Courteney Cox was originally asked to play Rachel, but she asked to play Monica instead after reading the parts.

Jon Cryer was originally offered the role of Chandler Bing.

Other titles considered for the show were "Friends Like Us," "Six of One," and "Across the Hall."

The golden frame around the peephole was originally a mirror which one of the crew accidentally smashed. But because it still looked good they decided to leave it there.

In "The One With the Girl Who Hits Joey", Ross (David Schwimmer) is called "3B" by the other residents of his new building. Schwimmer played Josh '4B' Goldstein (nicknamed after his apartment) on NYPD Blue.

Ursula Buffay, Phoebes' twin sister, is a waitress in the TV show "Mad About You". Fran (Leila Kenzle) and Jamie ('Helen Hunt' ) visit the coffee shop and mistake Phoebe for Ursula in one episode of Friends.

In the first couple of episodes Chandler and Joey's apartment number was #4 and Monica and Rachel's apartment number was #5. However, in the later episodes, they are 19 and 20 respectively because the producers noted that 4 and 5 corresponded to apartments on lower floors and the Friends' apartments were higher up the building.

In the episode "The One After the Superbowl", the other production assistant that Julia Roberts is conversing with his her actual sister, Lisa Roberts Gillan.

James Michael Tyler was given the part of Gunther because he knew how to operate a cappucino machine.

Gunther was not originally a speaking part.

James Michael Tyler was actually working in a coffee shop in Hollywood when he got the part of Gunther. He kept his coffee gig for the first four seasons of Friends.

The dry cleaner from "The One Where Paul's the Man" claims never to have seen the movie Air Force One. The actor who played the dry cleaner, Ilia Volokh, played the part of Vladimir Krasin, the first terrorist to die at the hands of the president, in Air Force One.

Leah Remini auditioned for the role of Monica.

Courtney Cox added Arquette to the end of her name after her marriage to David Arquette between seasons five and six. Her father, 'Richard L. Cox' , died in 2001 and during the midst of the ninth season, she dropped the Arquette in her father's memory.

Matt LeBlanc's character 'Joey Tribbiani' plays Dr. Drake Remoray in a fictional version of the NBC soap opera "Days of Our Lives". In real life, Jennifer Aniston's father, John Aniston, plays 'Victor Kiriakis' on the real Days of Our Lives.

In, "The One With Joey's Award", Alison Sweeney guest stars as "Jessica Ashley", an actress on the fictional version of the NBC soap opera "Days Of Our Lives". In real life, Alison Sweeney plays "Sami Brady" on the real "Days of Our Lives".

As with most sitcoms, episode titles are not shown. As a joking reference to this, the official names of Friends episodes take the form "The One where..." (or similar).

In, "The One With The Proposal", Dr. Richard Burke (Tom Selleck), recites an excerpt from a poem at dinner: "In the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." It is the end of Kahlil Gibran's "On Friendship".

In "The One With the Pediatrician" Ross and Monica's pediatrician's name is Dr. Gettleman. The is the also name of the pediatrician on "I Love Lucy".

Is filmed on the same soundstage that was used for the filming of the sitcom "Full House" during the last two seasons of it's eight year run. The pilot of "Friends" was shot on stage 33 (the same stage as "Living Single") at the Warner Ranch, and the first season was shot is Warner Bros Stage 5, now the home of "Everybody Loves Raymond".

June Gable who plays Joey's agent, Estelle Leanard, also played a nurse who delivered a baby for Leah Remini (who originally auditioned for the role of Monica) in the episode where Ross and Carol have their own baby. Joey assisted his future agent by being the breathing coach during labor.

In "The One With The Baby On The Bus" Phoebe is busking outside Central Perk. She tells Rachel that someone put a condom in her case. Later a kid comes and asks Phoebe if he dropped a condom. Later in the 2nd season this same actor (Giovanni Ribisi) shows up as Phoebe's brother.

30 second commercial spots to take place in the final ever episode are being sold in the UK for £1.2 million (approx $1.8million), the most expensive commercial slots of any TV programme in England with the exception of sports.

