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S1E3 - The One With The Thumb
24 Plays1 month ago
Alasdair and Steve discuss all things smoking, finding unexpected money and novelty phones!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Episode
00:00:09
Speaker
Well, hello again, and welcome to the third episode of the Purple Door Podcast, a friend's rewatch pod. I'm your host, Alison. I'm alongside my good friend, Steve. Hello, Steve. How are you today?
00:00:20
Speaker
Well, I instantly wanted to laugh here and I thought actually on your next episode you can say last week I was joined by Steve. Steve was sexy. That's what I should have done. Which is obviously a very, very quotable line in this episode with Alan and Chandler making the the the mockery of Steve. um No, I'm fine. Thank you, honestly. How are you? You're doing very well. What a missed opportunity that was, but I don't know.
00:00:44
Speaker
You know, I've never missed anything like that at an opening of a podcast episode.
Weather Chat: UK vs US
00:00:48
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, it's nice. It's about 10 past one here on Friday afternoon. we're We're not working today because we have a snow day, which is ah pretty nice. I think it's colder there, but you don't have the snow in the ice that we do here. Is that correct?
00:01:01
Speaker
no No snow in the yeah UK today when it's minus four for me but it's 10 past seven at night so it's very very very different in the UK when we're recording it. Yeah we're hovering right around freezing here I think it's going to get down to about five below um tonight but that's going to be the coldest night and I think in a day or two all this snow and sleet and stuff will just be a distant memory and back to work on Monday.
00:01:24
Speaker
Lovely. Lovely stuff.
Friends Trivia Game
00:01:26
Speaker
But yeah, let's start off with this episode and start this episode off with ah a little Let's Play Bamboozle. Three questions each. Why don't you fire the first question? Well, the first question of the one with the thumb for you is going to be Ross's dog goes to live on a farm with who?
00:01:45
Speaker
Oh, that is half of my first question for you. He goes to live on the Milner's farm. He does indeed. Yes, he or she goes to live on the Milner's farm. Now, I will say we kicked over again. We're watching this episode this morning and this dog gets mentioned twice. So I think it's quite interesting that Chi Chi is mentioned in this episode and then at a later date. um But that's, and I tell you what, I'll start with my first question for you, which was, who does Chi Chi go to live with and where is, where is the farm?
Monica's Dating Chronicles
00:02:18
Speaker
Do you know what, i I can't remember where the farm is. I know it's the Milner's and yeah, it's a farm, but no, I couldn't tell you the location. Ah, the Milner's are in Connecticut.
00:02:27
Speaker
Well, of course they do. What do they mean, fine wine in Connecticut? Just labelled wine, the Fraser reference here. That's right. What second question do you have? Well, second question for you is, alongside the money Phoebe gets from her bank, what item do they gift to her? ah I think it's a brilliant item. That would be if football falls. It is the football phone, yeah. It's a great antiquated item.
00:02:50
Speaker
And my second question for you is when Chandler takes his first puff of the cigarette, what three words does he say? oh and Oh, do you know what? You're going to have to give me that. I can't, I can't think. He simply says, oh my God, which I think is a brilliant foreshadowing to Janice coming in. Do you know what? is that Is that the first, oh my God we've got in the show? So a little secret for the listeners out there. I was really thinking about counting all the, oh my gods, but I did see it's been done several times. I think this is the very first one.
00:03:28
Speaker
I can't think of any inncs in episode two so I'm gonna let you go back and see that one but yeah I think that might be the first oh my god of friends and it happens I believe in the first time we see the boys apartment I think you're right, I think you're right. And I think it's just, it's brilliantly done. I think it's one of those folklores, I know that ah the show Schitt's Creek has a similar thing. Like Janice actually says, oh my God, not that many times. Yeah, something like seven, is it 17 times or something? She actually says it less than any other character. Exactly. Other characters actually say it more. In Schitt's Creek, which is another the show that I really enjoy. God, her name is going up in my head. David's sister, her name has suddenly escaped me. It's kind of famous for saying, ooh, David. That's her line. But I think she only says it twice and the actually says ooh, David. You know, that's one of the this sort of the famous lines from the show.
00:04:25
Speaker
oh Alexis, that's her name, Alexis. But that's something I'll need to need to fact check that one. Let's see, do you have a third question for me? I do, and I'll give you a clue as well just in case it's not obvious. What show do they watch on TV together?
Central Perk Relationship Dynamics
00:04:40
Speaker
The ah the clue I'll give you is, if I had a sock on my hand for 30 years... oh It's only part of the quote, but it should give you the idea of... Yeah, it would it would talk as well or something. You know what? I don't know. I remember seeing the show, but I don't know the answer. The answer is Lamb Chop. Lamb Chop. Now, is that a show you'd heard of before? Because I don't think... It is, but only probably through this and a couple of other things. I don't know if it made it to the UK, but yeah, I think Lamb Chop probably was on TV quite a lot back then.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah, that's something I'll certainly need to look up. Well, my final question for you is, what does Phoebe say she will hear if she buys the shoes with the $500 from the bank? When she's walking, I think she'll hear, not mine, not mine. That's not mine. Kate's been quoting that this morning when she walks around going, not mine, not mine, not mine. Oh, so funny.
00:05:33
Speaker
I do, I love that ethical dilemma. um But yeah, let's crack on with this episode, the one with the thumb. We start off in Central Park when they're all talking about dating and the kind of code language of dating. And Pearl Rachel is oblivious because I guess she's never been interested in somebody that wasn't interested in her back.
00:05:53
Speaker
it It seems strange um that they've got to set out the rules of relationships. I mean, the the guys are mid 20s here, aren't they? um Right. I quite like this. Again, we're still seeing establishing shots and and things about. We're learning a lot about the
Character Development: Monica and Chandler
00:06:08
Speaker
characters. and This is episode three, but we're still getting that development here that they hang out at the coffee shop. Right.
