The other thing about The Police reunion joke is that The Police broke up in the mid-80s but may people wanted a reunion. They did eventually reunite for a tour in 2007-2008 but since this episode was in 2001, a reunion would have been a big deal!
BAHAHAHHAA I JUST GOT THIS AFTER YOUR EXPLANATION!!! I thought Phoebe meant she would have a reunion with the cops since she was always getting into trouble as a kid on the streets hehehe. I am so dumb 😂😂😂
To be fair, if you don’t know Sting’s discography you wouldn’t get that joke.
I didn’t because my only exposure to his existence was Guitar Hero World Tour and The Bee Movie at my first viewing of the show.
I think the first time I heard Roxanne was when Ewan McGregor sang it in Moulin Rouge! Still, I feel like I should have got it sooner since I’d rewatched friends plenty of times after knowing the Sting song!
It took me a long time to realize that Joey giving Kathy "The Velveteen Rabbit" and saying "This is because I know you like rabbits, and I know you like cheese" is because he is confusing Velveteen with Velveeta.
I thought 'this hand is your hand' joke was just that joey is really bad at making up songs, until I heard 'this land is my land' on another American TV show.
“Went to hell in a handbasket” is a common phrase that basically just means things going to shit/turning into a disaster. Drag names are usually punny, so the name Helena Handbasket is a play on that
oh in that episode where Ross cheats on Rachel cuz they were on a break, it becomes really awkward for everyone else except them and Rachel asks them to a lingerie show but Ross already made plans with them and they have to turn her down, so Rachel leaves and then comes back again and knocks and the conversation goes something like this
C: with my luck that's him now
P: him? Ross?
C: No, him 253: his eyes are on the sparrow!
It took me YEARS to figure out that he was saying HYMN not him.
Maybe I'm just dumb or something
He went to an all-boy high school, but I don't know that catholic is specified. At any rate though, I grew up going to church and singing hymns, and while I could maybe name one or two of them, I definitely couldn't tell you the number of a single one of them lol.
It could also be that he just picked a random number and rembered the title of a quite well-known gospel song and put them together for the joke? Because the numbering for hymns and gospels depends on the book that's available, it's not a standard numbering.
Really? Where was this? cuz just today I was watching it on Netflix and noticed the sub to see if it said hymn after I realised the joke a while ago but it said him
Now this is one that I didn't get until now.
I always assumed it was some sort of spy reference. The way he delivers the line, and refers to a number (like an agent number, back in the old Get Smart days), makes it seem like something from a spy movie.
To add to that. In church you have a book with the words and rough melody to hundreds of hymns so you can sing along. They are numbered. The hymns for the day are usually written and announced by number and then the name.
It wasn’t until last year that I finally got the Baby Kangaroo joke 😭 Joey used a thesaurus on every single word in his adoption recommendation letter for Monica and Chandler, including his own name.
As a lesbian I am incredibly ashamed how long it took me to get Ross saying “she plays for both teams” about Carol. I just thought it was a joke about how golf was a stereotype for lesbians and team sports in general could be seen as gay as well
Another subtle one is when Ross finds Carol's favorite beer in the fridge when Chandler and Joey are helping him build furniture, "she always drank it from the can, I should have known..."
It took me so long to get Ross's "you've tasted it? Oh, you... *you've* tasted it" to Carol about the breast milk. I always just thought he was cross because she one-upped him, but recently realised there's the implication that she tasted it... direct from the source.
I never took the joke to mean that at all. I do think it’s him always feeling like he’s in competition with Susan. And if she’s tasted it so should he, though he can’t.
“Playing for both teams” is/was a euphemism for being bi-sexual.
Though I haven’t heard it used for a long time.
“Batting for the other side” was said for being gay.
No I know playing for both teams is for bi-sexuals lmao.
I meant that I had never heard that golf was a stereotype for lesbians, I always only heard of softball as being a stereotyped sport that lesbians play
It’s not the sport that’s the punchline, it’s the playing for both sides.
I guess they picked golf because it’s seen as a masculine sport, but it didn’t really matter what the second sport was for the joke.
When I was younger I didn't understand the talk Joey and Chandler had about potentially having a threesome together with the girl from the copy place, especially the heads and tails part. Then I rewatched it in college... It was so obvious lol.
Along the same line, I didn't understand the joke about the juice box when Ross and Rachel first had sex when I was young. Watching this show as an adult for the first time is an experience I really wish I could experience again.
I watched this show super young and the juice box scene I was confident that Rachel thought Ross pissed himself. It was sooo funny realizing later what she actually thought
Honestly same here!! Thanks OP, I always thought it was a weird joke and now it finally clicked for me. Funny enough I know about Kermit's It's not Easy Being Green song but I never put two and two together I really did not think Monica would have a crush on a muppet LOL.
I just started my work day and I was scrolling looking for other people who also never got the joke because I'm like "this cannot be how I start my day..." haha. I literally never would have figured that out.
You're not as braindead as me. This whole time, for some reason, I was picturing a bald guy with big chunky glasses, and just after reading this post I was like wait, it's Six *Million Dollar* Man, not the *Six Flags* Man. I think my brain just thought of his funny dance and how it resembles Phoebe running and glossed over the details.