In the episode "The One with the Proposal", David Schwimmer was unavailable during the second week of shooting and was not part of the big group hug at the end. The reason for this was that he had left for England to begin shooting the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers".

The first member of the cast to get a role in a Hollywood film was Marcel the Monkey.

Before the show was cast, the main love interest was intended to be Monica and Joey.

"The One With The Flashback" was partly the idea of the cast to see how audience responded to certain couplings, the main one of these being Rachel and Chandler. The audience didn't like seeing these two together, so they never were.

Jennifer Aniston agreed to return for the series' 2003-04 season, which was the series' 10th and final season, only if production on the show would be finished by January, 2004, so she could focus on her film career.

At least three performers, Bruce Willis, Christina Applegate and Paul Rudd have guest starred on episodes of the show after doing a film with one of the regular cast members. Willis and Applegate won Emmys for their guest turns.

The theme song performed by The Rembrandts became a #1 single on the American pop charts.

In the 7th season finale, "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding", the first name that Jennifer Aniston reads on the announcement board for the Greek wedding is her original Greek surname - Anastassakis - which became Aniston after her family moved from Greece to New York

The characters' full names are:

          o Rachel Karen Green

          o Monica E. Geller

          o Phoebe Buffay

          o Joseph Francis Tribbiani Jr

          o Chandler Muriel Bing

          o Ross Eustace Geller

In, "The One with the Jam" Joey's arm is in a protective sling. In real life, LeBlanc had dislocated his shoulder on set attempting a sight gag. At the beginning of this episode, Chandler (Matthew Perry) overhears Joey bouncing on his bed and falling off. This was written into the story line to explain why the character would be wearing a sling.

The first and last episodes are the only ones in the entire series that do not begin with "The One...". The first episode is called "The Pilot", and the final episode is called "The Last One".

In the episode where Monica and Chandler get married the organist plays 2 songs as Monica enters and then walks down the aisle. Song #1 was "My Love" originally done by Paul McCartney and Wings. Song #2 was "Groovy Kind Of Love".

In, "The One in Massapequa" Alec Baldwin guest stars as Parker, Phoebe's date. Before heading out to the Gellar's 35th wedding anniversary, Parker inquires about the location of the anniversary party. Monica tells him it's in Massapequa. Parker says he's never been there. In real life, Alec Baldwin was born in Massapequa.

"Marcel" was played by two female monkeys, named Monkey and Katie. Katie also starred in Outbreak. Coincidentally, in the episode "The One After the Super Bowl" Marcel is starring in the fictional sequel "Outbreak 2: The Virus Takes Manhattan".

Chandler's parents, Charles and Nora Bing, were named after the favorite Thin Man series character Nora Charles; one half of a very famous movie detective couple of the thirties.

In "The One with the Ball", Chandler visits Phoebe's boyfriend Gary (Michael Rapaport) at his precinct. When they sit at Gary's desk, a blackboard with names written in blue chalk is prominent behind his head. All of the names on the blackboard are references to or characters from the films of Stanley Kubrick (Alex, Dim, Hal, Kissoff, even Redrum).

In "The One With the Ride-Along", Ross says to Joey and Chandler "I'm more cop than you two". This is another reference to David Schwimmer's stint on NYPD Blue.

"Insomnia Café" was another name considered for the title.

Central Perk is based on the Manhattan Cafe in New York's West Village.

The opening credits sequence, in which the stars dance in a fountain was shot in Warner Bros LA lot, at 4am. The water was heated, but the temperature soon plummeted. The sextet were not dancing to "I'll Be There For You" as it had not yet been written; instead they were jiving to funky soul.

In the opening credits to part-two of the Vegas story line, all of the names in the opening (actors and crew) were changed to have "Arquette" at the end of them, a gag on Courtney Cox-Arquette who had just recently married David Arquette.

In the episode when Chandler and Monica get married, after they are pronounced husband and wife song is being played with violins. The song is "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters.

Téa Leoni was the first choice for the part of "Monica", but turned it down.

Monica walks down the aisle to a string quartet version of "My Love" when she marries Chandler.

