Friends is one of the most iconic and beloved sitcoms of all time. The show took a concept that so many of us are familiar with (a band of twentysomethings in New York struggling to juggle careers and love lives with each other's help) and made it into a phenomenon. Today, over fifteen years after the finale aired, it continues to resonate with viewers (even if certain elements do betray their outdated 90s setting).
Of course, this would never be the case without a cast of quirky, relatable, believable, flawed and (most importantly) hilarious characters. Who is the funniest member of the core Friends gang? Let’s take a look!
Rachel
Of course, for the show’s legions of fans, every member is a vital component of the Friends machine. They’re all hilarious in their own ways and have their own stand-out moments. For us, though, Rachel may be the least funny.
It’s a tough call, but it seems as though her most iconic storylines tended towards the poignant and serious. Her on-again-off-again relationship with Ross, her pregnancy, her disastrous attempt at a relationship with Joey… Rachel had her darn funny moments like everybody else (her desperate attempt to remember what Chandler’s job was during Ross’s quiz was a highlight), but it would be tough to rate her any higher when it comes to funniness
Monica
Now, there’s no doubt that Monica is the most straight-laced and responsible member of the group. Ross is also right up there (must be that Geller blood again), but his neurotic, cleaning-addicted sister really takes the cake in that regard.
As with so many sitcom characters, Monica doesn’t tend to be intentionally funny herself. She’s delivered all kinds of priceless snarky lines, but most often, the Monica-related laughs come from the rest of the gang laughing at her and her obsessive cleaning regimen. Or, in the flashback episodes, at her former size. She tends to be at her funniest when she’s bouncing off another member of the group (when she was performing "The Routine" with Ross at the New Year's Eve party, for instance) than under her own steam.
Ross
Ross is quite a difficult member of the group to place. On the one hand, he’s been involved in some of the most brilliant, ridiculous and brilliantly ridiculous plotlines in the show’s history. From PIVOT! to his spray tan mishap and the leather pants incident, David Schwimmer proved to have a great aptitude for physical comedy over the course of the show.
At heart, though, Ross isn’t an intentionally ‘funny’ sort of guy. He’s somebody that these sorts of situations tend to happen to, so he’s hilarious more at his own expense rather than under his own steam. There’s quite an important difference there, which is why we’ve rated him in the middle of the pack.
Joey
Well, yes. For many Friends fans, Joey is one of the finest sitcom characters ever created. He’s naïve, he’s very endearing, he experiences true growth over the course of the series (just look at his response to his blossoming-yet-doomed love for Rachel later in the show’s run), he brings us some absurd storylines and he’s just so lovable.
When it comes to raw funniness, though, the picture’s just a little muddy. Situations like his failed attempt to speak French for an audition prove that the show may have pushed the whole "Joey’s a little dim-witted thing" a bit too far as the end of the run approached. Regardless, though, this is still the priceless Joey Tribbiani we’re talking about. Whether he’s packing every possible kind of meat into a sandwich or auditioning for yet another questionable play, he’s a character we just can’t help laughing at.
Phoebe
Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe is a character unlike most you’d tend to find in a sitcom. Her past must have been truly harrowing for her, but she maintains a childlike lust for life and relentless optimism. Even when she’s telling off-hand stories about the terrible experiences of her childhood, she manages to raise a laugh because she’s so chipper as she talks. Without Lisa Kudrow’s priceless delivery of these lines, Phoebe could easily have been a very dark, very sorrowful character. Luckily, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The other element of Phoebe that makes her so funny is, of course, her musical career. This struggling musician (as soon as you hear her material, you understand why she’s struggling) is committed to playing the guitar (although she can’t play the guitar), singing (although she can’t sing) and writing songs (as silly and/or inappropriate as her songs tend to be). You can never be quite sure what she’s going to say/sing, which makes her a priceless and quirky sitcom icon generations of fans can and will fall in love with. Still, the last member of the group just beats her out in terms of funniness.
Chandler
Well, surely this was inevitable from the outset. When it comes to Friends’ funniest main character, who else but the relentlessly snarky Chandler Bing could have taken the top spot? Very early in the show, he establishes himself as the joker of the gang (every group has one), always poised to drop an inspired one-liner or withering remark whenever and wherever he can.
This is largely because he uses humor as a defense mechanism and is still super bitter about his parents’ divorce (hence his hatred of Thanksgiving, the holiday during which his parents told him they were separating). The Friends funnyman managed to steadily get over all of his insecurities and past hangups as the series progressed. Later, he wasn’t as stingingly sarcastic as he used to be, but Matthew Perry’s delivery of a great line remained just as flawless as it always had been. Chandler is intentionally funny, while his friends tend to have their exaggerated character traits played for laughs. The funniest character on the show for sure.