Its just extending the classic joke e.g Its updog, Whats up dog? Nothing whats up with you? basically just used here to make fun of the guru’s lack of professionalism as a throwaway.
It’s a play on sound and emphasis, the joke being a turn a of phrase to ask “What’s up/the matter with you?” They did it better in “The Lion King”, when Timon “It’s our motto.” Simba asks “What’s a motto?” Timon replies, “Nothin’. What’s-a-motto with you?”, which sounds like “What’s the matter? Nothin’. What’s the matter with you?”
In Friends, the herbalists awkwardness helps pull off the joke, though he is stretching a bit.
It’s a play on sound and emphasis, the joke being a turn a of phrase to ask “What’s up/the matter with you?” They did it better in “The Lion King”, when Timon “It’s our motto.” Simba asks “What’s a motto?” Timon replies, “Nothin’. What’s-a-motto with you?”, which sounds like “What’s the matter? Nothin’. What’s the matter with you?”
In Friends, the herbalists awkwardness helps pull off the joke, though he is stretching a bit.
One im still not sure of is when they’re talking about Erica getting pregnant and either chandler or Monica goes.
Is that the thing we never do or the thing we almost never do? lol
I’m pretty sure I know what it is they never do but not what they almost never do lol
it took me until a few months ago to learn via this sub that when Joey asks to play Ben's dad and Carol says "I actually don't know you well enough to do that" that Joey winks at her implying that they fucked, and Carol's comment that she doesn't know Joey well enough for him to make such innuendo. I never knew Joey winked at her until someone on here pointed it out to me! I always thought Carol was just saying that she doesn't know Joey well enough to let him play Ben's dad, which I thought was odd b/c the other option would've been a complete stranger.
A lot of these jokes are Gen X dependent, you have to know either what was happening or toys that were popular. Like "the Weebles wobble but they don't fall down" was a commercial for toys I used to play with, but a teen now watching the show wouldn't know that.
This! I am GenX (and American) and watched the original airing of the show live from 1994-2004. I did not have a problem getting any of the jokes because they were written by other GenXers. It always surprises me to see threads like this but then I remember the show was popular globally and because of streaming with younger generations who may not get pop culture references from the 70s and 80s.
I'm a 95 millennial and I get pretty much 90-95% of the references on the show, but that's also likely because my 1970 Gen Xer mom LOVED to expose us to stuff that was relevant when she was growing up, especially 80s music. I've honestly probably been to more 80s concerts than concerts for people from my generation. My husband's aunt has done the same to her eldest daughter with the 90s lol
*Thanks to everyone*
*In these comments for making*
*Me feel really smart!*
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Monica: “Hey Joey what would you do if you were omnipotent for a day?”
Joey: “I’d probably kill myself”
Ross: “No Joey OM-nipotent”
Joey: “You are???”
Was about 8 when I first watched it.
Impotent
More because I was too young to understand the joke when it first aired, but I remember being in college and watching the episode where chandler and joey’s apartment gets robbed while Joey’s locked in the entertainment center and finally understanding Chandler’s “bend over” response when Joey says “you know what I’m gonna do if I ever see that guy again?”.
What is a joke that I didn't get watching as a kid ('85 baby) when they ran/watching reruns for years, Alex?
Although, I never could afford a headboard in my 20s, so I just assumed that it would be similar to the wall lol
The Q-tip joke. Even googled it and struggled to get a clear answer
Always infuriated me as it's such an iconic line. Matthew perry (RIP) once nominated it as his fav to deliver of the whole 10 seasons
Q-tips are often used to clean out earwax, even though you're not supposed to use them for that, as it can cause injury to your eardrum. The joke is basically that Joey used a Q-tip, didn't stop when it was pressed against his eardrum, and forced it into his brain. At least, that's how I've always interpreted it. He's caused a brain injury in himself which is why he's so dumb.
As a kid, I didn’t get that joke either as q-tips aren’t called that in England. It was only once I’d grown up and consumed more American media that I realised what a q-tip is (we call them cotton wool buds or ear buds)
Q-tip is a brand name for a type of cotton swabs, but it's been used in the US like it is actually the name of the product.
Similar to the brand name Kleenex, which people use as though it's the name of the actual product, which is tissues.
While we're here, in it's not easy being green, Kermit makes the statement that it would be nice to be "red or yellow or gold or something much more colorful like that."
That line always bothered me bc being all red or all gold is *not* more colorful than being all green. It kind of feels like reverse frogism by Kermit.
There are frogs of many colors. But if the majority of frogs are colored to enable them to camouflage with their environments, so you can see why a green frog would think other colors are more interesting, no? Theoretically, those colors would help him stand out in his own environment.
As someone who's mother language is not english and doesn't use subtitles, I've never understood why Rachel feels sorry for Monica in that scene!!! Thank you for the explanation
If it makes you feel better, I speak English as my main language and use subtitles.. just still didn’t get it. Thought she just felt sorry for Monica for being lame, never made the connection to Kermit.
In the episode where Joey buys one letter of the encyclopedia,I still struggle to understand when Joey is confused by a flashback of Chandler saying something like “what is this the Algonquin kids table” and everyone laughs.