In TOW Rachel's Sister Babysits, Amy makes a comment about Jill getting fat in the ass and face, which is an in joke, as Reese Witherspoon was pregnant at the time of the episode shooting.

The final episode drew an estimated audience of 51.1 million people.

In the final episode the song playing when Ross and Rachel have their final on-screen kiss is the same song that played when they had their first kiss.

The wedding dress Rachel wears in The Pilot is the same wedding dress she wears in "The one with all the wedding dresses".

The role of Emily was offered to Patsy Kensit but she politely turned it down

In "The One with the Male Nanny" as Chandler is leaving for Tulsa, he tells Monica to have Geoffrey (who Monica claimed was the funniest person she ever met) email him with funny Oklahoma jokes at www.hahanotsomuch.com. This is a real web page with various quotes from that episode.

James Michael Tyler, Maggie Wheeler, Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles are the only non-Friends who were in all 10 seasons.

First choice for Rachel was Tea Leoni.

Whenever Tom Selleck made his initial on-set appearances, he received standing ovations. These would render his entrances unusable, prompting the need for later re-shoots without the audience.

No Friend ever made more money doing the show than any others. They started out making $22,500 per episode and ended up making $1million per show. All negotiations were done in unison. Kudrow said, "The six of us are far stronger than just one person."

Star Wars creator George Lucas sent the production team a letter, congratulating them on Ross's Princess Leia fantasy, which opened series 3.

The original idea for the show was going to focus on four characters with Phoebe and Chandler in supporting roles. In the early stages the creators toyed with the idea of Chandler being gay. They changed their mind when they met Matthew Perry.

Both Schwimmer and Aniston blubbed for real, after recording the Season Three scene in which Ross and Rachel split up, after being on a break.

In the pilot Barry's surname is Finkel. In later episodes, his name has been changed to Barry Farber.

The fridges in Monica's and Joey's apartments actually worked. Monica's was filled with water and other drinks for the cast and crew. Joey's was usually virtually empty, unless the inside of the fridge was going to be seen in a specific scene.

Joey's address is 495 Grove St. Apt. 19, New York, NY 10001.

Monica's address is 495 Grove St. Apt 20, New York, NY 10001.

Phoebe's address is 5 Morton St. Apt. 14.

Gunther didn't have a name until the middle of the second season.

Courteney Cox is the only regular cast member to not receive an Emmy nomination for their work on the show.

Joey's (Matt LeBlanc) picture on the wall of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy is a still from the short Leave 'Em Laughing.

The artwork in Central Perk is changed every three episodes.

Rachel and Chandler met for "the first time" three times. They met at Monica's house for Thanksgiving ("The One With All The Thanksgivings"), when Central Perk was a bar ("The One With The Flashback"), and in the coffee house ("The Pilot"). Rachel and Chandler also kissed at a college party not long after they met.("The One Where The Stripper Cries")

In "The One With Russ", David Schwimmer plays Russ, yet is credited as "Snaro". apparently as a tribute to a friend.

In "The One With the Baby on the Bus", Lea Thompson crosses over in her role from "Caroline in the City". The same night this episode aired, David Schwimmer appeared as Ross on "The Single Guy" (1995) and Matthew Perry appeared as Chandler on "Caroline in the City".

In "The One After Vegas", the closing credits read: "To Courtney and David, who did get married."

In "The One With the Videotape", the Magna Doodle on Joey's door reads: "I love NY".

The episode "The One Where Rosita Dies", is directed by Stephen Prime. The Magna-doodle on Joey's door reads "USDA Prime".

The drawings on the Magna Doodle in Joey's apartment are done by Paul Shaffer, the Electrical Best Boy.

In "The One With The Cheap Wedding Dress", bride Meagan (Andrea Bendewald) is one of Jennifer Aniston's best friends. She was a bridesmaid at her wedding.

"The Rachel", Jennifer Aniston's popular hairstyle, made its debut in "The One Where Nana Dies Twice". The cut became very popular among fans. When Marlo Thomas guest starred as Rachel's mother in the second season, Rachel actually commented that her mother should get her hair styled like her in order to acknowledge the trend.