00:06:13
Speaker
they have these and we'll come back to another thing they do in a couple of scenes time and when they're back in the coffee shop discussing different things but I just kind of like these moments they're very very interesting of how we're finding out a little bit about them Monica seems I presume to be the most experienced sexually with the things that she seems to come out with um to tell the guys and the girls about relationship she seems to have all the ideas and the answers here Yeah, I find that too. And I find it very interesting as we look forward, we find that as a teenager, she sort of played as a overweight, naive, shy, probably not dating very much character. um So at some point between say 17 and 18 and
00:06:54
Speaker
I can't remember her the exact age of the pilot, but 23, 24. I guess she suddenly gains a lot of experience, of course, starting off with Steve the wine guy. Yeah, Paul the wine guy, isn't he? Paul the wine guy, not Steve. Not Steve, that's right, Paul the wine guy. Then we've had Steve, and now she's dating Alan, I believe. So yeah, within three episodes, we've learned that she's had three different people dating her. So yeah, Monica was definitely more experienced, I guess.
00:07:21
Speaker
Yes, I think so. Yeah. And then we really moved from Central Park into the boys apartment, which I love these scenes. There's something about characters smoking for the first time or coming back to obviously we see in Fraser as well with BB. Yeah. Just I don't know if it brings up the best in some of these actors, but I'll just absolutely love the way that Chandler falls in love with smoking. Having gone, you know, I don't miss it.
00:07:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean the the fact that he does do that, like you say, and and the way Matthew periacts that scene and and speaks about it, he sort of romanticizes cigarettes very much like you say ah Harriet Sampson Harris does in Frasier. Yeah. um Yeah, charmless smoke. I mean, I love the fact that he gives it to ah to Joey to hold and he says it's something about his wrist and he drops his wrist and goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, not like that. And they didn't know about that. Yeah.
00:08:11
Speaker
Very insistent you have to be a strong man here to hold a cigarette. That's right. Not be camp or limp-wristed. He's a very telling sign of the 90s and there's a lot of jokes actually in Friends that are possibly slightly homophobic um looking back now.
00:08:27
Speaker
That's literally something I've written down is in and an episode two last week when um Susan goes and shakes Ross's hand. He immediately goes, good, strong shake, like good, strong shake. Is these subtle things that weren't homophobic? I don't feel at the time. I mean, we could get into that whole line field of that situation. I think he was too it was just more acceptable to make jokes like that. And and there's a right there's a lot of 90s sitcoms that used jokes about men being not that comfortable around other men. you know i mean They had to be very strong and burly if they were going to be a man. and right And if they weren't, then they were considered they could be gay and they didn't want to be like that. sure i mean yeah It's still still played for laughs, isn't it? And there's you know there's a lot of Jewish jokes in this. I think both writers were Jewish. so And it's just saying the same with Seinfeld. you know It's written by Jewish people. Therefore, jokes about Jews are
00:09:17
Speaker
Allowed. So yes, it's strange, you know mocking your own faith or mocking your own culture and and stuff like that It's just the way it is. I suppose back then um Yeah, the way you know better than I do. but I know at least some of the writers and friends were gay. I mean read about them Yeah, yeah, pretty sure my a quarter few of them were same with Frasier, you know, and there's a lot of gay jokes in Frasier as well So yeah, it's just It's just how things were in the 90s and it's very different now, the world has changed. um Maybe my hat I have changed, obviously. The way I see things ah ah is very different now, but obviously I can accept these jokes because I accept them as a 90s joke, not as a joke made now.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, if they were in a show that was produced in 2024, it would be viewed differently. Totally different.
Cultural Humor: British Politeness
00:10:01
Speaker
Probably wouldn't happen. But yeah, viewing it through the lens of a 90s joke I think is important. um But yeah, I just love the way that he plays it off like he doesn't miss it and just that one puff of the cigarette. Like he's back home again with that cigarette. um Just superbly done.
00:10:17
Speaker
um I was assuming that they were rehearsing for an audition. I wasn't sure if it was clear if it was an audition or a part that Joey already had. I presume it was for an audition. and Joey, as we see in season one, is probably quite an unsuccessful actor. He's obviously, he auditions a lot, doesn't seem to ever have any jobs. So I presume, yeah, and he was learning to do something here rather than actually um practicing doing it. um Yeah, joey Joey, for me, isn't successful at this point at all.
00:10:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's the way it appears to me. He's always trying, but not really too successful. Well, we've transitioned from there over to Central Park and Rachel tries to get everybody's coffee order correct. and gets them all wrong but they're good friends and they wait till she turns around and switches them back. I did have written down that's a decaf cap, a coffee black latte and iced tea and like you say they literally every single person switches and then switches again it's like they don't even directly switch. For the joke here I think Monica passes to Chandler who then maybe passes to Joe. Yes, yes. There's like a double switch to make sure the joke is really emphasised and it was very very wrong.
00:11:27
Speaker
Well, something at some point, we're going to get Kate to record an episode, because like I said, we're watching this morning. She's from New Jersey, right outside of New York. And she thought it was interesting that somebody had a nice tea, because that's really not a common drink of this. That was just a surprising thing to drop in there, not something we see often at all. Yes, it's a way more southern thing, isn't it, I think, in America. Absolutely. It's very common where I am, but not up there at all. But um I wanted to tap into your British sensibilities here. so I'm not sure if you've ever seen, there's a hilarious show, what was it called? Something like great British problems. And it was all about how British people deal with things like getting the wrong order and how, you know, Americans, and and this is no bad thing, or certainly no slight, are much more inclined to send something back if it's not correct. Yeah, I think bru as you and I might struggle.
00:12:19
Speaker
they're ah We're either overly polite, annoyingly polite, or just
Sibling Dynamics: Ross and Monica
00:12:24
Speaker
stupidly polite. um the fact right oh yeah oh Oh, it's an iced tea. oh I didn't really order iced tea. I'll drink it anyway. No, no, I've said that. And everyone around you wouldn't send it back, but they tell you you should. You should send that back. No, no, no. Would you? Oh, no, I'd just drink it. Well, I'll i'll keep it there. Well, no, but you haven't paid for it. Oh, no, but I should.
