Featured Image Credit: NBC
Topics: Friends, TV and Film
Jess Battison
Friends is just a gift that keeps on giving. Well, if you’re a fan of the old sitcom anyway, I assume that it is.
Lovers of the show just can’t stop watching it or talking about it.
And like any long-running series with so many episodes, there’s always new little things to uncover about it.
Advert
From ‘mistakes’ in the filming to a ‘plot hole’ in Rachel’s backstory, fans are often finding another new talking point about Friends.
This time it’s discovering a ‘genius’ scene was completely ‘unscripted’.
There’s reportedly a variety of improv moments throughout the 10 seasons of the American show, and this one is all centred on a lamp.
During the season five episode ‘The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS’, Ross gets uncontrollably excited when Emily calls him up to resolve their mess of a marriage.
As he rises up from his chair, he gets pretty frantic, shouting at the others and moving about erratically.
In this moment of madness, Ross picks up a lamp and randomly hands it to Chandler - who understandably looks rather confused.
More understandably so considering actor David Schwimmer decided to add this move in for his actor, with Matthew Perry reportedly having no idea what was going on.
So, Chandler’s reaction is totally genuine as the actor is left holding a lamp with no clue why.
But being a skilled improv comic, Perry didn’t break character and just kept holding onto the object for the rest of the scene - making the whole thing even funnier to fans.
A TikTok was posted of this moment, reading: “Ross handling the lamp to Chandler wasn’t scripted. David just randomly handed it to Matthew and his reaction is 100% genuine.”
Users were in stitches over the video as they reminisced on the iconic Friends scene.
Another pointed out the shock of the other actors, claiming Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) ‘wouldn’t look at the camera because she was laughing’.
One user praised Perry, writing: “Just shows how much Matthew is Chandler irl. Chandler would have reacted that way if it was scripted, even better that it wasn't.”
Another echoed: “He reacted like Chandler y'all Matthew is Chandler in real life.”
A third wrote: “I laughed so hard when he did that and now knowing it wasn’t scripted makes it even funnier.”
Others called Schwimmer a ‘comical genius’, while another said: “The funniest parts of the show were usually off script.”
Whether that last note is a good or bad thing is up to you to decide.