One of the most popular shows of the mid-’90s and the early 2000s, Friends took the world by storm by becoming an unexpectedly massive hit - a big enough deal that it turned the six actors at its core into massive stars. We’re guessing that everyone involved was perfectly happy to be associated with their beloved characters.
With such a mammoth series it can be near impossible for things not to fall through the cracks. As such, their devoted fan base could be a blessing and a curse since the show would fail without them, but the fans were also quick to pick up on errors. As fans today are better connected than ever before, this allows them to jointly look at the show under a microscope.
For the purposes of this list, we define a meme as a single image or a series of images that tell the viewer something simple and easily digestible. We only looked at memes that are related to the show Friends, and point things out about it that make no sense. We then ranked them based on how enlightening and amusing we thought they were.
The inconsistencies in the show inspired us to put together this list of 20 Friends memes that prove the show makes no sense.
Changing Apartment Numbers
A continuity error that most fans likely never took note of, many people would not notice the apartment numbers on the gang’s doors. However, there are those among us that pay attention to even the smallest of details, which is why we are able to present you with this meme pointing out that the gang’s apartment numbers change.
Monica and Rachel live in either apartment five or twenty, while Joey and Chandler live in either apartment four or nineteen.
It’s the type of mistake most people don’t care about, but still find confusing. We can’t even imagine why production switched out the numbers between tapings of the show. Luckily, the number change didn’t affect the quality of their amazing New York City flats.
Joey’s Yacht
This type of storyline comes along when writers have run out of ideas, in the sixth season episode “The One With The Proposal, Part 1” Joey buys a yacht. Attending a charity event with Rachel, he ends up bidding in a silent auction, because he is under the impression it’s a cost guessing game.
When he realizes what he has done, he explicitly states that he doesn’t have the kind of money required to buy a twenty thousand dollar sailboat. This leaves him desperate to find someone to take over his bid. However, he is then presented with a description of the wonders of boating, and when someone agrees to take over his bid, Joey turns him down and buys the yacht anyway. You know, the one he just said he can’t afford.
Ross Fittings
As he has been for the majority of the show, Ross increasingly finds himself to be the butt of jokes visually. For instance, he does things like gets his teeth whitened or gets an artificial tan that goes awry. However, in the tenth season episode “The One With The Birth Mother,” things go too far.
That would be possible if the same shirt could fit them both - unlikely as their bodies are different sizes.
In a storyline that mocks Ross for wearing a woman’s shirt, he goes on a shopping trip with Rachel where she picks out clothes for both of them, but after a mix up he begins wearing a top she chose for herself. In addition to that, in a third season episode, he attempted to wear one of her shirts but it was far too tight.
Joey’s Agent And Carol’s Nurse
When a series runs for ten seasons, it will end up introducing a long list of characters additional to the core six friends. One such example is Joey’s casting agent, a chain-smoking woman named Estelle. Played by June Gable, her raspy voice and demeanor made Estelle a memorable character that came off as shady at times.
The only problem with this is that June had previously been cast as a maternity room nurse that was present while Carol was in labor with Ross’ son, Ben. As she isn’t exactly the type of woman that fades into the background, the look of the two characters was different but it was still obvious that it was the same person playing different parts.
Hole In The Wall
A city that was seen as crime-riddled by many at the time Friends aired, many must have thought it was only a matter of time before Joey and Chandler’s apartment was robbed. Fortunately for the two of them, the apartment was only the host of such a terrible crime once.
It is hard to believe as a production error showed the apartment’s lacking security - a literal hole in the wall.
Considering the gap is big enough for many people to fit through, their apartment would be a free-for-all where people take whatever they want. In fact, we can also imagine Joey becoming pals with some of the people that took his stuff, so long as they stayed away from the food.
Less Than Permanent Ink
When Ross and Rachel impulsively wed during a trip to Las Vegas, it caused millions of fans to gasp. Made all the more dramatic by the fact that each of them had writing all over their faces, it all began when Ross jokingly drew on Rachel’s face before their partying began.
Upset that she looked ridiculous, Rachel tried in vain to get the ink off. Ross even called the pen’s manufacturer to learn what to do after trying to use anything he could to get it off. Much to Rachel’s chagrin, when he got off the phone he revealed that the ink was not coming off. Despite that, they woke up covered in ink, but by the time they make it to breakfast it is all gone and their face shows no signs of scrubbing.
