This article is based on "25 Things You Might Not Know About Friends". If you're interested in reading more, check out the link at the bottom of the article.
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1/22
One of the toughest scenes to film on the show was the episode where Rachel hears Ben’s first words. Ross, desperate to hear Ben speak again, constantly prompts Ben to speak by asking him, “Can you say ‘Dada’?” The baby was supposed to stay quiet but kept actually responding “Dada” every time Schwimmer said it.
2/22
Matthew Perry went to rehab twice during the show for abuse of prescription drugs and alcohol. He says that while he frequently came to work hungover, he never drank or did drugs on set.
3/22
Shortly after the end of season 5, Courtney Cox married David Arquette. When the sixth season started broadcasting in the fall, she changed her name in the opening credits to Courtney Cox-Arquette. The entire cast followed suit, changing their names to add Arquette as well (i.e. Jennifer Anniston-Arquette, Matt Leblanc-Arquette, etc.)
4/22
Lisa Kudrow originally didn’t like playing the guitar. She was quoted saying, “I wasn’t getting it. So I think I even asked, ‘What if she plays the bongos?'” After a failed attempt at hiring a guitar teacher, Lisa decided it was a character choice if Phoebe only knew a few chords.
5/22
Paul Swain, the electrical best boy on set, became solely responsible for the drawings on the Magna Doodle on Joey’s door. For years, fans have been trying to decipher hidden meanings from his drawings, and all the doodles are screencapped on a fan website.
6/22
For “The One With The Dollhouse,” the props department had three days to make six identical cardboard houses from scratch because at the end of the scene the house catches on fire and wouldn’t be usable for the following takes.
7/22
Shooting a single episode took approximately five hours, mostly due to the 15-20 minute breaks required between scenes to change set and wardrobe. Most episodes were filmed with a live audience of up to 300 fans, however, producers removed the audience for cliffhanger moments or series finales to avoid spoilers.
8/22
When Friends was initially pitched to networks, Matthew Perry was starring in another pilot: LAX 2194, a show about baggage handlers at an airport sorting alien’s luggage. Thankfully the show wasn’t picked up
9/22
The show would’ve been much different had the beloved six not been cast. Kathy Griffin and Jane Lynch both auditioned for Phoebe, Jon Favreau and Jon Cryer both went out for Chandler, and Eric McCormack read several times for Ross.
10/22
For the first season, all six actors were paid $22,000 per episode. But by the second season, their contracts changed to different amounts for each character. The cast banded together and negotiated until all six of them earned $100,000 per episode. This makes them one of the first casts to negotiate salaries as a group rather than boycotting for individual reasons. By the final season they each earned $1 million per episode.
11/22
Perry made a bet with his Whole Nine Yards costar Bruce Willis that if their film was number one in the box office on opening weekend, Bruce would have to make an appearance on the show for free. Perry won and Bruce appeared as the father of Ross’s girlfriend. He donated his earnings to charity.
12/22
The gang’s favorite hangout, Central Perk, isn’t a real restaurant in New York but fully functioning fan replicas have popped up in China and the UK.
13/22
The opening credits weren’t shot in Central Park, let alone New York City. The shoot occurred on a Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California.
14/22
Kudrow’s pregnancy with husband Michael Stern was written into the show in seasons 4 and 5. The writers didn’t want Phoebe to be pregnant though, so they came up with the idea for her to be a surrogate for her brother’s triplets. In the last season, Cox became pregnant but she didn’t have an option for it to be written into the show as it was already established that Chandler and Monica couldn’t have kids, so the directors hid her stomach with props and costumes.
15/22
The role of Ross was written specifically with David Schwimmer in mind, and he was the first person to be cast on the show.
16/22
When Kudrow was cast on the show, she also had a recurring role on Mad About You playing the waitress, Ursula. The producers said she should keep it and they would accommodate her schedule. They eventually decided to address it on the show and said that Ursula and Phoebe were twin sisters. Kudrow even appeared on Friends as Ursula for eight episodes.
17/22
Before the show aired, director James Burrows took the cast to Las Vegas on a trip. He encouraged them to bond and enjoy the anonymity, thinking the show would take off in such a way that they would be forever recognizable. Boy, was he right.
18/22
When Kudrow first read the script, she thought Chandler was gay. It ends up that many fans agreed with her and there was speculation about his sexuality for the first few seasons. Producer David Crane said he was never written that way and they weren’t open to changing his sexuality as the show progressed.
19/22
At the beginning of the week before filming the first scene of a new episode, the cast would get together for a huddle/group hug.
20/22
Ross’ pet monkey, Marcel, was played by two monkeys: Monkey and Kate. The monkey was written out in season two when filming with the animals became too time-consuming and difficult. On one occasion, Rachel was trying to explain a TV show to Marcel and the monkey wouldn’t sit still, climbing over the couch and knocking the popcorn over.
21/22
Before finally settling on Friends, producers considered the following other titles: Insomnia Cafe, Friends Like Us, Across the Hall, and Six of One.
22/22
One day on set, Cox was doing an imitation of Anthony Michael Hall, saying one of his famous lines: “Chicks cannot hold their smoke, that’s what it is.” Perry said the line was from Weird Science but Cox was sure it was from The Breakfast Club. Most of the crew got involved in the debate until they realized that Judd Nelson was at a nearby soundstage. So they ran over and found out that it was indeed The Breakfast Club. Perry’s punishment for losing the bet was to be Cox’s “man slave” whenever she wanted.