Did It Happen On Friends Or The Big Bang Theory?
- by Xavier Martinez
- – on
- in Movies and TV
Ever since its pilot episode first aired on NBC in 1994, Friends has remained one of the most popular TV shows of all time. Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, the series managed to earn an immense audience, whose enjoyment in following the lives of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross was nearly constant. Skillfully blending a lot of laugh-out-loud, spontaneous comedy with some moments of quieter, more relatable drama, the series was nominated for 62 Emmy Awards during its ten-season run.
In recent years, another sitcom has managed to gain a wide popularity on TV. Created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, The Big Bang Theory was originally focused on the four textbook nerds Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj, and waitress/aspiring actress Penny. Over time, that comedic roster was joined by other characters like neuroscientist Amy, microbiologist Bernadette, and comic book store owner Stuart. Even though many fans and critics have been criticizing the show for a decline in comedic quality, the series has still earned 7 Emmy Awards so far.
With both sitcoms benefiting from a large cast and a variety of comedic situations, it can sometimes be tricky to remember if a story came from one show or the other. Did each of the following scenes happen on Friends or The Big Bang Theory? Time to find out!
Fighting over tenure
After Prof. Tupperman passes away, the group fight for his tenured position at the university. As part of their efforts, each tries to impress Janine Davis, the school's HR representative and head of the tenure committee. One character exercises with her at the gym, but suffers an asthma attack. Another one sends her a 90-minute autobiographical video. And another one gives her a DVD of the TV miniseries "Roots" in order to make up for the insensitive comments he said in a previous episode...
The fear of ending up like Mr. Heckles
Mr. Heckles, the old annoying neighbour from downstairs, passes away after his latest encounter with the gang. While they sort out the knickknacks left in his apartment, one of them discovers that the old man used to be popular in high school, and tended to run away from relationships due to his fear of commitment. Having turned down a date with a woman earlier that day because "her nostrils were too big", he then freaks out, realizing he might grow old and become a nutty hermit like Heckles!
Searching for movie stardom in Las Vegas
Still aspiring to become a famous actor, one member of the gang takes his friend's taxi and drives to Las Vegas to star in a new film. However, upon arriving at the film set, located in the desert near Vegas, he discovers that the production is being shut down due to a lack of funding. He hasn't earned a single dime as well, as his contract stated he wouldn't be paid unless the movie is successful. Broke and unwilling to tell his friends the truth, he does find a job... as a costumed Roman soldier at Caesars Palace!
21 extra seconds? That's, like, a whole new movie!
The guys decide to go to a special midnight screening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" which has 21 seconds of unseen footage. But when they arrive at the theatre, they are stuck waiting in a long queue, with one of them whining about how the others wasted time by having dinner. After many hours of waiting, they're finally barred from entering as the theatre is fullu occupied. But one of them finds a side door and manages to steal the film cans. The guys then have to run away from a mob of angry fans, mimicking the movie's iconic opening scene!
Someone threw his sandwich away? HIS sandwich?! HIS SANDWICH?!
One of the guys has been having a lot of trouble in his life lately. Not only is he now divorced for the second time, but he's also been evicted from his apartment. The best thing in his life now happens to be his leftover turkey sandwich from Thanksgiving. But when his boss steals his sandwich and eats it (even throwing most of it away), the poor guy can no longer handle the stress. He finally erupts at his boss, earning himself indefinite leave...
Standing against a blue jay
One guy in the gang has been afraid of birds his entire life. So when a blue jay makes its nest in his apartment windowsill, he freaks out and attempts to "destroy" the bird. He first mimics a cat's meow, then tries to scare the bird away with an ultrasonic machine, but to no avail. Finally, he tries to simply shoo the bird away with a broom, but the blue jay then enters the apartment and lands on his favorite spot on the couch!
It's the Holiday Armadillo!
