Friends has a classic scene where Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) kick back in their new leather lounge chairs, but Perry wasn't a fan of the recliner storyline originally. This revelation came up during the Friends reunion special when the cast visited the recreated versions of the show's well-known sets. The new set of Joey and Chandler's apartment featured brown leather replicas of the two black Barcalounger chairs that had turned them into couch potatoes for an episode in season 2.
Throughout all ten seasons of Friends, the characters spent ample time at their apartments and at the Central Perk coffee shop as they navigated life in New York City. The series wrapped up in 2004, a decade after it first debuted on NBC. Though Friends achieved significant acclaim during its original run on television, it's now become a cult favorite with newfound popularity in recent years. The Friends reunion special released on HBO Max on May 27, 2021, much to the delight of fans who begged for a reunion for nearly two decades. Among the new details that came out of the reunion special include the making of Janice's laugh, Matt LeBlanc's on-set shoulder injury, and Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer's latent romantic feelings for one another early on in the series.
Another piece of trivia from the Friends reunion was Matthew Perry's dislike for the Barcalounger concept. "The One Where Ross and Rachel...You Know" is the episode that's best known as the beginning of Ross and Rachel's romantic - and physical - relationship. But another storyline within the episode takes place entirely within Joey's apartment, which hosted each main character. The episode features Joey, who is now a soap opera star, purchasing a big screen TV and two iconic leather lounge chairs for himself and Chandler. The roommates first kick back in their new chairs with dramatic gusto, and though the other friends try, they can't convince the pair to leave the recliners.
It was a simplistic plot device, and for that reason, Perry wasn't a fan of the idea at first. As he and LeBlanc sat in the chairs during the filming for the Friends reunion, which also revealed that the Friends writers didn't know what Chandler's job was, LeBlanc brought up their memorable episode. "Do you remember the beginning of the week after the table draft? You came to me and you go, 'It's so stupid!'" he said to Perry. "And I was like, 'Yeah, but that's the brilliance.'"
LeBlanc went on to say that once he pointed out the episode's potential, Perry seemed to warm up to the idea. "You were like, 'Oh, maybe we can have fun with this,'" he reminded Perry. Once the scenes were filmed, Perry ended up loving it. The episode did breed some funny moments, from Chandler's deadpan line "You have a Cheeto on your face, man" to the two of them refusing to leave the chairs even when the building's fire alarms went off. But nothing from the episode can seem to top the moment they first sit down, especially the accompanying sounds. It became one of the most iconic moments for Joey and Chandler during Friends, and it's crazy to think that Matthew Perry was reluctant to have it happen.