Sometimes on TV there are scenes that aren't meant to be funny, but totally are. Or scenes that meant to be awkward but that just go above and beyond. If you want to tense up your entire body from second-hand embarrassment, here are the most uncomfortable tv scenes ever.
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00:00Sometimes, on TV, there are scenes that aren't meant to be funny, but totally are, or scenes
00:06that are meant to be awkward, but that just go above and beyond. If you want to tense
00:10up your entire body from secondhand embarrassment, here are the most uncomfortable TV scenes
00:16ever.
00:18Even though Friends ended its 10-season run in 2004, the sitcom had already cemented
00:23itself as one of the most iconic and hilarious shows in TV history. Jokes from the series
00:29are still repeated to this day, and the actors behind the characters are still friends in
00:33real life, which makes it all that much more real.
00:37So when longtime friends Phoebe and Chandler kiss in the Season 5 episode, The One Where
00:41Everybody Finds Out, things get seriously uncomfortable.
00:45I'm gonna kiss you now.
00:47Not if I kiss you first.
00:49In the episode, Rachel, Joey, and Phoebe have all discovered that Monica and Chandler are
00:54hooking up in secret. But because Monica and Chandler won't admit to it, the others
00:59try to force them into a confession by having Phoebe seduce Chandler.
01:04It all comes to a head when, in an attempt to get each other to crack, the pair end up
01:08sharing the most awkward kiss in television history. It was forced, shaky, and seriously
01:14hard to watch, compounded by the fact that the two had such a solid friendship and absolutely
01:20no sexual tension.
01:22The U.S. version of The Office cemented Steve Carell's position in the Comedy Hall of Fame
01:27with his hilarious and cringeworthy performance as Michael Scott, especially in Season 6's
01:33Scott's Tots. The episode centers on Scott's promise from a decade prior to provide free
01:38college tuition to a group of third graders. As he is soon reminded, ten years have gone
01:45by, but Scott is nowhere near as rich as he assumed he would be. He must then confess
01:50to the students, who are all about to graduate high school. Assuming they'll be heading to
01:54college for free, the class praises Scott and hails him as a hero. The teens even perform
02:00a song for him.
02:01All the while, Scott knows he cannot, in fact, make their dreams come true. He eventually
02:11breaks the news, and it's every bit as hard to watch as you would imagine. In fact, Scott's
02:16Tots has such a reputation for being awkward that psychologists have unpacked the episode,
02:21as Bustle reported, and acknowledged that its intense discomfort makes some people skip
02:26it entirely. Yikes.
02:30Sex in the city might be outdated in some ways, but it remains pretty relatable, especially
02:34when it comes to relationships. And though Carrie Bradshaw might have had plenty of memorable
02:39relationship hijinks and uncomfortable moments, nothing beats the scene where she hurts someone
02:45in more ways than one. The Season 3 episode, Running With Scissors, sees Carrie get herself
02:50into a real pickle when her affair with Big is revealed to the last person you would want
02:55such a thing revealed to — his wife. When Natasha catches Carrie trying to sneak out
03:00of their apartment, she chases after her, only to wind up tripping down the stairs and
03:05getting seriously injured.
03:07I had always assumed the one who would be hurt in all this would be me.
03:12Carrie's forced to bring her to the hospital and end things with Big. It was seriously
03:17uncomfortable, especially because it showed just how deeply flawed of a character Carrie
03:22was.
03:23It's no secret that Gossip Girl was known for being a pretty controversial series. From
03:28affairs to overdoses to royal scandals, the show had everything going for it. But when
03:34Dan and Blair, who were polar opposites, got together, it was seriously cringeworthy. Not
03:40only was the coupling completely awkward and poorly written, but one scene in particular
03:45made it clear that Blair and Dan had no chemistry.
03:48When Dan and Blair share their first kiss in Season 4, there is no spark. It feels like
03:53two friends who were dared to lock lips, and it's hard to watch. Really, the only thing
03:58Blair and Dan had in common was that they were both pretentious. In fact, they literally
04:03had their coming out as a couple with a fancy, unentertaining salon party, which just further
04:08proved that the two were so not meant to be.
04:11We are not done here.
04:13Yeah, we are.
04:15At the end of the day, the pair appeared as though they were only together to prove some
04:18kind of point, which they failed at, miserably.
04:23Part of the charm of the ABC Family series Greek was that the main character, Rusty Cartwright,
04:28was seriously dorky and awkward. In fact, the premise relies a lot on Rusty's nerd identity
04:34merging with his fraternity brothers and all the chaos that ensues.
04:38But still, nothing could quite prepare viewers for the full-body cringe-fest that occurred
04:42when Rusty tried to ask out a girl at Comic-Con. Rusty didn't even know the girl's last name,
04:48but almost immediately, he started talking about the future of their relationship, meeting
04:52friends and family, and the possibility of starting a life together.
04:56Oh, that was weird, wasn't it?
04:59Yeah, sort of.
05:01He mumbled through the conversation, and it wound up being one of the hardest-to-watch
05:05scenes in the show. For a series that included a literal underwear fun run, that's saying
05:10something.
05:11Oh, Riverdale. The CW series adapted from the iconic Archie comics has so much going
05:17for it. Stellar actors playing both teens and parents on the show, death, cults, mobs.
05:24There truly is never a dull moment on the series, and that's kind of what makes it so
05:28ridiculous.
05:29The plot points on the show rarely make sense, yet people continue to watch it. Case in point,
05:35when young Archie is put in jail for a crime he didn't commit, his girlfriend Veronica
05:40gathers the entire cheer squad to come perform a song for him and his fellow inmates. Really.