00:12:42
Speaker
And then you end up arguing with, yeah, you argue with everyone around you, because they think you should, but then if it was the other way around, they wouldn't do it either. So everyone just goes, oh, well, I'll take your drink, you take mine. And someone else has it. Exactly. Whereas really, yeah, the answer is be American here and just go, you've given me the wrong order, they take it back and give you what you actually ask for. And if it happens. I mean, this is Kate's argument with me all the time, is just do it. Like, they're not going to take offense to it. It happens, it's no problem. They made a mistake, they pulled you under it.
00:13:10
Speaker
Unless I'm allergic to something you know that's in the thing, I'm not going to send it back. I'm just going to eat it and I'm going to be thankful for it. Yeah, I don't know. so Sometimes there's more to life to worry about than whether your drink's wrong. If you ordered coffee black and maybe they made it, I don't know, with milk in it, you just think, oh, I can drink it that way. Does it matter? Exactly. I'll just drink it. Yeah, that sure was on Netflix, I think. It was something like, oh, very British problems. yeah which and we are a very dull kind of moaning country that doesn't we whinge about everything but we don't actually do anything about it while a lot right a lot of the country don't um the the thing i was obviously going to bring up which we mentioned in the first scene here is the finger to thumb um size of male parts i presume is what Monica's getting at here which i actually love Ross's does it have to be the same thumb yeah on the same hand can it can he use can i use either thumb
00:14:03
Speaker
Joey, who looks at his hand and then looks absolutely distraught. um No, no, no, you've got to be wrong about this. And um I presume Chandra at this point is still just happily smoking, I believe, which we see in pretty much every scene in this episode. That's what he's happy doing.
00:14:18
Speaker
um And obviously when he does put the cigarette out, he puts it out in Phoebe's drink, which he then turns around and says, I can't drink this now. Yes. Like it was going to be possible. um But and until that until that cigarette gets dumped in it, oh, I can't drink this now. Yeah, that's suddenly we're done. no that's ah Yeah, I love that and seeing that relationship between Ross and Monica, because obviously they're brother and sister, but they're willing to talk about pretty much everything. Which is um often strange. that the yeah They are obviously a very close um brother and sister, but there's times where she'll be sitting there with the friends and Ross will get up to go and he'll kiss her on the forehead before he leaves. And I'm always, yeah is that too close? I know that your brother and sister, but you do that to your girlfriend, your boyfriend, et cetera. Would you do that to your sister to say goodbye? He sort of quite often kisses his sister before he leaves the room. And I often think maybe that's a family thing, but
00:15:13
Speaker
No, no, to me that's odd. If my sister was here and I was going to say goodbye, I'd say, see you later. Maybe give her a hug. That would be it. Right. You know, it wouldn't be part of the norm. And from what we can tell from we've seen the Galers, I think just in the last episode, you know, they don't appear to be a particularly warm, fuzzy family. No, but I mean, it's sweet in one way. Ross obviously loves his sister a lot and she does look up to him quite a lot. But there's also obviously times that we see that they bicker and fight quite a lot as well. So it's it's a very, it's a very unique situation they find themselves in, I think. Yeah. they're Interesting dynamic. Well, Phoebe comes in and is upset. I love the way that she says the word statement and Ross kind of goes easy, easy. Like obviously they've got some, some history with this. Um, I don't think we find out why I assume it was a clerical error. You know, she got the $500 in her account, um, to begin with. Um, but fee it's a very Phoebe thing to feel that this would be unethical to keep and would create some bad karma of some sort.
Phoebe's Ethical Dilemma
00:16:15
Speaker
I think it's almost quite fun in in a way of a show like this. they They do happen in other shows, but when they bring up that sort of hypothetically, what would you do in this situation? I mean, personally, I probably would have to go back to the bank and say, that you've if they credit me ยฃ10, I probably wouldn't be bothered. If you credit me ยฃ500, I'd be like, look, at some point, you're going to take this back. i might as well just admit it I don't if I spend it and then you ask for it back I'm 500 pounds out so I'm just gonna be right it's gonna be easier for me to say is this a proper error if they then turn around and say oh you're right that is an error keep it it's our problem not yours we'll take the loss fine guilt free walk away if they say no if they say you need to give it back you haven't lost anything you never had it wasn't yours so
00:16:57
Speaker
Exactly, exactly. I think if I had it and spent it, I would be checking my bank every morning wondering if they've just decided to take $500 back. Yeah, at what point does it go back? Definitely. Yeah, the stress and the worry of that. Well, ah Monica then goes on to say she's going to date Alan, but she yeah it's quite interesting that she doesn't want the friends to meet him. I wonder if that's because of Paul, the wine guy, or things that have happened before. Yeah, it seems to me that they all sort of get on top of Monica for dating. I mean, I like her answer when they say, when are we going to meet? And she goes, well, let's face it, today's Monday, so never. and just think Exactly, it just not. Just walks off. Yeah, she's just done. And um
00:17:40
Speaker
Something I wish, i I think I quite, I would have liked to have seen a wee bit more of. I don't think we we got her name, so maybe she's not really credited, but Monica's co-worker in the next scene at the restaurant where they're sitting there almost, you know, walking like sous chefs. I think her name is, I think her name's credited on the end of the episode, but I think it might have been Tracy or something like that, but Monica doesn't say, I think it's just the character's been given a name, but I don't think we're actually, we don't see her addressed as anything.
