Looking back with a smile. The cast of Friends has spoken out multiple times since the series ended in 2004, reminiscing about the show and its many memorable moments.
Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow starred in 236 episodes over 10 seasons beginning in 1994. However, there were many favorite moments that didn’t make it onscreen — like the cast breaking between scenes.
“This one time I was with Courteney, and we were trying to find something to reference, an old Friends thing,” Aniston told Variety in June 2020. “And then we stumbled on — there are bloopers online — and we sat there at the computer like two nerds watching these bloopers laughing at ourselves.”
She also revealed she watches the show frequently when it’s on and can’t help but remember every time the cast made each other laugh between cuts.
“Here’s what I love, is when I watch an episode, I’ll usually remember where we broke during the scene,” Aniston said to Kudrow at the time. “You and I would always get into these fits of laughter because you had this wonderful ability to — you were about to hit your punchline, and you would do this adorable thing where you would break. You would say the punchline, and you would always turn to the audience and say, ‘I’m sorry, it’s really funny.'”
However, each cast member has episodes that stick out to each of them in different ways. Kudrow and Aniston both said they hope that the entire cast can get together to watch the show as a group — which is why Kudrow hasn’t watched much before. That said, she has a very good memory of “The One Where Everybody Finds Out,” in which the group learns of Monica and Chandler’s secret relationship.
“I stole [‘My eyes! My eyes!’] from Matthew Perry. That’s how Matthew Perry says things,” the Space Force actress said. “I actually asked his permission before we shot it. I was like, ‘I don’t know if you’ve seen the rehearsals, but I’m saying ‘My eyes! My eyes!’ the way you do. So I just need to know that that’s OK with you. If not, I’ll say it a different way.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, go for it.’”
Scroll through the gallery below for each actor’s favorite episode.