair with her married director. Almost ruined Ingrid’s career. Isabella wasn’t the first child in that relationship but yes, she is Ingrid’s daughter with that director.
I mean this in the nicest way: you couldn't have googled this?? You have the correct spellings and everything. I hadn't heard of one of them and googled it.
I did Google it after several years, but these just popped out to me as appropriate response to OP's prompt. I feel like "Couldn't you just Google that?" applies to every response here.
I don't think so. If someone didn't understand the Appalachia" reference, "har har incest" doesn't come up when you Google "what does Appalachia mean?" Or "how do you measure pants" doesn't explain the tailor inappropriately touched Chandler. Some jokes aren't a 1:1 answer. In this cast "who is celebrity?" Seems pretty straightforward.
The episode where Joey gets an encyclopedia to fit in with the rest of the group and their conversations. If I was in his situation, I wouldn’t understand what they are conversing over either.
Ross: I'm telling you it was totally unconstitutional. - Ross is likely saying that the result of a criminal trial doesn't adhere to the rights of the person who is being trialled in that country. So the judgement or conviction goes against the country sentencing the person's basic rights.
Monica: I think they deserve the Nobel Prize.
Others: Noooo! - Monica is saying she believes someone deserves public acknowledgement of a great achievement in some field for their efforts (and like $1,000,000) but the others disagree.
Chandler: it's like sitting at the Algonquin kids table! - Chandler is referring to the Algonquin Round Table, which was a group of NYC writers, critics and actors that would meet at the Algonquin hotel daily from like 1920-1930 and they would make jokes and collaborate on work together. They were a little notorious back in the day but had influence. Chandler is likely saying that he was at work and the people he was in a meeting with were bouncing around bad/irrelevant ideas, and he felt like he was at a child's version of the Algonquin round table.
Chandler (About Korea): Could there BE any more Kim's? - a lot of Koreans (both North and South) family names are Kim, much like Nguyen for Vietnamese. Kim Jong Un for example.
He was an actor who starred in a famous move called “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner “ about a white woman who brings her black fiancé home to meet her family.
He was an amazing Oscar winner, famous for the movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Karl Malden was another Oscar winner but was probably most famous at that time for his American Express commercials and the tagline Never Leave Home Without It.
Why do they always refer to Disney Land (California) instead of Disney World (Florida) when they’re supposed to live in NYC?
Also Eddie mentions taking a road trip to Vegas with Chandler.
I think this is due to the show being filmed in California. Friends came before people could watch shows so much that it was easy to catch continuity errors and dialect issues, so they have a lot of these that pop up.
I'm from Long Island, so I notice a lot of the errors in vocabulary and accent. Like when Joey talks about jimmies (they're sprinkles!) or when they say whore-ible for horrible. On Long Island it's pronounced ha-rible.
This makes sense! I’ve watched it since it first aired and never noticed. Now it’s my go-to comfort show so I do pay more attention .
I read on a different post that the actors were not to use NYC accents. Whether true or not, iidk but I understand where your coming from. I’m from Maine and movie/t.v. shows based here have awful accents. Pet Sematary and Murder, She Wrote come to mind.
>Why do they always refer to Disney Land (California) instead of Disney World (Florida) when they’re supposed to live in NYC?
How many times did that happen? Twice, maybe? Once was when Ross said he and Carol visited Disneyland. The other was when Chandler told the story about Ross having diarrhea on Space Mountain. In any event, what's the confusion? Do you think people from New York don't visit Disneyland just because Disney World is closer?
>Also Eddie mentions taking a road trip to Vegas with Chandler.
Uh huh...Eddie was a nut job. That trip didn't actually happen.
There's also a Sapce Mountain in Disney World I believe.
I live about 30 minutes from Disneyland and I would 100% visit Disenyworld if I had the money. I think the group going to Disenyland is totally plausible.
Oooh I loved Space Mountain!
My parents brought us to Disney World every summer as an adolescent, pre teen. 1980’s
I never said it wasn’t plausible, I just wondered why the show would mention Disney Land (across country) rather than Disney World (east coast).
As the other commenter said, they filmed in California so maybe the writers never thought twice about it
I’m the same age (55) as most of the actors so I always got most references. The only one I didn’t get was the Gandalf nickname for the college friend of Chandler and Ross. I’ve always been a big reader but had never heard of the character, although I knew of the books.
