Friends: 10 Best Characters Only In One Episode

9. Earl

Earl Friends Jason Alexander
Warner Bros. Television

Episode: The One Where Rosita Dies (S7E13)

When Phoebe starts working as an over-the-phone saleswoman - a recipe for disaster if there ever was one - she ends up chatting to Earl, a man who has decided he's going to kill himself because he hates his dead-end job and his coworkers don't pay him any attention.

It's a dark subplot, but actor Jason Alexander is both likeable and believable as the down-on-his-luck, schlubby office worker, managing to bring bursts of humour to the character like his to-do list (with only one item: "KILL SELF"), and his mini-rant to his negligent colleagues at the end of the episode. In the end, Phoebe convinces Earl not to commit suicide by simply caring about him, a nice message about how noticing people - even just asking how their day is going - can do a lot of good.

As a result, what could have been quite a miserable episode is instead a touching one that's tinged with optimism and hope, and, of course, that lively Friends spirit. Plus, Earl's laugh is arguably the greatest thing of all time.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!