00:18:06
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I must have missed that in the credits. I quite like that sort of side conversation because she seems like a good friend with good advice. Yeah. um you know, what somebody's willing to share some, yeah, dating tips with Monica. I kind of wish we had seen a bit more of that. But then we moved into, we move into the girl's apartment where Ross is still upset about Chi Chi. I did find that that Kate's parents told her the same thing when her dog died. but And she didn't, um that the the dog went to the farm. And she said this is ah another great thing about doing a rewatch is you find out things about people. She didn't realize till she was an adult
00:18:42
Speaker
She didn't join the dots about what actually happened. Oh wow. She was told as a child that a dog had gone to the farm, she believed it and didn't think anything of it. but he's exactly the same was it' Exactly the same as Ross then. Exactly the same. Just to circle back, the actress is Jennifer Lewis, I believe. She plays Paula. So Paula is the name of that person who randomly talks to her in the kitchen. But let's face it, like I say, I'm pretty sure Monica doesn't mention it.
00:19:09
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't think I caught her name. I just liked her. i like the advice I thought she gave pretty wholesome sound advice. um So I liked her. It's good to know, though, Paula. I thought it was interesting. I was thinking about this this morning, and I'm meant to Google it in heaven. and and When Ross is still upset by Chi Chi, Chandler's outside smoking. I think it's interesting from two points. if you Obviously, cigarettes and cigars are different.
00:19:33
Speaker
But you know in the later episode, Monica's quite happy to smoke the Richard cigars yeah inside. And it was sort of more acceptable to smoke inside at the time. We see that in Central Park um and just in other episodes of other sitcoms in the 90s. But I kind of like the fact that Monica being such a neat freak makes him stand outside to smoke. I meant to look that up when it was legal, and then when did it become illegal to smoke in public places like Central Park?
00:20:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, over here, I think it was around 2004, 2005, I wanna think. I remember, it was definitely bars and clubs I think started banning it around that time, possibly. I remember being in a band at one point we went into a bar and our drummer used to smoke and I'd never smoked in my life and we were standing at the bar and there was a line across the floor and basically if you were at the bar you couldn't smoke but if you were past this line you could and he would literally stand next to me at the bar with his hand with a cigarette over the line.
00:20:37
Speaker
ah Right, it's ridiculous. And that made it legal and i I could never understand that he's putting his head over ah an invisible barrier line at the bar, taking a drag on a cigarette, blowing it back over that line and holding his hand over the line and standing with me and they'd serve him. He wasn't smoking at the bar, his hand with the cigarette was outside of the bar area.
00:20:59
Speaker
And I always thought, I'm still breathing that in because it doesn't matter. If someone walks past him, it brings it my way. I'm still breathing it. So I mean, it's just ridiculous, isn't it? You think of the things that we thought were acceptable.
00:21:11
Speaker
and And making people smoke outside the pub so they'd stand outside the door so everyone who walked in or out had to breathe through the smoke to get in or out of the bar. So therefore you might as well just have them smoking in the bar. everybody It didn't stop anyone breathing it in or out until they actually back it. No, I just looked up in New York, very similar timeframe. I think there was there was an act passed in 2002 and places were given until you know various points in 2004 to comply.
00:21:39
Speaker
whether they were a restaurant, whether they were a bar, whether they they were a club, things like that. um But it's funny to think sometimes, I'm sure you've seen this when you'll watch shows, that you know smoking in people's houses was, some people didn't even ask.
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah. It's funny to look back at the 90s like that. Some people would just light up a cigarette in people's homes. But I love the fact that you get that comedic element of Chandler being outside with the bin lid over his head. and Well, that's Matthew matthew Perry. He's best anyway, isn't it? Just brilliant. Just brilliant.
00:22:11
Speaker
um But now, quick question for you about this novelty phone that she shows up
Nostalgia: Novelty Phones
00:22:18
Speaker
with. have you Did you ever have a novelty phone of any sort? if know would you have Would you have liked one? Was there any time you saw one and you thought that's kind of a cool case? You know what? I've never owned one, but I remember as a child, my mum and dad used to watch Home and Away, the trashy Australian soap opera, which possibly is still going. I think it went for about 35 years.
00:22:39
Speaker
um and alongside neighbors they used to play one after the other every day in fact they had it on at lunch time and then in the evening yes the same episode um but they had a restaurant in home and away and i can't remember what it's called now and they had the diner some something diner right It might have been like the surf shack or something like that. I dread to think it was awful. But they had a burger as a phone so you'd open this triple cheeseburger and that was the phone for the diner. I used to think it looked really cool but now looking back it was just this horrible plastic cheeseburger phone.
00:23:15
Speaker
I swear I've seen that like it maybe maybe it was in Home and Away. Oh it's probably in loads of things I imagine it's probably in other things as well but yeah that was just one really cheap looking phone that stood out other than this other than this football phone. It's funny it took me back to my parents had a For a small period of time, I had a cleaning lady that came over once every couple of weeks to help my mom out. or so For a small period of time, when we were really small, I've got two older sisters. And I remember we went over to her house, Mrs. Balfour's house. And gee she was quite as she was a a retired, semi-retired lady. Everything about her house screamed to being semi-retired, an older generation, except for her Mickey Mouse phone. And I never knew why she had it. But I always thought this was the most fun-looking thing
00:24:04
Speaker
um I don't know. I can't remember quite how tall it was, but it was big and it was bright and it was colorful. And on Mickey's belly you had the yeah you know the rotary phone. Yeah. um And just it's funny how looking at that football phone kind of took me back to that. But yeah, some definitely some old tech, you know, some something that the bank wouldn't be giving away anymore.
00:24:27
Speaker
Well, I don't think they give you $500 to make up for the fact they gave you $500 and then chuck a football phone in to make sure you weren't upset about it. It's just great. Nowadays, a letter of complaint is they will give you ยฃ10 credit to your accountant when you complain. So I want 50. They go, we'll give you 20 and you go, yeah, OK. That's right. Well, that's enough. Just enough is enough.
00:24:47
Speaker
So we kind of leave the girls' apartment and then come right back to it, I'm assuming, a few hours later because Alan leaves and everybody seems to love him um and is deemed the yardstick by which all future boyfriends will be measured.
