The One With Russ

"The One With Russ" is the tenth episode of the second season of Friends, which aired on January 4, 1996.
==Plot==
Monica is back with Fun Bobby, whom the guys find really funny and interesting. However, after a night of hanging out together, the empty wine bottles standing on the table are too much to go unnoticed; the thing is that not one of the gang drank more than two glasses, which leaves only Fun Bobby as the remaining drinker. This brings to the fact that Fun Bobby has a drinking problem. When Monica points this out to him, he quits drinking for her sake, but his new, not-so-funny stories bring out a more serious problem in him - he's only funny when he drinks. Monica doesn't want to be with sober, but dull and boring Bobby, but at the same time she can't let him fall off the wagon, so she starts drinking a lot herself.
Rachel starts going out with Russ, a guy who is in every way the identical copy of Ross. Everyone sees this in him (including Fun Bobby), except for her and Ross, who classifies him as a complete jerk. Ross is at a loss to see what Rachel can ever see in him, unaware of the uncanny number of similarities there are between him and Rachel's date. When the two start bickering, Rachel sees this and finally becomes aware of the common features Ross and Russ share. After they greet her, she becomes shocked that she didn't notice it and walks rapidly away, in disbelief.
Following a bad review of a play he was in, Joey contacts Estelle to try and get some better work. She gets him an audition for a part on Days Of Our Lives. However, he confesses to her that he's under the impression that he'll definitely getting the part if he sleeps with the network casting lady. She calls the network and confirms this to him. Joey mulls it over, fearing that his whole acting career could take the big step forward only because of this fling.
Fun Bobby tells Monica that she has a drinking problem, and that it's hard for him to stay with her. Chandler and Ross give money to Rachel and Phoebe as they have lost the "Monica-and-Fun-Bobby-won't-break-up" bet. Just a little later, Joey comes to tell everyone how he refused his part on Days Of Our Lives as he didn't want to sleep with the network casting lady. After walking out on the casting lady she catches him at the elevator and offers Joey an even bigger role on the show as recurring character Dr. Drake Ramoray, which he has accepted. He goes to shower, and Ross and Chandler win their money back from the girls.
At the coffeehouse, a devastated Russ tells the guys that Rachel dumped him, when Julie enters with a bunch of Ross' stuff. Russ notices Julie; she notices Russ, and a spark of passion flows between the two.
==Cast and Crew==
===Main Cast===
Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene
Courteney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt Le Blanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller/Russ
===Supporting Cast===
Vincent Ventresca - Fun Bobby
June Gable - Estelle Leonard
Scott Stewart - Waiter
Lauren Tom - Julie
===Crew===
Directed By:
Thomas Schlamme
Written By:
Ira Ungerleider
==Trivia==
===General===
*This is the final appearance of Lauren Tom as Julie in the series.
**Though she only appears in the tag scene.
*This is also the final appearance of Vincent Ventresca as Fun Bobby.
*This is the only appearance of Snaro as Russ.
*This is the first appearance of June Gable as Estelle Leonard, who was just mentioned in the official version of "The One With The Butt".
**The actress did appear before as a nurse in "The One With The Birth".
*Russ is a doctor like Ross but whether Rachel knows this is unknown. Also Russ works as a periodontist ("a doctor of gums" according to Ross) similar to her ex-fiancee Barry being an orthodontist whose wedding she attends at the end of the season.
*Russ's first word when he enters Central Perk is "hi", the first thing Ross said in The Pilot.
*When reading the reviews about his last play, Joey says he's "been doing this for ten years". However, in "The One With The Butt" he says he's been acting for six years.
*This is the first time Phoebe has said that Ross (or Russ in this case) reminds her of Bob Saget: in "The One In Vegas, Part 2", she thought Ross had dressed up as him. In this episode Rachel first suggests Russ looks like Bob Saget.
*Bob Saget was a stand-up comedian, actor and television host. Bob voiced older Ted in another New York set sitcom, How I Met Your Mother (2005 - 2016).
*Despite being played by David Schwimmer, the character of Russ was credited at the end of the episode as being portrayed by "Snaro". David Crane joked that Snaro was his Croatian friend. It later turned out that Snaro actually was a tribute to his friend, but is also David's alias.
*David Schwimmer is the second person from the main cast to play two characters, the first being Lisa Kudrow.
*The music that plays during Russ's first appearance is similar to the theme song of The Twilight Zone.
*Ross says "Ditto", which is word for "same". That was a running gag in the 1990 movie, "Ghost", which Monica mentioned in "The One With Ross' New Girlfriend".
*In the DVD version, Russ and Julie leave the coffeehouse with Julie saying she's had enough coffee but in the TV version, the credits roll immediately after the music plays as they exchange a look between each other.
*Chandler suggests to Rachel in jest that she could sleep with him and get a job. Although it later emerges they've kissed before (and do so again off-camera next season), Chandler is the only one of three male friends to not attempt to have sex with Rachel. Ross and Rachel have sex at least 300 times in the series while Joey and Rachel try during their brief but passionate relationship in Season 10.
*Joey gets the part as Dr. Drake Ramoray in this episode, however he's written out a few episodes later after claiming in an interview that he wrote his own lines in "The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies".
*In the first scene of the episode where the gang is looking for newspaper reviews on Joey's performance, the back page of the New York Post makes mention of then-New York Rangers center Mark Messier scoring his 500th goal the night before. This milestone was achieved on Monday, November 6, 1995, placing the events of that episode - if it followed chronologically - as beginning in the early hours of November 7th.
*The Spanish title is "Ross Y Russ," meaning "Ross and Russ".
*This episode was used as "F is for Fun Bobby" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).
=== Goofs ===
*When Estelle pulls out a cigarette, you can clearly see that there is no tobacco in the tubes. Actually, the cigarettes are upside down so what you are seeing is the white filters.
*When Fun Bobby leaves Monica's bedroom, the wine glass next to Rachel is red but when he drinks from it, it's blue.
* When Monica is reading one of Joey's reviews she says "See page 153", however she actually mouths 155.
* When Ross says (about Fun Bobby) "he's here", Rachel picks up the bowl and blue glass and turns towards the cooker but when Ross completes the line with "where is he" we get a different shot of Ross but in the foreground Rachel is making the same turn again.
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One with Russ" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
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