History Friends / TropesKToO

** There was also the [[HappyDays Fonzie]]-obsessed doctor who delivered the triplets.

* MonochromeCasting: The show rarely has any significant minority characters, though there is the occasional exception. The pilot featured a prominent black character as a comic foil for Monica, but she was written out to focus on the core cast.

* NeverLiveItDown : Ross liked to hold tea parties, while wearing his mother's dresses as a child, and Monica never passes up an opportunity to tell this to one of his dates.

* NotSoDifferent: While enjoying their new recliners, Chandler and Joey watch ''BeavisAndButthead''; most of the scene involves the boys laughing just like the duo on TV.

* OneHourWorkWeek: Chandler's job in early episodes of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' is subject to a LampshadeHanging in one episode, where the deciding question in a trivia contest is "What is Chandler Bing's job?" Incidentally, it was Statistical Analysis and Data Reconfiguration until he got a job in an advertising firm. Even when Chandler and Monica are a couple she can't remember what he does. This is Lampshaded in one episode, where the Friends note that their bosses don't seem to like them... at which point Joey [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that this may be because they're hanging out at a coffee house at 11:30 on a Wednesday morning.

* MoonLandingHoax: While at a thanksgiving meal in the "The One With Rachel's Other Sister" episode, Joey realises he was meant to on a parade float with his fellow ''Days of Our Lives'' stars and has difficultly trying to come up with a good excuse as to why he is not there.

* LyingFingerCross: In the episode "The One Where No One Is Ready", Joey and Chandler have a very long argument about who gets to sit on a chair, during which this happens:

** Ross is the worst one of the group. He usually resorts to petty revenge to get back at Rachel whenever they break up from their on again off again relationship (dating women just to make Rachel jealous) and gets into childish fights with his sister, Monica, such as hogging the TV or calling her childish names. For the latter, Ross thought his squabbles with Monica as they grew up together was harmless fun and that is why he kept doing it well into adulthood until Monica confessed that she hated Ross when they were kids because of his bullying.

* AManIsAlwaysEager: In "The One With Phoebe's Birthday Dinner", Chandler and Monica have a fight about him smoking, she then pretends she's not mad to get him to have sex with her (as she's ovulating), he's angry about this but it ends with essentially 'you got to have sex so why you are mad' and him bitching that he's too much of a girl. Monica also mentions the time he wanted to have sex just after her uncle's funeral.

* MenAreUncultured: Anytime one of the male characters displayed an interest in something other the sports, beer or women, he was mocked and teased for it.

* KilledOffForReal: Joey angers the writers of the soap opera he is working on, and they kill off his character by throwing him down an elevator shaft. The gang is watching the show when Phoebe says "Well, maybe they can find a way to bring you back" only to be told by Joey [[ChunkySalsaRule "They said that when they found my body, my brain was so smashed in that the only doctor that could have saved me was me. Supposed to be some kind of irony or somethin'."]] He did eventually come back in the end, with a different -- female -- brain in his body. Though the female brain thing only lasted one episode and then Drake was actually back.
* LamazeClass: Once subverted when the pregnant Carol is the one unable to attend, so the classes are taken by her ex-husband Ross and her girlfriend Susan. HilarityEnsues as the two argue over which of them should be the "woman".
* LampshadeHanging: And without breaking the fourth wall, too
** RomanticFalseLead: When Ross confesses to Chandler's mother (who is a romance novelist) about being jealous of Rachel's boyfriend Paolo, she soothes him by saying "the guy is a secondary character; a complication that you eventually kill off"

** Ross names his son Ben after a series of mishaps which befall Ross and his ex-wife's partner at the hospital while she's busy having the baby; at one point [[LineOfSightName there is a janitor's coverall involved which has the name "Ben" on it.]] Prior to that they were feuding over what to name him.

* LessEmbarrassingTerm: Ross refers to his shirt as being "sort of a faded salmon color", when it's actually pink.

** He's the only character who actually ''married'' his older love interest, but there were other instances in the show, like Elizabeth and Ross, or Monica and Richard. Or Monica and Young Ethan (TOW The Ick Factor.)

** Chandler has a tendency to make immature jokes and (along with Joey) gets caught up in activities that are far below his age group

** "The One With The Fertility Test" also has this. Most of the episode revolves around usual hi-jinks and Chandler freaking out about 'doing it in a cup'. Right at the end of the episode [[spoiler: he and Monica discover they probably can't have children and the scene fades out with them ''sobbing in each other's arms''.]] It's a punch in the gut that leaves you reeling and wondering what happened to so-called 'comedy'.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone : Chandler's words when he misses an obvious joke after a "nubbinectomy."
* MySisterIsOffLimits: Ross explodes when he first finds out about Chandler and Monica, until they both say that they're in love and not just fooling around. He immediately becomes happy for them. Of course, [[MoodSwinger he was taking anti-rage drugs at the time.]]

** Poked fun at in a flashback episode, where the girls mourn the fact that "Cute Naked Guy is really putting on a lot of weight".

'''Phoebe:''' Oh no, no, no. I learned never to borrow money from friends. [[NoodleIncident No, that's why Richard Dreyfuss and I don't speak anymore.]]