00:25:00
Speaker
Is this when they get into Central Park? Yeah, Central Perk even, sorry. And they've got the softball games just happened, hasn't it? And they're all excited about that. That's coming up, yeah, the very next scene. Yeah. Which I thought you would bring up. It had kind of Seinfeld vibes to me because I know there's some softball stuff in there. Well, all that and the Frasier, you know, when KACL have had the softball game as well. What I couldn't understand was why, who were they playing for? I mean, who did Alan Rachel?
00:25:25
Speaker
Joey, Ross and Chandler, did they go and play? I don't think Monica did, and Phoebe doesn't seem to have played. So, and and and at one point, Chandler says, yeah, we really showed those Hasidic jewelers exactly how to play softball. So they played a jewelry store, or were these just some random guys that did jewelry? I didn' couldn't really understand how the game was played here and and why they were, played or did they just meet down ah at the park and they just went, we'll just have a game against these guys they hear.
00:25:53
Speaker
Right. I was really, I remembered this scene, but when I re-watched the episode, I was hoping that they'd all be wearing matching, you know, jerseys of some sort. They would say, you know, whether it was the museum team and everyone was just joining Ross or something, but there was nothing identifying at all. As he said, to signify which, what what is the In the Fraser episode, I think there's a couple of episodes to do it. They have the KACL team, obviously that's who they're playing for. it And in Seinfeld, they're playing for improv, so it's the improv night um versus, I can't remember who it is. I think, is it Bette Midler's in one of the episodes they're playing? Yes, yes. With the stand-in, isn't it? With the ah the girl who drops her ice cream or whatever and gets really upset. um That's a brilliant episode.
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's one of the i likes. I've seen Seinfeld all the way through once. I need to watch it again. But that's one of the episodes. I remember just oh harm so Just just a ridiculous episode. But yeah, I like Ross when he says about Alan was like Bugs Bunny in that game. He's playing all first base. Alan second base. Alan third base. Alan central field. Alan Alan's all over the place. And you think there is some sometimes when I played sport, even when I was a kid, um I remember there's always that one guy on your team and he would be in every position wherever you were. He was there.
00:27:04
Speaker
And you just think, God, I hated that guy. joe you always were hate Even if you were that guy, you you still hated that guy because they were so good at whatever sport. There's always one guy that's really much so much better than everyone else on the team. And everyone wants him on the team. And then he just literally is like up front playing at one point and he's back in the defense playing his nose and yeah and you can just kick the ball. And there he is on the wing and he's there. yeah Then he's in goal, and you're like, yeah, there he is again. He can do anything. And you're like, oh, God, I hate that guy. um Right. I hate to bow one to my matey. Yeah, but that's obviously what they love, Alan, because Alan could play every position and did it very well and help them win. so and And again, I think that's just a way of them showing how good Alan is and why Monica should be with him, because he's perfect. He is the perfect yeah guy here, isn't he?
00:27:50
Speaker
He is. I went back and re-listened to make sure they said, which you just, they did, Hasidic Jewellers and it's not Hasidic Jews. And I wondered if that was a ah sort of play on wands. I don't know if stereotypically being a jeweler is something that in the Hasidic Jew community, I don't know. i Yeah, maybe it's just a play on the wand.
00:28:12
Speaker
ah Maybe it's a joke that Crane and Kauffman came up with. I think actually I've got written down. I think is it Jeff Astrut or Astro ah wrote the episode, but we are still being directed by James Burrows at this point in episode three, but It is your workplace. or Have you ever been involved in a workplace team?
00:28:30
Speaker
um No, we had we ah working in the in the postal industry, there was two teams before, um both played football and both did very well actually. They used to go and play other offices and some of them have played other sort of like minor league things. um So yeah, they did have some ah some good fun. and But no, I never played. I felt like I was too old and i'm I'm not really a massive soccer or football player, so it wasn't my thing at the time.
00:28:55
Speaker
Yeah, I know you're not too into football, but I did watch it. Ipswich Town beat Chelsea the other week and thought of you. Well, yeah a cons constructive voice ah from from being from Ipswich, I can still be an Ipswich Town fan. um yeah In the 90s, I was a massive football fan. I would have i have followed soccer and football in the Premier League back in the 90s. I could name 100 players easily and which team was up and which team was down. But since 25 years ago, I really couldn't care less about it. Right, it's just faded away. Yep, it's gone dead. Excellent.
00:29:25
Speaker
Well, after this, we go outside, which I think is always nice when we get a scene that's outside or somewhere different. Where Phoebe is giving, who I assume is a homeless lady, Lizzie, the money. I think it's Lizzie, isn't it? The money on the football phone.
00:29:38
Speaker
um I love that Lizzie calls her, was it just Weird Girl? Yeah, she calls her Weird Girl and and and offers her a tinfoil hat. Yes, because I initially thought that's odd that Lizzie doesn't know her name because Phoebe obviously was quite involved in the sort of homeless community. We meet people that she knows, that she remembers, and but maybe that's just indicative of Lizzie's character. She's maybe a bit unstable and either doesn't remember or doesn't care to remember Phoebe's name.
00:30:06
Speaker
Do you know who plays ah Lizzie? Do you recognise her from anything? I don't. who who or Who is she? She's a lady called Beth Grant. And if I searched for her quickly, even on IMDB, she was in No Country for Old Men. She was in Little Miss Sunshine, Donnie Darko.
00:30:22
Speaker
um the things that it says I may know her from. Friends, Justified, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Speed, The X-Files, American Dad, My Name Is Earl, King Of The Hill, Two Guys Are Going On A Pizza Place, Magic Men, Sybil, Pearl Harbor, Sister Sister, The Office. She's been in everything.
00:30:41
Speaker
that's an extensive cv that's fantastic and yet you didn't know her name that was the one thing about her name yeah she she's one of those people i think that just appears in so much i remember her being in speed and i think that's probably where i knew her from more than anything else but i do know justified inside our um is one of my favorite shows um but yeah every time every time i see this scene i think go you play this part for like 30 seconds as a random person and look her up and you think, yeah, she does that quite a lot. That is just her thing is being a random person in lots of different stuff and massive productions as well.
