Matthew Perry's Best Friends Blooper Is Perfection
Matthew Perry's Chandler Bing is easily the most verbose and fast-talking member of the "Friends" sextet. In fact, sometimes his lines get so challenging that even the actor himself can't quite keep up. Such was the case when shooting Season 2, Episode 14 — "The One with the Prom Video." Considered one of the best "Friends" episodes, "The One with the Prom Video" is a stone-cold classic that features a number of iconic "Friends" moments that revolve around the titular video that leads to a conclusive development in the relationship between Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Ross (David Schwimmer).
Though the prom video plot is one of the most pivotal moments in the series-spanning Ross-and-Rachel situation and therefore the easiest thing to remember from the episode, it also features a solid side plot. Since Joey (Matt LeBlanc) is now raking in "Days of our Lives" money due to his role as Dr. Drake Ramoray, he wants to give something to Chandler after more or less mooching off his friend during his less profitable stints as an actor. Unfortunately, the gift Joey lands on is a chunky, loud gold bracelet that Chandler immediately hates, but can't stop wearing for fear of hurting Joey's feelings. After several things go predictably awry, Chander thinks he lost the bracelet and has to replace it out of pocket.
When Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) attempts to cheer Chandler up, he responds with a frustrated mini-rant in the middle of Central Perk. However, this seemingly easy and typical moment of Chandler's frustration wasn't quite as easy to film as it seemed, and the end result is a series of increasingly absurd bloopers where Perry flubs one word after another.
A blooper with a little help from a friend
Any individual moment in this series of bloopers isn't necessarily fun on its own — it's just Matthew Perry misplacing a word here, another there, and accidentally insinuating that he's replaced Joey instead of the bracelet. However, when you view them in a row, they turn into a long string of blooper-y fun that leads to an unexpected punchline. When Perry finally gets to the cafe's counter and Rachel bounces up after the "Bring on the hay" cue, Jennifer Aniston promptly cracks ... which makes Perry lose it, too.
This loveable sequence is not only a testament to how much work Perry, who died at 54 on October 28, did to create his legendary sitcom characters. It's also a perfect example of how the bloopers on "Friends" could be communal experiences. The blooper of the famous "pivot" scene on the Season 5 episode "The One with the Cop" is another fine moment where multiple members of the main cast contribute to the fun failure. When Ross, Rachel, and Chandler attempt to navigate the former's couch up a narrow stairwell, one of Ross' legendary "Pivot" screams does what it probably would in real life: it causes everyone involved to break out in such hard laughter that they can barely function.