Potato Cake Display Case
The Central Perk coffee shop was a business where the gang seemed to spend a lot of time. In real-life, it would have struggled to make money with such customers. Situated in a city where real estate is insanely expensive, the rent for a business like that would have had to be exorbitant. As such, their decision to almost always have cake up for sale on the counter made all the sense in the world.
However, a potato could be seen in the display instead of the usual pastries.
Something we can imagine a crew member laughing hysterically at, it still broke the reality of the show as we are left to wonder why a potato would be anywhere in a coffee shop to begin with.
Barely Ever Working
The show drew a lot of people in because it focused on a group of friends whose lives seemed fantastic - the gang at the heart of Friends had a lot of great things going for them. An extremely close-knit group that was fiercely loyal, over the course of the show almost all of them find love, and in every case they build profound relationships.
The show makes us wish that we could replicate their personal lives, but we don’t all have time in the day to see our pals as often. Of course, in real-life you have to actually spend a good portion of your time at work instead of only going to the office when it is imperative to some ongoing storyline.
Phoebe’s Disbelief
Phoebe has routinely discussed the crazy things she’s done in her youth, at times it seemed like she wouldn’t fit in a group made up of such innocent people.
It never really was a problem until she disbelieved that Rachel had previously made out with a female friend.
Deciding to take Phoebe to dinner with her to meet her old pal, Rachel tried to get her friend, Melissa, to talk about their heated night together. She denies it most of the night, until she finally lays a kiss on her and the truth comes out. The problem with this is that Phoebe should have believed her, as Monica and Rachel made out in front of the group in order to get their apartment back from Joey and Chandler.
Changing View
Like most sitcoms at the time, the show largely took place in a limited number of sets, and for the most part, everything remained consistent in Monica and Rachel’s apartment. Despite that level of attention, it seemed like the production crew was asleep at the wheel when it came to what could be seen out of the kitchen’s window.
For instance, in this meme, we can plainly see that in one episode there was only a brick wall visible, while in another, a window appeared. As it isn’t the type of thing you could easily add to a building, you’re not likely to see windows randomly added like that. Worse yet, in other episodes, that building is gone entirely, and a cityscape is visible. Unless their apartment building can move like it is in a Monty Python sketch, the changing view is quite befuddling.
Rachel And Joey’s Proposal
As a show that managed to remain entertaining until the end, it doesn’t prevent it from having some real lowlights over the run of the series. For instance, for years they did everything they could to keep the will they/won’t they dynamic between Rachel and Ross going, and at times the lengths they went to do this could really be galling. Probably the clearest example of that was after Rachel gave birth to Ross’ baby, when it seemed like Rachel and Ross were going to get back together again for good this time.
It all went backwards when, for some reason, Joey bent down on one knee and Rachel accepted his wedding proposal.
Fans didn’t care how drowsy and tired she was from childbirth or what position Joey was in, his expression made it clear she was accepting a nonexistent proposal.
Inappropriate Family Game
The only members of the core group that are related by blood, Monica and Ross serve as the nucleus of the group. After all, we know that Monica introduced Rachel to the group and Chandler was best friends with Ross. Despite the importance of their relationship to the show, it seemed like writers might have actually forgotten that Ross and Monica actually were siblings.
One of the most alarming examples of this, during the third season finale “The One at the Beach”, the two of them sit down to play a strip version of the Happy Days game at Joey’s insistence. We think the idea is that they are confident Joey will lose, but if there is any chance they may have to undress in front of one another they should never have agreed.
Reserved
Another entry based on the ridiculous business plan that the Central Perk operates on, this time around we are looking at how well this coffee shop treats random people.
As we already brought up, this coffee shop is situated in the heart of New York City.
That means it should be set up to turn tables as quickly as humanly possible, which will allow them to serve anyone who comes in off the street in one of the biggest tourist cities in the world. Despite the obvious business imperative to run it that way, Central Perk’s management made the decision to reserve their best seats for the same group of six people day after day, year after year.
