Alongside other classic comedies like Seinfeld and The Office, Friends is one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time and an essential staple in television history. Throughout the show’s ten-season run, Friends became a global phenomenon known for its lovable cast and iconic storylines that have yet to be surpassed by any other sitcom.
But what is it that made the show so funny? Friends features high-quality comedic writing, but certain episodes would be nothing without the incredibly talented cast. There are specific episodes, such as “The One with the Embryos” and “The One with the Jellyfish,” that are simply the cream of the crop. Looking at Friends and its various seasons, it is a joy to mark these twelve episodes as the absolute funniest of them all.
Friends
- Release Date
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1994 – 2004
- Network
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NBC
25
“The One with the Nap Partners”
Season 7, Episode 6 (2000)
It is no secret that, as an adult, naps are so much more meaningful than they were as a child. This is seen in full force when Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Ross (David Schwimmer) fall asleep while watching a movie and accidentally end up taking a nap together. The true hilarity of it all is when they realize that they genuinely enjoyed it but are too embarrassed to admit it. Joey spends the rest of the episode trying to convince Ross to nap with him again, and it often comes off sounding like a silly euphemism for those who aren’t in on their secret.
While Joey and Ross are learning the comfort of being nap time buddies, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) battle it out to see who will earn the coveted position of Monica’s (Courteney Cox) maid of honor and foolishly decide to leave the choice in the hands of the guys. Featuring the comedic Friends characters at their goofiest, Joey’s never-ending attempts to get Ross to nap with him and Phoebe’s pretend maid-of-honor speech are just a few reasons why this is one of the funniest episodes.
24
“The One With Two Parties”
Season 2, Episode 22 (1996)
“The One With Two Parties” centers around Rachel’s birthday and the party her friends decide to throw for her. Monica wants to throw a classy get-together, but the rest of the group wants to throw a proper party. That isn’t the conflict of the episode though, that lies in the guest list, namely which of her parents should be invited since they’re divorced and can’t stand to be in the same room as one another. Monica decides to just invite Rachel’s mom, but Rachel’s dad unexpectedly shows up as well. In an effort to keep them apart, Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey take Rachel’s dad to their apartment for a second party.
The concept may not sound like anything particularly funny on paper, but it’s how the characters tirelessly work to keep Dr (Ron Leibman) and Mrs Greene (Marlo Thomas) apart by any means necessary. Monica’s party is dull and boring which is causing guests to leave for the party at Joey and Chandler’s, with the sly help of Phoebe. Meanwhile, Ross is trying and failing to impress Rachel’s parents. He even ends up getting himself in a particularly embarrassing situation when he’s wearing Dr. Greene’s glasses and has one of his cigarettes in his mouth, to which he explains he was just “moistening the tip” for him. The episode is chock-full of funny and absurd moments that make it a standout in the early seasons.
23
“The One Where Monica And Richard Are Friends”
Season 3, Episode 13 (1997)
“The One Where Monica And Richard Are Friends” may be primarily about Monica and Richard (Tom Selleck) potentially rekindling their romance, but the side plots take the episode to a whole new, even funnier, level. One side plot involves the gang meeting Phoebe’s new boyfriend. Although he seems like a great guy, they can’t help but notice how he’s “coming out of his shorts.” It’s a running gag that no one knows how to approach the topic and tell him, but luckily, Gunther (James Michael Tyler) saves the day by telling him to “put the mouse back in the house.”
The true standout of the episode, though, is the plot involving Rachel and Joey. The pair decide to swap books. Rachel takes on Joey’s modern-day favorite, The Shining, which he claims he has to put in the freezer when it gets too scary. Meanwhile, Joey takes Rachel’s favorite classic novel, Little Women. To everyone’s surprise, Joey loves the book, but when he spoils the end of The Shining out of excitement, Rachel gets her revenge by informing him that Beth dies in Little Women, which crushes him. She and Chandler tell him it’s just a spiteful joke, but by the end of the episode, Joey comes to Rachel in near tears, telling her that “Beth is really sick,” and the pair decide to put the book in the freezer to ease his pain.
