Few sitcom moments are as instantly recognizable as the rain-soaked first kiss between Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) on Friends—a scene that helped turn a popular comedy into a full-blown television phenomenon.
The pivotal moment arrived in season 2’s “The One Where Ross Finds Out,” which aired November 9, 1995, during sweeps. Thirty years later, showrunners and co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane took a look back at how that kiss came together—and why it worked so powerfully.
In a new interview with the Television Academy, Kauffman and Crane revisited the episode’s origins, the creative decisions behind the scenes, and the challenge of letting a sitcom lean fully into romance.
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From the pilot onward, Ross’s crush on Rachel was baked into the show’s DNA. But getting them together without rushing the payoff took careful planning.
“The biggest challenge was keeping them apart,” Crane said. “In the pilot, Ross says, ‘Hey, can I ask you out sometime?’ And [Rachel] says, ‘Sure.’ Then, we managed to throw in some obstacles.”
Those obstacles included missed timing, other relationships, and—most memorably—a drunken voicemail Rachel leaves for Ross telling him that she's "over you"—"when were you... under me?"— which set the stage for the kiss.
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Jennifer Aniston’s Voicemail Moment & Physical Comedy
Rachel’s rambling, emotional message—delivered after too many drinks—became one of the episode’s most quoted scenes, and a key turning point for the story.
“She brought it,” Kauffman said of Aniston’s performance.
Crane added, “I think there’s very little that the six of them didn’t bring. Our job was just to not screw it up.”
Even small physical details, like Rachel tossing the phone into a champagne bucket, played a role in making the scene land.
“I’m pretty sure that was in the script,” Kauffman said, “but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be funny.”
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The following scene—in which Rachel tries to physically stop Ross from hearing the voicemail—mixed tightly choreographed movement with spontaneous performance.
“It was choreographed mainly for safety, and also for camera,” Kauffman explained. “But it wasn’t until they got on their feet that we saw how funny it could be.”
Crane, rewatching the episode years later, called the performances by Schwimmer and Aniston “a masterclass,” pointing to how seamlessly they balanced physical comedy and emotional stakes.
The kiss itself—set in Central Perk, backlit by rain—was treated differently than most sitcom beats.
“We had some insanely funny writers in that room who probably could have pitched 20 more jokes,” Crane said. “But we were probably insisting—as we occasionally did—‘This is a “no-joke zone.”’”
Kauffman added that there was never fear about leaning into drama. “We knew people cared about these characters,” she said. “They weren’t going to go, ‘Hey, where are the jokes?’”
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‘Really Hot’—Even for a Sitcom
For Crane, the final result was striking not just for its emotional payoff, but for its tone.
“I remember also thinking, in that last scene, it’s really hot,” he said. “Our show does a lot of romance but, for want of a better word, it’s rarely sexy. And I have to say, that kiss in the door—I was like, ‘Wow! So, our show does this, too.’”
That intensity, the creators later realized, came with a creative cost. Once Ross and Rachel finally became a couple, the tension that fueled so much of the show began to fade.
“The thing we weren't expecting is that, with them together—when things settle, and they're just a couple—it wasn't as funny and dramatic and exciting as when they were apart. That’s why, in season 3, we decided to break them up," said Crane.
“It didn’t have the oomph,” Kauffman added.
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