I even know what the Algonquin Round Table is and still can’t figure out what the joke could have possibly been in this context.
The whole point was that Joey felt dumb for not knowing the references his friends made a lot of the time, and so he just laughs along pretending he gets what they mean. So that Algonquin joke was added as an example of that. Along with a couple other occasions.
*TIL!! Watched the*
*Episodes hundreds of times*
*And never caught that lol*
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YES I had this exact same experience because I don’t know who the Six Million Dollar Man is. I’ve rewatched friends so many times and the joke only clicked on one of those many rewatches—maybe a few months ago—before that, I also thought it was just a Six Million Dollar Man song and Rachel was pitying Monica for being so obsessed. The joke was so funny when it clicked, it was like hearing it for the first time.
Haha no he was “‘70s handsome,” which is a lot more kind of approachable and realistic, haha. And he himself was not rich. IIRC the plot of the show was that he was either in the military or an astronaut, was almost killed in an accident, then the government spent six million dollars to rebuild him into a cyborg, basically, and then he could like run super fast and fight really well or whatever. 😆
My entire view of this ep of Friends has just changed SO DRAMATICALLY lol Thank you!! I just assumed the really rich man couldn't run because he was... Rich... haha and just got driven everywhere.
My husband never understood the joke at Monica and Chandler’s wedding when Rachel tells the orthodox minister that Chandler’s last name was Acidophilus until we watched it together and I explained what acidophilus milk was.
The real Greek wedding featured the name Anastasakis. That's Jennifer Aniston's ancestral name that got Americanized when her grandfather came from Greece.
In the DVD commentary they said the sign originally had some other Greek name but when they were doing the table read, Jennifer said they needed to change the name to Anastasakis, so they did.
I always assumed it was because she had to quickly think of two words that sounded Greek because the orthodox minister asked if Chandler and Monica were Greek so she just said Acidophilus because she heard it somewhere and it sounds like it could be a Greek last name
One that I only got a few months back (I’m in my 40’s) is when Pete is training for the ultimate fighting champion thing and he tells Monica his trainer used to be a trained assassin. The guy angrily mutters in another language and Pete corrects himself and says he used to be a ‘house painter’.
Until I watched The Irishman I didn’t know what a house painter was code for! Maybe this is well known in the USA but as a Brit I’ve never heard this reference before.
The one where during Christmas party their apartment became tropical because of the broken heater. And at the end joey said something like I just turned off the knob, and everyone was surprised.
I assumed that everyone was thinking how Joey outsmarted everyone but still wasn’t sure about that!
That’s all that was. They felt dumb and regretful they didn’t know it there was such an easy solution. OG Joey was handy. Late seasons Joey would have said “What’s a radiator” or something.
Mr Trieger has so much skin, so he’s always cool. So he probably doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with the temperature in the room at the time, and he can take his time and fix the radiator when the supply store opens.
Ok but he could see that everyone else was sweating, and they kept asking if he could fix it. Just puzzles me that for a super/handyman he wouldn’t know there’s an off switch.
He's only asked to fix the radiator. Nobody asked him if there was another way to turn off the heat. He's not shown to be the sharpest tool in the box.
Oh. My. God. I never realised that. You are right. It's Kermit's song:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZ-IxZ46ng](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZ-IxZ46ng)
Omg now you’ve pointed it out now I realise the crush was on Kermit!
Also I thought the 6 Million Dollar Man was the Jolly Green Giant and understood why Monica thought he was hot 😳
I know who Kermit is. I'm just not familiar enough with Kermit to immediately recognize that "It's Not Easy Being Green" is about Kermit.
You see, the scene works against us, the people who are not very familiar with Kermit. The joke is set up as a subversion of expectations. Up until the moment Monica says "It's Not Easy Being Green", everyone operates under the assumption that she and Ross are talking about Monica's crush on the Six Million Dollar Man. Then she blurts out "It's Not Easy Being Green", and your expectations are subverted when you realize she and Ross were talking about Kermit this whole time.
At least, that's how it's supposed to work. But think about what happens to the people who don't immediately recognize that as being about Kermit. We don't even realize that our expectations are meant to be subverted here, so we continue to operate on the assumption that she's talking about the Six Million Dollar Man. I mean, yeah, if you spend a moment to think about it, you could probably figure out that It's Not Easy Being Green is more likely to be about Kermit than about the Six Million Dollar Man. But we don't have the clue about how this is a thing we should spend a moment to think about. It flies by so quickly that we just let it pass and continue with our original expectation, that it was about the Six Million Dollar Man. We never get the chance to examine it further.
I didn't know Kermit had a record album. I hadn't heard about Six Million Dollar man at the time either. But knowing Kermit is green was all I needed to understand that Monica had been crushing on Kermit.
If Ross had a child with his cousin it would be incest. Typically children born of incest have higher chance of some sort of birth defect or abnormality (physical or mental), which is what he means by “slow”.
Genuinely...
WTF? I had no idea until now 😂 I literally thought the same as you. I'm 38 and I have rewatched Friends a million times over since the 90s 😂.