00:31:14
Speaker
There's got to be it be a huge rabbit hole to go down, but there's got to be this community of actors that play these small parts and huge things, and everyone knows they're reliable, and everyone knows their faces, but but honey people people don't know their names. Yeah, 100%. I think sometimes they just, they they have an impact on you, and you recognise their voice, and they play the same sort of person in everything. and Right. But yeah, they're not Oscar winners, and they're not red carpet people.
00:31:38
Speaker
Right. Then we moved from there to, I love this scene and I was curious as to why it got put in. um Maybe it was just an idea Matthew Perry or a director had, but it's just Chandler's office where he's smoking and he's got the this different sprays or not even an office, he's in a cubicle. He's actually got sprays in his mouth.
00:31:58
Speaker
He's got a humongous great big red sign at the back that says no smoking, no smoke which which cracks me up more than it's only in his cubicle. The thing I love about this, as much as I love um Matt Perry, and you know, the map man, Matty P, whatever you want to call him here, I love the guy. um umm I'm a real big fan of his anyway. I love the fact that he liked ice hockey and he used to play ice hockey quite a lot. I believe he's actually Canadian um and he is he has a Toronto Blue Jays cap in his cubicle and I absolutely love that. As as a Jays fan, I literally got off this episode. I've seen this episode several times obviously before.
00:32:35
Speaker
Come straight off it, went and found a screenshot, added it to my header on Facebook, straight away, Matty P. with a Blue Jays cap. Absolutely in love with that scene. I love it. Yeah, because I can't remember if he's from Toronto or Ottawa. I think he might be between both. I know his dad was American, and that's how he ended up back in Los Angeles. But didn't his mother marry Trudeau? One of the Canadian former, I think it's now former prime minister. I don't know if he's officially left office.
00:33:05
Speaker
but there's some there's some connection there. Well, the funny thing is, he was actually born in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Oh, that's fun. um But he was raised in Ottawa and Ontario. There we go. So obviously, if you're going to support a baseball team, you're only going to go for the the best, I will say, that the best baseball team in Canada. In all of Canada, yeah. What were the big, the only one, the Toronto Blue Jays? So, um yeah, he was he was a massive tennis player in Canada when he was younger.
00:33:34
Speaker
and But yeah, he moved to Los Angeles aged 15 with his father. and His father actually, I do believe, actually appears in Friends in a later episode. And please, is it Joshua's dad?
00:33:46
Speaker
That's right. Yeah. Joshua's dad. I'm pretty sure Matthew Perry's dad plays Joshua's dad in that in that scene. I am sure you're right. And I did jumping ahead to that. I just finished reading my first book about friends and I didn't realize that the actor that played Joshua and Jennifer Anderson were dating at the time. yeah Yeah. All these funny little things I'm finding as I kind of deep dive along with this podcast into the show. That's what we're here for. Exactly. It's been fascinating to read about these things.
Chandler's Smoking Manipulation
00:34:12
Speaker
we move from the office back into central park Chandler still smoking and I think it's brilliant the way he plays everybody off of everybody else a wee bit of a jerk move but genius the way he sets ah up everyone else's flaws which which don't impact every anyone else like smoking does no i mean i made a note of these so joey knuckle cracks charlotte smokes rachel basically gets everyone's orders wrong uh monica snorts ross Can he say anything differently? And Phoebe chews her hair. um I love the fact that they pick Ross up on that and he says, is there something wrong with speaking correctly? And just does it straight back. um Obviously, Phoebe gets a bit snarky at Rachel and says, yeah, well, you better get back to work. You know, we wouldn't want people getting the right orders, would we? Right.
00:35:06
Speaker
Monica obviously laughing at all this, snorting while she does it. which we These are all things we've never seen anyone do. Right. and know i'm I'm going to look in the next episode, see Phoebe choose her hair again. I assume she doesn't. I think she does it a couple of times, maybe way later on. And I'm talking like season four or five. I think maybe when she's pregnant, she has her hair over her mouth or something like that.
00:35:26
Speaker
but it's pretty rare. um Rachel does get the orders wrong, but I don't think you'll find Gerry Evan cracks his knuckles again. Chandler does smoke, obviously, but Monica snorting. Nah, it's just, it's played for this scene, which is fine, and it works, and it in it and it is funny, so. Yeah, I think it's brilliantly done. um And this is the way Chandler walks out smoking, smug as could be, leaving them all like it just brilliantly done. But moise see we moved from there back into Monica's restaurant, which I think I caught the name iridium. I don't know. I'll believe you on that one. I don't know. I think it's iridium which I quickly googled and it says basically it's a metallic element which doesn't make sense. It's used in surgical instruments because of the kind of compound or alloy it is. I'll need to go back and check because I'd like to see where she's guessing that's where she starts off working. She looks like a sous chef sort of on the line. Yeah, she's not head there, is she? So yeah.
00:36:24
Speaker
But she confesses to, I've forgotten her name again, the co-worker. I think I said Paula in the end, didn't I? Yep, you did. I wrote it in Paula. She wants to break up with Ellen, but she knows her friends are going to be upset because he seems to be the perfect guy for all the friends. um Yeah, I wish we'd seen more of her, but um I think this is the one and only time we see her. Before we go back to Central Park, where Ross and Joey once again getting on channel for us. I love how much he's he's just gone from not smoking to chain smoking. so I love the fact that he even I wrote down the quote that he says smoking is cool and you know it. And you know it. I mean a real great advert for ah for smoking here and cigarettes. It would have been yeah yeah making it look cool I suppose. is I do wonder what Alan said on the phone to him to get it to stop.
