Even 15 years after Friends ended its broadcast run, it’s nice to know that whatever else is happening, we can always switch on the show and Monica, Joey, Chandler, Rachel, Ross, and Phoebe will be there for us. Especially since so much of the show is just as funny today as it was when it first aired.
It would be impossible to capture all the hilarious quotes from Friends in a single list, but these 10 are some of the most memorable. And no matter how many times we hear them. they always make us chuckle.
“YOU’RE OVER ME? WHEN WERE YOU...UNDER ME?”
Ross and Rachel ended up together in the end, but it took them a long time to get there. Ross uttered this gem in the Season 2 episode “The One Where Ross Finds Out” after Rachel left him a drunken voicemail revealing she had feelings for him, but was now over them.
Ross had harbored a crush on Rachel for years, so the fact that Rachel finally returned his affections was news to him. This was his shocked and confused way of expressing his surprise.
“WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE? CUSTARD? GOOD. JAM? GOOD. MEAT? GOOD.”
In the Season 6 Thanksgiving episode “The One Where Ross Got High”, Monica gives Rachel the responsibility of making the dessert for the gang’s annual feast. Rachel’s not a great cook but in this case, it wasn’t her cooking that was the problem. It was the fact that the pages of her cookbook got stuck together, resulting in her making half an English trifle and half a Shepherd’s pie. So Rachel’s dinner-ending masterpiece combined custard, jam, bananas, and beef. Yum!
Almost everyone who tried it was grossed out. Ross probably summed it up best: “It tastes like feet!” Then there was Joey, who was fine having a little beef mixed into his dessert. He has a point — it all goes to the same place in the end. Although, you have to wonder about Joey’s taste buds.
“I’M NOT GREAT AT THE ADVICE. CAN I INTEREST YOU IN A SARCASTIC COMMENT?”
In the Season 8 episode “The One with the Tea Leaves,” Rachel desperately wants to get her friendship with Joey back on track after rejecting his proposal that they take things to the next level. Once the pair finally hang out though, things are incredibly awkward. Afterward, Rachel expresses her fears about the friendship to Chandler.
Chandler tries to be encouraging but he also knows his limits, leading to this self-aware quote. It’s good to play to your strengths and that’s exactly what Chandler’s trying to do, even if it doesn’t help Rachel much.
“YOU CAN’T JUST GIVE UP! IS THAT WHAT A DINOSAUR WOULD DO?”
In Friends’ final episode “The Last One,” Ross wants to get back together with Rachel but is having a terrible time admitting his feelings to her. It doesn't help that he's on the clock. Rachel’s moving to Paris and he has to speak up before she boards her plane, but he’s wavering. So Phoebe and Joey try to encourage him.
Joey in particular attempts to reach Ross with this message tailored just for him. When Ross looks confused, Joey tells the paleontologist, “Dude, I’m just trying to speak your language.” Good effort, Joey.
“PIVOT!”
For Friends fans, this single word is packed with meaning. Who hasn’t imitated Ross shouting at Rachel and Chandler when moving furniture? In the Season 5 episode “The One with the Cop,” Ross buys a new couch and decides the delivery fee is too steep. So he takes it upon himself to carry the couch home.
Except Ross and the gang aren’t exactly expert movers. The stairs up to Ross’ apartment prove to be impossible to maneuver the couch around. Ross isn't ready to give up though, so he repeatedly shouts this one word to get his friends on the same page. But no matter what he says, Rachel and Chandler can't make the couch budge and eventually Ross' cajoling leads Chandler to shout back, “Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"
“THAT'S RIGHT, I STEPPED UP! SHE'S MY FRIEND AND SHE NEEDED HELP. IF I HAD TO, I'D PEE ON ANY ONE OF YOU!”
At the beginning of Season 4, the gang take a beach vacation where Monica gets stung by a jellyfish. She’s in a great deal of pain and can’t walk. Then Joey remembers a way to help.
Yep, he remembers that urine can quell the pain of a jellyfish sting. And when Monica can’t bend the right way to take care of it herself, she turns to Joey. Joey’s willingness to help a friend in need leads to this hysterical quote that speaks to both the gross thing he did and how loyal he is.
“HE’S A TRANSPONS, A TRANSPONSTER!”
One of the great things about having friends is getting to know all about them. Rachel, Joey, Chandler, and Monica are close. so you would think they’d have some basic facts about one another down — like their jobs.
However, when Rachel and Monica take on Chandler and Joey in a trivia contest about each other in the Season 4 episode “The One With All the Embryos,” the women stumble when asked this very simple question. Then, Rachel has a flash of inspiration and spits out this nonsensical job title, leading Monica to inform her that, “That’s not even a word!”
“YOU DON’T OWN A TV? WHAT’S ALL YOUR FURNITURE POINTED AT?”
We still want an answer to this question posed by Joey in the Season 9 episode “The One in Barbados: Part 1.” The whole gang goes to Ross’ paleontology conference in Barbados to hear him give a speech. Everyone is fascinated to learn that in that environment, Ross is like a celebrity.
Of course, Joey is actually a soap opera star and is used to people knowing who he is. But when Ross introduces him to one of his excited fans and she brushes him off by telling him she doesn’t own a TV, it leads Joey to this probing query.
“ISN’T THAT JUST KICK-YOU-IN-THE-CROTCH, SPIT-ON-YOUR-NECK FANTASTIC?”
When Ross returns from a work trip to China in the Season 2 premiere, he doesn’t return alone. He comes back with a brand-new girlfriend named Julie. This development doesn’t go over well with Rachel, who meets Ross at the airport in the hopes that she will get together with him.
When Rachel arrives home with the happy new couple, Ross and Julie regale the group with the story of how they met. Meanwhile, Rachel makes her feelings known with this response to the couple's tale. It continues to be the perfect quote in any situation where you want to sarcastically express your (non)enthusiasm.
“YEAH, IT’S LIKE A COW’S OPINION. IT JUST DOESN’T MATTER. IT’S MOO.”
The Season 7 episode, “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs,” will go down in history for introducing the world to the concept of a “moo” point. Joey was never the brightest bulb, and sometimes he didn’t get words just right.
So while the rest of us declared something of minimal practical value a “moot” point, Joey had developed his own spin on the idea. And strangely, his definition of a moo point kind of makes sense, leading us to periodically invoke his term in casual conversation.