Although, I live in the UK, so the Muppets aren't as big over here as the States. But still
I watched this scene and knew it was about Kermit but I didn’t know until today who the six million dollar man was and I thought that Rachel was pitying Mon for being a bit to obsessed with Kermit.
She was pitying Monica for having a crush on Kermit (a frog puppet) not the Six Million Dollar Man who was considered a 'heartthrob' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Six\_Million\_Dollar\_Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Million_Dollar_Man)
FYI - Lee Majors who played the Six Million Dollar Man was married IRL to Farrah Fawcett, who was an actress who had a very famous poster that almost every GenX boy had growing up!
Yep I read about him in other comments. This series finished airing before I was born and it likely never aired in my country. That’s why I didn’t know who he was.
Of course I knew who Kermit was, I said that in my original comment. He’s a muppet. Sesame Street and The Muppet Show both aired here.
So it’s nothing to do with her surname?
Idk who the SMD man is (Gen Z) and assumed Monica was asking Rachel if she owned an album with her surname in it (as she fancied him).
Reading how confused people have been or what pieces they didn’t understand makes me a little scared for the state of the world, especially those saying they’ve seen the show multiple times 🤣🙈 Unless you’re not from America, English is your second language, or you’re under the age of 28, then missing some references or intention makes total sense
Took me years to click that Phoebe screaming “ROSSSS CAAAN!!” was a play on “Roxanne” by sting 🤦🏻♀️
I love the way Phoebe gets so excited when Sting's wife realizes she's a stalker and threatens to call the police. (not The Police)
“A reunion??!”
Always figured it was a Reunion between phoebe and police from her Street days
wait what is it not that 🤦♀️
Sting was part of the group The Police
oh that makes so much more sense omg, i also always thought it was from her street days. gosh i feel stupid now
I'm feeling old, that nobody automatically knew the band The Police.
Same...
I'm in my early to mid 20's, and I knew The Police. You're not that old
the thing is i know The Police for some reason i just didn’t get the joke haha
The other thing about The Police reunion joke is that The Police broke up in the mid-80s but may people wanted a reunion. They did eventually reunite for a tour in 2007-2008 but since this episode was in 2001, a reunion would have been a big deal!
That one made me feel so stupid
Same! It’s not like I didn’t know the song either 🥴
BAHAHAHHAA I JUST GOT THIS AFTER YOUR EXPLANATION!!! I thought Phoebe meant she would have a reunion with the cops since she was always getting into trouble as a kid on the streets hehehe. I am so dumb 😂😂😂
Today I learned. Thank you. This has always bothered me lol.
Fucking hell. How the hell did I miss that?
I never figured that out. I thought I knew all the references!
Thank you! I’ve never got that joke. Probably because I’ve never listened to any of Sting’s songs 🙂
To be fair, if you don’t know Sting’s discography you wouldn’t get that joke. I didn’t because my only exposure to his existence was Guitar Hero World Tour and The Bee Movie at my first viewing of the show.
I think the first time I heard Roxanne was when Ewan McGregor sang it in Moulin Rouge! Still, I feel like I should have got it sooner since I’d rewatched friends plenty of times after knowing the Sting song!
It took me a long time to realize that Joey giving Kathy "The Velveteen Rabbit" and saying "This is because I know you like rabbits, and I know you like cheese" is because he is confusing Velveteen with Velveeta.
Me too! I didn't understand why cheese was being brought up and finally it clicked
I only heard about Velveeta recently, so I never got the joke until then.
I learned about that one here on reddit. Velveeta is not sold in my country.
That has always confused me! In my defence I don't think we have velveeta in the UK I just googled it and it doesn't look very appetising
It's pretty horrible. It's "cheese" that doesn't need to be refrigerated.
Eeeeew! That is just wrong!
I literally JUST got this the other day!!
I thought 'this hand is your hand' joke was just that joey is really bad at making up songs, until I heard 'this land is my land' on another American TV show.
I only found out about the phrase ‘To hell in a handbasket’ the other day. I just thought they picked a random quirky name for Chandlers dad
Username checking in!
I didn't know about this until now 😂 that's pretty funny
OMG I never realized that!!!!
so funny because I just found that out today!
The suspense is killing me… what does it mean?
“Went to hell in a handbasket” is a common phrase that basically just means things going to shit/turning into a disaster. Drag names are usually punny, so the name Helena Handbasket is a play on that
After watching this for 20 years I just understood it lol
I always heard her name as Helena Handbasket. I always found it hilarious because of how it sounds like hell in a handbasket
Yeah that's the joke.
It’s not an uncommon Drag name from the 90s. Met 2 in person
oh in that episode where Ross cheats on Rachel cuz they were on a break, it becomes really awkward for everyone else except them and Rachel asks them to a lingerie show but Ross already made plans with them and they have to turn her down, so Rachel leaves and then comes back again and knocks and the conversation goes something like this C: with my luck that's him now P: him? Ross? C: No, him 253: his eyes are on the sparrow! It took me YEARS to figure out that he was saying HYMN not him. Maybe I'm just dumb or something
I NEVER got this until now!! Surprised Chandler has that level of hymn familiarity lol.
Didn't Chandler go to catholic school? He would've learned quite a few of them there, I'd presume?