Gandalf is one of the main characters in the Lord of the Ring books. He is a wizard. Their friend's last name is Ganderson and he's a party wizard so his nickname was Gandalf
https://preview.redd.it/21m0r0icp76d1.jpeg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37e13056886c38ab8a836ab81784b9e8d1396de2
It’s a reference to this iconic ad from the 70s.
They were all discussing the weird or unusual places they'd had sex, and Rachel's was the foot of the bed. It's not unusual or wild at all. It's sort of implying she's boring.
I said this last time a similar question was asked: I never got the joke during that scene where Monica has to mop up her ceiling and Phoebe says, "I have the spirit of an old Indian woman living in mine," (meaning her ceiling, I guess) and Monica responds with "So then you know." NO idea what was funny about this exchange.
I think Monica is being sarcastic, Phoebe is trying to relate to Monica's struggles with something totally weird and not relevant or remotely related. I don't remember the scene though, what episode is this?
There is an old 70s sitcom called Welcome Back, Kotter where Mr. Kotter is the lead character and he had a fro. Also where John Travolta got his start!
Additionally, the name rhymes with Potter, but a few of the characters would sometimes pronounce it "Kot-air" just to be funny, and that's how Joey says it.
That’s how Freddy “Boom Boom” Washington pronounced Mr. Kotter’s name [in the 1975 sitcom Welcome Back Kotter.](https://youtu.be/ARp-TrtI_dY?si=zMjCPrM_lXWUvk9I). It was also one of John Travolta’s first big roles as [Vinnie Babarino](https://youtu.be/lQR2isjXLZc?si=3xonPSlr_h4Ehmg_). Check out his pre-Grease and Pre-Saturday Night Fever dance moves.
Me neither! Flashback episodes of friends are some of my favorites. The hair and clothes Ross & Chandler wear are great! And although it would be considered “fat shaming” and wouldn’t fly in todays’s sitcoms, I loved when Monica says, “The camera adds 10 pounds” to which Chandler replies “How many cameras were on you?”
Why was the pivot seem so funny? Is there more to that scene? I could never get why it’s so iconic. I get they were trying to bring the couch upstairs by hand due to Ross’s cheapness. Am I missing some other secret meaning?
The way Ross is screeching in this scene is comedy gold. Just a genuinely funny situation. It is such a different vibe to me because a lot of the stories in the show are based on the same situations (which isn’t a bad thing because they’re all funny to me). Relationships, Joey’s acting debacles, different jobs the characters get, relationships, relationships, relationships, etc. This was such a random scene centered around a couch. That’s something Friends does so well — taking something that could almost never be funny and making it hilarious. Chandler with Monica’s closet, the chair Joey and Chandler fight over, and Ross’ pants are other great examples of this. The couch scene will always be one of my favorites of all time
I think a big part of it is that it’s so relatable. Most people have moved something big/awkward/heavy that just wouldn’t fit and everyone starts getting tense with each other, so you can relate to how all the characters are feeling.
Ross has been through a lot at that point and his behaviour is quite erratic. It's also a cute scene since Rachel is there to help him out (he was homeless because of Emily). They're bickering but in a funny way.
Also, the bloopers are fun.
And the longer version of that episode is even funnier. Here's that scene: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUKLcq4BnbA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUKLcq4BnbA)
It's supposed to be a variation on how to play poker. Presumably the girls learned it from Monica's aunt. But it doesn't exist.
Cross-Eyed Mary is a song by Jethro Tull
Enron was a company that was supposed to be a great American success story. But it turned out that they were using fraudulent accounting practices to provide their executives with millions of dollars. They ended up filing for bankruptcy and the accounting firm that helped them was also dissolved. At the time (2001) it was the largest company to file bankruptcy (a record that has since been surpassed!!). No executives went to jail (of course), but lots of ordinary folks lost their jobs and it had extreme impacts on them. Congress ended up passing some stricter accounting laws.
It was in the news a lot, but since they were complex financial crimes (not straightforward like robbing a jewelry store), a lot of people didn't understand exactly what happened, but they knew it wasn't good, which is basically what Chandler is saying.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron)
In The One With the Thumb I don’t understand why Monica is just hanging out at Central Perk while everyone else is out playing softball with her boyfriend Alan? There’s no dialogue about why she wasn’t participating or there to watch, I don’t think?
