Friends’ Most Ridiculous Mistake Involved… A Potato?!

One of the biggest head-scratching goofs on Friends involved a randomly placed potato. The spud served as a memorable mistake for eagle-eyed viewers of the series, who spotted the out-of-place tuber in a a glass display case. The bizarre set-dressing has a simple explanation behind it — and one that isn’t uncommon among sitcoms.

Friends focused on the lives of six core leads: Monica Geller, Ross Geller, Rachel Green, Chandler Bing, Phoebe Buffay, and Joey Tribbiani. That large of a cast involved a lot of moving parts in terms of scenes and alternating set locations. A few different sets served as the common meeting spots within the series, including Monica’s apartment, Joey’s place across the hall, and the coffee shop, Central Perk. Friends was filmed in front of a live studio audience, and each episode reportedly took about six hours on average to film. The filming involved a lot of retakes, and at times, certain details in front of the camera would go unnoticed before it hit the air.

The potato incident occurred in the Friends season 4 episode, “The One with Chandler in a Box.” It marked the annual Thanksgiving episode and focused on Chandler fighting for forgiveness after he kissed Joey’s girlfriend. Joey considered sentencing Chandler to five years of silent treatment while also moving out of the apartment. Instead, Joey decided to lock Chandler in a wooden box for six hours as part of his punishment. At one point during the episode, Joey went to Central Perk looking for Chandler. While talking to Gunther, a cake stand is seen in the foreground holding one large potato. The same vegetable could be seen from a few different angles during the scene; presumably, on one on set during production noticed the misplaced vegetable, and it became one of the show’s biggest mistakes during filming.

Friends Had A Large Number Of Errors During Its 10 Seasons

Friends was no stranger to goofs during its ten seasons on the air. Some were simple mistakes like changes in attire when the camera switched back and forth to certain characters. Others were more continuity errors such as the inconsistent ages of the characters throughout the series. Many of the characters like Rachel and Ross had multiple birthdays. The number of Monica’s New York City apartment also changed despite the fact that she never moved.

It’s not uncommon for sitcoms like Friends to have continuity errors or random goofs while filming. With the various takes, especially for comedic series that are trying to hit on quick jokes, quick changes might be made to the set during filming. Actors and producers might not pick up on everything that might be considered a mistake such as a potato in a cake stand. It could have been meant as a joke that they forgot to remove or a reminder to replace it with another set-piece. Usually, these mistakes don’t take away from the scene but add extra laughs due to their absurdity like the case with Friends.

About The Author

Kara Hedash
(1746 Articles Published)

Kara Hedash is a features editor and writer for Screen Rant. From time to time, she dives into the world’s most popular franchises but Kara primarily focuses on evergreen topics. The fact that she gets to write about The Office regularly is like a dream come true. Before joining Screen Rant, Kara served as a contributor for Movie Pilot and had work published on The Mary Sue and Reel Honey. After graduating college, writing began as a part-time hobby for Kara but it quickly turned into a career. She loves binging a new series and watching movies ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to hidden indie gems. She also has a soft spot for horror ever since she started watching it at too young of an age. Her favorite Avenger is Thor and her favorite Disney princess is Leia Organa. When Kara’s not busy writing, you can find her doing yoga or hanging out with Gritty.

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