Friends - Joey was originally written as a jerk. When Matt LeBlanc questioned why the others would be friends with him, the character was changed.
- When Matt LeBlanc auditioned for the role of Joey, he had eleven dollars to his name. When the cast got their first paychecks, the first thing that LeBlanc bought was a hot dinner. Courteney Cox bought a car.
- When Courteney Cox dressed as fat Monica for the first time, Matthew Perry walked right past her without recognizing her.
- Courteney Cox was originally supposed to play Rachel. In Friends: The Reunion (2021), she explained that she asked to play Monica instead, since she related to her more.
- Phoebe and Mike ended up together because everyone wanted to keep Paul Rudd on the show.
- In "Friends," Chandler once said, "Honestly, I Guess I’ll be the One Who Dies First." He even had a line in the show: "I could be in a bath, and I could be electrocuted and drown slowly."
- Courteney Cox revealed that it was Matthew Perry who really helped her make Monica into the character who she became on the show.
- In the opening credits to The One After Vegas (1999), the names of all of the actors, actresses, and crew were changed to include "Arquette" at the end of them, a gag on Courteney Cox Arquette, who had just recently married David Arquette.
- Unlike his character, Matt LeBlanc can speak fluent Italian and French.
- Chandler and Monica were meant to be just a one-night thing. But fans in the audience liked it so much that they cheered the bedsheet scene for twenty-seven seconds. It led the makers to make them a couple.
- Hank Azaria auditioned for the role of Joey. After being rejected, he begged to audition again. He auditioned and was rejected again, but later appeared as David, Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow's) scientist boyfriend.
- Lisa Kudrow was terrified of the duck that showed up in season three.
- When Tom Selleck made his initial on-set appearances, he got standing ovations, which made his entrances unusable. They were re-shot without the audience.
- Giovanni Ribisi played Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow) brother, Frank, Jr., in later episodes. He also had a small role in an earlier season as a boy who accidentally throws a condom into Phoebe's guitar case instead of a coin. There is much fan debate about whether it's the same character in both settings.
Christina Applegate - Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Christina Applegate, and Paul Rudd guest-starred on the show after doing a movie with one of the regular cast members. Willis and Applegate won Emmys for their guest roles.
- The golden frame around the peephole was originally a mirror that Ricky Parker, a crew member, accidentally smashed. Because it looked good, they decided to leave it there.
- Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) and Matthew Perry (Chandler) were long-time friends before the show.
- Matthew Perry has admitted he barely remembers filming three seasons (between 3rd to 6th seasons) of the show roughly midway through its run due to his prescription drug addiction.
- The main characters from the show are named after All My Children (1970) characters. Ross (David Schwimmer) for Ross Chandler, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) for Joey Martin, Chandler (Matthew Perry) for the Chandler family, Monica (Courteney Cox) for Monique/Daisy Cortland, Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) for Janet Green, and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) for Phoebe Tyler Wallingford.
- Matt LeBlanc had a fever and flu on the first day. He was at one hundred two degrees Fahrenheit (38.8 degrees Celsius) during the pilot episode and had to repeatedly use a variety of remedies to attempt to cure it.
- Friends Creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane are also co-writers of the show's theme song, "I'll Be There for You" by The Rembrandts.
- Matt LeBlanc's character, Joey Tribbiani, Jr., plays Dr. Drake Ramoray in a fictional version of Days of Our Lives (1965). In real-life, Jennifer Aniston's father, John Aniston, played Victor Kiriakis on the real Days of Our Lives (1965).
- The cast had a huddle before filming each episode to wish each other luck.
- Lisa Kudrow hated playing the guitar and she said that she hasn't touched a guitar since the show ended.
- All six main actors and actresses appear in every episode. James Michael Tyler, as Gunther, is the only other cast member to appear in over one hundred episodes, appearing in one hundred fifty-one of them.
- Executive Producer Marta Kauffman attended Marple Newtown High School in Broomall, Pennsylvania. When she was asked to come back and give a speech at graduation, she berated the school system because her teachers told her she wasn't a good writer. She wasn't asked back.
- Before the pilot aired, the cast was taken to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas to enjoy their "last shot at anonymity." They later returned to the location to film for Ross and Rachel's wedding.
- The actor who plays Joshua Burgin's (Tate Donovan ) father is Matthew Perry's real-life father, John Bennett Perry.
- The actors and actresses were rumored to have signed an agreement to not sleep together.
- Joey uses the Tuscan insult "Va fa Napoli" the Tuscan equivalent of "Go to Hell", which literally translates as "Go to Naples!"
