Friends has always been one of those shows that I’ve turned to no matter what mood I’m in. All of the characters feel like my friends at this point, and I basically know the show inside out. The great thing about Friends (besides how timelessly funny it has remained to be) is how damn relatable it is, especially as a young adult in your twenties, trying to stumble your way through life. Below is a list of moments that I’ve nodded along to more times than I can count, glad that I’m not the only incredibly awkward, bad-luck infused person that doesn’t really know what she’s doing.
1. Ross’ leather pants (S5 E11)
“They’re not coming on, man!”
One of my personal favourites features Ross involved in one of his most hilarious jams he manages to get himself into. He wears leather pants on a date and becomes unbearably hot, so he goes into the bathroom to take them off… only he can’t get them completely off, or pull them back up. Things like this have happened to me before. I’ve tried to squeeze into clothes too small in changing rooms, resulting in a frantic flailing around in a stretched out straightjacket of a dress while praying that it doesn’t rip apart. We’ve all been there, Ross.
2. Ross’ bad tan (S10 E3)/bad teeth (S6 E8)
“I went to that tanning place your wife suggested.”
“Was that place the sun?”
“I think I shouldn’t look directly at them.”
I’m going to make this a combined one since they’re both equally funny moments and similar in terms of ‘bad’ on the Ross scale. A lot of unfortunate stuff tends to happen to Ross (somewhat understandable) and these times are no exception. He moronically doesn’t know how to work his way around a tanning booth, and he leaves whitening strips on his teeth for way too long, resulting in quite dramatic results. I may laugh at him, but do you know how many stupid beauty mistakes I’ve made? Too many to count. Ross gets me.
3. Phoebe’s running (S6 E7)
“Come on! That’s not running! Let’s go!”
Phoebe’s off the wall running style is anything but embarrassing, like Rachel originally thinks. It’s free and relatable AF, since I look pretty much the same when I have to catch the bus, go on a treadmill, or chase my cat if he gets out of the house.
4. Ross, Chandler, and Rachel try to move a couch (S5 E16)
“PIVOT, PIVOT, PIVOT!”
“SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!”
Ross gets a new couch, and because he’s Ross, he doesn’t take into account that said couch is a tad too big to be moving into his apartment. Regardless, he enlists the help of Chandler and Rachel to try and get it up the stairs. Chandler is basically me whenever I’ve had to move anything/anywhere, especially with other people involved. It always ends up like this somehow.
5. Coworker eats Ross’ turkey sandwich (S5 E9)
“That sandwich was the only good thing in my life!”
There’s a lot of Ross on this list because as much as I love to hate him, the amount of bad crap that happens to him regularly throughout the show is pretty much a representation of my life. Ross’ sandwich gets eaten, and he basically has a meltdown. We’ve all been there with our own breaking points, especially if you’ve had a sneaky roommate that only eats your food.
6. Monica dancing at a college party (S10 E11)
“I am SO drunk right now!”
There’s a flashback to a young Monica at a college party. She basically acts (and dances) like I do at parties now.
7. Joey trying to learn how to speak French (S10 E13)
“Eh, blue, blah, floo, flank!”
I am such absolute garbage at learning languages; it’s just a sad fact that I’ve learned to accept. And Joey terribly stumbling his way through French in order to prepare for an audition is basically me whenever I attempt to learn anything new.
8. The one with the napping (S7 E6)
“That was the best nap I’ve ever had!”
Joey and Ross fall asleep together on the couch while watch Die Hard (how manly), and end up spooning. They have the best nap they’ve both ever had, but freak out because they have incredibly fragile masculinities. Funnily enough though, Joey is far more okay with it and wants to nap with him again. Ross is Ross and resists for most of the episode, but in this scenario I would be Joey. Any excuse for an amazing nap and I’m down.
9. Chandler discovers he loves baths (S8 E13)
“I can actually feel my tension just melting away.”
Monica convinces Chandler to try having baths because they’re relaxing. He’s hesitant at first, but quickly warms up to them. I used to be a bath hater until I discovered the heaven that is Lush and what the stress of being a young adult can do to you. The combination of the two works out well and I totally get Chandler falling in love with them.
10. The engagement photos (S7 E5)
“Chandler, what is the matter with your face?”
My favourite couple goes to get engagement pictures taken. Chandler, unsurprisingly, can’t take decent photos to save his life if they’re posed. His awkward, pained expressions are basically what I look like in every Facebook photo that I’m tagged in.
11. The cheesecake (S7 E11)
“I’m full, and yet I know if I stop eating this, I’ll regret it.”
Chandler finds a cheesecake that was mistakenly mailed to the apartment, so naturally, he starts to eat it. He discovers that it’s insanely tasty, and Rachel happens to find this out too. They polish off the entire thing, another is mistakenly mailed to the apartment again, and they fight over who gets to eat it until it falls on the ground. They eat it anyway. Same fam, same. Free food? Yas. Free food that happens to be an entire, delicious cheesecake? Yasss.
12. Chandler’s advertising pitch (S9 E11)
“Cheese: it’s milk… that you chew.”
Chandler will forever be the character that I relate to most on Friends, and for good reason. He discovers that he wants to go into the field of advertising, resulting in an unknowingly bad pitch for cheese and fruit. I can’t laugh at him too much, since this is what I look like when I’m trying to come up with ideas for assignments and essays.
If you haven’t seen Friends, drop what you’re doing right now and go educate yourself. I’ve warmed you up with a few noteworthy moments, but go forth and (re)watch these awesome episodes, sing and clap along to the theme song, and make Joey proud by ordering “the Joey special” (two pizzas).