Gunther has his first line during "The One With Phoebe's Dad".

In "The One With Phoebe's Uterus", Matthew Perry messes up a line by saying "blue blazer black" instead of "blue blazer back". The rest of the cast's responses were so funny that they left it in the episode.

The writers originally intended for Ross to discover that Elizabeth (Alexandra Holden) was pregnant in "The One With The Proposal". Ross would discover after their baby was born that it wasn't his. This idea was scrapped as writers didn't want to put viewers through an entire pregnancy that would later prove to have nothing to do with the central characters.

The first time Courteney Cox wore her fat suit in The One With The Prom Video, Matthew Perry walked by her without knowing who she was.

Joey first used his trademark line "How you doin'" in "The One With Rachel's Crush", in the fourth season.

Bruce Willis starred in The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad for no fee, due to a bet he lost to Matthew Perry.

In The One In Barbados Part 1, Joey and Rachel wear fake nametags to get into a convention. Rachel wears the nametag Kate Miller, a love interest of Joey's in Season 3.

Lisa Kudrow was terrified of the duck that showed up in Season 3.

In "The One With The Ick Factor" and many later episodes, the gang make fun of Chandler for emphasizing the wrong words when he talked. (Could that report BE any later?) Chandler had only done this once on Friends, in "The One With The Butt".

Matthew Perry grew a goatee specifically for the scene when Joey scared him with the turkey in "The One With All The Thanksgivings".

Matthew Perry's dad, John Bennett Perry, plays Joshua's dad in "The One With Rachel's New Dress".

According to the producers, a questionnaire regarding Monica's promiscuity was passed out at the taping of "The Pilot" at the request of NBC. Apparently NBC considered Monica a slut for sleeping with Paul the Wine Guy on their first date.

In "The One With Chandler's Dad," the snippy waiter at the drag show is played by Courteny Cox's brother-in-law, Alexis Arquette.

In "The One Where Rachel Tells Ross", originally shot before 11 September 2001, Chandler and Monica couldn't get on their flight for their honeymoon because Chandler said the word "bomb" in the airport. After the terrorist attacks on the US, the story was rewritten and re-shot.

On the set, Matt LeBlanc was known as "LeBlanc" by all the cast and crew, and Matthew Perry was known as "Matthew" or "Matt". This was started by the crew to avoid confusion.

Occasionally, NBC would air "Super-sized" episodes of their most popular sitcoms, including Friends. These episodes would run 40 minutes including commercials, or just around 30 minutes without. Since most of these episodes were in the last few seasons, most of them haven't entered syndication yet. In syndication, a majority of the "Super-sized" episodes were cut down to fit a 30-minute timeslot, except for the rare case where there was both too much plot info essential to the episode or series, and there were enough deleted scenes to make a two-episode story arc.

When Phoebe walks down the aisle at her wedding to Mike, the song playing on steel drums is "Here, There and Everywhere" by the Beatles.

In "The One in Vegas, Part 1", Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), reluctantly takes advantage of being naked while having the apartment to herself. Jennifer Aniston did the whole sequence herself.

Continuity error: As with any long-running show there are many inconsistencies between series. Characters' life histories, their birthdays and ages are reported differently from time to time as the writers invent new stuff for them that wasn't thought of when the series began.

Continuity error: With an average of 24 episodes per season of a show which, to 2002, had been running for eight seasons there are, inevitably, many hundreds of minor continuity errors, with cups, hair and clothes inexplicably moving between shots - even people sometimes.

Continuity error: In the pilot episode, the two apartments are numbers 4 and 5. Since then Monica and Rachel's apartment number has been 20 and Joey's and Chandler's apartment number is 19 (see also trivia).

Continuity error: In "The One With All the Cheesecakes", when Rachel and Chandler are splitting the cheesecake, Rachel takes her half, puts it on a blue plate, and moves to carry it to her apartment. When she trips on the way out, the blue plate has become the cheesecake's box-bottom, and when Chandler comes out his half is on the blue plate.

