Bloopers That Make Us Love The Cast Of Friends Even More
Of the many elements that came together to make Friends work so well, the comedic timing of the Central Perk six was absolutely essential. The series' leads were able to sell the show's more serious moments, of course, but it was their commitment to the quirkiness of their characters that really carried each episode. It also didn't hurt that the stars became genuinely close friends over the course of the decade they worked together, and that they were bolstered by some impressive supporting players along the way. But their ability to do everything from deadpan punchlines to broad physical comedy to hysterically exaggerated bits of dialogue really made the show.
As convincing as the cast members were in their scenes, though, no comedy production goes off without a hitch every time. Behind the scenes of Friends' tapings, there were some major misses that had the live audience roaring for all the wrong reasons as the cast fumbled with their lines, took occasional potshots at each other, and simply could not stop cackling about any of it. Here are some of the bloopers that make us love the cast of Friends even more.
The one when Matt LeBlanc was a total gas
It's Monica Geller's fresh-baked cookies that entice all her friends to come across the hall and let her continue playing hostess even in the "small" apartment in "The One with Rachel's Crush." Before the scene could play out as fans remember, though, there had to be a few throwaway takes. The cast and crew had Matt LeBlanc to thank for bringing a bit of toilet humor to the mix, responding to Lisa Kudrow's line, "What do I smell?" with a coy "Sorry."
Needless to say, that wasn't in his script, and his little ad lib cost production a lot of film as he and co-star David Schwimmer simply couldn't get past his one-line fart joke to finish out the scene. Eventually, they must have collected themselves enough for him to issue the proper response, because the answer that made it to air was "I don't know. It smells good." Who knew it took so many tries to get that scene right? Of all the zingers the cast delivered throughout the show's ten seasons, though, it is pretty endearing to see how this simple riff could leave them all in such a state.
The one with the noisy zippers
Ross didn't live with Joey and Chandler for long, but he wore out his welcome pretty quickly thanks to that air purifier, his obnoxious hand gestures, and the many, many boxes of stuff he left scattered across their living room. The latter does prove to be a boon for the boys in season 5's "The One Where Ross Moves In," once Joey realizes he can build a fort with Ross' stuff. In one scene, Chandler comes home to find them playing "Cowboys and Indians" in an innocent — albeit culturally insensitive — moment.
The blooper reel version, though? Now, that was some racy stuff. While shooting the scene, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc decided to prank Matthew Perry by simultaneously pulling up their zippers when he waltzed in to find them there, and let's just say if Chandler's reaction remained the same in this cut, things would've gotten pretty strange in that apartment. If we're not mistaken, it sounds like the foley team got in on it as well, which makes their commitment to the bit even more impressive.
The one when the baby wrote his own lines
Friends fans have often wondered why Ross saw so little of his son Ben throughout the series, but perhaps this blooper reel can shed some light on that creative decision. In "The One Where Old Yeller Dies," Ross is frustrated by how many "firsts" he's been missing in the boy's life, and he wants to witness at least one of those major milestones for himself. To that end, Ross tries to coax the toddler into saying his very first word during his visit. As Ross takes Ben to see Rachel at the coffee shop, he tries to talk the baby into saying "Dada," to no avail.
The tiny actor portraying little Ben didn't quite pick up his cues for a couple of takes, however, as this behind-the-scenes footage from the episode shows. The clip reveals that there were at least a couple of times when, as David Schwimmer was spouting his fatherly lament about the boy needing to say the word, the kiddo portraying Ben took those lines literally and said — you guessed it — "Dada." From the mouths of babes indeed. To Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston's credit, they responded to the adorable slip in kind with cozy coos for the scene-stealing tyke.
The one with so many poop jokes
Who knew Matthew Perry had such a penchant for crappy jokes? There were several instances on Friends when Chandler would emerge from the bathroom for one reason or another, and as the blooper reels reveal, a lot of times the actor went off script to make jokes about what he was doing in there. "You guys gotta come see this one!" he said in one mucked take. "You girls got a measuring tape?" he joked in another moment from the same episode taping.
Eventually, co-star Courteney Cox decided to play along, and the results were pretty great. While filming a scene for "The One with the Nap Partners," in which Monica confronts Chandler for breaking up with a girl over her weight, he was scripted to be offended by her knock at the bathroom door. Instead, Perry shouted, "Honey, you gotta see this. This is like the size of my arm." Rather than breaking character to enjoy the easy laugh, Cox rolled her eyes, shrugged, and went in to check it out for herself.
The one with the real phone
Jennifer Aniston probably should have stopped bringing her personal cell phone to the set of Friends, because it caused quite a few disruptions over the years. That said, blooper fans have to be glad she did it, because the behind-the-scenes footage of these flubs is gold. During production on "The One with Joey's New Brain," for example, the actress got a legitimate call on her cell while she and Lisa Kudrow were filming a fight about the fact that a phone still worked. To quote Phoebe, "What are the chances?!"
That wasn't the only cellular mishap of the series, though. Aniston was also the recipient of another unexpected dial-in while taping her birthday scene on the set of "The One Where They All Turn Thirty," which just goes to show that she was, as widely reported, very popular during her time on the show.
