The Untold Truth Of Friends

Given that "Friends" attracted millions of viewers in its prime (and attracts newcomers and rewatchers to this day), it's safe to say that any die-hard fan could rattle off every trivia fact about the show and its characters. Having had a phenomenal 10-year run, "Friends" followed six twentysomethings -– Ross (David Schwimmer), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courteney Cox), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), and Chandler (Matthew Perry) –- as they navigate through the misadventures of their careers and love lives in '90s Manhattan.

There are plenty of trivia factoids well-known to any big fan – Courteney Cox had initially auditioned for Rachel, David Schwimmer directed 10 episodes of the show, the series was filmed in Los Angeles even though it is set in New York City. But there are some behind-the-scenes tidbits that even hardcore "Friends" enthusiasts might have no idea about. For instance, did you know that one of the stars hated (and still hates) their now-iconic hairstyle? Or that the muse for "Smelly Cat" wasn't a cat at all? As Monica would say, "I know!" Now that you're intrigued, here are some more untold truths about "Friends."

The moment a "Friends" fan hears the words "Smelly Cat," they'll probably find themselves humming the entire melody in their head. "Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you..." With a simple rhyme scheme, hilariously amateur composition, and absurd topic, "Smelly Cat" has managed to stay inside our heads and hearts long after it debuted in the sixth episode of Season 2, "The One with the Baby on the Bus."

In an interview with Refinery 29, Betsy Borns (who wrote the episode and co-wrote the song) revealed that her inspiration wasn't a cat at all. "My dog was so smelly his name was Gouda, because he smelled like bad cheese," she explained. Having a foul-smelling pet isn't the only detail from her life that Borns had weaved into her writing. In the same episode, Stephanie (the musician who replaces Phoebe at Central Perk) is named after Borns' sister, and the bar that Chandler and Joey suggest when they ask two ladies out for a drink is called "Markel's," after the father of Borns' boyfriend at the time.

Though it's amusing to think about, "Smelly Dog" probably wouldn't have had the same legacy as one of the show's most memorable running gags, an anthem for "Friends" fans that, according to VH1, even rivaled the popularity of the show's theme song "I'll Be There for You."

Joey's white ceramic canine statue that was cleverly named "Pat the Dog" was first seen in Season 2, Episode 17 ("The One Where Eddie Moves In"). It arrives in Joey's new apartment amidst all the other animal statues that he splurges on as part of his "ceramic zoo" collection after his big acting break.

One of the most unforgettable running gags of "Friends" in the form of a prop, the statue becomes a central focus two episodes later in "The One Where Eddie Won't Leave," when Joey can no longer afford to keep his apartment and has to sell all of his ceramic animals. In an attempt to cheer Joey up, Ross buys the dog back for him — it isn't Joey's preference, but it's the one Ross can afford.

Humorously, the real-life origin of the prop isn't too different from its story on the show. The prop was owned by Jennifer Aniston, who had been gifted the statue by a personal friend in anticipation of the sitcom's premiere, much as Joey had gifted himself the statue after landing a big role on "Days of Our Lives."

An acoustic guitar is one particular prop that immediately comes to mind when we think of Phoebe. It served as both a tool for her part-time job at Central Perk and a vehicle for the quirky character's artistic expression, giving us iconic songs like "Smelly Cat" and "Sticky Shoes." You'd think that the actress playing Phoebe would either need to be a natural guitarist or put in a lot of practice to become proficient. Lisa Kudrow did neither of those things, though it wasn't for lack of trying.

She revealed the truth in NBC's farewell special "Friends: Final Thoughts," saying, "I didn't like the guitar. I wasn't getting it." At one point, she had even asked the show's creators if Phoebe could play bongos instead. After Kudrow had taken a few classes, the creators realized that the scope for comedy had diminished noticeably as Kudrow's guitar skills improved. Kudrow and the creative team decided to make do with the few chords Kudrow knew how to play. Her reasoning: "That's all Phoebe would know anyhow."