00:37:11
Speaker
Well, I do like the the fact that Alan is just the most amazing guy. The smoking is cool and you know it thing brings me to one of my favorite comedians, Rod Gilbert, who when he had a stroke um several years ago, I think it was 2017, he hires a driver called John and um the po this is one of his stand up tours he did was called the book of john and it was basically probably made up a lot of it but as a comedian would but he tells the story of how john he's driver is basically thick and has an opinion on absolutely everything so at one point rod did really have a bit of a stroke ah his mum dies and his dad has a heart attack and he has a stroke because of the cause of all this negativity in his life um causes him to have a stroke and he comes out of the stroke test center and john the driver is in the car and he says to john um
00:37:59
Speaker
Well, ah you know they they don't know what caused it. And he said, well, you gave up smoking, didn't you? And he said, yeah, I did give up smoking. and he said But you know did you think that caused it? He said, well, I'm a bit 50-50 on that. and he said and And then wait for this. He said, because John, being thick with an opinion about everything, came up with the most dumb answers here. He said, what does that have to do with it? He said, well, I'm 50-50.
00:38:20
Speaker
What do you mean? He said, what's your eyesight? Got to do it. He said, no, I'm saying it's nothing to do with my eyesight, John. Right. He said, i'm I'm talking about whether I, you know, part of me thinks it could have been smoking part of me, doesn't he? He said, well, which part? and He said, no, I'm 50, 50. And he said, yeah, but which part of you? He said, no, no, no, you're not getting this. Right. so I'm really on the fence here. And John says, well, the thing about smoking is cigarettes aren't really bad for you, are they? So Rod says, what do you mean they're not bad for you? He said, well, they're only bad for you when you smoke them. And And he's like, you're right. You're right, John. You're right. Thanks for that. They're only bad for me when I smoke them. So now I'm not smoking them. They're not bad for me anymore, are they? and That's right.
00:38:59
Speaker
and And that just made me think of that the way that that China says smoking is cool and you know it. It's just like, yeah, they're really bad for you if you actually smoke them. If you smoke, actually actively smoke, that's so funny. so So some people aren't actually geniuses without realising it. um and And again, smoking just comes up in, it like you say, in so many shows and so many things that, I don't know, it's just... It was really common back then, wasn't it? um And for Chandler to say they're cool, you know, um people probably didn't. And he's right in the 90s, early 90s, it was seen as a ah cool thing. Well, we see this again jumping miles ahead when Rachel gets a job ah at Fashion Retainer, don't we? We see it. She thinks she has to smoke to go out on a smoke break to talk to all the cool people to be like part of the work group. um So again, it kind of
00:39:48
Speaker
bring smoking back around that it's a social thing. Whereas nowadays, people will say, oh, it's not very social at all. It used to be a really, really sociable thing. That's what you did. it means it's it's no anti-social it Yeah, It really is. Yeah, people people say it's very anti-social, but people still do it. you know You still get the same sort of groups of people outside of workplace and they talk every day. And there is people who go, oh, I might just go out and hang out with them. Why? Well, if not, I'm not included. You know you have to be out there smoking or you're not included. And that's exactly what Rachel does. And I think Chandler even appears in a couple of those episodes, isn't he? Because he wants to smoke.
00:40:18
Speaker
I mean, I think even back to when I was in secondary school, there was two staff rooms, one for smokers, one for non-smoking staff inside the secondary school. And that's, like I say, you and I are the same age, so that's mid-90s-ish. Yeah, I mean, even even when you used to go to a restaurant, do you want smoking or non-smoking? And it's just like, it it just blows my mind to think that that used to be a thing, like a real thing. Smoked damage to non-smoked damage, right? Had to be done. Yeah, exactly. Sorry, another Fraser reference, yeah.
00:40:48
Speaker
He is a friend's he iss a friend's podcast. He is, we promise. Well, just like we're listening, we're going to dabble into the other... I can't help it. If I'm on any podcast, I'm bound to quote at least three other shows or mention at least three other shows at some point. I can't help it.
00:41:03
Speaker
Yeah, no, it has to happen. Well, the final sort of main scene we get back into Monica and Rachel's apartment, we find out that Phoebe gets seven. I find this fascinating. She just drops it into the conversation. She gets $7,000 from the ah the soda people, which in today's money is a little over, it you know, it'd be about 10 to 11,000 pounds, 15 and a half thousand dollars. It's a huge amount of money. And I wonder if she didn't want to keep the 500, even though this came about from a different situation,
00:41:32
Speaker
I wonder if she kept it, if she gave it where she bought something with it. What do you think? Compensation for a thumb in a can of drink is a bit different, isn't it? It is different. I don't think I'd morally feel bad for that. I i think what what makes me feel a bit strange about this whole episode is you're centred around finding a thumb in a can of drink. Right. Did that need to be the episode title? like Is that really the biggest thing in this? Phoebe's plot is almost like a sea story.
00:42:01
Speaker
yeah I mean, to me, it's the all the smoking and then Alan, and then the thumb. Phoebe and the thumb are actually very, very low. Also, when you open a can of drink, can you identify a thumb through that little tiny hole that you drink through? Absolutely not. very yeah I don't think I'd see that as a thumb. um Also, you can't get a thumb through that hole, so it must have been put into the can first before it's sealed. There's a lot of questions about the thumb and the relative rate the redis to to being in this episode for me.
00:42:31
Speaker
Yeah, to me, if this episode was the one with all the smoking, yeah you know that you know to me, that would have been a more apt title. And on that note, um like Chandler's super grumpy as he's sitting there because he's he's got his patch. I love the way Ross puts the patch on him. yeah I think Joey either threw or away or I know if he ate his last piece of gum.
00:42:49
Speaker
But um I love that this can has continued through this smoking storyline. The part I like the most about this end scene now as we're in the apartment, and it's coming to a close, the episode is the fact they go and get Joey because Monica's got an announcement to make. He's he's been in the shower. joe Joey, I wrote down, hanging out of his robe here. That's right.
00:43:09
Speaker
The fact that she says there'll be other Alan's, you know, and they're all upset. we We're going to miss Alan and they don't want him to. It's like a proper breakup, but it's for them, not for her. He does. He gives me those vibes of almost like Monica being a parent. Yeah. And the bri it's like a divorce conversation or you bre they are rehoming the dog here. Alan's going to live on the farm.