He thinks it's ridiculous to eat a bird, like an Emu. Then be he describes parts of a bird jokingly to pint out how weird it sounds and realized he does eat birds (wings), just that it's chicken.
When Monica is teaching Chandler about women's erogenous zones.
Chandler: "That's one?"
Monica: \*Chuckles\* "Kind of an important one."
Chandler: "Oh, you know, you know what? I was looking at it upside down."
Rachel: "Ha, well, you know, sometimes that helps."
I assume Rachel was thinking of the sum of 68 and 1, but what was that particular erogenous zone they were talking about?
Here is something I never figured out, not really a joke. The one with the breast milk and Carol is going to feed Ben, it looks like she is really nursing that baby right down to the brief glimpse of side breast. What is going on there?
My eldest took a family planning course in high school; wife, finances, baby. The wife was the project partner and the baby was a doll that did everything. Cried, peed, moved its head. This is what Carol was holding, a doll with a battery that moved its head.
And I never saw Carol’s side boob…
How DOES one measure men’s pants? Does the tailor not have to go up one leg and move the tape measure over? (I get that the cupping part is unnecessary)
Joey doesn’t mean move the tape over. He’s talking about moving something else over…
………OHHHHHHH
No, they don't have to measure both sides. You measure an inseam on one side only, so there's no need to cup or move anything.
You would need to measure both legs if one leg was two inches shorter than the other…
Correct, you may have to measure pants for some of Dr. Bobby Bobby's patients.
this is my new favorite comment on reddit.
And a tailor’s tape has a two inch piece of metal on the end. It holds the end straight so you can slide the tape up to the proper place and never have your hands brush or touch genitals. Sometimes people will have the person hold the tape in place themselves.
Who is Denise??
Omg seriously, and also....is she real??? Or is she a figment of Phoebe's imagination, or someone she made up last minute so Rachel wouldn't move in with her at that time (for whatever reason)?
She talks about her all the time! DENISE!!
Except she then agrees to have Rachel move in with her with no resistance. Very confusing plotline
I'm pretty sure she only agreed because Rachel was completely out of options at the time lol. At least that's my head canon
Didn’t Phoebe say that Denise was moving out when Rachel needed to move out of Monica’s?
Only temporarily (until Dec 26) and then we never heard about her ever again
Right. I’m still questioning whether Denise was real.
I think she just made Denise up because she didn’t want Rachel to move in with her, and when she saw that Rachel would have nowhere else to live she decided to say Denise wasn’t there. And I say this based on that Vegas episode when she says that Rachel will hang around naked in the apartment and Rachel says something like: “you live alone and you don’t walk around naked” and Phoebe answers “why do you think it takes me so long to open the door?”, and that episode was supposed to happen like a week (?) before the whole Denise and moving in thing.
That’s what I thought until I noticed she makes a shocked face about Denise maybe being Santa Clause. To just herself. Why would she do that?
That’s a good point. I guess we’ll never know the truth about Denise 🥲
Denise! DENISE!!
Maybe she's Santa Claus?
That might explain those Santa pants Phoebe mistook for maternity pants
😳
I’m pretty sure the writers made up this Denise character so that Rachel couldn’t move in with Phoebe, and then would end up moving in with Ross…with hilarious effects. Then Denise disappeared suddenly on some trip, so that Rachel could move in with Phoebe.
Pretty sure she was another mannequin lady coming out of a frame
I kind of think we’re not supposed to know if she’s real or not like I feel like the writers don’t even know lmao
I never could know for sure if Denise really exists or if she’s a product of Phoebe’s imagination.
 Wasn’t Denise the 3rd bridesmaid??
Uh… no?
Who’s this?? https://preview.redd.it/l8dfc88ey66d1.jpeg?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ce4ecc6c16ad5b3c3fc0a2b312b22b9c0405b0d
Mike’s sister
WAIT WHY HAVE I NEVER NOTICED HER BEFORE🤯
I love everything about Rachel here: the haircut, the COAT
Truly, every one of her eras is goals in a different way.
For me, it’s some of the references to television stars like Liza Minelli, Karl Malden etc. because I simply didn’t know them. It’s because my age and non-US
See my comment below about Karl Malden but Liza Minnelli is a famous broadway actress, singer, dancer and Judy Garland’s answer.
