The Funniest Moment in Every Season of Friends

The Funniest Moment in Every Season of Friends

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Funniest Moment in Every Season of “Friends”.

For this list, we took a trip down memory lane to Apartment 20 and ranked the most side-splitting instances from the iconic series.

Do you agree with our choices? Ramble on for 18 pages FRONT AND BACK in the comments with your most hilarious “Friends” scene.

Season 1: Trapped in an ATM Vestibule with Jill Goodacre
“The One with the Blackout”

The first season of any show can be a hard sell; we don’t know the characters well yet, and the actors might still be figuring out who they are. But Chandler was fully formed from the start. “The One with the Blackout” sees the city dealing with a power outage, and while most of the friends are back at the apartment - some getting jumped on by cats - the Chan-Chan man gets locked in the bank. Don’t feel too bad for him; he has model Jill Goodacre to keep him company! This episode showcases how bad Chandler is at flirting - to the point of forgetting how to be a human. From accepting gum the way no one has, to mistakenly eating a wad that isn’t his and needing the Heimlich, this episode is quintessential Chandler. ...Maybe DO feel bad for him.

Season 2: The Prom Video
“The One with the Prom Video”

We love a good flashback episode. In season 2’s “The One with the Prom Video,” the friends sit down to look back at the night of Monica and Rachel’s high school prom. Though they playfully rib each other for how they used to look - Ross serving “Welcome Back, Kotter” realness will never NOT be funny - this moment does what the best “Friends” moments do best: help us get to know the characters while making us laugh and cry. Poor Rachel looks like she’s been stood up by her date, so Ross, eternally pining after her, decides to come to the rescue. But just as he comes to the stairs, Rachel, with her date in tow, heads out the door, oblivious to the heartbroken look on his face. Though Rachel and Ross are at odds back in the present, this past sign of love is enough for her to realize he really is her lobster.

Season 3: Joey Wears All of Chandler’s Clothes
“The One Where No One’s Ready”

Sometimes all you need for an instantly iconic episode is the six main characters and Monica and Rachel’s apartment as the location. Well, you might also require every item of clothing Chandler owns. That being said, we almost picked Robin Williams and Billy Crystal’s completely improvised guest appearance for our season 3 moment. But “The One Where No One’s Ready” is hilarious all the way through. Poor Ross needs to wrangle everyone for a fancy event at his museum, but they’re too busy drinking chicken fat, overanalyzing voicemails from their ex, and trying to decide what to wear. What starts as Joey taking Chandler’s seat escalates into Chandler stealing Joey’s underwear, and Joey doing... what’s apparently the “opposite” of that. This moment couldn’t BE any funnier.

Season 4: The Bet for the Apartment
“The One with the Embryos”

Season 4 is really where “Friends” hit its stride; whether it was in the premiere where Ross and Rachel break up (again) - this time with laughs to spare - or Monica educating Chandler on the seven erogenous zones. But for our money, there’s no episode fans quote more than “The One with the Embryos.” Chandler and Joey think they know Monica and Rachel better than they know them, and Ross, who wants to be included, makes a trivia game. This episode was funny enough for the fun facts we learned about everyone. But the stakes not being quite high enough, the game becomes a battle for either getting rid of the boys’ rooster and duck, or swapping apartments. In lightning round sudden death, the girls can’t remember that Chandler works in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration. Yeah, of course we know!

Season 5: PIVOT!
“The One with the Cop”

Season 5 really belongs to Ross - and we owe him that, he has a REALLY rough time. From dealing with yet another divorce (this one was his fault), to someone eating his sandwich, and having a mishap with his new leather pants (xref), David Schwimmer left us in stitches as one misfortune after another left Ross more unhinged. Ross does manage to pick up the pieces of his life, though. He gets a new apartment all on his own - Phoebe, Rachel, and Joey (kind of) were busy trying to get Monica and Chandler to admit their secret relationship, after all. (xref) In “The One with the Cop,” he starts furnishing his new digs with a couch. With the help of a sketch, Rachel, and Chandler (who wasn’t Ross’ first choice), the attempts to rotate the couch up the stairs don’t go as planned. But, on the plus side, we got this iconic moment we definitely reference every time we move.

Season 6: Rachel’s Thanksgiving Trifle
“The One Where Ross Got High”

You didn’t think we’d forget a “Friendsgiving” moment, did you? While Ross’ “unagi” had us craving sushi, Rachel’s decidedly UN-traditional English trifle has a co-mingling of tastes only Joey could love. After she accidentally makes half a trifle and half a shepherd’s pie, everyone tries their best to save Rachel’s feelings and act like it’s good. While Ross has a bit of trouble telling the truth this episode - it IS Thanksgiving, not Truth Day! - he’s very honest about how the dessert tastes. This episode has everything: confessions of love for dead explorers, years-old secrets coming to light, (xref) and beef sauteed with peas and onions.

Season 7: Bagpipes
“The One with Joey's New Brain”

Okay, we swear we aren’t biased to Ross moments! But he and Joey showed us that friends who nap together stay together (xref) and that the Holiday Armadillo is an important part of any holiday season. But it was his attempt at playing the bagpipes that had us laughing the most. And we weren’t the only ones. Eagle-eyed fans of the show will have no doubt seen Jennifer Aniston covering her face, trying to hide her laughter, as Phoebe “sang” along with Ross’s bagpipe playing. And would you believe it? David Schwimmer actually played the bagpipes in all those scenes!

Season 8: The Backpacking Story
“The One with the Videotape”

No, we didn’t pick this one because it’s funny to see people using VHS tapes. This storyline is a masterclass in subtle details building to a huge reveal. After Ross and Rachel have one night together that results in Rachel becoming pregnant with Emma, the audience - and their friends - had a lot of questions. Luckily, Ross filmed it! Okay, not like that. Ross had been going through a bit of a dry spell, and Joey - or Ken Adams as some ladies know him - offered him his greatest superpower this side of “how you doin’?”: a story about backpacking across Western Europe. While filming himself practicing said tale, Rachel came in, and wouldn’t you know it, she came onto Ross… using the “Europe story.” Turns out she heard it from a friend who heard it from “some guy.” In a season with a Brad Pitt guest spot and “Bamboozled,” this still stands out as the most hysterical.

Season 9: “Baby Got Back”
“The One with Ross's Inappropriate Song”

Every parent knows that there’s no better sound in the world than the sound of your baby laughing. And when you figure out what you can do to make that happen you’ll keep doing it no matter how ridiculous, silly or inappropriate it is. When Ross discovers that Emma laughs when he sings “Baby Got Back” he’s so excited, and a little ashamed as well. Though initially Rachel is appalled at the choice of song, eventually she too reluctantly tries it to the same results. When the two parents launch into a full-on rap duet at the end of the episode, only to get caught, you can’t help but thank Sir Mix-a-Lot for writing one heck of a funny song.

Season 10: Joey on “Pyramid”
“The One Where the Stripper Cries”

The show’s final season had some classic moments, and in fact, Joey was at the center of some of the funniest. It was his contentious relationship with Rachel that led to Ross being anything but “fine.” Then in the overall spectacular “The One Where the Stripper Cries,” he appears on the “Pyramid” game show. One would think that Joey would excel at a category like “Things You Find in Your Refrigerator,” but sometimes the funniest moments are the unexpected ones involving paper, snow, and a ghost. Joey does guess incorrectly most of the time, but the wrong answers he gives are what take this moment up an extra funny notch. Then, him falling into a bunch of correct guesses in the final, but just missing the last one, put a great bow on the whole bit. Does anyone want a salami, anchovy, and jam sandwich right now?