Top 10 Favorite Chandler Bing Moments on Friends
A couple days back the world lost Matthew Perry, Chandler Bing on Friends. To honor his legacy and Chandler Bing I thought today I’ll share my picks for the 10 best Chandler Bing moments on Friends.
Backstory: Before I dive into the list itself, I wanted to share my experience with Friends. To state the obvious, I wasn’t born when Friends was on tv. I was born the October after it ended, so 2004. I watched the show from beginning to end in 2019 with my mom and then once or twice since then. And I’ve watched several of the episodes at different points in time. I love the show, I think it’s one of the best tv shows of all time. I think the best character on that show is Chandler Bing, I did a blog post of my favorite tv show characters. I believe he was on that list. His sarcastic sense of humor brought out some of the biggest laughs for me. I love Chandler, he’s given a character arc in the show. It’s easy to forget that, but he does grow and change throughout the show. Like almost everybody, I was incredibly saddened to hear that he passed. He’s somebody that brought so much laughter and joy to people’s childhoods. He was a fan favorite character on a VERY popular show and when somebody like that passes away, it’s sad. That’s my experience with Chandler and Matthew Perry. I haven’t seen anything he’s done outside of the show. Maybe I need to check some of those out.
10. Chandler’s advertising brainstorming (Season 9, Episode 11): One of the funniest running gags in the show is Chandler’s job. Nobody can seem to remember what Chandler’s job really is. In season 9 he gets a job with an advertising firm where he has a steady job and it’s one that everybody knows. There’s a moment where he has a job interview and prepares for the interview by finding different ways to advertise food. The stand out moment would be with cheese where he says “cheese, it’s milk that you chew”. It’s such a Chandler moment and the way it plays out is so funny, I actually forgot about this moment when I was making this list. But I saw it and decided I needed to put it on the list.
9. Chandler can’t catch (Season 5, Episode 21): As I was putting this list together I realized how many running gags in the show are making fun of Chandler. In a fun and respective way, but making fun of him nonetheless. One of the stand out group activities for our leads is them seeing how long they can throw a ball around far. It starts with Ross and Joey throwing a ball around for about 2 hours. Then Monica joins and Chandler wants to join, but doesn’t get to because he’s not very good at catching stuff. In the end of the episode we get a quick montage of past events where Chandler wasn’t able to catch a phone, a shoe, or a frisbee. It’s very funny and again such a Chandler moment. It’s something that wouldn’t really work for any other character but would fit so well to do with Chandler. It’s a small moment that can easily be swept under the radar, but I think it’s a great moment.
8. Chandler’s college days (Season 5, Episode 8): Some of the best flashbacks on the show are when we see Ross and Chandler in college. There’s so many iconic moments that come with that, there’s one Thanksgiving episode where that’s a big focus. The one I’m referring to is all of the past Thanksgivings where Monica and Chandler meet for the first time. And all of the shenanigans that ensue because of that are great. But even we get some moments of Chandler going to parties in college with this crazy hair due going on that feels so 80s. When I think back to classic Chandler moments on Friends, seeing him and Ross in college come to mind so they have to make the list.
7. Chandler and Rachel’s cheesecake obsession (Season 7, Episode 11): I feel like Rachel and Chandler is one of the most underused and underappreciated friendships on the show. They’re so much fun together but we don’t get a lot of just the two of them. Easily, the big stand out of that friendship would be the cheesecake. Both of them are obsessed with this cheesecake that keeps on being sent to the wrong apartment. It’s a moment that makes me wish we got more of Chandler and Rachel in the show. They’re so funny together but the show focuses on a lot of different relationships. Another great moment between the two of them would be when Rachel calls Chandler an idiot and he responds with “I’m sure you’re right but why”. Both moments are great and funny in my mind.