Even ahead of the recent "Friends" reunion special on HBO Max, Kudrow had to google the chords to the song in preparation for her "Smelly Cat" duet with Lady Gaga. If you're curious how "Smelly Cat" would sound with bongos, the closest thing we have is Phoebe drumming to the song in Season 4, Episode 18, "The One with Rachel's New Dress."

Out of all the possible actors who could hate their character's hairdo, you'd expect one of them to be Courteney Cox. After all, there's the episode in which Monica is accidentally given a "Dudley Moore" haircut by Phoebe, or the time she gets poofy, frizzy hair from the humidity during her stay in Barbados. But believe it or not, it was Jennifer Aniston who hated the famous "Rachel" haircut -– a hairstyle that was imitated by millions of women worldwide and has remained in vogue for more than 20 years after its introduction.

Both Aniston and her character Rachel rose to the status of fashion idols during the '90s, having influenced and inspired an entire generation of women's clothing. A prominent aspect of her recognizable fashion choices was "The Rachel," a flicky, shoulder-length, deeply layered hairstyle that the character sported for the first three seasons of the show.

Despite the haircut's simple appearance, critics and fans who had tried to replicate the haircut found that it was challenging to maintain without the help of an experienced, professional hairstylist. "I was not a fan of 'The Rachel,'" Aniston revealed to Glamour. "That was kind of cringe-y for me." Adding to her distaste was the fact that she couldn't do the hairstyle on her own, needing her hairstylist Chris McMillan (who had also designed the hairstyle) "attached to her hip."

Whenever the opening titles of "Friends" kick off with the show's theme song "I'll Be There For You," fans are sure to feel at ease, watching the six main characters dance and goof around in the fountain. It's enough to give fans their own fantasies of dancing around in a pool of water with close friends, splashing off all the worries of life.

But much to our disappointment, it turns out that the cast members did not enjoy filming the fountain scene at all. When Courteney Cox was a guest on "The Ellen Show," Ellen asked whose idea the fountain sequence was. "Well, it definitely wasn't mine," Cox replied. "We were in that fountain for a long time. Somebody thought that would just be really fun, and let me tell you what happens: It's not fun to be dancing in the fountain for hours and hours."

Though it might have been a few seconds of screen time for fans, the cast had to endure long hours of shooting late into the night, with cold weather, icy waters, and damp clothes. Cox continued, "Literally, we were just like, 'How much longer are we going to pretend to love dancing in water?'" Regardless, we can all agree that the cast did a wonderful job of pretending to be having fun, which ultimately made the intro sequence so iconic and ingrained into our memories.

At the risk of upsetting devoted fans of "Mondler" (Monica + Chandler), some could argue that Ross and Rachel were the central romantic focus of "Friends." Their romance had been set up from the very first scene of the series premiere. When the recently-divorced Ross says he just wants to be married, Rachel steps into the café at that very instance wearing a bridal gown –- a moment that establishes how their relationship would be core to the show's narrative. After that, every single season in the show's 10-year run plays with Ross and Rachel's will-they-won't-they arc, culminating in the series finale with Rachel deciding to stay with Ross instead of leaving for Paris for her new job.

However, the creators revealed in an interview with the Emmys that the decision to have the two as the central couple came after they had tried coupling other characters, especially Joey and Monica, while they were pitching the show. When they had finally cast the characters, they found that Matt LeBlanc brought his "great big brother vibe" to Joey, prompting them to immediately throw out the idea.

On paper, Monica and Joey seem like the ideal couple since, among other things, she enjoys cooking and he enjoys eating. But not everything that sounds good on paper translates to on-screen chemistry between actors, and the creators' ability to make that judgment is what made the sibling-like bond between Monica and Joey so charming.

Even after having rewatched the show for the umpteenth time, fans might be surprised to note that for the first four seasons of "Friends," Joey never uses his signature "How you doin'?" pickup line while hitting on the numerous girls he goes out with.

