The second season of Friends certainly has its moments - and in many ways, it was a great season. The gang are all still at the start of figuring things out, the Ross/Rachel dynamic is finally getting going, Ross gets a monkey... it's a big change from the final seasons, where everyone is getting married and having babies, and it is a perfect example of why fans fell in love with the show in the first place.
However, it's far from a perfect season - as these jokes show. Like most of the series, there are some things about Friends' season 2 that just make us cringe today, even though they would have been considered hilarious back when the show first aired.
10 That's How You Measure Pants
In one episode, Joey recommends his tailor to Chandler (which, in and of itself, is something that probably wouldn't work these days... how many twenty-somethings wear a suit every day, let alone have a tailor!?)... and Chandler discovers that the tailor has been fondling his customers for years, when he is touched inappropriately during a fitting. He talks to Ross and Joey, and Joey says that's just how it's done. Ross and Chandler are (thankfully) shocked, but they spend a fair bit of time laughing about the fact that two of the three have been essentially assaulted, one of them for years.
9 The Breast Milk
In season 2, Ben is a baby, and that means that Ross spends an entire episode freaking out about breastfeeding. In fact, most of the male characters have a freakout about something totally normal, which would just bore audiences at this point. From Joey asking bizarre and intrusive questions about Carol feeding Ben, to the guys literally gasping and shouting over someone testing the milk temperature on their arm and then licking it, this whole gag relies on the idea that breastfeeding is shocking. Which, thankfully, it isn't anymore.
8 The Adam's Apple
Friends is definitely known for being packed with transphobic jokes, and one of the early ones comes in this season - when Joey mentions that he dated a woman with an Adam's apple. The guys are talking about dumping women for seemingly petty reasons, when Joey says that he used to date someone who was gorgeous and a great kisser, but her Adam's apple bothered him - evidently, she was trans, and Joey didn't realize. So of course, the guys have to be appalled and crack jokes, rather than just accepting that Joey dated a trans woman that he thought was gorgeous.
7 Chandler, Aka Bob
Part of this joke doesn't really work any more, as it requires an actual answering machine... but that's not really the part that doesn't age well. In one episode, Chandler gets an answering machine message from a woman looking for her ex, Bob.
She sounds attractive (who knows why), and is obviously still really sexually into Bob, so Chandler calls her back and pretends to be him. He even sets up a date, knowing that Bob won't show, so he can then console her about it. It's played for laughs, but he essentially catfishes a woman, and that's just not ok.
6 Ah, High Tech!
This doesn't age badly because it's offensive, but because it just doesn't make sense anymore! Chandler gets a new laptop, and hilariously boasts about how great it is... and it's quite painful. The actual line is "Alright! Check out this bad boy: 12 megabytes of RAM, 500 megabyte hard drive, built-in spreadsheet capabilities and a modem that transmits it over 28,000 bps". A 500MG hard drive! Can you imagine? Of course, the concept still works - someone getting a ridiculously powerful computer and just using it for 'games and stuff', but it's hilarious to look back on this as high-tech now.
5 Fun Bobby
This character is played off as a joke, but really, it's just sad. Fun Bobby is one of Monica's boyfriends - until they discover that he has a drinking problem, and when he gives up, he's Painfully Sad And Boring Bobby instead. Making fun of alcoholism in the first place is just in bad taste, but it also doesn't really play these days - because the gang almost never drinks at all, and when they do realize that Bobby may have had a problem, it's because they went through multiple bottles of wine. The seven of them. On a weekend.
4 Lesbian Wedding Jokes
Carol and Susan get married this season, and it's a lovely ceremony - but of course, Ross and his gang have to fill the lovely celebration with homophobic jokes. While Carol and Susan were actually considered quite progressive at the time, as a lesbian couple (with a child) on a major TV show, these days, fans would just be appalled at the way that the gang treats them. And, of course, at the assumption that every single one of their wedding guests is also a lesbian.
3 Some Girl Ate Monica
This season includes the moment that launches a thousand fat jokes, when Monica watches an old prom video of her and Rachel. It's a sweet moment, of course, as Rachel and Ross have one of their big kisses (and Phoebe brings up lobsters!), but the sheer number of fat-jokes that the gang direct at Monica in this episode is just disgusting.
At one point, Joey gasps 'some girl ate Monica!', and when she replies that the 'camera adds ten pounds', Chandler jumps in with 'how many cameras are on you'? It's just gross - and mean, from people who are supposed to be friends.
2 Monica's Fake Boobs
For the most part, Monica's embarrassing diner job is actually pretty funny - most twenty-somethings end up taking embarrassing or boring jobs to make ends meet, so it's relatable. And for once, the gang making fun of each other makes sense... even today, friends would probably laugh at someone doing an honestly silly job that they hated, if it's all in good fun. However, Joey is obsessed with her big fake costume boobs - which is not just frustrating as part of the running gag that Joey is just a permanent horndog, but even more inappropriate because she is meant to be his friend.
1 Chandler's Online Dating
Like Chandler's computer, his online dating experiences are just plain outdated, and that's why they don't work anymore. In this season, he starts talking to a mystery woman online, and it's only after he meets her that he realizes it's Janice. This is hilariously out of date in several ways; for one thing, his friends are shocked that he might meet someone from the internet, and for another, he doesn't see her photo while they talk! In today's dating-app culture, this would just never happen.
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