22
“The One With Joey’s New Brain”
Season 7, Episode 15 (2001)
“The One With Joey’s New Brain” is a big episode for Joey, because his character on Days of Our Lives finally comes out of his coma. There’s a twist though: his character, Dr. Drake Ramoray, must undergo a brain transplant, and the brain that is being given to him belongs to a longtime soap vet, Cecilia Monroe (Susan Sarandon), who has no idea she’s being killed off. Cecilia learns to accept the fate for her character and helps Joey learn her character since he’ll be getting her brain, and thus have her memories and personality. It’s a funny plot, especially when Cecilia teaches him how to kiss so the camera only sees him and not his scene partner.
The episode’s secondary plot is Ross attempting to learn the bagpipes so he can surprise Monica and Chandler with a performance at their wedding. He’s not very good, and Monica and Chandler attempt to steer him away from the idea. This doesn’t deter him, though, and he gives one last-ditch effort to convince them by playing Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration,” while Phoebe imitates the sound with just her voice. It’s a chaotic scene and a hilarious one, made even better by the fact that the rest of the cast couldn’t hold in their laughter as Kudrow imitated the bagpipes.
21
“The One Where Paul’s the Man”
Season 6, Episode 22 (2000)
In this wonderfully hilarious episode, Paul (Bruce Willis) goes as far as to threaten Ross to stop dating his daughter, Elizabeth (Alexandra Holden)—who is also one of Ross’s students—which he, of course, doesn’t abide by. While the scenario is not all that humorous in and of itself, it’s the way that Willis delivers his lines and Schwimmer’s reactions that make this such a gut-busting episode. In a particular standout moment, Ross hides under the bed from Paul and bears witness to Paul performing affirmations in the mirror, including gems such as calling himself a “love machine”, which Ross taunts him for later.
Before Willis was an action star, he made a career for himself as a comedic actor, and this episode is a perfect reminder of his roots. His timing and delivery of his lines are not just great handling of the writer’s great work. No, it is an amazing presentation by a truly phenomenal actor who deserves more recognition for his comedic talents. Seeing Willis in rare comedic form plus the banter between him and Schwimmer are what make this one of the funniest Friends episodes.
20
“The One With Ross’s Tan”
Season 10, Episode 3 (2003)
“The One With Ross’s Tan” has funny moments in every subplot. It all begins when Ross notices how tan Monica looks despite her not having been on vacation recently. When she reveals she got a spray tan he decides to book one for himself, only for things to drastically go wrong, and for him to get sprayed entirely on one side, leaving his front his desired golden color and his back starkly (and hilariously) pale in contrast. Meanwhile, Phoebe and Monica’s old roommate Amanda (Jennifer Coolidge) comes into town and the girls are forced to sit through a painful catch-up with her despite her only wanting to talk about herself. Also, Rachel and Joey have their first date, which goes well until they get home and things start getting hot and heavy. Suddenly, Joey, the ultimate playboy, can’t unhook Rachel’s bra, and she ends up kneeing him in the groin. It’s painfully awkward but it provides plenty of laughs.
While Ross’s tanning nightmare is the most memorable part of the episode, and certainly the highlight, the rest of the episode is no slouch either. Jennifer Coolidge is always hilarious in anything she’s in, and here she’s sporting a cheekily bad British accent despite Monica pointing out that she’s from Yonkers. It’s also funny to see Joey and Rachel try and fail to take their relationship to the next level. You want to see it go well for them but things just go so terribly wrong every single time it’s hard not to laugh. It’s such a solid episode, especially for a later season, as the show was beginning to dwindle down.
19
“The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance”
Season 6, Episode 4 (1999)
In this episode, Ross gets a job as a guest lecturer at a university, but because of his nerves, he dons a British accent on his first day and must commit to the bit. That ends up being easier said than done when Monica and Rachel show up at his lecture and blow his cover. There’s also a hilarious side plot involving Phoebe, whose psychic tells her that she is going to die in seven days. She spends all episode saying her goodbyes and trying to figure out how she’ll die, only for it to be her psychic that dies instead.
But the episode lives up to its name in terms of the best storyline. Due to his unemployment, Joey’s health insurance expires just as he gets a hernia. He refuses to go to the hospital despite the debilitating pain he’s in because he can’t afford the bill. Luckily, his agent manages to snag him the role of “dying man”, which is easy for him to play given his very real pain. However, the young actor he’s working with won’t cry in the scene like he’s supposed to, which causes filming to go on for an excruciating amount of time. It’s a classic Joey episode.