The character's catchphrase was introduced in Season 4, Episode 13, "The One With Rachel's Crush." It's when Rachel –- having a crush on her assistant Tag –- seeks Joey's guidance on how to ask men out, as she'd never had to ask anyone out before. Joey reveals that his technique is to look a girl up and down and ask "How you doin'?" Though Rachel is doubtful that this tactic will work for herself, she's soon convinced after Joey successfully uses the pickup line on Phoebe.

Since then, the catchphrase has come to represent all that is Joey and how we remember him. Even in the years after "Friends" ended, Matt LeBlanc has encountered several fans who ask him to utter the famous line -– including celebrities like Emilia Clarke, who requested that LeBlanc ask her how she was doing when the two appeared together on "The Graham Norton Show."

Every single character in the ensemble cast of "Friends" stands out as distinctly memorable and loveable in their own unique ways. This can be credited to the writers, who prioritized giving each of the friends equal importance and making sure that no character felt underused or sidelined in comparison to the others. This has also been mathematically demonstrated by a scientific study that calculated the distribution of jokes and screen time among each character and compared them.

As with most of the creative decisions behind the show, even the idea that all six characters would be primary characters wasn't always a given. As per series co-creator Marta Kaufman on the special "Friends: Final Thoughts," Phoebe and Chandler were initially thought of as "a little more secondary." Only after Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry were cast did the creators realize how much the actors could contribute, elevating their roles to the level of the show's primary characters as they built their chemistry with their castmates.

The sense of unity among the characters wasn't just an effort on the creators' part — the core cast had gotten along so well that they actually became friends in real life and worked as a unit to negotiate their salaries.

Fans of "Friends" often tend to assume that Phoebe's spirituality and ditzy characteristics are a part of actor Lisa Kudrow's personality that may have been channeled into the role. Although Kudrow portrays the role so naturally that it's impossible to tell where the actor ends and the character begins, the Emmy Award-winning actress revealed on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" that when she had read the pilot script before auditioning for the role of Phoebe, she identified more with Rachel's character. Even after being cast as Phoebe, Kudrow found it difficult to get into the mind of the character. She further revealed to Colbert that a Buzzfeed quiz called "Which 'Friends' character are you?" had also matched Kudrow's personality with Rachel.

Coincidentally, Kudrow found a real-life reference for Phoebe's character through Jennifer Aniston, who ironically was cast as Rachel but was closer to Phoebe's personality, according to Kudrow. Kudrow had borrowed Aniston's spiritual lifestyle and worldview as a frame of reference for how she portrayed Phoebe on screen. Speaking with Easy Living magazine (via What to Watch), Kudrow stated, "Phoebe was so spiritual and 'out there' — and I wasn't at all ... if anyone was, it was Jennifer."

Despite the several instances when Joey had casually flirted with Rachel over the course of "Friends" (beginning within the pilot episode), their friendship often felt more like a sibling bond. At times, Rachel would act like an elder sister to the childlike Joey, most notably when she tries to teach him sailing in "The One With Phoebe's Cookie" and scolds him for not taking the lesson seriously.

The show, however, took an unexpected turn in Season 8 when Joey developed feelings for Rachel, who was at the time pregnant with Ross's child. This resulted in a complicated love triangle plot among Joey, Rachel, and Ross that carried over into the show's ninth and tenth seasons. Fans and critics argued that the actors lacked romantic chemistry with one another, and that the coupling was logical neither on paper nor on-screen.

In the book "Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show that Defined a TV Era" (via InStyle), "Friends" co-creator David Crane recalled that the cast had vehemently expressed their distaste for the Rachel/Joey pairing, reasoning, "That's like having a crush on your sister!" Crane admitted in an interview with Radio Times that he knew the idea was controversial and "wrong," which is exactly why he wanted to have the characters try it. "There is the relationship that shouldn't be," he explained. "Even though you love someone, that's not who you're going to be with."

In addition to the ill-fated Rachel/Joey arc and the Monica/Joey coupling that never even got off the ground, the possibility of Joey and Phoebe ending up together had also been considered by the creative team. Even though the two characters engaged in casual flirtations throughout the series and shared a few kisses (even making a "marriage pact" to get together if they're both single by 40), Joey and Phoebe's friendship never crossed the line into a romantic relationship, no matter how many fans shipped them together. Perhaps this explains why their friendship felt sincere, sweet, and pure, untainted by the turbulence of romantic relationships.

