Friends is full of memorable moments and characters, and even the main cast has its own favorite episodes, and they have different reasons to love these stories. The 1990s saw a variety of sitcoms of which many became very popular, but one that has maintained its status as one of the greatest TV shows of all time is Friends. Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman. Friends premiered on NBC in 1994 and came to an end in 2004 after a lot of ups and downs in the lives of the main characters and various unforgettable jokes.

Friends centered on a group of six young adults living in New York City and doing their best to balance their social, personal, and professional lives, all while dealing with everything that adulthood threw their way. Over the course of ten seasons, viewers got to know Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, Joey, Rachel, and Ross quite well, and they saw them grow from 20-somethings trying to figure out their lives to (a bit more responsible) adults with their own families (except for Joey, whose arc came to a full end in the spinoff series Joey). As such, each season had a slightly different tone as the audience matured alongside the characters, but each one has some truly memorable episodes.

Related: Friends: The Only Characters In All 10 Seasons (Besides The Main Six)

Fans of Friends have ranked the best and worst episodes of the show for years, but the main cast also has its favorite episodes, and given that they were part of the process and actually lived through it, they have some interesting reasons to love the episodes they do. Here are the favorite episodes of the main cast of Friends and why they love them.

The One With The Blackout

Friends Rachel meers Paolo in the blackout

Friends season 1 saw the episode “The One With The Blackout”, where the tension surrounding the potential relationship between Ross and Rachel grew when a third player was added into the mix: Paolo (Cosimo Fusco). In this episode, a power outage leaves New York City in complete darkness and the main group finding ways to kill time: Chandler is trapped in an ATM with Victoria's Secret’s model Jill Goodacre, and the rest are telling stories at Monica’s apartment. Joey encourages Ross to tell Rachel how he really feels, and just as he’s trying to do so on the balcony, a cat jumps to Ross’ shoulder and attacks him. Rachel and Phoebe then go knocking on every neighbor's door to find the owner of the cat and they finally find him: Paolo, an Italian man who quickly catches Rachel’s attention.

Courteney Cox shared during a Friends reunion in 2016 (via TV Insider) that “The One With The Blackout” is one of her favorite episodes, and that she loved “the cat on Ross’ back” – and with good reason, as the episode has a very funny scene where Ross tries to shake off the cat while Joey, Phoebe, and Monica sing inside, completely oblivious to Ross’ struggles. David Schwimmer told Glamour in 2016 that, while he wouldn’t call this one his favorite episode, he definitely loved doing it.

The One With The Prom Video

Rachel and Ross kiss in Friends

Friends season 2 saw a key moment in Ross and Rachel’s relationship in the episode “The One With The Prom Video”. In it, Joey gives Chandler a tacky, gold bracelet to Chandler as thanks for everything he has done for him, Monica has a terrible job interview at a restaurant and considers borrowing money from her parents, and Ross continues to apologize to Rachel for the list he wrote of “pros and cons” of her, while Rachel refuses to forgive him. Meanwhile, Ross and Monica’s parents, Jack and Judy, are turning Monica’s old room into a gym and bring her boxes with all her stuff, including a tape of her and Rachel getting ready for their senior prom. In it, Rachel’s date seems to have stood her up, so Jack tells Ross to step in and take her to prom. Sadly, just as Ross prepared to come down the stairs, all dressed up in a tuxedo, Rachel’s date arrived and she and Monica left without looking back. The video ends with a heartbroken Ross, but after seeing what he did, Rachel stands up and kisses him, forgiving him for the whole “list” incident, and officially starting their (tumultuous) relationship.

Related: Friends: Ross & Rachel Were On A Break, But That’s Not The Problem

Also during the 2016 reunion, Jennifer Aniston shared that the flashback episodes of Friends have a special place in her heart, and she loved having things like “flashbacks to fat Monica and Rachel pre-nose job and Ross with his afro”, which are the exact looks they had in “The One With The Prom Video”. This episode in particular is often ranked among the best of the series, so Aniston’s love for it is shared with many fans of the show.

The One With The Holiday Armadillo

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Friends season 7 was witness to the arrival of the Holiday Armadillo in the episode appropriately titled “The One With The Holiday Armadillo”. While Phoebe is trying to drive Rachel away from keeping on living with Joey as the renovations on her apartment are finished, Ross learns he’s having his son, Ben, for the holidays, and it’s the perfect opportunity to teach him about their Jewish heritage. However, Ross’ plans don’t go as expected and he can’t get a Christmas suit, but he does get an Armadillo suit, thus becoming “The Holiday Armadillo”. Now in character, Ross tries to teach Ben all about Hanukkah, but Chandler arrives dressed as Santa Claus to help him out, and Ben now only has eyes for good ol’ Santa. Ben doesn’t want Santa to leave, so Chandler agrees to stay as long as the Holiday Armadillo tells them the story of Hanukkah – but they are interrupted again when Joey arrives dressed as Superman. Ross finally gets to finish his story, and they all gather around to light the Hanukkah candles.