One of the guys wants to introduce his son Ben to Hanukkah, but Ben has always shown a preference for Christmas. Dismayed, he ends up telling Ben that Santa will come visit him after all. But when he goes out to rent a Santa costume, he finds out they've all been taken. Left with no other choice, he rents an armadillo costume, and then presents himself to Ben as the Holiday Armadillo... Santa's representative for the southern US and Mexico!
Attacked by a cat during a blackout
During a city-wide power outage, the gang decide to hang out at one friend's apartment, save for one (who happens to be trapped in an ATM vestibule with a Victoria's Secret model). Over the night, one tries to confess his feelings to another friend, but is attacked by a cat on the balcony. The gang then try to find the cat, and discover that it belongs to an Italian hunk named Paolo, for whom one of them falls immediately... to the disappointment of that one friend who was attacked by the cat in the first place!
Can't work at night and be a chauffeur at the same time...
For several nights, one of the guys has been working on an experiment involving a free-electron laser which is only available at night. As a result, he hasn't been able to drive his friend and roommate to the university. In succession, his friend asks the rest of the gang to drive him, but they each eject him from the car because of his annoying behavior. They then install a driving simulator in his living room so that he can learn how to drive, but of course, he ends up failing at the simulator too...
Bringing a monkey to a New Year's Eve party
Everyone makes a pact not to bring dates to their New Year's Eve party, but everyone breaks the pact save for one of the guys. Upset that all his friends managed to invite someone to the party, he decides to buy a capuchin monkey from a pet store, whom he names Marcel. He brings Marcel to the party, but the monkey seems to take no interest in him. But, as it turns out, each of his friends can't get along with their dates either...
A cold, hyper-logical psychiatrist for a mother...
One of the guys becomes worried when he learns his mother, an accomplished psychiatrist and neuroscientist, is coming to visit. Upon arriving, his mother proceeds to psychoanalyze one of the girls over some of the troubles she went through as a child. Another one of the guys, on the other hand, admires her and develops a comfortable rapport with her. Ultimately, the gang each come to terms with the observations that the guy's mother has raised on each of their lives, for better or worse...
Trying to find solace in Vegas, or right across the hall...
For the past few episodes, one of the guys has been in a casual relationship with a co-worker. However, when she breaks up with him, he becomes visibly upset. The rest of the guys, except one, decide to take him on a trip to Las Vegas to cheer him up, where they encounter an unusual remedy to his romantic disappointment... Meanwhile, the other guy decides to stay home, but accidentally locks himself out of his apartment. He thus goes to stay over at his neighbour's apartment, but still feels "homesick"...
She sure learned a lot of lessons at that baby shower...
One of the girls is pregnant, so the other girls prepare a baby shower for her. However, they forget to invite their friend's mom, who shows up by herself and starts to act quite rude to them. One desperately tries to seek forgiveness from her, but to no avail. But, over the course of the day, the pregnant one realizes she has no idea how to look after her baby after her birth, so her mother insists on staying with her for 8 weeks, much to her annoyance!
Enunciation means spitting
The struggling actor in the gang finally manages to earn a role in a war film, alongside the renowned actor Richard Crosby. However, upon doing his first scene with Crosby, the guy realizes that Crosby has a tendency to spit while saying his lines. When he can't stand it anymore, he talks to Crosby about it, but the latter replies by saying that all good actors spit while saying their lines. So, during their next scene, they both constantly spit while saying their lines, and then congratulate each other at the end!
Here he comes, Professor Proton!
Two of the guys find out that a physicist known as Professor Proton, who hosted a children's science show they both loved as kids, is now hosting children's parties. The old man accepts an invitation to perform in their apartment, even though he finds it odd to do a children's show for adult scientists. In the end, he admits disillusion about his TV persona, claiming that other scientists never took him seriously because of it. But the guys manage to cheer him up by telling him how he inspired them to become scientists!
It wasn't a hop, it was a pas-de-bourree!
When two of the girls get in trouble with Mr. Treeger, their building supervisor, one of the guys tries to talk him out of evicting them. Treeger then tells him that he'll only let the girls keep the apartment if the guy teaches him how to dance. It turns out he asked a woman to go to a ballroom dance with him, and feels very nervous about it. So the guy agrees to help Treeger with his dancing skills, and actually starts to enjoy their private lessons!