I know what you meant but "Judy Garland's answer" made me crack up lol
Judy Garland is the question. Liza Minelli is the answer.
Oops!
Tag putting the phone to his crotch. I still don’t get it.
It’s not a set joke really- it’s subjective humour? Like, young boys would probably laugh at a dick answering the phone but adults not so much- it’s there to show the difference between tag and Rachel and his maturity level in comparison to her
Yeah, that's pretty much it. He's answering the phone with his dick. To him, that's hilarious. To Rachel, it's juvenile. I'm on Tag's side though, that is pretty funny.
Good point!
By now, I think I know every reference. But this one- https://i.redd.it/cnz4dny3g66d1.gif I had to google it the first time I watched
Is this a reference to some media? Or just Appalachia as in incest
Yeah. Incest. Alabama kinda
what was the context behind this ? 😂
Joey runs into his ex Angela at the coffee shop, she’s dating a guy named Bob but Joey wants her back, so he tells her he’s dating Monica and asks for a double date (with intent to win Angela back I’m sure?). He then “sets Monica up” with Bob, telling her that Bob and Angela are brother and sister, to convince her to go to dinner. At the table, Bob and Angela start making out and Monica is shik shak shocked because she thinks they’re related!
Who was the guy that married Monica's cousin? She wasn't invited to the wedding and came as Ross' date, and it turns out she had dated the groom. But to my knowledge we'd never seen that guy before.
My question there was this: Monica knew Cousin Frannie was getting married, so wouldn’t she have had some idea who the groom was long before the actual event, and, therefore, wanted to steer clear if he was an ex? Maybe if he had a really common name or something, I could see it, but…🤷🏻♀️
Right! And Ross received an invitation that very likely had the groom’s name on it, and he was the one to make a comment about him being an ex of Monica’s. This whole episode has some plot holes
We hadn’t, you didn’t miss anything there.
Good to know! Seems like it’d been funnier to actually use a guy we’d seen her with before. I’ve been watching Friends forever and that always bothered me.
I totally agree, that would have been hilarious. Paul or Alan or something.
Fun Bobby would have been an excellent throw back
That always tripped me up too until I watched it a million times and could confidently confirm we’d never seen him. But they frame it as if we had and I was confused for the longest.
That would have been hilarious! They could have used Paul or Alan or something.
In a different episode Monica admits to having dated dozens of other guys, but we don't see her go out with that many. We only see some of her life starting in her late 20s, early 30s, so this guy was probably someone she dated back then.
Yeah, I always assumed it was someone she dated/slept with before the show, probably in college.
I hate that scene because it wasn't explained at all! I think the implication is that it's an ex of Monica's and that's why she didn't get invited, but yeah the guy was a total unknown person and that backstory wasn't developed at all.
Ross does say something like "so its not about what you did, but who you did". So its fairly obvious they had dated/slept together whatever.
Also in that episode, Monica says she hasn’t seen her cousin since they were kids. So how would her cousin even know that Monica dated him? I guess it could have come up at some point if the couple was talking about their exes but I always found that to be a bit of a plot hole.
The other thing I always think about in this scene is Monica not seeing the groom until that very moment. Had she not been to the ceremony? (Usually the middle of the reception is not the first time you see the couple together lol) Though I will say the whole reception scene is confusing in terms of timing: when the scene first starts Monica says “limited seating my ass!” as she and Ross are sitting down which suggests they had just gotten there. Then right before she gets up to go say hi to Frannie the room was all clapping suggesting maybe Frannie and Stuart had just walked in? But then when Monica is talking to them you can see people dancing behind them suggesting the dance floor is already open and the whole formal portion is already done? Who knows haha 🤣🤷🏻♀️
Just to answer your first question: Ross states he was only invited to the reception, not the ceremony.
The Algonquin kids table.
Reference to the Algonquin Roundtable.
which is?
a group of writers, actors, etc in NYC from, I think 1920-1930, who would meet at the Algonquin Hotel and have lunch, collaborate, and play games including poker.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/howyoudoin/comments/1d4mnyu/comment/l6frztf/](https://www.reddit.com/r/howyoudoin/comments/1d4mnyu/comment/l6frztf/)
I literally just watched that episode
“Don’t eat yellow snow” It was in TOW the joke and he had decided to make note of every time he made a joke so no one could steal it. And he said this. Is chandler referring to peeing in snow here?
