7 'Friends' Inside Jokes From Behind-The-Scenes

We live in an exciting time where it feels like everyone is the most fervent Friends fanatic. You, me, Taylor Swift, we've all welcomed the cast back into our lives like old besties ever since Friends hit Netflix in January. But let's just take a moment to reflect on the actual friends of Friends, the forever linked cast mates and just wonder what kind of jokes were happening behind the scenes of Friends .

The term "jokes" is of course are used liberally here. I don't know if Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry used to call Jennifer Aniston "Nipple Girl" behind her back because of an unfortunate iced coffee meets white t-shirt accident. I was four years old when this series came out, and moreover, was not on set at any point during filming. But after doing some digging, I was able to unearth a small handful of intriguing facts that informed little pockets of the hit series. And the end of the day, it's cool to get a bit of context and backstory to further appreciate the show we're all so wildly obsessed with.

So sit back and tune into these seven behind the scenes in-jokes between the cast (and crew!) of Friends.

1. The True Ownership Of Pat The Dog

Of all the things on this list, this is the one you probably already know, so let's start here. In "The One Where Eddie Moves In" it's shown that Joey bought an elegant, refined, white ceramic dog after moving into his new apartment. Pat has an intriguing real life origin, though: the legend goes that it was given to Aniston as a good luck gift after she joined the show. Thought Pat was only supposed to be on loan for the episode, he ended up becoming a long running joke. Some may argue he was the seventh friend of Friends. I'm just saying...

2. Throwback At Caesar's Palace

This is either a joke or coincidence, that's up for you to decide. Before the show hit the air, director James Burrow flew the cast out to Vegas, took them to Caesar's Palace, saddled them up with a few hundred dollars, and told them to enjoy themselves while they were still unrecognizable. And where was the two-parter Las Vegas episode set? Caesar's! Or, um, some on-set mock-up of Caesar's Palace.

3. Rachel Greenopolous

True story, Aniston is one of the four famous Greek people in the universe. It goes her, Tina Fey, John Stamos, Zach Galifianakis, and me. So the second part of "The One With Monica And Chandler's Wedding," Rachel finds a Greek Orthodox priest to officiate, and he says he's just finished with the Anastassakis-Papasifakis. Well, would you believe it: Anastassakis is actually Aniston's family name. Her father changed it before she was born, and as a former Tsagarakis, let me just say that sometimes those changes are necessary.

4. All The Arquettes

Speaking of names and weddings... in the Season 6 opener, "The One After Vegas" the cast and executive producers all have "Arquette" added to their name. This is because Courteney Cox had gotten married to David Arquette recently and, in fact, the episode is dedicated to them.

5. Courteney's Candy Cabinet

Turns out Monica isn't the only one with a love of food. Apparently Cox had a secret stash of candy and snacks on set called Courteney's Candy Cabinet, as well as a special penchant for butter fingers. And suddenly, Cox has become the Friend I want to befriend the most.

6. To Beam Or Not To Beam

In early episodes of Friends, there was an obstructive beam in the middle of Monica's apartment. It was later phased out, but for some reason it was always brought on set whenever James Burrows directed an episode, and it was basically known as his "mark."

7. Fatherly Love

You know how Kathleen Turner played Chandler's estranged drag queen father? Rumor has it that Perry still calls her "dad."

And now back to your regularly scheduled Friends on Netflix marathon.

Images: Warner Bros. Television; Giphy (6)