10 Friends Moments You Didn’t Realize Were Improvised

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 20 years since the finale of “Friends” aired on NBC, given how consistently the show still appears on syndicated television and streaming services. If you’re a fan of sitcoms, chances are you’ve probably spent hours upon hours bingeing this iconic series starring Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and Lisa Kudrow. 

While there are plenty of essential “Friends” episodes that everyone should watch, many of the most iconic moments of the show replay in our minds, from Ross, Chandler, and Rachel struggling to carry a couch upstairs to Joey shamelessly using his pickup line, “How you doin’?” However, even the most hardcore of “Friends” fans might not know that some of these iconic moments weren’t scripted. 

It’s not terribly uncommon for sitcoms, especially ones with incredibly talented improvisers in the cast, to incorporate spontaneous ad-libs from cast members in the final cuts of episodes. Nevertheless, based on how recognizable the cast of “Friends” were, it’s even more impressive knowing how some of the best moments in the show were products of the actors just knowing their characters incredibly well. These 10 moments are our picks for standout instances where improvisation helped make “Friends” even better. 

A fairly common format for an episode of “Friends” features one of the six main cast members getting themselves into an embarrassing situation with little recourse to fix it. Whether it’s Ross getting stuck in his leather pants or the gang’s near misses in discovering Chandler and Monica’s fling, there’s no shortage of humiliating moments for each character. However, one episode in Season 4 takes things up a notch, resulting in a pretty raucous unplanned moment for “Friends” star Matthew Perry.

In “The One With the Cuffs,” Chandler is in the midst of an affair with Rachel’s boss, Joanna (Alison La Placa), which Rachel is none the wiser about. After Joanna is pulled away from a fling in her office for a meeting, Chandler ends up handcuffed to her chair for hours and is eventually caught by Rachel, who’s upset with him for jeopardizing her career with his love life. Rachel reluctantly frees him, only to re-handcuff him to a file cabinet after realizing she could get in trouble for entering her boss’ office while she’s not there.

While arguing, Chandler makes a sudden movement with his handcuffed hand, pulling open the file cabinet and hitting himself in the head. Unbeknownst to many fans, DVD commentary revealed that the moment was a complete accident on Perry’s part, but his ability to stay in character, despite Aniston looking completely shocked, sells it as scripted. 

Christina Applegate has been a part of some real iconic moments in the history of television comedy, from the classic “Van Down By The River” sketch on “Saturday Night Live” to her incredible Netflix series “Dead to Me.” However, it was her performance in the “Friends” episode “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister” that won her a well-deserved Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. 

In the episode, Applegate portrays Amy Green, the sister of Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel, who unexpectedly shows up to the friends’ annual Thanksgiving dinner and quickly proves herself to be even more shallow and self-obsessed than Rachel at her worst. Among these frequent social faux pas is her constant misunderstanding of Phoebe’s name, a running joke made even funnier by an ad-libbed line from Applegate.

After several moments of Phoebe repeating her own name to Amy, Applegate’s character leans over to Aniston and whispers, “Why does she keep making that noise?” According to Applegate, this scene was coined on set the day of the episode’s shooting by her and the writers, in front of the live studio audience. It’s no wonder the now-iconic line became Applegate’s personal favorite across her two guest appearances in “Friends,” since it says everything you need to know about how ignorant Rachel’s sister is. 

In all fairness, flubbing your lines will happen whether you’re a brand-new actor on the set of your first TV show or you’re Meryl Streep or Robert De Niro. However, it’s extremely rare for flubbed lines to make it into the final movie or TV episode, although that’s exactly what happened to Matthew Perry in one episode of “Friends.” The episode itself, Season 4’s “The One With Phoebe’s Uterus,” features Ross getting Joey a job as a tour guide at the museum where he works, meaning Joey has to wear a uniform.

When Joey shows up at Monica’s apartment wearing his uniform, a blue blazer, Chandler tries one of his signature sarcastic roasts, telling him that “Donald Trump wants his blue blazer back.” Only, Perry flubs the line by saying “blue blazer black.” He immediately catches himself, but the rest of the cast doesn’t let him get away with the embarrassing mistake and remains in character, pressing Chandler on the fact that he messed up his own quip. 