00:43:32
Speaker
It's just, it amazes me. But the fact that they then go to Alan and he goes, I'm i'm really glad because I can't stand your friends. So brilliantly tied together at the end. completely I love they brought him back in. Completely throws it back the other way around. I can't stand your friends. I just think that's a beautiful end to it almost. um Just the fact that they're so over the top, he actually can't stand them at all.
00:43:55
Speaker
Yeah, I think they could have finished this episode without Alan, but I love the fact that they revisited. Now, is they are they in Central Park? I think they are, off to the side, but I wasn't quite sure. Yeah, it's not really very well shown, um so I don't i can't 100% say, but yeah, I i imagine that's Central Park somewhere.
00:44:14
Speaker
Yeah. I love that they brought him back in for that final scene because I think it just, it ties the episode up beautifully. That little plot, a plot twist almost that he he really he wasn't keen on them at all. But now that we've kind of finished the review of the episode, was there anything like that you would qualify as brand new information, anything new you found out about the Friends universe in this episode?
Fun Facts and Trivia Highlights
00:44:40
Speaker
It's not so much that I found out that it's brand new. I mean, I've obviously told you two facts that happen in this one. One is it's the first appearance of Joey and Chandler's apartment. The other one is that Matthew Perry is a Toronto Blue Jays fan. Yes. um that That's not really relevant to anyone other than possibly me and other Blue Jays fans. um Yeah, um they're the main things that really stick out to me that are kind of new things that we learn from this episode.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yeah, the one thing I've noticed, and I'm going to deep dive into this on my own time after we finished recording, the music that's in the smoking in this scene where Chandler's smoking in his cubicle, I knew I recognized it somewhere, not necessarily as a standalone song. yeah this It was used somewhere. And it was used one other time in Friends. I forget the guy's name, but he was stalking Phoebe thinking it was our salon.
00:45:31
Speaker
And it was the background music used then. Yeah, it was the only two times I think it's been used. I assume it's some kind of stock music that was just made for the show. Who's the guy? Who's the guy that's stalking us? yeah I can picture his face and I can't remember his name. Yeah, no, it's gone. I can't think of the actor's name either. It's gone out my head. Yeah, um it's a great storyline. But I knew that I'd i'd seen that, or heard that music recently somewhere and I'd seen that episode recently.
00:45:57
Speaker
So I thought it was interesting that that music appears to just be used twice throughout the whole episode. Big enough gap between them you don't notice. Right, exactly. And then ah ah this whole episode, who's your Gunther Central Park, your favourite character and or actor from this episode?
00:46:14
Speaker
It's going to be really boring for anyone listening that I'm going to pick. Me too, I think. matthew Matthew Perry and Chandler every single time. But ah yeah for me, again, in this episode, he excels. um The smoking, the lines he delivers. He's just funny, isn't he? He's just constantly funny.
00:46:28
Speaker
That's it. I mean, i've ah you know rewatching that again through this so podcast lens, there are definitely episodes where it won't be Matthew Perry for me, because others excel. But I think again, again, not to promise this, the last time we'll bring up Frasier, but the DB New Earth smoking vibes. Yeah. I love the way that Matthew Perry plays this, like you tell this. He just, you believe his character is almost in love with smoking and everything in this episode. He definitely romanticizes it a lot.
00:46:56
Speaker
Yeah, which I think is just brilliantly done. But can on that note, any final and any final thoughts about this episode? No, I mean, it's a very good run of the mill episode. It's progressing, isn't it? It shows more development of the characters, as I say, when we see them in in Central Perk. um We meet the boys' apartment, even though it's only brief, and we don't see a huge amount of it. um That, again, changes. I think there's there's things in that apartment that we see for the first time that we possibly don't see again. um As we commented on episode one,
00:47:26
Speaker
um We see Monica's hair is developed, we see Joey's hair is developed, we see Rachel Stiles developed. yes There is some changes from the pilot episode which we now see are coming out a bit and the the characters are becoming more recognisable as what we see through season one and two than what we see in that pilot episode.
00:47:44
Speaker
Yeah, I love the fact that we see the changes in the characters themselves, then also the environments. Looking at, as you said, the first scene seeing Joey and Chandler's apartment, it's almost unrecognizable, the furniture that's in there. and we know it exist Their furniture changes several times through the show, doesn't it, with different events that happen. and which will obviously you'll come on to at at certain points. But yeah, just seeing it for the first time and realizing they they obviously set it up in a way that doesn't work quite like this. We're going to have to develop this again, or or does it fit the boy's characters well enough?
00:48:16
Speaker
um And the same with, like we say, with Monica's, it's pretty much there when we see it in the pilot. But as we get a few episodes in, little tiny changes happen that they think, actually, Monica probably wouldn't have that or this would be more suitable for Monica and stuff like that. So we do see more development in their environments as well as them, which is is nice. Yeah, I know we talked in the pilot about the views out of Monica's window being differently. I need to maybe go back and look at episode two.
00:48:40
Speaker
or to see this you know Chandler being out there smoking was the reason for suddenly having a balcony out there. Yeah, did we have to add it. Yeah. Yeah, it's like same for me. I think it's it's it's certainly not one of my favorite episodes, but it's a really it's a quality episode and we are seeing these characters develop, which I absolutely love.
Community Engagement Invitation
00:49:00
Speaker
um But as this podcast grows, we certainly want to add some more sections to this podcast, such as the listener mail section. So if you're listening to this and you have any thoughts about episodes we've already recorded or ones coming up in the future, we'd love for you, the listeners, to get in touch. um The best way to do that is through our new Instagram page, the Purple Door podcast, um where you can also leave comments now on Apple, on Spotify. um Underneath that, where you find our podcast. We'd love to build a small community around this pod.
00:49:30
Speaker
and have all of you guys involved. But um next week, we're going to look at the one with George Stephanopoulos, a really, really funny episode. But on that note, I've been Alistair. I've been Steve. Thank you guys very much for tuning in to the Purple Door podcast.