- In Season Four, Episode Two, The One with the Cat (1997), where Chandler's (Matthew Perry) and Joey's (Matt LeBlanc) stuff gets stolen, the magnetic drawing board on their door says, "Thanks for all your stuff."
- The cast kept crying while shooting the final episode, so they have to do their make-up over and over again.
- Matthew Perry is missing the tip of the middle finger on his right hand. This was going to be written into the season five episode: "The One with All the Thanksgivings," With Monica accidentally cutting it off in a flashback (similar to how it plays out in the actual episode), but the studio deemed it "too graphic" So, it was altered to where she'd accidentally cut off the tip of his toe instead.
- Joey is the only character who went on to have his own spin-off sitcom, Joey (2004). The show followed him as he relocated from New York City to Hollywood, in which he moved into an apartment, which he shared with his twenty-year-old nephew Michael. The show lasted only two seasons.
- When Courteney Cox debuted on Instagram on January 29th, 2019, she used the picture of Fat Monica for her profile picture.
- James Michael Tyler bleached his hairs every week for ten years for the role of Gunther. His natural hair color is brown.
- The term "Friend Zone" was popularized from season one, episode seven, "The One With The Blackout", when Joey said Ross was the "Mayor of the Friend Zone" because he liked Rachel for so long.
- Ross was twenty-nine for three years. In one season, he even had two birthdays.
- Rachel has four birthdays in all the seasons which is the most than any cast member. This episodes are: The One Where Rachel Finds Out (1995) in season 1, The One with the Two Parties (1996) in season 2, The One Where They All Turn Thirty (2001) in season 7 and The One with Phoebe's Rats (2003) in season 9. She also gets a surprise party one month before her actual birthday in The One Where Rachel Smokes (1999) in season 5.
- A Soviet propaganda poster on a wall in apartment #19 shows two people over a book and says in Russian: "To build, one must know. To know, one must learn." An antique-looking advertisement poster on a wall of #20 says in French: "Toys and Boxing Day presents".
- Only 2 of Ross' weddings are shown on-screen - his wedding to Emily in The One with Ross's Wedding: Part 2 (1998) and his wedding to Rachel in The One in Vegas: Part 2 (1999) (although the wedding in Vegas happens in a chapel and Ross and Rachel are seen stumbling out due to being drunk). His remarriage to Rachel occurs after the series finale.
- Joey Tribbiani plays Dr. Drake Ramoray on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, on the show. Ironically, in real life, Jennifer Aniston's father, John Aniston, was a regular on Days of Our Lives as well.
- Phoebe's signature song "Smelly Cat" has been featured in several episodes, including as a TV jingle about kitty litter and a music video with a ghost singer dubbing over Phoebe's voice a la Milli Vanilli. Phoebe has also done duets of the song with Chrissie Hynde and Chris Isaak.
- The series was originally shown in 12:9 ("academy") aspect ratio. When the series was restored and re-mastered in 16:9 widescreen, for both broadcast, streaming, dvd and blu-ray, some viewers of a certain age were concerned that, like some other series, the 12:9 would be cropped in "fake letterbox". However, Warner Bros for years previously had shot their features in various cinema aspect ratios, and cropped them to 12:9 tv and vhs. In a sensible piece of corporate forward planning, Warner Bros Television, knowing the future widescreen tv aspect ratio, had been filming the series in 16:9 the entire time - note the opening and end credits text fits safely in where the 12:6 crop originally was. Unfortunately, the vertical side spaces either side of the 12:9 crops, now in widescreen, reveal stand-ins and other "errors", as the re-mastering scanned the entire visible exposed frame.
- The first words of the show are spoken by Monica, the last words by Chandler.
- While Ross is the only Friend who has been on sabbatical from his job, the others have either gotten fired from their jobs or quit: Rachel quit her job at Central Perk in season three, and was fired from her job at Ralph Lauren in season ten, Monica was fired in season two, Phoebe was fired in season four, Joey was fired in season two, and Chandler quit his job in seasons one and nine.
- The name "Rachel" followed Helen Baxendale in her three major television roles. Rachel Bradley, her character in Cold Feet (1997). In this show, her character was involved in a love triangle with Ross and Rachel. In Cuckoo (2012), her character has a daughter called Rachel.
- Joey only has 1 pair of underwear, but he doesn't wear them unless he wears a rented tuxedo.