However, towards the end of the show's run, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow pitched the idea that Joey and Phoebe had actually been having casual sex through the years. In an interview with People, LeBlanc revealed, "We'd go back and shoot all the historical scenes and just before a moment that everyone recognizes, there's Joey and Phoebe coming out of a broom closet together. But they [the show's creators] were like, 'Nah.'"

Speaking to Metro, series co-creator David Crane explained why the idea was shot down. "It all would have been too tidy and too complete," he said. "When your goal is to keep the six characters in stories together, it would be really easy to go down that road but I think we all felt it would be a mistake."

Despite all the potential casting options for "Friends," the show's creators were always pretty clear about who they thought would be the best fit for Ross: David Schwimmer. In fact, the actor was the first among the six "Friends" to have been cast. In an interview with "The One Show," series co-creator David Crane revealed that Schwimmer had been approached first, as the character of Ross had been written with Schwimmer's voice in mind. However, Schwimmer had initially turned down the part due to a negative experience he had while working on another sitcom prior to "Friends."

Appearing on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," Schwimmer explained why he had declined the role of Ross. "I had a miserable experience on my first job as a series regular ... a year and a half before 'Friends,'" he recalled. Commenting on the collaborative process on that show, he added, "I felt like I was not invited to play ... my ideas were not listened to. Basically, I felt like a prop." Schwimmer had only decided to give it a shot after director James Burrows (who had previously directed episodes of "Cheers" and "Frasier" and was set to direct the pilot episode of "Friends") personally invited him to meet creators David Crane and Marta Kaufman.

It may seem like the title "Friends" was probably an afterthought (given its sheer simplicity), and for good reason: Several other titles were being considered throughout the show's development. "Friends" co-creators Marta Kaufman and David Crane initially pitched the show as "Insomnia Cafe," as Kaufman later recounted to the Emmys, "Literally, we were walking down the street and saw the Insomnia Cafe and thought, 'Oh, that would be a cool place to put these people.'" NBC brought the idea, after which Kaufman and Crane wrote a pilot where the show was renamed "Friends Like Us."

Later, NBC ordered the series then-named "Six of One," which wasn't "grabby" enough, according to former Warner Bros. TV executive David Janollari, who also told The Hollywood Reporter, "[then-NBC president] Warren Littlefield pitched 'Across the Hall' because the apartments were across the hall from one another, but that didn't feel right either. We must have kicked around 100 titles." Finally, the show premiered simply as "Friends."

Not everyone was a fan of the more simplistic title. Former NBC executive Karey Burke told Vanity Fair that most executives thought the title was "such a snore."  Kaufman further revealed to the Emmys, "[Executive Producer] Kevin Bright said they [NBC] wanted us to change the title to Friends, and Kevin said, 'If you put us on Thursday nights, you can call us Kevorkian for all I care.'" Jallonari added to The Hollywood Reporter, "It's an iconic title now, but at the time we were cocking our heads going, "Huh? Is that a good title?" We really weren't sure."

Before the six lead characters were finalized on the show, there was initially supposed to be a dark and brooding character — the goth girl among the ensemble, which was reported to either be Phoebe or Monica. The question surrounding which of the two characters was supposed to be goth comes from the possible casting of stand-up comedian Janeane Garofalo.

It was widely believed that Garofalo was offered and had passed on the role of Monica, which the actress later clarified in 2011 to Vulture, saying, "There is some truth to it, but not exactly that. Long ago before Friends was Friends, when it was in its infancy, it was a show called Friends Like Us, and I was being considered for a role, like a goth girl, which I think morphed into Phoebe."

However, in former NBC president Warren Littlefield's 2012 memoir "Top of the Rock," "Friends" co-creator David Crane revealed (and somewhat confirmed) that Garofalo was initially the muse for Monica. Crane wrote, "When we originally wrote the role, we had Janeane Garofalo's voice in our head. Darker and edgier and snarkier, and Courteney [Cox] brought a whole bunch of other colors to it. We decided that, week after week, that would be a lovelier place to go to."