05:46But what makes the whole thing really uncomfortable? They sing and dance to Jailhouse Rock at a
05:51literal jail. It's seriously weird, was completely unnecessary, and just helped make the series
05:57even more laughable than it already was.
06:00Archie was spending most of his time in jail getting beat up, and Veronica thought singing
06:05him a song would make it better?
06:06I so wish I could be there, cheering you on to victory.
06:10Me too. And if ever there were a group of guys who needed a pep rally.
06:15This scene was truly the epitome of secondhand embarrassment in Riverdale, that's for sure.
06:22Amy Poehler truly made her mark starring as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation. Leslie
06:27was an overachiever and a government fanatic who never gave up. But in the Season 2 episode
06:32Sister City, viewers saw Leslie arrange a visit from the Parks Department officials
06:37in Pawnee's sister city, Boragua, Venezuela, and it was a total cringe fest.
06:43Like all Parks and Recreation episodes, there is plenty of laughter, but due to the Venezuelan
06:48officials' blatant disgust for Pawnee, it's also pretty awkward. Perhaps no scene was
06:53quite as uncomfortable as when Leslie is driving the three Venezuelan officials to
06:57their hotel. Jammed together in the backseat of Leslie's car, the officials make it clear
07:02that they aren't happy there in Pawnee. Raul even tells Leslie he has much more comfort
07:07in Venezuela, including 14,000 television channels.
07:11I already know who wins Project Runway.
07:13Wow, I'm coming over to your house then.
07:16I see what you're getting at, but no thank you, I'm still primarily interested in the
07:19large black woman.
07:21The large black woman, otherwise known as Donna. Yep, it's about as awkward as you can
07:26get.
07:28The early 2000s sitcom Reba was truly a hilarious series. The show didn't nearly get as much
07:34recognition as other sitcoms of the same time, but country music star Reba McEntire really
07:39shone on the series. The show focused on Reba, a single mom who, as the theme song states,
07:46works too hard, along with her three kids. Reba's oldest daughter Cheyenne gets pregnant
07:51and married all in the first episode. Cheyenne's husband, Van, quickly becomes a staple of
07:56the show, and one Season 4 episode captured just how awkward he was.
08:01At the beginning of the episode, Van comes home from a night out with his friends and
08:05is clearly intoxicated. He quickly strips down and jumps into bed, expecting to get
08:10a little lovin' from his wife.
08:12You can keep celebrating if you want to.
08:15I have a headache.
08:20Unfortunately, Van was so drunk that he went into the wrong bedroom and inadvertently jumped
08:26into bed with his mother-in-law, Reba. It may have been an uncomfortable moment for
08:30Reba and Van, who were practically mother and son, but Van's embarrassment definitely
08:35made the moment hilarious to watch.
08:38Even though How I Met Your Mother was full of practical jokes, long-winded stories, and
08:43plenty of misadventures, it wasn't until the series started winding down towards its second
08:48half that the stakes got really high, and the moments got really awkward.
08:53In the Season 7 episode, The Broth, Barney's friends, distrustful of his new girlfriend
08:58Quinn, stage an intervention that leads to the couple's breakup. In order to get back
09:02at them, Barney has the group take a bro-oath, or a broth, promising never to interfere in
09:08his personal life again.
09:10As part of their broth, Robin and Lily are forced to lock lips, and things get weird
09:14when Lily is way more into the smooch than Robin is. But then Barney turns to Ted and
09:19Marshall, presumably to ask them to do the same. Though they initially refuse, the pair
09:24soon give in, resulting in one of the most uncomfortable-to-watch moments on the series.
09:29I was going to say, and now the gentleman bumped fists. How long you been holding back
09:33that one?
09:34Turns out, the whole thing was part of an elaborate plan hatched by Barney and Quinn
09:38to mess with the gang in the most legend-wait-for-it-dairy way.
09:43The Canadian original series Workin' Moms knows how to get at the heart of big issues
09:48while also making you crack up all in the same scene. Because the show tackles big issues
09:53like breastfeeding, sexuality, and the hard choices mothers have to make every day, there
09:58are some scenes that are just plain awkward. And the scene in which Kate's life is changed
10:03is one of those moments.
10:05You good?
10:07Mm. Yeah.
10:09In the Season 2 finale Look Back, Kate is enjoying herself at Anne and Lionel's commitment
10:14ceremony. But soon, she stumbles upon Anne's nanny, referred to in the show as Mean Nanny,
10:20kissing her husband in a manner that made it clear it wasn't their first romantic encounter.
10:25It was a heartbreaking moment, and not only was it sad to watch, but it was uncomfortable
10:29to see Mean Nanny and Nathan so intimate. After all, their affair was unforeseen by
10:34just about everyone, so to see it in action was quite startling.
10:39As much of a musically-focused show as Glee was, there was also plenty of drama and comedic
10:44moments. However, one of those comedic moments was more awkward than it was silly, and it
10:50had viewers questioning whether or not the show had crossed some kind of line.
10:53Our hormones are driving us too crazy to abstain.
10:56Sure, the singing was great, but what set this scene apart was the message behind the
11:00song they chose, and the dance moves. In Season 1, members of the Glee Club performed
11:06their version of Push It, and, uh, they definitely pushed it. The song was more than just cringeworthy,
11:13as it gave anyone who was watching it the worst kind of goosebumps. The awkward teenagers
11:18trying to be sexy, the hideous outfits, and the strange facial expressions all served
11:23to make this scene one of Glee's worst and most uncomfortable scenes.
11:27The show may have done a lot of questionable music performances, but Push It will go down
11:32in history as its most embarrassing.