6. Chandler goes to Yemen (Season 4, Episode 15): This moment is a placeholder for all of the classic Chandler and Janice moments on the show. There’s so many great Janice moments I could have put on the list, but I’ve clumped them all together. And the best bit is the Yemen bit. Where to get out of a relationship with Janice, Chandler makes an excuse that he has a business trip in Yemen. He spends a period of time there to get out of seeing Janice. I love the other character’s reaction to this, mainly Joey where he doesn’t realize that Yemen is a real country. I love how it’s this running gag throughout other episodes. When Janice hooks up with Ross, she does so because she thinks that Chandler is still in Yemen. Once again, there’s a lot of great Chandler and Janice moments, Yemen is the one I picked as the best.
5. Chandler scares Joey with the duck (Season 5, Episode 11): This isn’t a super flashy moment, it’s one that I don’t hear a lot of people talking about. As far as moments on the show that made me laugh out loud, this has got to be one of the top ones for me. I feel like this moment doesn’t get talked about enough because of the time frame of the show when it takes place in. This is right after Rachel learns about Monica and Chandler and wants to tell Joey about it, but he doesn’t want to know anymore secrets. Even though he knows the secret Rachel is trying to tell him. This leads to Joey closing his eyes and making loud noises and it gives Chandler a perfect opportunity to be himself and scare Joey by putting the duck up in his face. This is like the top 5 funniest moments of the show for me, I rewatched this clip so many times and every single time it makes me laugh.
4. Chandler and Phoebe’s Seduction Test (Season 5, Episode 14): Once again a moment that came in the point of the show where the group was starting to learn about Monica and Chandler being a couple. To get Chandler to confess about Monica, Phoebe starts being very flirty with him. It leads to a great scene where Chandler knows exactly what Phoebe is doing and Phoebe knows exactly what Chandler is doing. Leading up to the moment where Chandler confesses his love for Monica and everybody but Ross knows that Chandler and Monica are a couple. The whole seduction bit is a scene that fits so well on this show with these characters. It’s a scene that manages to be both funny and somewhat cringy but works so well in the end.
3. Chandler and Joey beat Monica and Rachel (Season 4, Episode 12): The quiz episode of the show is probably a top 3 episode of the show for me. I love it and I think it’s great. But if I’m ranking these based off of Chandler moments, I can’t put this one in the top 2 spot. But still, it’s a classic scene that is so much fun to watch every time and there’s so many great moments. The trivia answers we learn about Chandler in this scene are great. It adds to the weirdness of him and his childhood, while also showing all of the wacky shenanigans him and Joey get into. It’s fun when Chandler and Joey end up beating Monica and Rachel. The episode as a whole is pretty fantastic, I think it’s one of the best. And the quiz is just a fantastic scene of the show.
2. Chandler’s Last Line (Season 10, Episode 17): I love the fact that Chandler gets the last line of the show and it fits so well. I think it’s great that Matthew Perry improvised this line, this wasn’t in the script. The reaction that Ross gives in the moment is genuine. It’s such a Chandler thing to say but I feel it is the perfect final line for the show. So much of the show took place in the Central Perk coffee house and to have them go there one last time before Monica and Chandler move. I’m sorry to repeat myself, but it fits so well. I’m so glad Matthew Perry said this line, it’s nothing big or flashy. It’s more subtle but closes out the shows really nicely.
1. Chandler and Jill Goodacre (Season 1, Episode 7): Probably the first iconic Chandler moment on the show. Honestly, I debated putting Chandler’s last line at #1. Maybe I should have, but all of these 10 moments are great and iconic if you ask me. This episode I think is the first great episode of the show and showed the potential and strength that the show had. In the episode there’s a city wide black out in New York City. Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, and Ross are in Monica’s apartment. While Chandler was at an ATM vestibular where he gets stuck in there with Jill Goodacre, a very pretty model. Chandler is trying to play it cool and not be awkward around her, but ends up being himself…and being awkward. The cherry on top of this is how Chandler tells the rest of the gang who he’s stuck with. Of course, Joey is the only one to understand what he’s saying. Like I said, anyone of these moments could have been #1. As of now, this is the moment I’m going with as my #1.
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