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10 Brilliant Friends In-Jokes You Might Have Missed

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Running for 10 seasons between 1994 and 2004, the show about the Central Perk gang had plenty of time to throw in some nifty gags which only the most eagle-eyed viewer might spot. Here are ten of the best – how many did you know?

Jennifer Aniston owned the white dog in real life

Audiences will remember the triumph with which Chandler and Joey rode into Monica’s apartment on a hideous white dog ornament after they won the flat in a bet.

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But what you might not know is that dog actually belonged to Jennifer Aniston. The actress’s best mate gave it to her as a present when she started acting (er, thanks?) and she lent it to the production. And then let them keep it (she obviously thought it was as ridiculous as the rest of us).

The number 27 makes multiple subtle appearances

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For some reason, the number features prominently throughout the series. Joey announces to everyone that he was 27 pounds when he was born, while Chandler gives Ross $27 to apologise for dating Monica.

Meanwhile, Rachel demonstrates how Monica labels her cups by showing her date #27. In the episode where three firemen come to the girls’ apartment, their helmets are also emblazoned with the number.

Jennifer Aniston comes face-to-face with her real last name

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The actress is of Greek heritage and it was her grandfather who Anglicised the family name to Aniston from Anastasakis.

In the episode when Monica and Chandler are getting married, Rachel is sent to find someone to officiate and happens upon a Greek wedding. She desperately tries and fails to read the name of the Hellenic couple getting hitched, which is, of course, Anastassakis, just one subtle consonant away from her original family moniker.

The show made fun of the fact Matthew Perry is missing the tip of his finger

The actor lost the top of his middle digit in a door-shutting accident when he was a kid – a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by the ‘Friends’ writers.

In season five’s Thanksgiving episode, he loses the tip of his toe when Monica accidentally drops a knife while trying to pretend-seduce him. Maybe she was distracted by that dreadful ‘Miami Vice’ get-up.

The Brad Pitt episode

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Okay, so we know this is an obvious one, but it was a fantastic shock when who came to visit for Thanksgiving dinner but Mr Angelina Jolie himself.

Of course, at the time (it was 2001 and the eighth season), Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston, which is why he did the guest spot.

His character was a old school friend of the gang and was a member of the “I hate Rachel Green club” at school and so Aniston had to pretend she hated him. Even funnier, Phoebe flirted with him outrageously throughout.

The Russian dry-cleaner

This is courtesy of Reddit user Wings of Discord. In an episode from Season Six, Joey has an argument with a Russian owner of a laundreatte, who refuses to do put up the actor’s head shot on his wall because his TV show is “offensive to Russia”. See their exchange below.

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The Russian actor was Ilia Volok, who actually WAS in ‘Air Force One’. Nicely done.

Everyone becomes an Arquette

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During the summer before season six premiered, Courteney Cox married her now ex-husband David Arquette and added his surname to hers. To celebrate, the producers changed the credits of the first show to make everyone else an Arquette as well.

The other friends sitting on the Central Perk couch were the writers

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In the season three opener, in which Ross confides to Rachel he has a fantasy about Princess Leia in her slave girl costume, the gang arrive at the coffee shop and are horrified to find their usual seats taken by another group of people.

They shouldn’t have been so surprised – the men and women we see are the series’ writers.

Aniston and her on-screen former best friend played the same role in different versions of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’

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You may not realise it because it was post-nose job, but Rachel’s best mate Mindy was played by Jennifer Grey, aka Baby from ‘Dirty Dancing’. But even more crafty is that Grey was Ferris’s sister Jeannie in the teen classic ‘Ferris Bueller’. Aniston took over the part when it was turned into an unsuccessful TV series which only lasted 12 episodes.

Joey references Aniston’s L’Oréal contract

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You have to listen carefully when Joey is apologising to his former conquests at the end of the episode in which he’s been rebuffed by the actress he’s fallen for, but it’s there.

Trying to get a hold of “Jennifer”, he instead finds himself chatting to her mother when he says, “Oh, well I kinda need to talk to you too, Mrs. L’Oréal”.

Clever.

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Image credits: Getty Images, NBC