Somebody thought the moon would be blown up!
One guy and one girl in the gang used to date, but have now broken up and agreed to remain friends. The group decide to set up an experiment at night, attempting to bounce a laser off the moon using the laser reflector left by Apollo 11. The girl decides to bring her new boyfriend Zack to the experiment, so that he can meet her friends. However, upon realizing how dumb Zack really is, she breaks up with him, realizing she's unable to tolerate stupid guys anymore!
Brussels sprouts weren't such a good idea after all...
One of the guys tries to estimate his life expectancy. When he realizes that he'll probably miss "the singularity", i.e. a time where humans will be able to transfer their consciousness into machines and achieve immortality, he decides to change his life. He thus takes on a diet of cruciferous vegetables and decides to start jogging in order to increase his life expectancy. However, Brussels sprouts give him a really bad case of flatulence, and he even tumbles down the stairs while going down for his jog!
Taking acting lessons to overcome bad lecturing...
One of the guys earns negative online feedback about a guest lecture he gave at a university. To overcome his boring and intolerable teaching style, he decides to take acting lessons from one of the girls. Wanting to learn how to communicate more easily with students, he still manages to behave very annoyingly during the lessons. Finally, the two act out a Star Trek fan-fiction script that the guy wrote as a kid. They do get immersed in the story, but then again, perhaps a bit too much...
That's some bad medical timing right there...
The actor in the gang loses his health benefits, but develops a hernia shortly after while lifting weights. His condition becomes much worse over the following days, but he's still unable to afford medical treatment and doesn't want to borrow money from his friends. In the end, he manages to take on an acting role, which allows him to renew his insurance. But he's faced with a child actor who refuses to cry as scripted, and the scene takes forever to shoot. Ultimately, he manages to make the young actor cry... by showing him his hernia!
So much discomfort, all because of a late DVD!
While two of the guys rummage through their closet, one of them finds a DVD he once rented with his friend's card, which should've been returned seven years earlier. His friend agrees not to flip out over this, but wants the guy to wear an itchy sweater until the DVD issue is resolved, so that he can "walk in his shoes". So the guy searches for the DVD store, but learns the store went out of business long ago... Meanwhile, he's getting a nasty rash from that itchy sweater!
That'll sure be a birthday to remember!
The gang learns that one of the guys has never had a birthday party, as his parents didn't believe in celebrating anything other than achievements. They decide to throw him a surprise party, but when his birthday comes, they realize that one of them forgot to buy his present, so they head down to a computer store. In the meantime, one friend has to keep the birthday guy out of his apartment, and even goes so far as to eat a peanut bar and get an allergic reaction!
He's off on the road to Poughkeepsie...
One of the guys has started seeing a girl who happens to live in Poughkeepsie, far away in upstate New York. He's also met a girl who lives in New York, but who's also much less fun than the other one. Ultimately, he chooses to see the one who lives in Poughkeepsie. However, when he next visits her, he falls asleep on the train, and only wakes up when the train stops in Montreal. But he does manage to meet another girl in the city... who happens to live in Nova Scotia!
When a Mars rover opens a baseball game...
A few years after piloting a shuttle to the International Space Station, one of the guys is asked to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game as a way to celebrate Space Day. However, despite a lot of practice, the guy can't reach home base. At the game, he finally decides to use a prototype of the Mars rover to deliver the ball. But it turns out the rover is way too slow at delivering the ball across the grass, causing the crowd to boo the poor guy!
Stinking up Charlton Heston's private suite...
Right before shooting a film with legendary Hollywood star Charlton Heston, the actor in the gang goes on a fishing trip with his father. When he gets back, his friends are shocked by the awful smell he brought back from his three-day trip. Unable to go on set without stinking up the place, he discovers that Heston has a shower in his suite, and goes in to wash up. However, Heston soon finds him in his shower, and manages to scare off the guy for good!