For the most part, Friends is pretty grounded in reality, and, except for some weird character traits and the question of how the characters could possibly afford their apartments, the show is fairly normal compared to shows like Seinfeld.
However, the show is fantastic but flawed, as there are moments sprinkled throughout the series that are completely bewildering and make no sense being in the series whatsoever. Whether is assaulting a naked man, unecessarily vindictive and vengeful siblings, or a doppelgänger with almost the exact same name, Friends has certainly had its bizarre moments.
The Hand Twin
When Joey was struggling in Las Vegas, he was scraping the bottom of the barrel for any kind of fame, but, when he claims he found his hand twin, it doesn’t exactly feel like Friends humor. It’s completely bizarre, and it actually feels more like a Seinfeld episode than a Friends episode. Even though Joey seemed to get dumber and dumber with each passing season, there’s no possible way he could have ever thought somebody had the exact same hand as him.
Phoebe’s Running
Given that she knows she’s running to exercise and get fit, Phoebe still runs in a way that she thinks makes her feel free, which is to almost skip with her hands waving in the air.
When Phoebe runs, she looks like an inflatable arm-flailing tube man that can be seen outside car dealerships. There’s no proper reasoning behind why she does it even though she’s doing it intentionally, but what’s even weirder is that she’s offended when Rachel understandably doesn’t want to run with her.
The Crying Stripper
Friends is known for many of its special guests. Whether it’s Bruce Willis showing up as the father of the student that Ross is dating, Brad Pitt as a former classmate of Rachel’s, or Reece Witherspoon as her sister, it’s always a joy to watch when A-listers enter Central Perk.
But the weirdest of them all was when Danny DeVito rocked up at Monica’s apartment with a boombox dressed as a policeman. Hired to strip for Phoebe for her bachelorette party, the stripper starts crying after Phoebe was repulsed, and it’s one of the strangest interactions in the whole series.
Ross And Monica Making Out
Monica might be one of the most romantic female characters of the show, but it might have gone a little too far when it was revealed that she and Ross made out when they were in college. There were so many things wrong about this; not only is there the obvious incestuous nature of the event, but we find it difficult to believe that the two failed to recognize each other when all of this was going down.
Plus, Ross mentions that the girl he made out with was under a pile of coats, Monica responds by saying that she was the pile of coats, and the whole scenario is a massive stretch for such a bizarre premise.
Phoebe’s Twin Sister Is An Adult Movie Star
Phoebe is almost like a character from a much weirder TV show who was airlifted out and then dropped into Friends, as her narrative is so unaligned with the more grounded story arcs of the other characters.
Not only is she estranged from her family, including her twin sister, but her sister is also in the adult movie business. But, it doesn’t end there, as Ursula's on-screen pseudonym is her sister’s name. There are so many levels of absurdity here, and, given that Ursula could have used any fake name, her reasoning behind using her sister’s name is just odd.
The Holiday Armadillo
Ross has always been one of the weirder characters on the show, but only in that his social skills aren’t that great and that he makes some dumb relationship decisions. Aside from that, Ross is fairly level-headed, which makes the whole situation of renting an armadillo outfit so bizarre.
It might be the best part of season seven, but, in the costume store, there’d surely be a whole slew of outfits more convenient, and he could have even dressed up as an Elf. Some people probably didn’t even know what an armadillo was before watching the show. An armadillo costume is so specific, though that’s admittedly what makes it so hilarious.
Ross’ Unwarranted Rage
Ross is the only character who has been consistently employed for most of the show, as the others have had some wild jobs over the years, but the stability of his employment has been touch and go a few times.
The best example of this was when a colleague of his ate the iconic Moist Maker sandwich, and Ross screamed at him so loudly that the whole of New York heard him. Though it was all built up anger, to release all that stress and emotion over a sandwich is the weirdest moment Ross has ever had.
Poking A Naked Man With A Stick
As the early seasons of the show found the friends having a strange obsession with the naked man who lived in the opposing building, which was already strange in itself, it gets a lot worse. When they realize that the naked guy looks unconscious and that he hasn’t moved in a while, the gang worries that he might be dead.
Instead of calling 911 or some other logical idea, the friends instead craft a giant stick, stretch it over to the other building, and start poking away at him. Considering how six grown adults couldn’t think to call emergency services makes people think that maybe they kind of wanted to poke him with a stick.
Russ
An episode featuring Doppelgangers of the main characters seems to be an arc that every sitcom has to feature as a right of passage, as it’s happened on Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, and so many other comedy shows—and Friends is no exception.
When Ross and Rachel break up for the first of many times, Rachel starts dating a man named Russ, who looks identical to Ross. What makes this so strange is that Rachel doesn’t see the resemblance, even given the fact that their names are exactly the same except for one vowel. As this was just in season two, the show was still fairly grounded in reality, which makes Russ stand out as bizarre even more.
Phoebe Gives Birth To Her Brother’s Triplets
Adding even more dimensions to the most bizarre family dynamic ever found in a sitcom, the whole season arc of Phoebe being the surrogate for her brother’s triplets is the most absurd narrative of the entire series. When she finally does give birth, it’s one of the classic Friends episodes every fan has seen, but, given that she gives birth to not one, not two, but three babies, it’s something that would have only have ever happened to Phoebe.