Apartment Size
One of the most common complaints brought up by fans that dwell on the realism of Friends, is that they rent ludicrously large, and therefore expensive apartments. As one of the most expensive cities in the world, in order to be able to afford spaces that big in New York City, you’d have to be independently wealthy.
That is why it makes no sense at all that the gang are able to live there, considering there is an episode in which three of the core group point out they aren’t financially well off. After all, if they don’t have the money to pay for Hootie and the Blowfish tickets, there is no way they could live in apartments like these - even if they are rent controlled.
Chandler’s Introduction
It really is no coincidence that, with their deep roots, the six main characters of the show are so tight, with the possible exceptions of Joey and Phoebe. After all, as we come to know over the run of the series, Ross and Chandler’s friendship dates back to their college days, while Monica and Rachel first became close in high school.
It seems the writers had no plans to have Ross and Chandler’s relationship last so long.
One of the best examples of why we think that is the case, is the first episode Rachel and Chandler are introduced to each other. Something that, in retrospect makes no sense at all, in subsequent episodes it is revealed that they’d known each other for years, even if they were not close.
A Tale of Two Carols
A show that is best remembered for the will they/won’t they nature of Ross and Rachel’s relationship, during the opening minutes of the first episode the only thing on his mind was his crumbling marriage. A relationship that did not work despite actually caring for one another, the fact that Ross’ ex-wife Carol Willick is a lesbian put a permanent end to things.
Her character still appeared in a long list of episodes due to the fact that she gave birth to Ben Geller, Ross’ son. The major problem with that fact is that Carol was portrayed by Anita Barone in her first appearance, and later was replaced by Jane Sibbett. The two women look nothing alike, aside from having blonde hair. There really isn’t any way to pretend like Carol was the same person early on.
Chandler’s Prom Video Reaction
“The One With The Prom Video” had a very apt title as its plot focused on the gang watching old footage of Ross, Rachel, and Monica. The episode ended in an amazing way, as Rachel walked over and kissed Ross.Then there was one of the funniest moments of the episode: when Monica was revealed for the first time in the series during her larger years.
It was also the first time Joey and Chandler saw larger Monica; her size shocked them.
The problem is that we later come to know that Chandler and Monica knew each other when she was overweight. Furthermore, even if she somehow didn’t make an impact on him in any other way at that time, we’re sure he wouldn’t forget that she accidentally cut off part of one of his toes.
Phoebe Eats Monica’s Lasagna
The episode “The One With The Dozen Lasagnas” made it pretty clear that the show’s producers hadn’t decided on one of Phoebe’s principal character traits yet. This season one episode shows Monica cooking a dozen lasagnas for her Aunt Sylvia, who refuses them once she finds out the vegetarian pasta she ordered was cooked with meat.
Sticking Monica with a huge amount of prepared food, she spends the rest of the episode pawning the pasta off on others. Although Joey was more than happy to take a few of the lasagnas himself, she still had some left to give away. However, when Phoebe can be seen munching on the food, it goes directly against the fact that she often speaks about being a vegetarian throughout the rest of the series.
Monica And The Tape
Earlier on this list, we looked at how strange the sibling relationship that Ross and Monica share could be, but there is no example we find grosser than this one. An episode that focused on the latest drama in Ross and Rachel’s lives, “The One With The Videotape” was largely about the night that led to them having a daughter together.
Extensively debating who made the first move, the argument could be settled by a recording Ross accidentally took.
This led to a discussion of whether or not the tape should be watched, and Monica ended up on the wrong side of the issue. Passionately arguing to watch it, we find it hard to believe that she would want to see a recording that ends in her brother getting intimate with her friend even if she said she wanted to turn it off early.
Ross’ Divorces And Finances
As time goes on, Ross Geller ends up divorcing another two women which he is mocked for regularly. Within his group, Ross has become so associated with divorce that even saying his name brings him to mind. In addition to that, he has come up with a nickname for himself based on his failed relationships: the Divorce Force.
Although it is made fun of throughout Friends, the ending of a marriage is a devastating situation the majority of the time - not only emotionally, but financially as well. For that reason, it would only make sense that Ross be broke, especially since Emily hated him enough to try to take him to the cleaners - not to mention he must have been paying child support too!
Which meme was your funniest Friends moment? Let us know in the comments!