Revealing mistake: In "The One With The Butt" where Joey is playing Al Pacino's "butt-double", Joey is supposedly naked but you can clearly see the reflection of a pair of shorts in the shower glass.

Plot holes: In The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy the gang including Monica enter Central Perk talking and laughing but leave as soon as they see another group on the couch and chairs. In the next scene, Monica is in her bathroom and has been crying for nearly 3 days straight over breaking up with Richard and hasn't slept in 3 nights.

Continuity error: In "The One With a Chick... and a Duck", Ross is holding two suits, a brown one is in one hand and a blue one in the other. In the next shot, the suits have switched hands.

Continuity error: In "The One with All the Wedding Dresses", Ross enters Joey and Chandler's apartment to tell them and Rachel that he is marrying Emily in a month. When he enters the apartment (and in a subsequent close-up), Joey and Chandler's message board is blank. In subsequent shots, however, the message board has "get out" written on it.

Continuity error: In "The One With the Metaphorical Tunnel", the ice cream bucket Chandler is holding keeps changing colors from green to purple throughout the scene.

Revealing mistake: In “The Last One” Phoebe and Ross hug in the airport and the camera zooms out, it is then possible to see where the carpet on the set of the airport ends and the studio floor is visible.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In "The One With The Tiny T-Shirt" Joey enters Monica's apartment singing and dancing, before Chandler realizes "he must have got the part in that play". The words Joey is mouthing during this scene are not the same as the ones he is heard singing.

Continuity error: In "The One With Ross's Wedding", Phoebe is talking on the phone with Emily's mother and making a sandwich at the same time. While she is talking, Phoebe puts mayo on her sandwich but at the end of the conversation, there is no mayo.

Crew or equipment visible: In "The One With Joey's Porsche" when Phoebe is babysitting the triplets on her own, she turns away to put a vase in the bin and when she turns back the baby is gone. At the edge of the shot you can see a person moving to place the baby in the drawer.

Continuity error: In "The One With the Mugging", Joey takes out a couple of sodas from Monica's fridge. In the next shot, the cans he had taken out have changed.

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the episode "The One With the Blackout" Joey says that the weirdest place he has ever had sex is the women's room on the second floor of the New York City public library. However, the bathrooms in the NYC public library are located only on the third floor.

Continuity error: In "The One With The Inappropriate Sister" Joey punches the wall that hasn't been spackled, and he makes a huge hole, but in the next scene the hole is gone and the wall is perfectly fine.

Continuity error: In the episode the last one, When Monica and Chandler are holding their twins for the first time, the hospital ID bracelets on Chandler's wrist appear and disappear between shots.

Revealing mistake: When Monica walks in on Joey and Chandler watching a tape of Monica and Richard, Joey pulls Monica to the floor and you can see she is wearing knee pads to protect her knees when she gets pulled down.

Crew or equipment visible: In "The One With The Bullies" you can see the top of the head of a crewmember holding the dog in Pheobe's cab window.

Continuity error: In "The One with Rachel's Dream", the box of maple candy Ross is holding changes color from green to white when Chandler and Ross are standing at the hotel check-in.

In "The One That Could Have Been" the opening credits have been changed: you see the alter-egos of the cast members in the "alternate reality" (Monica still being fat, Joey as famous actor etc.).

At the end of the 2nd part of "The One With Two Parts" the epilogue is totally syncronized in Spanish, a reference to Marcel turning the TV's language into Spanish at the first part of the episode.

The first airing of the pilot episode in syndication featured approximately 10 additional minutes of footage, including a musical number by Phoebe. This 30 Minute version has just become available on the Region 4 DVD of Friends. It includes Phoebe's song, and extended scenes at the coffee house and in Ross' lounge putting together the home entertainment unit. This version is not available on the Australian Video release. 

In the season 8 episode "The One With The Halloween Party", Rachel gives out candy to the first trick or treaters that come to the door. On the NBC original broadcasts, she comments on a girl's cowgirl costume and about Ralph Lauren's new clothes line and the young girl says "Just give me the candy!". In the syndicated version, she just gives her the candy.