In case you're wondering, The Ugly Naked Guy from "Friends" has been finally identified
Sure, you might have watched all 236 episodes of Friends 236 times by now, but there are still lots of lingering questions about the long-running cult status show — like the identity of The Ugly Naked Guy.
If you can think about over all 236 episodes, we never actually see his face, or much of him actually, other than just his Ugly Naked-ness. While this character never grew to Gunther or Janice Friends fame, he was certainly mentioned enough times, and Rachel, Ross, Monica, Phoebe, and Joey (not Chandler, he was busy breaking up with Janice) once poked him with a really long stick that one time. You don’t just poke anyone with a really long stick and then forget about it.
NBC
But according to Friend’s lore, the actor credited with playing The Ugly Naked Guy is not in fact The Ugly Naked Guy. So who is he? Where is he? Does he know we’re still talking about him all these years later?
If now you’re thinking really long and hard about The Ugly Naked guy, you’re not alone. Huffington Post writer Todd Van Luling spent a YEAR of his life trying to find Ugly Naked Guy, and guess what? He found him!
In what is the best long-read of the day, Van Luling writes that after contacting countless people connected to the Friends universe — from the creators, to casting directors, to even David Schwimmer — no one was able to produce a name for the identity of Ugly Naked Guy. But Van Luling, not wanting to give up, kept searching, and kept digging, and kept Googling “Ugly Naked Guy,” which is not a thing you should actually do.
The big reveal? Ugly Naked Guy was played by an extra named Jon Haugen, and he loved being The Ugly Naked Guy. “I’ve been on a lot of TV sitcoms and Friends was my favorite,” he explained to Van Luling. “Everybody was fantastic. They treated me like I was family.”
NBC
In what’s kinda shocking, he was never actually naked.
“I was in boxer shorts,” he continued. “At first I was feeling a little shy because I had about 500 people watching me in the audience besides the crew and everything. But after about two minutes went by, I was real comfortable and David Schwimmer was real comfortable. We were just in boxer shorts and they made it look like we were naked.”
Haugen would also be game to reprise his role of Ugly Naked Guy if the Friends ever wanted to get together again.
“I was hoping they would bring me back and we’d do some more. Maybe we can create a buzz and get everybody back together.” MORE Friends reunions? We’re never going to say no to that.