Yes
It's usually referring to snow that's been peed on by a dog or other animal.
How is that related to joey working in the coffeehouse?
It's a play on tip (money) vs tip (advice).
Two belts! Noticed this on my rewatch, Gary oldman, Joey and Monica all have an instance where they realize they're wearing two belts. I assume it's just a repeated throwaway gag?
When does Monica also have 2 belts?
Found it! https://www.reddit.com/r/howyoudoin/s/pSqLFhqrBb
there is a lot I don't understand but to me that is part of the charm.
I am ashamed to say I learned about “supposedly” the night that episode aired.
Supposably? Did they go to the zoo? ...Supposably
I couldn't understand that episode where Ross is supposedly horrible at flirting and Chandler comes to his rescue .. since Ross was always dating hot women (and marrying them) while it was an ongoing joke that Chandler struggled with the ladies.
They're best friends since college and they're both massive nerds, I don't think there's more to the joke than the blind leading the blind 😊
Such a great scene tho. Telling the pizza girl he likes little boys and talking about odourless gas while the others watch in horror ha ha
Hahaha yes that scene is so great. "Hey uh, You know that smell gas has?? They add it in themselves" 😂 
And yet probably only the 3rd most embarrassing thing he said to her.
Chandler is quicker with his wit and his issues with dating are mostly when he gets in his own way with confidence or commitment issues. But despite his reputation of struggling, he gets a lot of dates and often puts himself out there and is successful partially by using wit and humor to disarm some of the awkwardness., which several results in him and a stranger quickly hitting it off.
I think because Chandler was more secure with himself after marrying Monica. But there’s the one (forget episode name) where Joey and Ross dated the same girl and Chandler was so embarrassed to meet her lol And there’s also the one where Rachel moves on and Ross is so mindless crazy to find a woman that Chandler says (sarcastically) that he wishes he never got married I like to think Chandler was a work in progress.
Ross being bad at flirting I could still get on board with, but Chandler being so good at it was weird and out of character to me..
Chandler was good at it cause he didn't care about the outcome of the flirting. He was with Monica. So, he was just having a conversation without the anxiety of "I hope she likes me. I hope I don't say something stupid."
I think Chandler was comfortable chatting with Caitlin the pizza delivery girl because he and Joey likely order a lot of pizza so he probably saw her a lot and therefore was not nervous to talk to her.
Yeah, they really have to stop eating like this.
What did Mike do for a living? Did his parents help with rent? Piano bar can't be all that lucrative.
He used to be a lawyer iirc. Maybe he had some money saved up? And his parents were rich so maybe they helped too.
Yeah. He's clearly a struggling artist. He was a lawyer who quit to play piano. In one of the deleted scenes Phoebe mentions he gave his trust fund to charity
You get a lot of extra nuggets for those scenes. I really forgot about his lawyer gig. No wonder they moved into her apartment.
I know. I can only really watch the DVDs because I love the extra bits
It could be just as lucrative as freelance masseuse, which was phoebes job for a good portion of the show.
Who are these people: Marcel Marceaux, Ingrid Bergman, Soupy Sales?
They were very famous actors (I mean, in short). Marcel Marceau was a mime, and Ingrid Bergman was probably one of the most famous and talented actresses of the 40’s and 50’s. Soupy Sales was an actor and a comedian I think.
Fun fact: Ingrid Bergman was Isabella Rosselini's mom!
THATS BRAND NEW INFORMATION. For real tho, I never knew that!
Haha I shared it because I figured someone would appreciate that random price of trivia I know!
Very scandalous for the time as Ingrid was married and had an affair with her married director. Almost ruined Ingrid’s career. Isabella wasn’t the first child in that relationship but yes, she is Ingrid’s daughter with that director.
Trivia moment: Ingrid Bergman is the mother of Isabella Rossellini, who did a cameo in Friends.
But she’s too international.
Ingrid Bergman was in Casablanca, a very famous movie!!
I mean this in the nicest way: you couldn't have googled this?? You have the correct spellings and everything. I hadn't heard of one of them and googled it.
I did Google it after several years, but these just popped out to me as appropriate response to OP's prompt. I feel like "Couldn't you just Google that?" applies to every response here.
