5 best guest stars in Friends history

Friends is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. The show had many phenomenal guest stars throughout the life of the series.

Friends had a cast that meshed well together, but the show also had several guest appearances scattered throughout each season. Some guest stars stood out more than others.

Here’s my top 5 list of the best guest stars in Friends history.

5. Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts guest-starred as Susie “Underpants” Moss, a former childhood classmate of Chandler Bing.

While in grade school, Chandler humiliated Susie in front of the entire school by pulling up her skirt while she was on stage. In the double episode of “The One after the Superbowl,” Chandler runs into the beautiful, grown-up Susie Moss while on the movie set. After a bit of flirting, Susie and Chandler decide to go on a date.

Little does Chandler know that Susie is plotting her revenge. She decides to convince Chandler to wear her panties during their dinner date. Susie follows Chandler to the restroom and asks to see him wearing her underpants. After Chandler finishes undressing, Susie grabs Chandler’s clothes and leaves him alone in the bathroom wearing only her underwear.

Roberts’ cameo was extremely memorable. It was highly entertaining to see America’s sweetheart flirt her way into embarrassing Chandler in a public setting. Susie Moss finally had her revenge.

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4. Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt appeared in the Thanksgiving episode “The One with the Rumor.” Pitt plays Will, an old high school friend of Ross and Monica. He was overweight in high school, like Monica, and they connect over their drastic weight losses.

Will was excited to see everyone except for Rachel. Hilariously, Will hated Rachel in high school and was even in an I Hate Rachel Club with Ross. Ross and Will started a rumor in high school that Rachel had both female and male reproductive parts. Will continues to hate Rachel throughout the episode and even tries to high-five Ross when he finds out Ross got Rachel pregnant.

Pitt’s appearance on Friends was during his marriage to Jennifer Aniston. Watching them on-screen together was a treat for many fans of the show and of Pitt himself.

3. John Favreau

John Favreau starred as Monica’s wealthy boyfriend, Pete Becker, during season 3 of Friends. Monica is smitten over Pete. She takes her friends to his fancy apartment while he’s out of town.

While snooping around, Joey finds a receipt for a ring designer. They assume it’s an engagement ring, and everyone’s thrilled that Monica may become engaged to a millionaire. Monica soon finds out Pete built a ring to train to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion. Monica and Pete end up breaking up after Pete remains committed to UFC even after obtaining some major bodily injuries.

Favreau was a very beloved character who brought a lot of happiness to Monica’s life. Their relationship ending was a surprise for many fans, but we know Monica got her happy ending eventually.

2. Paul Rudd

Paul Rudd is Phoebe’s partner, Mike Hannigan. He’s in several episodes toward the end of the series.

Phoebe and Joey are desperate to find love and decide to set each other up on blind dates. Joey forgot to find a date for Phoebe but lied and said her date was with someone named Mike. While alone, Joey yells out “Mike!” to see if he can find a last-minute date for her. Rudd’s character, conveniently named Mike, responds to Joey’s cry. They end up on a double-blind date together, and Phoebe and Mike hit it off. After some back and forth, they decide to get married.

Mike is Phoebe’s happy ending. They are both awkwardly weird and have a passion for playing instruments. Rudd’s a much-loved actor and a great addition as a guest star of Friends.

1. Tom Selleck

Tom Selleck starred as Richard Burke for multiple seasons. Richard was Monica’s parent’s close friend. They started crushing on each other after Monica catered a party for her parents. They kept their relationship secret for a long time because of their age difference and how close of a friend he was to her parents. Richard and Monica were on and off again for years, including the moment right before Monica and Chandler became engaged.

Richard and Monica didn’t end up working out because Monica wanted kids and Richard felt done with kids. But their relationship was on fire for a long time, and Richard was a great boyfriend to Monica.

This list of guest stars was challenging to narrow down. Friends had over eighty guest stars throughout the series. But I think these five were the best guest stars with the best roles in the show. They each brought charm and made us all laugh and remember their performances 25 years later.

Which guest stars would make your top 5 list? Every episode of Friends is now streaming on Netflix!