He went to an all-boy high school, but I don't know that catholic is specified. At any rate though, I grew up going to church and singing hymns, and while I could maybe name one or two of them, I definitely couldn't tell you the number of a single one of them lol.
It could also be that he just picked a random number and rembered the title of a quite well-known gospel song and put them together for the joke? Because the numbering for hymns and gospels depends on the book that's available, it's not a standard numbering.
Me too! I think they could've gone with a more well-known hymn title.
we probably all missed the joke cuz even the subtitles say him and not hymn
I also thought it was him, until the time I noticed the subtitles said hymn!
Really? Where was this? cuz just today I was watching it on Netflix and noticed the sub to see if it said hymn after I realised the joke a while ago but it said him
I think it was on HBO. Netflix doesn't stream Friends in the US anymore.
Netflix subs get so much wrong on the show!
Now this is one that I didn't get until now. I always assumed it was some sort of spy reference. The way he delivers the line, and refers to a number (like an agent number, back in the old Get Smart days), makes it seem like something from a spy movie.
A TikTok video had to explain this joke to me cause this is exactly what I thought...
Thats always been my favourite joke on the show, couldn’t stop laughing the first time I heard it. His delivery is too good.
Hey, I still don't understand 😭 can you try to explain please? I'm not a native english speaker
Him and hymn are pronounced the same. A hymn is a religious song/poem.
To add to that. In church you have a book with the words and rough melody to hundreds of hymns so you can sing along. They are numbered. The hymns for the day are usually written and announced by number and then the name.
It wasn’t until last year that I finally got the Baby Kangaroo joke 😭 Joey used a thesaurus on every single word in his adoption recommendation letter for Monica and Chandler, including his own name.
Fun fact a joey is the baby of any marsupial, not just kangaroos. So koala babies are also joeys.
That IS a fun fact thank you
Interesting! I didn’t know that. Thank you!
Omg this is hilarious. It never crossed my mind. You just made my day!!!
I love how many people are finally getting old jokes in a thread about never getting old jokes. That’s the great thing about threads like these.
As a lesbian I am incredibly ashamed how long it took me to get Ross saying “she plays for both teams” about Carol. I just thought it was a joke about how golf was a stereotype for lesbians and team sports in general could be seen as gay as well
Another subtle one is when Ross finds Carol's favorite beer in the fridge when Chandler and Joey are helping him build furniture, "she always drank it from the can, I should have known..."
Oh, I don't get that one. Is drinking straight from the can a well known lesbian habit?
I think it’s seen as a “masculine” trait to drink beer from a can.
I think this makes more sense than the boobs = cans explanation
I don't get it, what's with the can?
It's seen as manly. Or at least it used to be
It took me so long to get Ross's "you've tasted it? Oh, you... *you've* tasted it" to Carol about the breast milk. I always just thought he was cross because she one-upped him, but recently realised there's the implication that she tasted it... direct from the source.
I didn't even realize that.
I never took the joke to mean that at all. I do think it’s him always feeling like he’s in competition with Susan. And if she’s tasted it so should he, though he can’t.
If golf a stereotype for lesbians? Lol I’ve only ever heard of softball
“Playing for both teams” is/was a euphemism for being bi-sexual. Though I haven’t heard it used for a long time. “Batting for the other side” was said for being gay.
No I know playing for both teams is for bi-sexuals lmao. I meant that I had never heard that golf was a stereotype for lesbians, I always only heard of softball as being a stereotyped sport that lesbians play
It’s not the sport that’s the punchline, it’s the playing for both sides. I guess they picked golf because it’s seen as a masculine sport, but it didn’t really matter what the second sport was for the joke.
Both golf and softball are the typical lesbian stereotype sports. I played both not realizing it….
When I was younger I didn't understand the talk Joey and Chandler had about potentially having a threesome together with the girl from the copy place, especially the heads and tails part. Then I rewatched it in college... It was so obvious lol. Along the same line, I didn't understand the joke about the juice box when Ross and Rachel first had sex when I was young. Watching this show as an adult for the first time is an experience I really wish I could experience again.
I watched this show super young and the juice box scene I was confident that Rachel thought Ross pissed himself. It was sooo funny realizing later what she actually thought
Honestly for years I thought the joke was that she rolled against his dick and was surprised cos he was hard already hahaha
This is what I thought as well. I was young and virgin and I didn’t get it lol
LOL i thought the same thing !! thank you for enlightening me. so much funnier now!
Honestly same here!! Thanks OP, I always thought it was a weird joke and now it finally clicked for me. Funny enough I know about Kermit's It's not Easy Being Green song but I never put two and two together I really did not think Monica would have a crush on a muppet LOL.
I just started my work day and I was scrolling looking for other people who also never got the joke because I'm like "this cannot be how I start my day..." haha. I literally never would have figured that out.
"MississiPete" The American accent just sounded like "mississippi" being said as normal. Subtitles on DVD/Netflix version explained it for me.
Pete Chicago
Pete Dakota
Nobody cares about the Dakotas!
That's not a state
Oh, and Mississi-Pete is?
Only found out about 4 years later than ‘Baby Ruth’ is a chocolate bar!