I don't think so. If someone didn't understand the Appalachia" reference, "har har incest" doesn't come up when you Google "what does Appalachia mean?" Or "how do you measure pants" doesn't explain the tailor inappropriately touched Chandler. Some jokes aren't a 1:1 answer. In this cast "who is celebrity?" Seems pretty straightforward.
I see your point, but you can google "what did friends joke cocktails in appalachia refer to" and get results (generally pointing to this sub)
Thank you!
Soupy Sales was a comedian with a kid's show in the 50s. Very goofy slapstick humor.
The episode where Joey gets an encyclopedia to fit in with the rest of the group and their conversations. If I was in his situation, I wouldn’t understand what they are conversing over either.
Ross: I'm telling you it was totally unconstitutional. - Ross is likely saying that the result of a criminal trial doesn't adhere to the rights of the person who is being trialled in that country. So the judgement or conviction goes against the country sentencing the person's basic rights. Monica: I think they deserve the Nobel Prize. Others: Noooo! - Monica is saying she believes someone deserves public acknowledgement of a great achievement in some field for their efforts (and like $1,000,000) but the others disagree. Chandler: it's like sitting at the Algonquin kids table! - Chandler is referring to the Algonquin Round Table, which was a group of NYC writers, critics and actors that would meet at the Algonquin hotel daily from like 1920-1930 and they would make jokes and collaborate on work together. They were a little notorious back in the day but had influence. Chandler is likely saying that he was at work and the people he was in a meeting with were bouncing around bad/irrelevant ideas, and he felt like he was at a child's version of the Algonquin round table. Chandler (About Korea): Could there BE any more Kim's? - a lot of Koreans (both North and South) family names are Kim, much like Nguyen for Vietnamese. Kim Jong Un for example.
I really meant that I don’t keep up with current events in my life enough to engage in conversations like theirs
As long as anything they discussed started with the letter V, he was set. That plan lasted about 5 seconds! Could there BE more Kims?
who’s Sidney Poitier? and why is it funny that he would come to Thanksgiving dinner??
He was an actor who starred in a famous move called “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner “ about a white woman who brings her black fiancé home to meet her family.
He was an amazing Oscar winner, famous for the movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Karl Malden was another Oscar winner but was probably most famous at that time for his American Express commercials and the tagline Never Leave Home Without It.
Sorry, the Karl Malden comment was supposed to be for another part.
Why do they always refer to Disney Land (California) instead of Disney World (Florida) when they’re supposed to live in NYC? Also Eddie mentions taking a road trip to Vegas with Chandler.
I think this is due to the show being filmed in California. Friends came before people could watch shows so much that it was easy to catch continuity errors and dialect issues, so they have a lot of these that pop up. I'm from Long Island, so I notice a lot of the errors in vocabulary and accent. Like when Joey talks about jimmies (they're sprinkles!) or when they say whore-ible for horrible. On Long Island it's pronounced ha-rible.
This makes sense! I’ve watched it since it first aired and never noticed. Now it’s my go-to comfort show so I do pay more attention . I read on a different post that the actors were not to use NYC accents. Whether true or not, iidk but I understand where your coming from. I’m from Maine and movie/t.v. shows based here have awful accents. Pet Sematary and Murder, She Wrote come to mind.
Jimmies are what we call sprinkles up in Vermont and my buddy who came from NJ calls them that too!
I’m pretty sure Eddie said they went to Atlantic City, which is less than a three hour drive.
Eddie said they took a road trip to Las Vegas
Why does it matter what Eddie said. He was nuts and put a live fish in his pocket.
My mistake!
>Why do they always refer to Disney Land (California) instead of Disney World (Florida) when they’re supposed to live in NYC? How many times did that happen? Twice, maybe? Once was when Ross said he and Carol visited Disneyland. The other was when Chandler told the story about Ross having diarrhea on Space Mountain. In any event, what's the confusion? Do you think people from New York don't visit Disneyland just because Disney World is closer? >Also Eddie mentions taking a road trip to Vegas with Chandler. Uh huh...Eddie was a nut job. That trip didn't actually happen.
There's also a Sapce Mountain in Disney World I believe. I live about 30 minutes from Disneyland and I would 100% visit Disenyworld if I had the money. I think the group going to Disenyland is totally plausible.
>There's also a Sapce Mountain in Disney World I believe. True, but the story specifically mentioned Disneyland.