Thankfully, including this blooper in the actual show doesn’t fall into the category of one of the dumbest decisions on TV, given that all the improvisation makes the friends feel like, well, friends. The cherry on top of it all, though, is Monica, whose cheeky grin while telling Chandler “You’re stupid!” is better than any joke the writers could’ve come up with. 

Though we were all rooting for Ross and Rachel to end up together in “Friends,” the thrill of getting to see David Schwimmer’s comic timing with other romantic pursuits as Ross was always a joy. This was especially true with Emily, played by Helen Baxendale, who serves as Ross’ other major love interest aside from Rachel during Seasons 4 and 5. Their wedding vows, in which Ross accidentally says Rachel’s name instead of Emily’s, were unscripted and famously inspired by Schwimmer’s own mixing up of the characters’ names. 

However, an even more unplanned moment rooted in Schwimmer’s own comedic instincts comes in Season 5, shortly after Ross and Emily’s marriage has dwindled due to long distance and the humiliating wedding incident. Receiving a call from Emily, Ross excitedly runs around Monica’s apartment and hands Chandler a lamp, with Chandler staring at him, puzzled. 

Not only was it a completely spontaneous improvisation for Schwimmer to hand Perry the lamp, but Perry’s reaction fully fit the character of Chandler enough for the creators of “Friends” to keep it in the final cut. Props to Perry for staying in character and not immediately breaking, as it meant they got to keep that glorious first take where Schwimmer made that odd but hilarious choice to pick up that piece of set decoration. 

If you’re an avid watcher of “Friends,” you might notice a pattern in which the gang tends to gang up on Chandler for his oftentimes regrettable behavior, even as he grows and matures throughout the series’ run. One example is “The One Where Chandler Can’t Remember Which Sister,” a Season 3 episode of “Friends” that follows the aftermath of Chandler hooking up with one of Joey’s sisters after getting drunk on Jell-O shots at Joey’s birthday, only to have no memory of who it was. 

While explaining his dilemma to the friend group, Chandler insists it must’ve been Joey’s sister Veronica, claiming he “definitely stuck [his] tongue down her throat.” Monica corrects Chandler by saying it was her he did that to as well, causing Chandler to defend himself by saying that when he drinks, he gets overly friendly. 

In the script for the episode, both Monica and Rachel tell Chandler it’s okay, but in another genius improvisation on-set from David Schwimmer, Ross also joins in, saying it’s okay. It’s such a subtle yet brilliant moment, implying that Ross was another person who was a victim of Chandler’s aggressive drunken advances. How long until we simply give Schwimmer all the credit for “Friends” being one of the funniest TV shows of all time?

Even though some may have seen this TV plot twist coming from a mile away, it was a shocking moment at the end of “Friends” Season 5 when, during a visit to Las Vegas, Ross and Rachel drunkenly get married in a chapel. At the start of Season 6, after the other friends make them realize this mistake, Ross and Rachel decide to get a quick annulment, despite Ross’ hesitation towards having yet another failed marriage. 

While arguing over whether they should file for an annulment, Ross insists their disagreement is just part of marriage, but Rachel fires back with the now-famous line, “This is not a marriage, this is the world’s worst hangover!” According to the original script for the episode, the line was originally written as Rachel saying, “Stop saying the word marriage!”

Knowing that the “world’s worst hangover” part of the line was an ad-lib from Jennifer Aniston gives added appreciation for not only her wit, but for her understanding of Rachel’s point-of-view six seasons into “Friends.” If only that same foresight had carried over to Rachel’s misguided fling with Joey later in the show. 

It wouldn’t be an episode of “Friends” without Joey getting into a tricky situation thanks to his dating pursuits. In Season 2’s “The One After the Super Bowl,” Joey is dating Erika, a super fan of “Days of Our Lives,” played by Brooke Shields, who is obsessed with the character he played but doesn’t fully understand that Joey isn’t the guy he plays on TV. Though it happens early in Season 2 of “Friends,” this may have been a common occurrence for cast members on the wildly popular show. 