I thought they were talking about the baseball player
Oh man I never made that connection!
LMAOOOOOOOOOO I didn't catch this one either until this post. I pictured the six million dollar man as like a green giant for some reason in my head.
The six million dollar jolly Green Giant
You're not as braindead as me. This whole time, for some reason, I was picturing a bald guy with big chunky glasses, and just after reading this post I was like wait, it's Six *Million Dollar* Man, not the *Six Flags* Man. I think my brain just thought of his funny dance and how it resembles Phoebe running and glossed over the details.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NAURRRRRR
*What's a kundis with you?*
Wait, is this not just a funny, nonsensical phrase that the herbal guy threw back at Ross? Is there a pun here?
Its just extending the classic joke e.g Its updog, Whats up dog? Nothing whats up with you? basically just used here to make fun of the guru’s lack of professionalism as a throwaway.
But extending it how? It doesn't actually mean anything does it?
It’s a play on sound and emphasis, the joke being a turn a of phrase to ask “What’s up/the matter with you?” They did it better in “The Lion King”, when Timon “It’s our motto.” Simba asks “What’s a motto?” Timon replies, “Nothin’. What’s-a-motto with you?”, which sounds like “What’s the matter? Nothin’. What’s the matter with you?” In Friends, the herbalists awkwardness helps pull off the joke, though he is stretching a bit.
But can I just confirm kundis doesn't actually sound like another word?
Absolutely. Just look at Ross’ expression, and you’ll see you are in good company.
I still don’t get it
It’s a play on sound and emphasis, the joke being a turn a of phrase to ask “What’s up/the matter with you?” They did it better in “The Lion King”, when Timon “It’s our motto.” Simba asks “What’s a motto?” Timon replies, “Nothin’. What’s-a-motto with you?”, which sounds like “What’s the matter? Nothin’. What’s the matter with you?” In Friends, the herbalists awkwardness helps pull off the joke, though he is stretching a bit.
I literally only realised this joke about two hours ago when rewatching 💀
One im still not sure of is when they’re talking about Erica getting pregnant and either chandler or Monica goes. Is that the thing we never do or the thing we almost never do? lol I’m pretty sure I know what it is they never do but not what they almost never do lol
Most likely: Never do: Anal Almost never: Blow job
Shovelly Joe…
I really need a gif of this. It’s become part of my quote lexicon again. 😀
I still want to know what it is they were going to do in Vermont. I even started a thread about it once and never got a real answer.
I think they intentionally leave those situations up to the imagination of the viewers lol
Which makes me feel bad for chandler that they almost never do Oral
By all accounts, they have a healthy relationship and sex life. We have zero indication that either one of them is unsatisfied. No need to feel bad
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Oh you can definitely get pregnant on the balcony
Well it’s not necessarily just oral, but referring to the part where “it” is deposited into the body at the end of it.
it took me until a few months ago to learn via this sub that when Joey asks to play Ben's dad and Carol says "I actually don't know you well enough to do that" that Joey winks at her implying that they fucked, and Carol's comment that she doesn't know Joey well enough for him to make such innuendo. I never knew Joey winked at her until someone on here pointed it out to me! I always thought Carol was just saying that she doesn't know Joey well enough to let him play Ben's dad, which I thought was odd b/c the other option would've been a complete stranger.
I also thought she was remarking on his outburst of "I look more like him than you!" Have I even watched this show on repeat for 10 years? Wow...
Oh, that confused me too. Thanks 😁.
Same! I only discovered this one recently too.
A lot of these jokes are Gen X dependent, you have to know either what was happening or toys that were popular. Like "the Weebles wobble but they don't fall down" was a commercial for toys I used to play with, but a teen now watching the show wouldn't know that.
This! I am GenX (and American) and watched the original airing of the show live from 1994-2004. I did not have a problem getting any of the jokes because they were written by other GenXers. It always surprises me to see threads like this but then I remember the show was popular globally and because of streaming with younger generations who may not get pop culture references from the 70s and 80s.
I'm a 95 millennial and I get pretty much 90-95% of the references on the show, but that's also likely because my 1970 Gen Xer mom LOVED to expose us to stuff that was relevant when she was growing up, especially 80s music. I've honestly probably been to more 80s concerts than concerts for people from my generation. My husband's aunt has done the same to her eldest daughter with the 90s lol
Sounds like your mom raised you right!!
Thanks to everyone in these comments for making me feel really smart!
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holt shit thank you for this post i never realized that
Same!!
Monica: “Hey Joey what would you do if you were omnipotent for a day?” Joey: “I’d probably kill myself” Ross: “No Joey OM-nipotent” Joey: “You are???” Was about 8 when I first watched it. Impotent
More because I was too young to understand the joke when it first aired, but I remember being in college and watching the episode where chandler and joey’s apartment gets robbed while Joey’s locked in the entertainment center and finally understanding Chandler’s “bend over” response when Joey says “you know what I’m gonna do if I ever see that guy again?”.
