FRIENDS is one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time. It is stuffed with humor, drama, and six main characters who pull on your heartstrings. Their fights, romances, and slapstick moments defined our taste in entertainment. They always stuck with each other through thick and thin. That is why we also had to stick with them through occasional awkward moments and embarrassing scenes. As new viewers, we sit through a ton of scenes that today seem like cliches and were uncomfortable, to begin with.
FRIENDS still delivers these scenes with more charm than any other show. Perhaps that is why it is still one of the most-binge watched TV series of all time. We have made a list of some of the most embarrassing moments from FRIENDS.
1. When Ross Says The Wrong Name
Most girls fantasize about the “most important day of their lives” from a very young age. However, Emily surely never planned on what Ross would do at their wedding. When Ross exclaimed “Rachel” instead of “Emily” during his vows, in front of all the members of his and her family and friends, her dream day soon turned into the most uncomfortable nightmare. Undoubtedly, the whole situation was extremely humiliating for Emily. The most tragic part is that they agreed to proceed with the wedding and ultimately, everything again ended Ross style, with a divorce.
2. When Everybody Made Fat Monica Jokes
FRIENDS creators made sure we know that if Monica didn’t shed her high school pounds, then she would have been miserable. Because there’s no way anybody will love you if you are overweight. You’re destined for a celibate existence filled with awkward dance parties and “fat sister” jokes. Of course, this is not true. This show had fat-shamed teenage Monica so much that she started to feel weird about herself.
3. When Frank Jr. Made Out With His Teacher
We all know that Pheobe’s younger brother Frank Jr. is that guy who was dating his much older teacher. However, it does not end here. The two of them decide to get married and have children in season three. Both FRIENDS and the audience surely cringed a lot while seeing their make-out sessions. Without judging, no one wants to see these two in a middle of a tongue war.
4. When Phoebe Is Pretending To Seduce Chandler
In this episode, the level of discomfort between Pheobe and Chandler was quite high, but the whole thing turned out to be really entertaining for viewers. Besides that awkward and unwatchable kiss. The whole idea of trying to seduce your friend just to confirm if they’re loyal to your other friend is over the top weird. Also, Pheobe’s resolve to see the thing through was surely a ticket to huge embarrassment.
5. When Rachel Was Trying To Get Joshua’s Attention
Season four includes some of the most desperate Rachel moments in the show. And the cherry on the cake would have to be the episode “The one with the fake party”. The episode revolves around Rachel’s failed attempts of seducing Joshua during the fake “bon-voyage-Emily” party. She desperately tried to get Joshua’s attention by putting on a sexy dress and then, a high school cheerleader outfit. That’s not all, she trips and bites her lip really hard after performing a cheerleading act in front of everyone. Maybe it wasn’t embarrassing for Rachel but it surely was for all her fans.
6. When They Had The Wrong Attitude For Chandler’s Dad
Chandler’s dad, Charles was the subject of constant ridicule on the show. He was a drag queen at a Las Vegas club where people weren’t making jabs at Charles’s appearance. But it was when Chandler says sarcastically, “There’s daddy”. When he and Monica first see Charles perform, they offensively question his identity. Again in season seven, Chandler’s mom, Nora, says to Charles, “Don’t you have a little too much p*nis to be wearing a dress like that?” How can the show even think that queer people are punch lines?
7. When Monica Gets Stung By A Jellyfish
The season four episode “The one with the Jellyfish” provided us with one of the most famous FRIENDS cringe moments ever. It is the one when Monica was stung by a jellyfish at the beach and Chandler peed on her to her aid. You could cut the tension with a knife while Joey, Chandler, and Monica were retelling their embarrassing secret to the rest of their friends. Fun Fact: A jellyfish sting should never be treated by the “golden shower”. Their tentacles can activate in your skin because of the salt in your urine, which would sting you even more because of the venom it releases and makes the wound worse.
8. When Rachel And Joey End Up Together
The cringe is the best definition of the relationship between these two. Most FRIENDS fans felt that Joey and Rachel’s relationship was the worst plot in the entire series. Nevertheless, even FRIENDS cast also considered their scenes unwatchable. It may have started to get cringy with either the time when Joey proposes in “The One Where No One Proposes” or when they first kissed in “The One After Joey And Rachel Kiss”. Fortunately, the whole awkward situation ended soon and left us fans in cringe-recovery.
9. When Officer Goodbody Did His Striptease Dance
Knowing the eccentric Pheobe Buffay, it only makes sense that her bachelorette party would be bizarre. However, we never expected to see Danny Devito appear as a middle-aged stripper named Roy in the show. His “exotic” dance was extremely uncomfortable to the ladies. Not just that, his own reaction was awkward as well. This scene is a perfect example of how unusual FRIENDS can be.
10. When Monica Finds Out Who Her Midnight Mystery Kisser Was
This season ten episode contains one scene that’s perhaps even more awkward than the uncomfortable moments in “The One Where the Stripper Cries”. While talking with Chandler and Ross, Monica finally finds out who her midnight mystery kisser was on that faithful night in 1987. It was kind of a shock to know that it was her own brother, Ross. The information not only led to disgust among all three, but everyone watching the show.
11. When Monica Was Aroused While Phoebe Massaged Her
Phoebe never suspected she’d regret her decision to massage Monica. In the episode “The One With The Secret Closet”, Monica enjoys massages so much that she starts expressing her pleasure with extremely inappropriate noises. And to make it more cringy, Phoebe decides to fight fire with fire by saying, “Yeah, say my name. Say it!” However, she quickly realized how awkward things have gotten and says, “and now I’m going to cover you back up, and, um, I won’t be speaking to you for several weeks.”
12. When Monica Counted To Seven
Monica’s the person to ask if you need to know what makes it go from “nice” to “My God, somebody’s killing her in there!” or you can simply watch the episode “The One With Pheobe’s Uterus.” In this episode, Monica was trying to help Chandler by revealing the seven erogenous zones on a woman’s body. We praise Courtney Cox for her performance in this extremely amusing scene, but we have to admit that any encounter in real life where your friend is screaming “SEVEN, SEVEN, SEVEN-SEVEN…!” will be one of the most embarrassing moments ever.
