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30 Years Ago Today, Friends Wrote Out 1 of Its Best Supporting Characters (& the Actor Later Played a Different Role)
Across all 10 seasons of Friends, the show had a long, strong, rotating cast of supporting players who came in and out of their lives. While some would appear throughout the show, such as Jack and Judy Geller, a lot of the most memorable were often only around for a handful of episodes. The likes of Paul (Bruce Willis), Cathy (Paget Brewster), and Pete (Jon Favreau) are all great, though it’s not just limited to love interests.
One of the best examples of a character who stuck around for just a few episodes was Adam Goldberg’s Eddie Menuek, who moved in with Chandler after Joey had moved out. He was only in three episodes of Season 2, but managed to make a big impression thanks to his incredible line deliveries and increasingly unhinged behavior.
While Chandler initially tried to stick it out – they even took a roadtrip to Vegas together, or so Eddie will tell you – things came to a head in “The One Where Eddie Won’t Go,” where, eventually he does go. It’s a fantastic blowup with some genius lines and a showcase for Matthew Perry in particular, and while Goldberg would actually go on to play another character, Jimmy Costa, in Friends‘ short-lived Joey spinoff (and Joey apparently didn’t question why he looked so much like Chandler’s ex-roommate), it’s Eddie who remains by far the most memorable.
Eddie Served An Important Purpose In Friends
Eddie might not be a love interest, but he serves an important function in what’s arguably the show’s true best relationship: the friendship of Joey and Chandler. After their breakup, Eddie was a necessary rebound for Channy to realize just what he’d had with J-Man, and how special their bond was. Goldberg’s character also brought plenty of comedy, and he played that part perfectly (although its vague depiction of him being “crazy” might not hold up by today’s standards and understandings of mental health), but it was as a catalyst for Joey and Chandler to admit how much they need each other that was the best thing about him.
This was fertile ground throughout Friends, because Joey and Chandler were consistently among the best parts of the show. While they did live together for a few more seasons, it would later explore a change in roommate dynamics after Chandler moved in with Monica, with Joey joined in the apartment by another guest star, Elle Macpherson as Janine. While that one did lead to romance, it also led to him once again expressing just how much his friends mean to him, returning back to the very heart of the show. Those friendships were for life, but they needed an Eddie or two to remember it every now and then.
Friends is available to stream on HBO Max.
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