Oooh I loved Space Mountain! My parents brought us to Disney World every summer as an adolescent, pre teen. 1980’s I never said it wasn’t plausible, I just wondered why the show would mention Disney Land (across country) rather than Disney World (east coast). As the other commenter said, they filmed in California so maybe the writers never thought twice about it
Don’t forget the one where Phoebe tells Parker he’s like Santa on Prozac in Disney Land
I’m the same age (55) as most of the actors so I always got most references. The only one I didn’t get was the Gandalf nickname for the college friend of Chandler and Ross. I’ve always been a big reader but had never heard of the character, although I knew of the books.
Apparently, you had sex in high school
Actually no!
Gandalf is one of the main characters in the Lord of the Ring books. He is a wizard. Their friend's last name is Ganderson and he's a party wizard so his nickname was Gandalf
Thanks! I read the book when the movies came out.
Hes the one who says “You shall not pass” in Lord of the rings
It was explained in the episode....
I saw it decades ago. I don’t have every episode memorized.
What exactly did Joey hear when the others were talking about what they’d do if they were omnipotent for a day?
He thought they asked what he would do if he was impotent. Meaning unable to achieve an erection.
Ohhh ok thank you
And then when Ross says, "Joey. OMnipotent." Joey hears, "Joey, I'M impotent." That's why Joey says sorry.
No problem :)
Impotent
[what crying Indian boy?](https://youtu.be/oB-UjvNwpic?si=scvItI5irGbSPdKq) I've never gotten this.
And old anti littering ad had an older Native American crying because someone threw something out of their car
Who I think was actually played by an Italian actor with no Native American ancestry...
That sounds very American
I see. Thanks!
https://preview.redd.it/21m0r0icp76d1.jpeg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37e13056886c38ab8a836ab81784b9e8d1396de2 It’s a reference to this iconic ad from the 70s.
The foot of the bed?
They were all discussing the weird or unusual places they'd had sex, and Rachel's was the foot of the bed. It's not unusual or wild at all. It's sort of implying she's boring.
But she won?
They thought it was funny that she thought "at the foot of the bed" was a weird place to do it. They were being sarcastic.
when Ross tries to flirt with the cop to get out of a ticket and Rachel says “you have a son.”
I always thought this was just pointing out how embarrassing his behaviour was, and it was roughly akin to saying "you're a grown-ass man".
I said this last time a similar question was asked: I never got the joke during that scene where Monica has to mop up her ceiling and Phoebe says, "I have the spirit of an old Indian woman living in mine," (meaning her ceiling, I guess) and Monica responds with "So then you know." NO idea what was funny about this exchange.
I think Monica is being sarcastic, Phoebe is trying to relate to Monica's struggles with something totally weird and not relevant or remotely related. I don't remember the scene though, what episode is this?
It's TOW the Morning After or whatever it's called. The Big Ross and Rachel Fight
Him 253 his eyes are on the sparrow
https://www.reddit.com/r/friends_tv_show/s/ctIrTouf4g
When they're watching an old tape with Ross and his stache, Joey says "looking good, Mr. Kotter". Who was Mr. Kotter?
There is an old 70s sitcom called Welcome Back, Kotter where Mr. Kotter is the lead character and he had a fro. Also where John Travolta got his start!
Thank you!
Additionally, the name rhymes with Potter, but a few of the characters would sometimes pronounce it "Kot-air" just to be funny, and that's how Joey says it.
That’s how Freddy “Boom Boom” Washington pronounced Mr. Kotter’s name [in the 1975 sitcom Welcome Back Kotter.](https://youtu.be/ARp-TrtI_dY?si=zMjCPrM_lXWUvk9I). It was also one of John Travolta’s first big roles as [Vinnie Babarino](https://youtu.be/lQR2isjXLZc?si=3xonPSlr_h4Ehmg_). Check out his pre-Grease and Pre-Saturday Night Fever dance moves.
Boom Boom Washington. That's one I haven't heard in a while!!
Me neither! Flashback episodes of friends are some of my favorites. The hair and clothes Ross & Chandler wear are great! And although it would be considered “fat shaming” and wouldn’t fly in todays’s sitcoms, I loved when Monica says, “The camera adds 10 pounds” to which Chandler replies “How many cameras were on you?”
