Take a Trip Down Memory Lane with These 35 Facts About FRIENDS

It's rumored that Mathew Perry made a bet with Bruce Willis that if "The Whole Nine Yards" (a movie in which both co-starred) opened at No. 1 at the box office, Willis would have to do a guest-appearance in Friends tv show for free. Willis lost the bet, and guest-starred in Friends.

2. The fake cigarette brand, 'Morley', has been featured in hundreds of movies and TV shows, including Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier.

3. The tour guides of New York City tells tourists, that a fountain in Central Park is the F.R.I.E.N.D.S fountain. That fountain is actually in Warner Bros. Studios (LA).

4. Ellen Degeneres turned down the role of Phoebe Buffay on "Friends."

5. At NBC's insistence, the pilot episode of "Friends" was rewritten to include an older character who could give an advice to young adults. The new script was so bad that it was scrapped.

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

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

8. In the opening credits of Friends: The One After Vegas (1999), the names of all the actors and crew were changed to include "Arquette" at the end of them, a gag on Courteney Cox Arquette, who had just recently married David Arquette.

9. At least four actors, Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, 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.

10. The orange couch used in Central Perk was found in the basement of the Warner Brothers studio.

Joey's pick-up line, "How you doin'?" was ranked #4 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 20 Top Catchphrases" (21-27 August 2005 issue).

12. The Friends show's original theme song was "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M., but was changed later to be "I'll Be There For You" by The Rembrandts.

13. In S10E12 of Friends, Phoebe's wedding was not attended by any of her relatives.

14. Hank Azaria once auditioned for the role of Joey Tribbiani. After being rejected, he begged to audition again. He auditioned and was rejected again, but he later appeared as David, Phoebe's scientist boyfriend.

15. The golden frame around the peephole was originally a mirror which Ricky Parker, a crew member, accidentally smashed. Because it looked good, they decided to leave it there.

Thirty-second commercial spots which took place in the final episode was sold in the UK for £1.2 million (approx $1.8 million). This is the most expensive commercial slots of any TV program in the UK, with the exception of sports.

17. When Tom Selleck made his initial on-set appearances, he received standing ovations from the audience. These would render his entrances unusable, prompting the need for later reshoots without the audience.

18. The Friends tv show debuted at a time when networks were beginning to eliminate theme songs during the opening credits; however, with the popularity of this theme song, "I'll Be There for You" which went to #1 on the "Billboard Hot 100" and had incessant play on both the radio airwaves and television video channels, the show helped quell that trend.

19. The Friends characters' full names are: Rachel Karen Green; Phoebe Buffay (in Friends: The One Where They All Turn Thirty (2001), she says she never knew her middle name since she had never seen her birth certificate and her twin sister, Ursula, sold it to a Swedish runaway); Joseph Francis Tribbiani Jr.; Chandler Muriel Bing; Ross Eustace Geller; Monica E. Geller (it is revealed that Monica's initials are MEG but her middle name is never actually specified).

20. There have been eleven Oscar winning actors/actresses who have appeared on Friends: Fisher Stevens, Charlton Heston, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Helen Hunt, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Robin Williams, George Clooney, Jim Rash and Brad Pitt.

On the set, Matt LeBlanc was called "LeBlanc" by all the cast and crew, and Matthew Perry was called "Matthew" or "Matty". This was started by the crew to avoid confusion. Additionally, David Schwimmer was referred to as "Schwim" among the crew.

22. Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) is the oldest of the six Friends, being born in 1963, Courteney Cox (Monica) born in 1964, David Schwimmer (Ross) born in 1966, Matt LeBlanc (Joey) born in 1967, Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) born in February 1969, and Matthew Perry(Chandler) being the youngest, born in August 1969.

23. Friends tv show was Ranked #7 on Empire magazine's 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time (2008).

24. For almost the entire first season, there wasn’t a street outside of Central Perk, just a painted backdrop. They made the window a little blurry and put many plants in front of the window to hide the street.

25. Columbus State University has a paleontologist named David R. Schwimmer.