In 1996, NBC had decided to air a "Friends" episode as a lead-out to the Super Bowl XXX — the year's most-watched event — for which the creators wanted big names for the guest spots. The Season 2 episode "The One After the Superbowl" had Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak, and Jean Claude van Damme, as well as the return of Marcel the monkey, but Matthew Perry was tasked with roping in the biggest of them all — Julia Roberts.

When Roberts was offered the episode, she stipulated on being in Chandler's storyline. But first, Perry had to "woo her." In his 2022 memoir "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," Perry recalled that he had sent "three dozen roses" to the actress, to which, "Her reply was that if I adequately explained quantum physics to her, she'd agree to be on the show."

Perry wrote, "The following day, I sent her a paper all about wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle and entanglement, and only some of it was metaphorical." Their fax exchanges were getting increasingly flirtatious, as staff writer Alexa Junge recalled to The Hollywood Reporter, "[Roberts] was giving [Perry] these questionnaires like, 'Why should I go out with you?' And everyone in the writers room helped him explain to her why. He could do pretty well without us, but there was no question we were on Team Matthew and trying to make it happen for him."

Roberts not only agreed to appear on the show, but had also started dating Perry by the time the episode began shooting. Former NBC President Warren Littlefield recalled, "I remember when I got a call and they said, "Oh, we got Julia Roberts," and it was like, 'Are you f***ing kidding me?'"

Few guest appearances have heard a rambunctious audience reaction on "Friends" as Bruce Willis in the show's sixth season. In a three-episode arc, Willis played Paul Stevens, the overprotective father of Ross's love interest and former student Elizabeth (Alexandra Holden). Because of the couple's age difference, Paul doesn't share his daughter's fondness for Ross. Much like Julia Roberts' guest spot in the show, it was Matthew Perry who managed to get the "Die Hard" star a guest role in "Friends" by defeating Willis in a bet.

Willis and Perry starred alongside in 2000's "The Whole Nine Yards" and had become good friends, as Perry recalled in his 2022 "Friends" memoir. During production, Willis was convinced that the film wouldn't work, whereas Perry was. Perry went to the extent of placing a bet, writing, "Bruce hadn't been sure the film would work at all, and I'd bet him it would — if he lost, he had to do a guest spot on 'Friends.'" Despite mixed reviews, "The Whole Nine Yards" ended up raking in $106 million at the box office, and Willis honored his bet with Perry.

However, not only did Willis get a paycheck for his work on the show (which he donated to five charities), but the action star got to prove his comedic chops, for which he won an Emmy for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series. Willis and Perry went on to reunite for 2004's "The Whole Ten Yards," which ironically turned out to be a box office bomb. 

While most fans were divided on the short Season 1 arc with Marcel, Ross's pet monkey, David Schwimmer has been blunt about his disdain for the actor(s) playing the animal. He told Entertainment Weekly in 1995, "I hate the monkey ... I wish it were dead," elaborating, "The trainers won't let me bond with it ... They're really, really possessive. It's like, 'Land on your marks, do your job, don't touch or bond with the monkey.'"

Schwimmer still harbored resentment for his capuchin co-star decades later, revealing on HBO Max's "Friends" reunion special in 2021 that his irritation primarily came from the monkey missing its mark, because then all the human actors would have to start the take again.

However, Mike Morris, the animal trainer who handled Marcel's actors Katie and Monkey, had another take on the situation. He told The Sun, "This is just my opinion ... [but] the first couple episodes [Schwimmer] was pretty friendly with the monkey, and after that, the monkey was getting a lot of laughs, and either it was throwing him off or [he was] getting a little jealous."

Furthermore, Morris found it "despicable" that Schwimmer was still talking ill of Monkey on the reunion, who had then recently died of cancer. "[Schwimmer] still talking ill about the monkey all these years later seems pretty childish to me... It was one season over 25 years ago, it's time to let it go."

