30 little-known 'Friends' facts and trivia you didn't know about the show
It's hard to imagine after 10 seasons, Friends could have a different show name, a different theme song, and a completely different cast!
Twenty years after its release, Friends fans are still discovering surprising facts, quirky set details and resurfaced interviews that change everything you thought you knew about your favourite show.
Stream every episode of Friends here on Stan.
We dived deep into the world of Friends to uncover the most surprising facts and trivia there is.
Scroll through to find out!
Everyone's last name in the opening for 'The One After Vegas' changes
In a sweet tribute to the then real-life newly weds Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette, everyone's last names in the opening credits included "Arquette".
Courteney and David were married from 1999 to 2013.
The hit comedy wasn't always called Friends
Could you imagine Friends by any other name? The show had four other working titles, confirmed by creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane.
They were 'Six of One', 'Across the Hall', 'Friends Like Us', and 'Insomnia Cafe', before everyone settled on Friends.
"The morning we were being told it was going [to air] on Thursday nights, (Executive Producer) Kevin Bright said they wanted us to change the title to Friends," Kauffman recalled.
He joked that if they had a Thursday night time slot, they could be called anything for all they cared.
Little did they know what a success the show would be!
The Thanksgiving trifle scene was grosser than you think
In Season 6, when Joey devours Rachel's Thanksgiving meat trifle, actor Matt LeBlanc revealed quite a gross detail - he ended up eating some of David Schwimmer's spittle.
"There was too much on his plate," Matt recalled during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. "So he starts to eat it all and he can't finish it and he starts laughing, so we cut. As we're cutting, he kind of spits it back on his plate.
"I'm sitting right next to him, and I'm looking the other way. I didn't see him spit it back on his plate.
"I scrape some on my plate, and I go, 'Here, let's go again.' And we go again. And I'm eating it and we finished the take. No one says anything to me."
Courteney Cox had a sneaky way of remembering her lines on set
During Friends: The Reunion, Matt Le Blanc revealed the secret way Courteney Cox (Monica) remembered her lines after all these years.
As the former co-stars waited for Courteney to arrive, Matt toured the kitchen of Monica's old New York apartment.
"Does Courteney still have her lines written on the table?" he asked his co-stars.
Looking back, Matt continued: "I never knew she did that. I saw it and I was like 'what is that?' and she was like 'what? Mind your business'," he laughed.
But it turns out that wasn't Courteney's only set secret.
"That's why there was a script in the sink," Matt added. "It was Courteney's script."
Walking in on the conversation, Courteney hilariously revealed one more of her tricks.
"I had so much of my dialogue within these apples," she smiled referring to the apples on the table.
The famous fountain first appeared in another movie
While many tourists claim New York City's Pulitzer Fountain to be the iconic water feature in the opening credits, that's not the case. It was the inspiration however!
The now famous fountain came from the Warner Bros. ranch and first appeared in a famous Bette Midler movie.
You can spot the fountain in Hocus Pocus released a year prior (1993) sitting in the school's front yard.
Ross saying 'Rachel' instead of 'Emily' wasn't scripted
In one of the most memorable (and hilarious) moments of the show, Ross famously calls his bride Emily the wrong name at the altar.
As it turns out, David Schwimmer (Ross) came up with the idea, by accident!
During rehearsals Schwimmer accidentally said, "Rachel, the taxi's here" instead of "Emily, the taxi's here."
The writers then looked at each other and went, that is exactly how it should happen.
Justin Timberlake wanted to be in the series
Out of all the celebrity cameos across 10 epic seasons, Justin Timberlake had to say 'bye, bye, bye' to his guest role.
Creators revealed Justin called up and was interested in being on the show.
"We had a meeting with him and he was lovely, but we didn't have a good part for him," Friends creator David Crane revealed.
"My kids were furious," joked co-creator Marta Kauffman.
The role of Ross was written for David Schwimmer
Fans say David Schwimmer didn't have to audition for the role of Ross - and that's totally true!
The shows creators said they were big fans of Schwimmer and "really wrote the character of Ross with Schwimmer in mind".
David Schwimmer wasn't interested at first and thought he'd pursue theatre instead, and thanks to a push from his agent, he read the script.
The original pilot had only four main characters
The original concept of the hit TV show was centered around four main friends and two secondary characters. Phoebe and Chandler were meant to be supporting roles, adding humour when needed.
After the actors were cast, the creators knew they had to include them as main stars.
"They became so central to the ensemble," said show creator Marta Kauffman in the book Friends Secrets: 236 Episodes, Thousands of Facts.