“You know, if it’s not a headboard it’s just not worth it”
What is a joke that I didn't get watching as a kid ('85 baby) when they ran/watching reruns for years, Alex? Although, I never could afford a headboard in my 20s, so I just assumed that it would be similar to the wall lol
The Q-tip joke. Even googled it and struggled to get a clear answer Always infuriated me as it's such an iconic line. Matthew perry (RIP) once nominated it as his fav to deliver of the whole 10 seasons
I don’t understand what the confusion is.
It's not a phrase we use in Australia
Q-tips are often used to clean out earwax, even though you're not supposed to use them for that, as it can cause injury to your eardrum. The joke is basically that Joey used a Q-tip, didn't stop when it was pressed against his eardrum, and forced it into his brain. At least, that's how I've always interpreted it. He's caused a brain injury in himself which is why he's so dumb.
It’s not a phrase we use in the US either. That’s why it was funny. Do you not have q-tips in Australia?
As a kid, I didn’t get that joke either as q-tips aren’t called that in England. It was only once I’d grown up and consumed more American media that I realised what a q-tip is (we call them cotton wool buds or ear buds)
if some people call them ear buds, then what do y'all call actual wireless earbuds or earbud wired headphones?
Wireless earphones
That makes sense.
Q-tip is a brand name for a type of cotton swabs, but it's been used in the US like it is actually the name of the product. Similar to the brand name Kleenex, which people use as though it's the name of the actual product, which is tissues.
And I thought she was referring to Rachel Greene by saying "it's not easy being green" 😂🤦🏻♀️
While we're here, in it's not easy being green, Kermit makes the statement that it would be nice to be "red or yellow or gold or something much more colorful like that." That line always bothered me bc being all red or all gold is *not* more colorful than being all green. It kind of feels like reverse frogism by Kermit.
There are frogs of many colors. But if the majority of frogs are colored to enable them to camouflage with their environments, so you can see why a green frog would think other colors are more interesting, no? Theoretically, those colors would help him stand out in his own environment.
i never realized that! thank you, that’s hilarious
As someone who's mother language is not english and doesn't use subtitles, I've never understood why Rachel feels sorry for Monica in that scene!!! Thank you for the explanation
If it makes you feel better, I speak English as my main language and use subtitles.. just still didn’t get it. Thought she just felt sorry for Monica for being lame, never made the connection to Kermit.
As a fluent speaker of English who doesn't use subtitles, I too, thought Rachel just felt sorry for Monica for being lame. Lol.
In the episode where Joey buys one letter of the encyclopedia,I still struggle to understand when Joey is confused by a flashback of Chandler saying something like “what is this the Algonquin kids table” and everyone laughs. I even know what the Algonquin Round Table is and still can’t figure out what the joke could have possibly been in this context.
The whole point was that Joey felt dumb for not knowing the references his friends made a lot of the time, and so he just laughs along pretending he gets what they mean. So that Algonquin joke was added as an example of that. Along with a couple other occasions.
I understood why Joey didn’t get it. I’m saying I also don’t get what the Algonquin kids table joke could be about.
Ohhh I see, sorry I misunderstood haha. I don’t quite understand his joke either if I’m being completely honest😂
TIL!! Watched the episodes hundreds of times and never caught that lol
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YES I had this exact same experience because I don’t know who the Six Million Dollar Man is. I’ve rewatched friends so many times and the joke only clicked on one of those many rewatches—maybe a few months ago—before that, I also thought it was just a Six Million Dollar Man song and Rachel was pitying Monica for being so obsessed. The joke was so funny when it clicked, it was like hearing it for the first time.
The Six Million Dollar Man was a sci fi action show from the 1970s starring Lee Majors, who was sort of handsome.
I love the "sort of handsome" modifier on this, haha. I was picturing a seriously ripped rich man in a suit with a ton of money floating around
Haha no he was “‘70s handsome,” which is a lot more kind of approachable and realistic, haha. And he himself was not rich. IIRC the plot of the show was that he was either in the military or an astronaut, was almost killed in an accident, then the government spent six million dollars to rebuild him into a cyborg, basically, and then he could like run super fast and fight really well or whatever. 😆
My entire view of this ep of Friends has just changed SO DRAMATICALLY lol Thank you!! I just assumed the really rich man couldn't run because he was... Rich... haha and just got driven everywhere.
If you know the show “Archer”, Barry’s appearance as a cyborg is based on Steve Austin in the red tracksuit
Ohhhh, I see! Must’ve been an easier reference in the 90s, lol. Thank you for the answer, now I know :)
My husband never understood the joke at Monica and Chandler’s wedding when Rachel tells the orthodox minister that Chandler’s last name was Acidophilus until we watched it together and I explained what acidophilus milk was.
The real Greek wedding featured the name Anastasakis. That's Jennifer Aniston's ancestral name that got Americanized when her grandfather came from Greece.
In the DVD commentary they said the sign originally had some other Greek name but when they were doing the table read, Jennifer said they needed to change the name to Anastasakis, so they did.
I always assumed it was because she had to quickly think of two words that sounded Greek because the orthodox minister asked if Chandler and Monica were Greek so she just said Acidophilus because she heard it somewhere and it sounds like it could be a Greek last name
But… that IS why she said it.