** In an inversion, Chandler spends an episode desperately trying to lend Joey money, but Joey doesn't want to owe him anything - presumably because of this trope. [[HilarityEnsues And thus was born]] [[CalvinBall the Game of Cups.]]

** Phoebe's husband Mike and her first serious love interest, David "the Scientist Guy".

* NoBisexuals: Prior to the start of the series, Ross's wife Carol comes out as a lesbian after seven years of marriage to a man - which is perhaps not in itself unusual, particularly in a less than gay-friendly early '90s context (especially since it's later made clear that her parents are at least vaguely homophobic). However, it's clear that she and Ross still enjoyed a sexual relationship together for a while after she got involved with Susan - not only does he explicitly bring up on one occasion how they had "some good times before she became a lesbian...and a few afterwards, as well", but a flashback to exactly one year before the pilot episode reveals that their son Ben must have been conceived at least three months ''after'' she admitted to seeing Susan. However, bisexuality is never brought up, and everyone accepts that she's exclusively gay.
** In one episode Joey refers to Ross as a guy who "married a woman who was nearly a lesbian, and then pushed her over the edge". Granted, it's intended as an insult and it's [[TheDitz said by Joey]], but Carol being bisexual would make a lot more sense.

-->'''Monica''': [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Wouldn't kick her out of bed.]] ''(beat)'' No more vodka for me.

** There apparently was a "Pictionary incident"

** In an earlier episode, Phoebe is feeling guilty about spending time with her biological mother and imagines that her mother has been [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} reincarnated as a cat.]]

* TheOneWith: TropeNamer. The show referenced this by starting [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming all but a handful of episode titles]] with the words "The One (With/Where)...", the exceptions being the pilot and the finale, along with a few shows called "The One After...". Additionally, the pilot has an alternate title; it is now listed on Website/IMDb as "The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate" and the Season 1 DVD set also uses that title. TheOtherWiki still calls it "The Pilot". The series finale is titled, logically enough, "The Last One". The reason for this is exactly the one seen above in the trope description: so the episode can be discussed in informal conversation without the need to remember the title.
** This can result in odd situations where the title won't always correspond to the logical "The One With" name. For example, "The One With The Embryos" is more well-known as the one with the trivia contest that leads to the guys and girls switching apartments and "The One With The Kips" is commonly referred by fans as "The One Where Joey Finds Out About Chandler and Monica".

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In "TOW All the Cheesecakes", it's revealed that PlatonicLifePartners Joey and Phoebe have a regular dinner outing each month, just the two of them, but Joey bails on her once to go on a date. Phoebe is legitimately upset at this, causing Joey to profusely apologize for not realizing the importance of their get-togethers and gives her a CooldownHug.
** In "TOW The Late Thanksgiving", Joey gets his head trapped in the door, and to get him free, the gang have to push him through. Cue him crashing into the table and getting food ''everywhere''. When Chandler points this out to major-neat-freak Monica, she stares at them and simply says: "I don't care." [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Turns out that she's just got off the phone with the adoption agency and they're getting a baby.]]

** In the first season, right when Ross is about spill his feelings to Rachel, her former fiance Barry bursts into the apartment to say he's still in love with Rachel, causing Ross to complain aloud, "OK, we have GOT to start locking that door!"

** On the Vegas trip, when Phoebe is told that being married in Vegas is as binding as being married anywhere else she says, "Oh my god. Oh My God! OH MY GOD! Meh..." (WordOfGod is that the audience is supposed to think she got married on some prior trip to Vegas.)

* OldNewBorrowedAndBlue: When Chandler and Monica decide to get married in [[VivaLasVegas Vegas]] on impulse, they shoplift a blue sweater to count as something new, borrowed, and blue. For something old:

* TheOneWith: TropeNamer. The show referenced this by starting [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming all but a handful of episode titles]] with the words "The One (With/Where)...", the exceptions being the pilot and the finale, along with a few shows called "The One After...". Additionally, the pilot has an alternate title; it is now listed on IMDb as "The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate" and the Season 1 DVD set also uses that title. TheOtherWiki still calls it "The Pilot". The series finale is titled, logically enough, "The Last One". The reason for this is exactly the one seen above in the trope description: so the episode can be discussed in informal conversation without the need to remember the title.

** In "TOW The Boob Job", Monica and Chandler have financial problems, and Chandler refuses to borrow money, so Monica asks Joey in secret if she can borrow from him. When Chandler is onto her, and asks Joey why she would want to borrow money if it can't be because of their economy (which Joey convinced him wasn't), he answers from the top of his head that she wants a boob job. Chandler later goes on an on about telling her that she's perfect the way she is and wouldn't want to change anything on her body, to which she thinks he means the obesity she'll undergo during pregnancy. When confronting Chandler about it, HilariyEnsues.

-->'''Rachel''': Do you see what all guys see in her.

* OhCrap: In "TOW The Embryos", during the trivia game with the animals/apartment on the line, Rachel and Monica when presented with, "What is Chandler Bing's job?" Also, Rachel's "NOOOOO!" catchphrase.