18
“The One Where the Stripper Cries”
Season 10, Episode 11 (2004)
The later seasons of Friends is where the show starts to dwindle in quality, but there are still some gems that can be found. One of these gems is the episode “The One Where the Stripper Cries”. The primary storyline sees Monica and Rachel throw Phoebe an elegant bachelorette party, which is the exact opposite of what she wanted. There’s not even a stripper! To make up for this Rachel and Monica look through the Yellow Pages and find a phone number for an exotic male dancer, only he’s not what they expect. When he arrives they are immediately disappointed because he’s not the dream hunk they had imagined. But we the audience are thrilled because he’s played by none other than Danny DeVito. They judge him because short, he’s older, and he’s out of breath from climbing the stairs, and they’re even less impressed when he dances for them. The dance makes Phoebe cringe, and the stripper cry. DeVito is, to no one’s surprise, hilarious in the role of Officer “Goodbody,” and he soaks up every moment he has.
But as good as the stripper storyline is, Joey’s storyline is arguably the standout. He is a contestant on the game show Pyramid, which is already a funny idea since we know Joey isn’t the smartest guy out there. He and his partner’s clues are relatively easy yet Joey misses every single one. He gives some laugh-out-loud worthy guesses such as when the answer is “Cream” and his partner tells him “It’s white” as a clue. He proceeds to guess “Paper, Snow… a Ghost!” He then gives the same enthusiastic guess when his partner tries to get him to guess “Mayonnaise” and makes the mistake of again telling him “It’s white.” It’s a classic Joey moment for a reason, and one of the funniest sequences in the series.
17
“The One With Chandler In a Box”
Season 4, Episode 8 (1997)
After Joey learns that Chandler and Kathy (Paget Brewster) kissed he refuses to forgive him, and decides to sentence his friend to five years of the silent treatment. Obviously, this is extreme and Ross talks him out of it, but just as he’s going to go talk to Chandler he catches the pair kissing again. Chandler says he’ll do anything to earn Joey’s forgiveness, so what does Joey suggest? That Chandler spend six hours in a box, the same amount of time Joey spent locked inside the entertainment center the time he and Chandler’s apartment was robbed.
Friends Thanksgiving episodes are iconic, and “The One With Chandler In a Box” is no exception. Chandler, being Chandler, makes a series of hilarious jokes while locked inside the box, like knocking on the box and tricking everyone into thinking someone’s at the door, and saying things like “You can’t tell but I’m trying to break the tension by mooning you guys.” We all know Chandler is arguably the funniest Friends character, but this episode was a true testament to Matthew Perry’s skills as a comedian, because even though he’s locked inside a box the entire episode he still manages to deliver non-stop hilarity.
16
“The One Where Rachel’s Sister Babysits”
Season 10, Episode 5 (2003)
Any time an episode was centered around a family member of one of the titular Friends, it was bound to be a funny one. The main group of characters are big personalities so it’s only natural that their family members are as well. One of the best returning family members that we met was Rachel’s sister. No, not Jill (Reese Witherspoon), though she was great as well. Amy (Christina Applegate) was the true standout of Rachel’s sisters. She made her first appearance in Season 9, but it’s her Season 10 appearance that lands a spot on this list. In it, Amy comes to town and stays with Joey and Rachel, and ends up babysitting Emma when there’s no other option. As it turns out, Rachel was right to be worried, because Amy gets her ears pierced, and in the process decides that her new career calling is to be a baby stylist. The best part is that Christina Applegate plays Amy with her whole heart and really delivers on the funny moments, making every scene with her all the better.
It isn’t just Amy that makes the episode so good though, the subplots are just as great. Phoebe accidentally thwarts Mike’s (Paul Rudd) proposal plans, forcing her to propose to him. Meanwhile, Monica and Chandler let Joey write their letter of recommendation for the adoption agency, only to find out he hand-wrote it and included a drawing — leading the agency to believe a child wrote it. The funniest part of the letter though is that he used a thesaurus on every word, changing the sentence “They are warm, nice people with big hearts,” to “They are humid, prepossessing Homo Sapiens with full-sized aortic pumps.” Oh, and he signed it “Baby Kangaroo Tribbiani.”