Friends is the type of show that you can watch through, beginning to end, dozens of times. It gets funnier and funnier every time.
But as many times as you may have seen it, or as well as you may think you know it, there are a ton of subtle jokes that you may have missed!
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Let’s get into the ones that flew right over our heads!
1. Joey’s dirty sailing joke.
In the episode where Rachel tries to teach Joey how to sail, she quizzes him, asking if he knows how to get the mainsail up. Joey replies, “Uh, rub it?”
If you were a kid the first time you watched Friends , this one definitely went over your head.
2. The *Of Mice And Men* reference.
In the episode “The One With The Chick And The Duck,” Chandler refers to Joey as “Lennie,” implying that he was worried Joey was going to accidentally harm the chick or the duck.
The joke was subtle and niche, so it went over many of our heads!
3. The Marcel Marceau reference.
In the episode, “The One With The Prom Video,” Joey buys Chandler a gold bracelet and Chandler makes a joke referencing a famous mime named Marcel Marceau.
While the joke was hilarious for anyone who knows who that is, for the rest of us, not so much.
4. Ross’ juice box incident.
If you have a perverted sense of humor, then you definitely got this joke. But many didn’t!
When Ross and Rachel are kissing at the planetarium, Ross accidentally rolls over a juice box that begins to leak. Rachel says: “It’s okay,” implying she thought he had had an accident in his pants. He replies, “What? Oh, no, you just rolled over the juice box.”
5. Joey’s PIN number.
In “The One In Vegas: Part 1,” Joey places a call to Phoebe asking her to tell him what his PIN is because he forgot. He explains that he scratched the number onto the side of an ATM machine. Phoebe asks if it’s “5639,” which it is.
What viewers may have not noticed is that 5639 spells “Joey” on a dial pad. His PIN was his own name and he still forgot.
6. Rachel’s headboard joke.
When Rachel is trying to help Monica after she accidentally bumped Ben’s head, she begins repeatedly banging her own head in the same spot to try and make light of things, only to say, “Y’know, if it’s not a headboard, it’s just not worth it.”
Touché, Rachel Green.
7. Monica’s masturbation reference.
In the episode where Phoebe’s dollhouse catches on fire, Ross rushes it into the bathroom when Monica is showering.
When she comes out of the bathroom she says, “By the way, I was just checking the shower massager.” A very weird thing to say to your older brother, but OK.
8. When Monica and Rachel kiss.
In the episode where Monica and Rachel get their apartment back by kissing each other, Joey and Chandler go back to their respective bedrooms suspiciously quickly.
Why were they in such a hurry to go to their rooms? Think about it!
9. The Spanish reference.
At Rachel’s baby shower, while she and her mom are discussing the difficulties of raising a child, Mrs. Green suggests that Rachel hire a nanny.
She explains that she used a nanny when Rachel was young and she even taught her a bit of Spanish. Rachel says that she remembers some of the Spanish, including the phrase, “Tu madre es loca,” which translates to “your mother is crazy.”
10. Carol’s hair joke.
In “The One Without The Ski Trip,” Ross stops by his ex-wife’s apartment to drop off her car that he borrowed.
When Carole opens the door, she appears to be removing a hair from her teeth. The joke implied here was an easy one to overlook.
11. The Rachel-haircut reference.
For years, Rachel’s iconic haircut has been one that so many have requested from their hairstylists. In “The One With The Lesbian Wedding,” Rachel references her own famous haircut.
Her mom reveals that she is inspired by Rachel’s newfound independence and, therefore, is divorcing Rachel’s father. Rachel responds by suggesting her mom could have just copied her haircut instead.
12. Ross’ hilarious chalkboard messages.
In “The One With Rachel’s Book,” while Ross is teaching his class, there are some subtly funny messages written on the chalkboard behind his head that not everyone caught on to.
Take a look next time!
13. Chandler’s Q-tip joke.
In “The One With Ross’s New Girlfriend,” Joey suggests that Chandler pay a visit to the tailor that the Tribiani family had been using for ages. When Joey can’t remember exactly how long he’s been seeing this tailor, Chandler suggests this is why Joey needs to stop pushing Q-tips in his ears when he feels resistance. The implication is that Joey has damaged his brain this way.
14. Norma Rae.
When Rachel is worried that Gavin is taking her job, Ross gets heated thinking about what he will do if she gets fired so Rachel calls him Norma Rae. Norma Rae is a movie about a woman who formed a union with her co-workers.
If you never saw the movie, you likely never got the joke.
15. Rachel’s coffee killed the plant.
This joke went unnoticed by most people!
In the first episode, Rachel serves Joey and Chandler coffee, and it’s so bad that they pour it into a potted plant. Later on, the plant can be seen dead in the background! Her coffee was that bad!
16. Chandler’s secret stash.
During the Christmas present hunt, Chandler exclaims, “You don’t, like, go into the back of my closet, and look under my gym bag or anything? BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE JOEY GAVE ME SOME STUFF TO STORE THAT I’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN MY LIFE!”
As kids, we never knew what this meant. As adults, we know it’s dirty.
17. Little Bo Peep
As children, when we found out that Chandler kept Rachel’s inflatable sheep from her Little Bo Peep outfit, we thought it was because Chandler just really liked sheep.
As adults, we think it’s because he liked it a little too much .
18. Chandler made a mess of the cookbook.
As Ross and Joey go through the recipe book to check out Rachel’s trifle recipe, Ross gets frustrated because the pages are stuck together.
Joey exclaims, “Chandler!”
We once thought it meant Chandler was a messy cook. Now, we know he is messy, but it has nothing to do with cooking.
19. Dudley Moore’s most famous film.
While everyone is sitting around the table commenting on Monica’s hair (which was cut accidentally to look like Dudley Moore’s), Ross says to Monica, “Well I like it. I do. I think its a 10.”
Dudley Moore’s most famous film was 10 .
20. Joey’s interview.
When Joey takes a magazine to look at a crossword, he exclaims, “Three down, Days Of Our Lives star blank Tribbiani. That’s me! I’m blank!”
This is a clever nod to the actor’s last name Matt LeBlanc.
21. *Alvin and the Chipmunks*
When Ross asks Chandler, “Do you know who Carl is?” Chandler responds, “Let’s see, Alvin, Simon, Theodore…no.”
Unless you watched Alvin and the Chipmunks as a child, you wouldn’t have noticed this joke.
22. Joey’s motto.
When Monica is interested in making money on stocks, she says, “My motto is get out before they go down.” Joey responds, “That is so not my motto.”
When we were younger, we thought this was about investments. Now that we’re older and wiser, we know better.
Well, there you have it! I’m sure there are even more subtle jokes from *Friends* that have gone over our heads, but it might take a few more views to catch on!
Let us know what your favorite low-key Friends joke is in the comments below!
We would love to hear from you!
