Remember That Time the Cast of Friends Invented the Mannequin Challenge 14 Years Ago?

They've always been ahead of their time.

By Seija Rankin Nov 30, 2016 6:52 PMTags

Let's call this The One With the Viral Video Before Viral Was Even a Thing.

Yes, Friends was good for a great many things. A good laugh. A security blanket-like comfort. Hair envy (thanks Rachel!). But it turns out that they also predicted the future of the Internet. 

It's called Mannequin Challenge, ladies and gentleman. You know it, you laugh at it, you're really over all the families who thought they were groundbreaking for doing it during Thanksgiving dinner. Most of us have been under the impression that this was a new-ish (if kind of tired by now) invention, but it turns out that Friends was all over that trend way back in the early aughts. 

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The year was 2003, and it was season eight of the much-beloved show—"The One With the Boob Job," specifically. Monica and Chandler are broke as a result of Chandler's unpaid advertising internship, and since Monica borrowed money from Joey and swore him to secrecy, he's forced to tell Chandler that it was for a boob job. Hilarity ensues. Rachel is attempting to baby-proof the apartment she shares with Joey, which subsequently prevents him from being able to open a cabinet, get into the freezer or even use the toilet. More hilarity ensues. 

But, in a deleted scene that was added to the DVD versions of the show, the gang is gathered in Rachel and Joey's living room while she tries to get Baby Emma to crawl for them. Since everyone knows that a baby needs complete silence to focus, everyone freezes in place while they wait for her to show off, and there you have the mannequin challenge. They even have kitchen utensils in hand, just like so many of those viral versions from today. 

So you heard it from Friends first: They really know how to do the Internet, even if the Internet was barely a thing back then.