Who Plays Russ On Friends & What Are The Actor's Secret Origins?
"If we ever lose Ross, we have a spare."
Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) delivered lines like this one on a regular occasion. His sarcastic, deadpan delivery is what made him one of the most beloved members of the group of six New Yorkers searching for love and meaning in the Big Apple on "Friends." This particular line, however, echoed the thoughts of viewers as they stared at Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston) new boyfriend, Russ. While she didn't see it, Russ remarkably resembles Ross (David Schwimmer). Of course, Schwimmer portrayed both characters, but the credits caused confusion as the actor credited with performing the new boyfriend is Snaro.
While this caused fans to think it was a Schwimmer lookalike, the actor revealed later that it was a gag and the name was a throwback to a friend from childhood. But this wasn't the end of the moniker. Schwimmer also revealed that Snaro has always been a go-to alias for some time. It seems a little unnecessarily confusing to credit the actor as Snaro instead of giving Schwimmer credit, but it was also a very common thing for "Friends" to have fun with their audience and create gags as often as possible.
Russ is one big inside joke
In Season 2, Episode 10, "The One with Russ," Rachel has discovered that Ross made a pro and con list about the two women in his life, namely her and Julie (Lauren Tom). Rachel moves on and finds a new beau in the form of Russ. When he is introduced to the gang at Central Perk, it is startling to see the physical resemblance. The only visible differences between the two are that Russ has a more prominent chin and is a bit taller. But that isn't where the similarities end for the Bizarro Ross and other characters on the show.
Another weird connection the character has is that Russ is also a doctor in a very specific field, as "Friends" fans may notice. Dentistry is a medical field Rachel has a connection to as well. When we meet her in the pilot episode, she is running from her wedding to Barry (Mitchell Whitfield), who just happens to be a dentist as well. The gag is the perfect moment for "Friends" as Russ becomes the rebound for Rachel that encapsulates all of her exes and even references her best friend as well.
The show messed with credits as a joke more than once
The Snaro credit gag is a fun way for Schwimmer and the showrunners to get fans thinking, and years later, fans were still asking questions about who played Russ. But that isn't the only time the team had fun with the credits, as they decided to do it again a few seasons later when another cast member had a huge life change.
In Season 6, Episode 1, "The One After Vegas," the team got an opportunity to play with Courteney Cox after she had a huge life milestone in the break between filming Season 5 and Season 6. Because she elected to marry her "Scream" co-star David Arquette, her name was officially changed to Courteney Cox-Arquette. For a bit of congratulatory fun, all of the main characters were introduced with new names in the opening credits — Jennifer Aniston-Arquette, David Schwimmer-Arquette, and so on.
"Friends" is a cultural icon that permeated the collective psyche to the point that phrases like "Oh no," "We were on a BREAK!" and the legendary "How you doin'" have become synonymous with the series. While those moments eclipse so many others, the Snaro gag is just one in a long list of more minor fun moments that the showrunners gave us that cause us to keep watching this show over and over, years after the series went off the air.