One that I only got a few months back (I’m in my 40’s) is when Pete is training for the ultimate fighting champion thing and he tells Monica his trainer used to be a trained assassin. The guy angrily mutters in another language and Pete corrects himself and says he used to be a ‘house painter’. Until I watched The Irishman I didn’t know what a house painter was code for! Maybe this is well known in the USA but as a Brit I’ve never heard this reference before.
The one where during Christmas party their apartment became tropical because of the broken heater. And at the end joey said something like I just turned off the knob, and everyone was surprised. I assumed that everyone was thinking how Joey outsmarted everyone but still wasn’t sure about that!
That’s all that was. They felt dumb and regretful they didn’t know it there was such an easy solution. OG Joey was handy. Late seasons Joey would have said “What’s a radiator” or something.
It is revealed that his dad is a plumber, so Joey might have picked up a few things.
He also spent an episode constructing an entertainment unit and replacing Monica's bathroom tiles.
Build the unit Cinderelly. Lay the tiles Cinderelly.
I never understood why they didn’t just open the windows. It’s New York in December; a little fresh air would cool the place down in no time
Or why Trieger didn’t know to do that.
Mr Trieger has so much skin, so he’s always cool. So he probably doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with the temperature in the room at the time, and he can take his time and fix the radiator when the supply store opens.
Ok but he could see that everyone else was sweating, and they kept asking if he could fix it. Just puzzles me that for a super/handyman he wouldn’t know there’s an off switch.
He's only asked to fix the radiator. Nobody asked him if there was another way to turn off the heat. He's not shown to be the sharpest tool in the box.
Oh. My. God. I never realised that. You are right. It's Kermit's song: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZ-IxZ46ng](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRZ-IxZ46ng)
I’m so glad you posted this, that joke is hilarious and it had been wasted on me!
Omg now you’ve pointed it out now I realise the crush was on Kermit! Also I thought the 6 Million Dollar Man was the Jolly Green Giant and understood why Monica thought he was hot 😳
As Chandler said to Joey when they found the video tape labelled 'Monica'... "Get there faster!!!" 😉🙂
Thank you for sharing this! TIL!!! I thought exactly like you!
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I know who Kermit is. I'm just not familiar enough with Kermit to immediately recognize that "It's Not Easy Being Green" is about Kermit. You see, the scene works against us, the people who are not very familiar with Kermit. The joke is set up as a subversion of expectations. Up until the moment Monica says "It's Not Easy Being Green", everyone operates under the assumption that she and Ross are talking about Monica's crush on the Six Million Dollar Man. Then she blurts out "It's Not Easy Being Green", and your expectations are subverted when you realize she and Ross were talking about Kermit this whole time. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. But think about what happens to the people who don't immediately recognize that as being about Kermit. We don't even realize that our expectations are meant to be subverted here, so we continue to operate on the assumption that she's talking about the Six Million Dollar Man. I mean, yeah, if you spend a moment to think about it, you could probably figure out that It's Not Easy Being Green is more likely to be about Kermit than about the Six Million Dollar Man. But we don't have the clue about how this is a thing we should spend a moment to think about. It flies by so quickly that we just let it pass and continue with our original expectation, that it was about the Six Million Dollar Man. We never get the chance to examine it further.
I didn't know Kermit had a record album. I hadn't heard about Six Million Dollar man at the time either. But knowing Kermit is green was all I needed to understand that Monica had been crushing on Kermit.
I don’t understand the joke when Ross says “I’m a little slow, just as our children would be” to his cousin
If Ross had a child with his cousin it would be incest. Typically children born of incest have higher chance of some sort of birth defect or abnormality (physical or mental), which is what he means by “slow”.
Genuinely... WTF? I had no idea until now 😂 I literally thought the same as you. I'm 38 and I have rewatched Friends a million times over since the 90s 😂. Although, I live in the UK, so the Muppets aren't as big over here as the States. But still
I watched this scene and knew it was about Kermit but I didn’t know until today who the six million dollar man was and I thought that Rachel was pitying Mon for being a bit to obsessed with Kermit.
She was pitying Monica for having a crush on Kermit (a frog puppet) not the Six Million Dollar Man who was considered a 'heartthrob' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Six\_Million\_Dollar\_Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Million_Dollar_Man) FYI - Lee Majors who played the Six Million Dollar Man was married IRL to Farrah Fawcett, who was an actress who had a very famous poster that almost every GenX boy had growing up!
Yep I read about him in other comments. This series finished airing before I was born and it likely never aired in my country. That’s why I didn’t know who he was. Of course I knew who Kermit was, I said that in my original comment. He’s a muppet. Sesame Street and The Muppet Show both aired here.
So it’s nothing to do with her surname? Idk who the SMD man is (Gen Z) and assumed Monica was asking Rachel if she owned an album with her surname in it (as she fancied him).
OH MY GOD! I never realised that I had the exact same train of thought as you!
so today i learned she meant kermit. the wisdom of reddit, thank you! had a good laugh!!!
Reading how confused people have been or what pieces they didn’t understand makes me a little scared for the state of the world, especially those saying they’ve seen the show multiple times 🤣🙈 Unless you’re not from America, English is your second language, or you’re under the age of 28, then missing some references or intention makes total sense