The one where they disappeared
Lisa Kudrow wasn't the only one who got pretty personal after David Schwimmer sullied a scene. In "The One with the Secret Closet," Joey has to take a pregnant Rachel to the hospital after she begins experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. Ross shows up late, complaining about the distance between himself and his baby's mother-to-be. Schwimmer had a hard time hitting his cues for the scene, though, so Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston decided to pull a prank on him.
After Schwimmer missed his mark and had to go back out of frame to try again, the two decided to hide and let him walk into an empty room just to see what he'd do. Later, when he forgot his line during a take, Aniston playfully laid into him, shouting, "You just suck! What happened to you? You used to be able to act!" Hey, as famous as they'd become by that point, at least we know they were keeping each other's egos in check.
The one where only the kid knew what to say
Remember Joey's disastrous noodle soup commercial audition with the kid who was a more competent screen star than him? Well, life imitated art in that regard, because Cole Sprouse, who portrayed Ben in the later seasons of the show, seemed to be the only one who'd memorized the script. While shooting a scene with Jennifer Aniston for "The One with the Truth About London," for example, Sprouse confidently fed her the missing line when she forgot what to say, and she did not look amused by his dismissive hand-wave afterward. Then, when he shared the screen with David Schwimmer for a scene in "The One with the Holiday Armadillo," Sprouse had to again remind his co-star of what to say next, and even quipped, "Man, I know all of his lines." To his credit, Schwimmer took the show-up in stride and even offered up a high five to the little heartthrob in the making.
The one with the big nope
In "The One with the Proposal," Chandler faces some unexpected obstacles while trying to propose to Monica, particularly after her ex-boyfriend Richard (Tom Selleck) arrives at the same restaurant and decides to take the maitre'd up on an offer to share a table with the couple. What starts out as an unfortunate coincidence becomes something more, though, when Richard shows up at Monica's restaurant and declares his continued love for her.
While Chandler might've been a dope about it all, Matthew Perry knew exactly what was going on and, in this blooper reel, burst into the scene to ask his competition, "What the f*** are you doing?" Selleck seemed so surprised by the interruption that he nearly lost his mustache again. If Chandler had shown even an ounce of that gumption in the surrounding scenes, Richard would not have stood a chance of winning Monica back in the first place. All's well that ends well, though.
The one where Chandler said what he really wanted to
Chandler and Monica's storyline in "The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad" is kind of a throwaway. The two have a silly misunderstanding over what time they're supposed to meet up for a mini-date, and their snafu becomes fodder for Phoebe's next book chapter. Their argument doesn't make many Friends fans' lists of best moments, of course, but perhaps it would have if it had gone down the way it did in the bloopers.
Instead of reading his next line as simply, "We said seven [o'clock]" and letting the tiff carry on as scripted, Matthew Perry decided to improvise with some particularly colorful language. Perry later laughed that his insult was earned by an earlier mishap that made them start the scene over, but maybe his harsh words are what inspired Monica's later line, "If I had said seven, maybe I would've said something like this, 'Wow! My boyfriend's such a wisea**. Seven!'"
The one where they couldn't stop cracking up
Of all the cast members who were paired for two-person scenes throughout Friends, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer had to be among the most entertaining. Phoebe iss never afraid to call Ross on his worst decisions, and since she seems to be the one woman in his life who is neither a relative nor an ex, she's often his go-to for unbiased advice. The two also get into a lot of weird situations together, though, including the time that they each date half of a divorcing couple and start bickering with each other in "The One with the Engagement Picture." As their arguments started to mimic the separated couple, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow had a lot of trouble keeping it together and finishing their scenes. Things got so out of hand, in fact, that Schwimmer suggested shooting the scene line by line. Kudrow responded, "I did that once. Got an Emmy."
The one where Matt LeBlanc hated touching people
Joey and Chandler definitely find comfort in each other throughout Friends and are known to hug so often that they eventually have to ask themselves if it's getting out of hand in "The One with Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E." During production on that scene, though, the Matts decided to make it even more awkward with their own extended version of the exchange. LeBlanc started the ruckus by saying that he was "uncomfortable" with the close contact, and Perry continued the gag by adding in some extra touching. Then, things really went off the rails when LeBlanc decided to joke, "What's that in your pocket?" as his scene partner leaned in for the scripted embrace. It wasn't the last time Matt LeBlanc would have a blooper reel-worthy reaction to guy-on-guy contact. During his big napping scene with David Schwimmer, the two also had a very hard time keeping it together.
The one with all the noises
In the end, pretty much every cast member of Friends had some off days that made it into the blooper reels. Over time, their reactions to the mishaps started to sound alike. They all invented their own little noises that they would make to try and shake it off those goofs and start anew, and they also had a similar amount of trouble recovering once someone had made a mistake. Their word-stumbling was pretty out of control on all accounts, and the funniest instances of that tended to come along when they realized the silliness of what they were scripted to say.
While filming a scene for "The One with the Birthing Video," for example, Schwimmer realized mid-line just how much of a dope his character was for letting his pregnant ex-wife move in with him while he had a new girlfriend. "Poor Ross," he sighed after missing his beat, and the comment put Lisa Kudrow in stitches before she joked, "Have you ever seen this show?" If nothing else, it's good to know that the cast realized how absurd their screen counterparts were being all the while.