When Friends debuted in 1994, it became an instant hit, and from then until its end in 2004 and beyond even to this day in 2020, it is still a phenomenon. The show remains a massive success with its home on Netflix with millions watching, both on rewatch and for the first time. The show is a part of people's day-to-day lives and is referenced within those lives regularly.
It is not just fans that pull out references to the show, however. Friends has made an imprint on pop culture that has led to it being referenced on numerous occasions by many different properties - even to its copy on occasions. Here are the ten best Friends references in pop culture.
Futurama is a Matt Groening created an animated show that has a slew of pop culture references throughout each season. It was therefore only inevitable that there would be a Friends reference in there somewhere.
It comes in the episode "Love and Rocket" and sees Lrrr and Ndnd watching Friends on TV. They are confused about why Ross has not eaten the other five gang members since he is the largest. They also are happy to turn the show off when duty calls, saying, "It was a Joey-heavy episode, anyway."
Scrubs is another sitcom that was a hit when it aired and remained so on Netflix, similarly too (although much less successfully), Friends. The show makes a very meta Friends reference that is not a Friends reference in the canon of the show.
While JD is staring sadly at Elliot and her boyfriend, the Janitor comes over to rebuke him. He comments that he has watched JD obsess over Eliot for three years and that everyone is sick of the will-they-won't-they nature of the pair. He then goes on to tell JD that he and Eliot are "Not exactly Ross and Rachel." JD asks who he is talking about before the Janitor points over at two hospital workers, Ross, and Rachel who incidentally have the same hairstyles as Ross and Rachel from Friends.
Family Guy is another animated show chock full of pop culture references and easter eggs. It does whole episodes parodying the plots of various movies. One such episode is "Three Kings," where the show parodies the films Misery, Stand By Me, and Shawshank Redemption.
In that episode, as Peter/Andy DuFrane is trying to escape the prison, he must bash in a pipe with a rock to get into it. Luckily, Carter/Warden Samuel Norton is watching sends, and at the famous point in the intro where every fan claps, Peter/Andy can open up the pipe.
How I Met Your Mother for the longest time filled the void that Friends left. There are so many moments and parts of the show that parallel that of Friends with no direct, name dropping references, but there are a few subtle ones.
One of which is when Barney, Marshall, and Ted are in a coffee shop instead of a bar, leading Barney to exclaim that a coffee shop is nowhere near as fun to hangout. This may seem like a reference to the Friends gang always hanging in coffee shops. But in 'The One With The Flashback' it is revealed the group used to hang in a bar, and when Chandler finds out that said bar is turning into a coffee shop, he says, "Just coffee? Where are we gonna hang out now?
Parks And Rec is another Office-esque sitcom that does not get talked about on the same level as The Office or Friends nearly enough. Nevertheless, it is filled with pop culture references to various properties, one of which is Friends.
The best is when Leslie is trying to run a telethon and to use up time begins talking about Friends. Leslie describes her second favorite Friends episode which is the Thanksgiving episode where Chandler is in a box in an attempt to have Joey forgive him. She haphazardly describes the episode and takes a long pause as she tries to remember if Phoebe is present.
A hit show still ongoing today is that of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show contains many Die Hard references, as well as other movies, etc but also includes a pretty hilarious Friends exchange between Terry and Jake.
Terry comments that he did not see Jake as "That kind of friend" when Jake offers to drive Terry to the hospital. This makes Jake exclaim, "I'm every kind of friend. I'm Phoebe, I'm Chandler, I'm Rachel, I'm... who's the dinosaur guy?" Prompting Terry to almost angrily stand up and say, "Ross, bro, Ross!" A lot of people dislike Ross, but he is hardly forgettable, so when Jake says, "Sorry, forgot you were such a Ross-head." it is wholly undeserved.
This reference is the most subtle on the list, from perhaps the least famous show on this list, Cougar Town. But, for Friends fans, it is a great one, earning its place so high on this list.
In the season five episode "Like a Diamond", Matthew Perry appears as a guest star alongside the shows lead Courtney Cox. Perry's appearance led to the opening title card - which changes every episode - to say "Cougar Town - Now With More Friends," referencing the pairs time on the show together.
A fantastic sitcom, Community, is a show with a whole group of friends. It also has a terrific selection of Friends references, mostly from the pop-culture-loving Abed.
In the episode "Social Psychology", Abed tells Annie he did not realize they were good friends, saying he "figured we were more like Chandler and Phoebe. They don't really have stories together." In a later episode, Abed compares and contrasts the relationship between Jeff and Britta to that of Ross and Rachel. He says to Jeff, "Your sexual tension and lack of chemistry are putting us all on edge, which is why ironically — and hear this on every level — you're keeping us from being friends. The two best references to Friends that Community offers.
The debate between what is better between The Office and Friends will likely still rage on in years to come. However, passionate people are about the discussion but, Friends came first leading to The Office sprinkling in references to it.
It is a hilarious reference at that as Michael Scott in his office compares his coworkers to Friends characters. He claims to be both Chandler Bing and Joey Tribianni, while Pam is the Rachel Green, and that Dwight is Cosmo Kramer, not realizing that in fact, Kramer is a character from Seinfeld.
The last reference on this list is perhaps the most relatable and comes from the hit show The Good Place. There is a slew of references in the season one episode "What We Owe To Each Other," all of which are relatable.
In the episode, Michael studies friendships by binging all ten seasons of Friends. He observes that there is no way Monica and Rachel could afford their apartment with their jobs. But, most relatably, when Michael exclaims he has given up trying to help those he promised, he says, "I feel like Friends in season 8; out of ideas and forcing Joey and Rachel together, even though it made no sense. I hope the sinkhole opens up again and swallows me whole." Joey and Rachel's romance is a sore spot topic for a lot of Friends fans and is seriously relatable on all accounts, which is what puts it top of this list.