In the Season 8 episode "The One Where Joey Dates Rachel," when Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) tries to beat Chandler's record in a Ms. Pac-Man arcade machine and loses, she launches into a profanity-ridden tirade just as Ross enters with Ben. Her cussing is blanketed by an operatic aria, which has had fans questioning: What swear words did Phoebe yell out in the scene? As it turns out, Lisa Kudrow never really swore in the scene.

In Kudrow's Reddit AMA, a fan asked what she exactly said in the scene, and whether she swore at all or not, to which the actress responded, "Oh! I don't know if I was allowed to actually swear. We pre-shot that part, and I think I remember Kevin Bright, our executive producer, laughing and saying 'I know, but no one should even be able to read it on your lips.' I think I remember it happening."

However, Kudrow is no stranger to her fair share of profanity on set, as fans can see in the show's blooper compilations that the actress is prone to spitting out a few curse words when a take goes wrong (all of which are obviously bleeped out).

Ugly Naked Guy was more of a running gag than an actual character, mostly referred to when the friends would see him from Monica's window across the street. The character had two appearances where audiences could actually see him in the flesh, barring his face, and nobody knew (or questioned) who played him — until years later when Todd van Luling, a journalist for HuffPost, set out on a year-long journey to uncover the actor behind the body.

Though Michael Hagerty, who played superintendent Mr. Treeger, was credited as Ugly Naked Guy on IMDb, he denied playing the character, saying, "I'd rather be known as Mr. Treeger than the Ugly Naked Guy anyways." Luling then reached out to various individuals associated with the show, including the casting director, Central Casting (the agency that provided extras for the show), co-creator David Crane, and David Schwimmer, who shared the screen with the character in an episode.

Finally, a year later, Central Casting unveiled the actor's name: Jon Haugen. Luling reached out to Haugen, who confirmed that he was the one who played Ugly Naked Guy, and that "The reason I never came forward was because I was just keeping it mellow because Warner Brothers was keeping it mellow. They wanted everybody to have a guess who I was."

Haugen said he enjoyed playing the character and talked about how Schwimmer made him feel comfortable being semi-naked (they wore boxer shorts) in front of the hundreds of audience members and the show's crew. "It was the best time in my life," Haugen admitted.

Even though Gunther was mostly seen in the background of Central Perk, diligently following his duties as the café's manager, what made the character so funny and memorable is that you never knew when he'd swoop in from the background and deliver a chucklesome quip or reaction that would cap off a running joke between the friends. James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther through all 10 seasons, had actual barista experience backing his performance.

Tyler told Buzzfeed, "I had a job at a coffee shop called The Bourgeois Pig in Hollywood ... I think I started there in 1990 or so." In fact, it's the reason why he was hired on "Friends," despite having an actual Master of Fine Arts in acting. Tyler further revealed, "I'd worked with the assistant director, Joel Wang, and he gave me the call. He said, 'Hey, do you want to come on and be in the background in a coffee shop? I would love you to just stand by the espresso machine and pretend like you're actually really working it, just so it would look authentic."

It wasn't until the show's second season that Tyler would get to put his MFA to good use, when co-creator Marta Kauffman asked Tyler if he had any acting experience. "I said, 'Yeah, I have a Master of Fine Arts in acting, actually'... And she said, 'That's really good to know.'" Tyler revealed. The rest is history.

Though Janice's (Maggie Wheeler) presence wasn't always appreciated by the friends (especially Chandler), her nasally voice and other unique characteristics made her an entertaining secondary character on the show. So much so, that even though her on-again and off-again relationship with Chandler came to an end after he allegedly "moved to Yemen," she still had some sort of a cameo appearance in each of the show's 10 seasons that would irritate the friends yet excite audiences.

Given that the show was shot with a live studio audience, Janice's appearance would be heavily guarded until the character actually showed up on set and yelled her iconic catchphrase "Oh ... my ... god!" which would inevitably lead to an uproar of delight among the audience members.