After Erika accuses Joey of cheating (when it’s actually his character who has a romantic interest), the friend group comes to the rescue by convincing her that Joey is his character’s evil twin. After Erika throws water in Joey’s face, the friends help sell the lie by also joining in to throw water in his face, acting deceived by this evil twin’s lies. Rachel first claims that Joey attempted to sleep with her, then Monica claims he said they’d run away together.

In an incredibly funny on-the-spot move, Matthew Perry joins in by accusing Joey of leaving the toilet seat up and throwing an additional glass of water in Matt LeBlanc’s face. It’s the type of spur-of-the-moment brilliance that was missing from the “Friends” spin-off, “Joey,” which lacked the same on-screen chemistry between Perry and LeBlanc as roommates. 

When you’re cast on a network sitcom, you’re basically opening yourself up to getting pranked by your co-stars. You should be especially on your toes if the episode in question is about pranks. In Season 7’s “The One With the Truth About London,” Rachel is tasked with watching Ross’ son Ben (played by Cole Sprouse), and finds her own enjoyment in teaching him practical jokes, particularly pulling them on Ross, who’s nonetheless displeased about Rachel’s irresponsibility.

Determined to be known as Ben’s fun aunt, Rachel keeps teaching him pranks to use against Ross, upping the ante each time and eventually causing Ross to chase Ben out of the apartment and up a flight of stairs, only to fall all the way down at Rachel’s feet. Only, it’s not Ross, though, but a dummy dressed like him, with Rachel realizing she’s been the victim of a payback prank pulled by Ross and Ben working together.

Not only is this prank devious in the show, it was also genuinely pulled on Jennifer Aniston, who did not know about this twist and thought she just saw her co-star genuinely fall down the stairs. Rachel’s horrified scream at seeing Ross fall, along with Sprouse and Schwimmer’s laughter at her falling for it, is too realistic to be acting.  

There were plenty of memorable guest stars throughout “Friends,” including Brad Pitt, Jennifer Coolidge, Bruce Willis, and Julia Roberts. However, one of the most impressively funny cameos appears in Season 3’s “The One With the Ultimate Fighting Champion.” Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, a two-for-one cameo, play strangers Tim and Tomas, who intrude on the friend group’s space at Central Perk by sitting on their usual couch and loudly talking about their personal lives. It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s a fan of Williams and Crystal that this entire scene was improvised.

As the story goes, Williams and Crystal were on the same soundstage as the “Friends” production while working on their 1994 film “Father’s Day,” wandered onto the set to say hi, and were cajoled by the writers into an impromptu guest appearance. As two incredibly talented improvisers, they completely made up the story of Tim and Tomas on the spot, with Tomas (Williams) lamenting his wife’s infidelity with her gynecologist and Tim (Crystal) revealing that he’s the actual affair partner. 

Not only was the entire scene ad-libbed by the two comedians, but Matt LeBlanc’s added line questioning whether Crystal is a gynecologist was also improvised. It’s a short, practically inconsequential scene, but we love it simply because it reminds us of Williams’ career in TV, which began in sitcoms like “Happy Days” and “Mork & Mindy.” 

How do you possibly wrap up 10 seasons of television with a single line of dialogue? Well, if you’re the writers of “Friends,” you leave it to the actors. The series finale of the long-running NBC sitcom, aptly titled “The Last One,” aired over 20 years ago, and answered many questions about where the characters would end up: Rachel and Ross finally confess their love, Monica and Chandler become parents, and Phoebe and Joey help them pack up the apartment ahead of their move out of New York City. The final scene itself is bittersweet, set in the now-empty apartment unit that they all lived in at one point or another.

After reminiscing, the gang decides to kill the remaining time before Monica and Chandler leave the city the way they always kill time, by getting coffee. As they walk out, Matthew Perry gets the last word of the series with a classic quip, asking, “Where?” After all, there’s only one spot in New York City they’d go to for coffee.

It’s especially sad rewatching this scene knowing Perry is no longer with us, particularly given that the final line was reportedly an ad-lib, which he later recounted in his memoir as something he specifically wanted. More than 20 years later, it’s hard not to ask, “Could there be any better way to end the show?”