"Friends" of

A list of recurring characters that have been a part of Friends for over ten years

Gunther

Gunther is the manager of Central Perk, the coffee house where the six friends would spend their free time. He was Rachel's boss when she worked at the coffee house and has harbored a secret crush on her ever since, though Rachel remained oblivious to this. He also possessed a great amount of contempt for Ross, who used to date Rachel and had a baby with her. Gunther often remains in background whenever the gang is at the coffee house. His last name is unknown, resulting in the friends referring to him as just "Gunther", though Chandler guessed it to be "Centralperk".

Carol and Susan

Carol is Ross's first wife(and first divorce), and mother to his son, Ben. Susan is her lesbian life partner, as well as the woman Carol left Ross for. They were married in a commitment ceremony with Ross giving Carol away, and raised Ben together. Ross has always held a grudge against Susan for being responsible for his divorce from Carol, but both have set their grudge aside for their mutual love of Carol and Ben.

Jack & Judy Geller

Monica and Ross's parents, Jack and Judy, are often guilty of favoritism towards Ross, with Judy being particularly critical of Monica. She is also known for her obsession of cleaniness and order, which Monica has inherited herself. Jack is famous for ill-timed comments and behavior, such as the time when he walked in on Monica and Chandler having sex in a janitor's closet while Rachel was giving birth, then proceeded to talk to them about the best sexual positions for conceiving a child.

Ben Geller

Ben is Ross's son from his first wife, Carol, and is the older brother to Ross and Rachel's daughter, Emma. His name comes from a nametag of a janitor's suit that Phoebe wore when she, Ross, and Susan were trapped in a closet when Carol was giving birth. Ben had a feud with a boy at his school, who also happened to be the son of musician Sting, prompting Phoebe to pretend to be Ben's mom Susan and meeting with Sting's wife Trudy Styler in order to get concert tickets.

Janice

Chandler most infamous ex, Janice, is renowned for her nasaled, high-pitched laugh and for the phrase, "Oh-my-god!". The group, including Chandler found her incredibly annoying. Even after her break up with Chandler, Janice has always managed to appear during significant moments in the lives of the group, such as delivering her baby at the same hospital and room as Rachel, and at the same fertility clinic where Monica and Chandler went when they were trying to get pregnant. She even had a short fling with Ross when he was going through his second divorce. Janice ended when she accused Ross of being too whiny, which baffled Ross.

Mike

Mike came into the picture in an interesting way. Phoebe and Joey made plans to set each other up on a double, but when Joey forgot he lied that he had a friend named Mike, with whom he was setting Phoebe up with. Since he didn't actually have a friend named Mike, he went to the coffee house and yelled for anyone who was named Mike, gaining Mike's attention. Joey bribed Mike with a free dinner if he would say that he was a friend of Joey's from school. Phoebe caught on to Joey's lie and walked out. Mike later found her at the coffee house to apologize, and the two started dating. The two formed a serious relationship, going as far as planning to move in together. When Phoebe started to think about marriage in the future, Mike assured Phoebe that he never planned on marrying again after the trauma of his divorce. The relationship end, but later, Mike realized he made a mistake and went to Barbados to propose to Phoebe. She rejected the proposal, citing she never wanted an immediate proposal but rather an assurance that the two had a future. They reconciled, and were later married after a string of botched marriage proposals.

Frank Jr.

Frank Jr. is Phoebe's half-brother that she met when she was looking for her father. Frank began a relationship with his home economics teacher from high school, Alice. Phoebe greatly disapproved when Frank and Alice became engaged, but came to realize their love was genuine and came to be very supportive. After they were married, Frank Jr. and Alice found it difficult to conceive a child, they asked Phoebe to be a surrogate, and were delighted when Phoebe became pregnant with triplets, with Frank exclaiming, "MY SISTER'S GONNA HAVE MY BABY!"

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