Wheeler admitted to Digital Spy what hearing the audiences scream for her felt like, saying, "It was sort of a rock star moment because there will never be another show where my every entrance is a secret and a surprise. That's very unique to the character and the way that they introduced her in all those episodes." The actress revealed, "They would keep me hidden — I could barely come down to get a doughnut. I had to stay in my dressing room until the last moment and then they'd secretly move me from behind the set to the right spot and they'd keep a black screen so the audience couldn't see me until I made my first entrance. I will never have anything like that again. It was incredible."

"Friends" came to a perfect close in 2004 after a sensational 10-season run, with its finale ("The Last One") garnering over 52 million viewers at the time of its airing. Fans and critics were left very satisfied with the send-offs the episode gave to the six pivotal characters, even if it was heart-breaking for audiences to say goodbye to the characters they stayed with through all their ups and downs. It was an emotional affair for the cast members too, particularly Matt LeBlanc, for whom the pressure and melancholy were enough to bring back an old habit.

During an interview on the Scandinavian talk show Skavlan, LeBlanc admitted, "I had quit smoking and the last episode, I started smoking again ... It was very sad." The actor elaborated his thoughts and feelings at the time of shooting the finale, saying, "You like to think that your career is always going to go [up] ... And I think it was, and not in bad way, but I think it was hard to imagine success beyond that. And it was this sort of closing of a chapter in all of our lives that was amazing. There's only five other people on the planet that know what that was like, to have been a part of [it]."

In the Season 4 episode "The One with Rachel's New Dress," Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) tries to seduce her new boyfriend Joshua (Tate Donovan) on their first date by wearing lingerie when they're in Joshua's parents' house. Unbeknownst to her, Joshua's parents make a surprise visit to their house, only to be surprised by the sight of Rachel in her negligee on their sofa. Rachel tries to salvage whatever first impression she's made by claiming it's a prototype dress from Bloomingdale's.

What many fans may have missed is that Joshua's father, Mr. Burgin, is played by Matthew Perry's real-life father John Bennett Perry. The elder Perry has had a stable career as an actor and model in Hollywood, seen mostly in minor roles in movies like "Independence Day" and "George of the Jungle," and in TV shows such as "Days of Our Lives" (the real one), "Magnum, P.I.," "Murder She Wrote," "Little House on the Prairie," and "The West Wing," to name a few.

While the two Perrys never shared the screen together on "Friends," they did appear together in a handful of projects, such as the short-lived 1993 series "Home Free," the 1997 film "Fools Rush In," and a 2004 episode of "Scrubs" directed by Matthew — the latter two of which paired them as father-son characters.

As with the show's title, which went through multiple iterations before the creators settled on "Friends," finding the right cast to play the six leads of the show was painstaking enough. But the effort was very much worth it, since it's now impossible for fans to imagine any of their beloved "Friends" characters being played by anyone else, given their apt characterizations and excellent chemistry as an ensemble.

There were several actors in the mix to play one character or another in the show. Many of these actors went on to cement their legacies in other movies and TV shows, sometimes even cast in secondary roles in "Friends."

Eric McCormack (later known for "Will & Grace") and Mitchell Whitfield (who was later cast as Rachel's ex-fiancé Barry) were in consideration for Ross before David Schwimmer's casting. Jon Favreau (who later appeared as Monica's boyfriend Pete Becker) and Jon Cryer ("Two and a Half Men") were in the running for Chandler before Matthew Perry was cast. Vince Vaughn ("Swingers," "Hacksaw Ridge") and Hank Azaria (known for "The Simpsons" and later cast as Phoebe's boyfriend David) both auditioned for Joey until Matt LeBlanc landed the role.

Tiffani Thiessen ("Saved by the Bell") and Jane Krakowski ("30 Rock") tested for Rachel before Jennifer Aniston bagged the role. Nancy McKeon ("The Facts of Life") and Leah Remini (who played the pregnant woman Joey helps) had auditioned for Monica until the role went to Courteney Cox. Kathy Griffin claimed to have auditioned for Phoebe alongside her eventual "Glee" co-star Jane Lynch, though Lynch later denied the long-standing rumor about her auditioning for the show.