- Phoebe is the only character to have kissed every Friend on screen:
2.Ross - The One with the Flashback (1996)
3.Monica - The One with Ross's Wedding (1998)
4.Chandler - The One Where Everybody Finds Out (1999)
5.Rachel - The One with Rachel's Big Kiss (2001)
- There are seventeen bunnies on this show: the bunny that got away from Joey's top hat, the Sock Bunny, the big pink bunny that maxes out Chandler's embarrassment, six Bunny Hop dancers at the Geller's Anniversary party, the dead Easter bunny, may he rest in peace, a bunny from the toy race, the two bunnies when Ross and Monica bunny up for the football game, the rabbit Whitney was going to cook for Ross, the Velveteen Rabbit, Emma's first birthday cake, and the bunny that Chandler's related to whose cuteness he inherited.
- David Schwimmer, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Bower, and Mike Hagerty appeared on The Wonder Years (1988) and this show.
- Friends is also the name of a 1971 teen-romance film directed and produced by Lewis Gilbert and written by Gilbert, Vernon Harris, and Jack Russell. The soundtrack, with music composed by Elton John and Paul Buckmaster, and lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, was released as the Friends album, and John's recording of the title selection charted when released as a single in the United States. In this teen romance, a neglected 15-year-old English boy named Paul Harrison (Sean Bury), living in Paris with his wealthy businessman father, befriends an orphaned 14-year-old French girl named Michelle Latour (Anicée Alvina). There was also a 1979 TV show called Friends, starring The Love Boat's Jill Whelan. Ironically all three of these shows were youth oriented shows; the movie was aimed at teenagers; the 1970s show was aimed at children; and the famous 1990s show was aimed at young adults.
- While they never share screen time, Joey's mom, Gloria, played by Brenda Vaccaro and Rachel's dad, Dr. Green, played by Ron Leibman played opposite on another in "Zorro: The Gay Blade (1981)" Brenda played Florinda, one of Zorro's past love interests and Ron played her husband, Esteban, the Alcalde.
- Firemen have appeared on the show quite a few times, especially in Phoebe's life. They appeared in the first season when the women burn mementos of their boyfriends, Phoebe dates a fireman in season 3, Phoebe's apartment burns down in season 6 and Phoebe tosses her fire alarm down the garbage chute where a fireman comes upstairs to give it back to her and tells her how to fix it in season 7.
- Except Phoebe and Monica, all the six characters have kissed each other at one point during the series.
- Michael McKean (The One With The List) and Fisher Stevens (The One With The Boobies) both appear in the movie Short Circuit 2 together.
- Friends' "The Other Sister" episode was probably lifted from the All in the Family episode "Mike and Gloria's Will". This episode has Mike and Gloria announcing that upon the circumstance of their death they will be leaving their baby Joey to two other friends, not Edith and Archie. And this starts a big fight the family. Part of the discussion on both shows revolves around "who will adopt Joey"; Joey Stivic on All in the Family and Joey Tribbiani on Friends.
- There are sixteen chickens on this show: Little Yasmine, the chicken that pooped on Julie in China, the traumatizing plastic chicken hopper Paul's parents got him instead of a Big Wheel, nine chickens on a piece of Central Perk pop art, Rooster the other member of the Band Numbnuts, the chicken suit that won't go with Monica's new boots, the chicken suit Chandler might have to wear to get a new job, and Chick, Jr.
- At one point, Phoebe has lived with all the friends except Joey and Chandler. Although in season six after a fire in her apartment, she briefly moves in their apartment, but ends up in Monica's and then Ross's.
- When Rachel buys Mrs. Whiskerson, a Minion of the Antichrist, she is wearing a shirt with a Japanese Kanji on it.
- Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) has a falling out with Rachel's boyfriend Paolo (Cosimo Fusco). Later, Phoebe goes out with Eric (Sean Penn), who happens to read Paulo Coelho.
- Monica is reading Laura Day's "Practical Intuition in Love" in one episode.
- Sandra Bullock, Annabeth Gish, Carey Lowell, and Molly Ringwald auditioned to play Monica.
- Jasmine Guy, Mel Gorham, Felicia Michaels, and Cynthia Stevenson auditioned to play Phoebe.
- Jonathan Silverman, Corin Nemec, Billy Campbell, Eric McCormack, and Chris Hogan auditioned to play Ross. Director James Burrows later told McCormack, "Honey, you were wasting your time. They wrote the part for Schwimmer."
- It took Matt LeBlanc eight auditions to win over the producers.
- By the beginning of season 1, Carol and Ross had already broke up for a year. Yet Carol is barely pregnant. This implies Carol slept one more time with Ross with the only purpose of getting pregnant and having a kid with Susan.
- According to the producers, a questionnaire regarding Monica's promiscuity was passed out at the taping of the pilot episode at the request of NBC. Apparently, NBC considered Monica a slut for sleeping with Paul the Wine Guy on their first date.