As uncomfortable as the armadillo suit looks, David Schwimmer actually had a great time shooting that specific episode, and shared that “‘The One With the Holiday Armadillo’ was fun! I mean, it was really fun”, and he hopes to show that episode to his daughter one day. Surely, no one expected to see an armadillo, Santa Claus, and Superman in the same room, and that randomness and more ultimately made this episode one of the funniest ones in Friends.

The One with George Stephanopoulos

Friends Chandler Joey Rangers ER

Back to Friends season 1, another favorite of the main cast is “The One With George Stephanopoulos”. This episode saw Rachel, Phoebe, and Monica doing a slumber party at Monica’s apartment after Phoebe couldn’t sleep at her apartment and Rachel had a tough day. The three women eat cookie dough, drink all the “Tiki Death Punch”, and order a pizza, but the delivery boy brings them the wrong order, one that was meant for George Stephanopoulos, President Clinton’s press secretary. The girls then spy on George and his date on the balcony, get drunk, start telling secrets about each other and get into a minor fight, before reconciling as George drops his towel. Meanwhile, Ross, Joey, and Chandler go to a New York Rangers game to cheer Ross up (as that day was the anniversary of when he and Carol first slept together). The game takes a turn when Ross is hit in the face with the puck and they have to rush to the ER.

Related: Friends: Why Carol, Ross' Ex-Wife, Was Recast

“The One With George Stephanopoulos” is one of Matt LeBlanc’s favorites, and he shared during the 2016 reunion that Joey playing with the puck as if it was about to hit him like it did Ross is one of his favorite Joey moments in Friends. That Joey moment was actually suggested by director James Burrows, and LeBlanc gave him credit for it.

The One With Joey’s New Brain

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The main cast of Friends has another favorite episode from season 7: “The One With Joey’s New Brain”. In it, Joey’s character in Days of our Lives, Dr. Drake Ramoray, finally comes out of a coma thanks to getting a transplant of a woman’s brain. Back at Monica’s apartment, Ross announces to Monica and Chandler that he’s preparing a surprise for their wedding: he’s going to play bagpipes, but he’s very bad at it. Meanwhile, Rachel and Phoebe notice a cute man left his cell phone at Central Perk and do their best to find him and give it back, but it turns out he was just the assistant of the real owner, who was a 60-something-year-old man.

In an interview with E! in 2017, Lisa Kudrow was asked about her favorite Friends episode and replied that “when Ross was learning to play, wanted to play the bagpipes”. At the end of the episode, Ross shows his “skills” with the bagpipes by supposedly playing “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang, and invites his friends to sing along. Phoebe is the only one who jumps into it and “sings” along with whatever Ross is playing, becoming one of the most memorable Phoebe moments in Friends (and one so funny you can even see Jennifer Aniston trying not to laugh). Lisa Kudrow couldn’t keep a serious face when reminiscing about this episode, and it’s easy to see why it’s her favorite.

The One With Ross’ New Girlfriend

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Friends season 2 saw the episode “The One With Ross’ New Girlfriend”, which was also key in the development of Ross and Rachel’s relationship. In it, Monica convinces Phoebe to cut her hair but it has disastrous results, Chandler goes to Joey’s tailor and has a traumatic experience, and Rachel decides to tell Ross what she feels about him, so she waits for him at the airport. However, Ross returns from his trip to China with a new girlfriend: Julie, who he met in graduate school and comes across during the trip. Rachel has a really hard time accepting Ross’ new relationship and gets back with Paolo for one night, but eventually realizes that Ross is happy with Julie.

“The One With Ross’ New Girlfriend” is a favorite of Matthew Perry, as revealed on Good Morning America in 2017. Perry shared that his favorite one-liner comes from this particular episode, when Joey can’t remember how old he was when he got his first suit, going “I was 15. No wait, 16. No, excuse me, 15” and finally “Alright, when was 1990?”before Perry ad-libbed his response about stopping the Q-tip when you feel resistance. Yes, it wasn’t a happy episode for Chandler, but at least this episode of Friends gave Perry his favorite line in the show.

Next: Friends: How All The Characters Met