Why was the pivot seem so funny? Is there more to that scene? I could never get why it’s so iconic. I get they were trying to bring the couch upstairs by hand due to Ross’s cheapness. Am I missing some other secret meaning?
It's not funny until Ross' frustrated screeches of PIVATTTT become more and more unhinged
The way Ross is screeching in this scene is comedy gold. Just a genuinely funny situation. It is such a different vibe to me because a lot of the stories in the show are based on the same situations (which isn’t a bad thing because they’re all funny to me). Relationships, Joey’s acting debacles, different jobs the characters get, relationships, relationships, relationships, etc. This was such a random scene centered around a couch. That’s something Friends does so well — taking something that could almost never be funny and making it hilarious. Chandler with Monica’s closet, the chair Joey and Chandler fight over, and Ross’ pants are other great examples of this. The couch scene will always be one of my favorites of all time
Rachel mistaking the arm in his drawing for his penis.
I do think it’s funny how he wanted to walk with a couch rather than pay the delivery fee. But being frugal myself I totally get it.
I think a big part of it is that it’s so relatable. Most people have moved something big/awkward/heavy that just wouldn’t fit and everyone starts getting tense with each other, so you can relate to how all the characters are feeling.
Ross has been through a lot at that point and his behaviour is quite erratic. It's also a cute scene since Rachel is there to help him out (he was homeless because of Emily). They're bickering but in a funny way. Also, the bloopers are fun. And the longer version of that episode is even funnier. Here's that scene: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUKLcq4BnbA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUKLcq4BnbA)
When Joey says “thanks for teaching us Cross Eyed Mary” in The One With the Poker
It's supposed to be a variation on how to play poker. Presumably the girls learned it from Monica's aunt. But it doesn't exist. Cross-Eyed Mary is a song by Jethro Tull
"Im inclined to blame Enron(if thats how its spelled)" still no clue
Enron was a company that was supposed to be a great American success story. But it turned out that they were using fraudulent accounting practices to provide their executives with millions of dollars. They ended up filing for bankruptcy and the accounting firm that helped them was also dissolved. At the time (2001) it was the largest company to file bankruptcy (a record that has since been surpassed!!). No executives went to jail (of course), but lots of ordinary folks lost their jobs and it had extreme impacts on them. Congress ended up passing some stricter accounting laws. It was in the news a lot, but since they were complex financial crimes (not straightforward like robbing a jewelry store), a lot of people didn't understand exactly what happened, but they knew it wasn't good, which is basically what Chandler is saying. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron)
In The One With the Thumb I don’t understand why Monica is just hanging out at Central Perk while everyone else is out playing softball with her boyfriend Alan? There’s no dialogue about why she wasn’t participating or there to watch, I don’t think?
I just figured she didn't want to play
Joey’s Emu farm joke - when he pauses after saying “I’d like a wing or…” - what was the joke? Did he just realized it was a bad idea or something?
He thinks it's ridiculous to eat a bird, like an Emu. Then be he describes parts of a bird jokingly to pint out how weird it sounds and realized he does eat birds (wings), just that it's chicken.
When Monica is teaching Chandler about women's erogenous zones. Chandler: "That's one?" Monica: \*Chuckles\* "Kind of an important one." Chandler: "Oh, you know, you know what? I was looking at it upside down." Rachel: "Ha, well, you know, sometimes that helps." I assume Rachel was thinking of the sum of 68 and 1, but what was that particular erogenous zone they were talking about?
It was probably not anything specific, just the idea of Chandler getting mixed up because he was looking at it wrong was funny.
Most likely the vagina.
May I ask why you didn’t just type 69?
Here is something I never figured out, not really a joke. The one with the breast milk and Carol is going to feed Ben, it looks like she is really nursing that baby right down to the brief glimpse of side breast. What is going on there?
My eldest took a family planning course in high school; wife, finances, baby. The wife was the project partner and the baby was a doll that did everything. Cried, peed, moved its head. This is what Carol was holding, a doll with a battery that moved its head. And I never saw Carol’s side boob…
Thank you for this. That baby looked so real it was eerie. I don’t know why I was downvoted it was genuinely perplexing how real it looked.
No problem! Just remember its also a doll when Rachel is breast feeding (tow no one proposes).
Yes but that really looked like a doll, maybe because it seemed more automated (?)