Their faces may not have been given any airtime, but they remain some of the most beloved characters in television history – in shows like Friends, Frasier and This Country. Take a bow, Ugly Naked Guy …
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hen you think of television characters, chances are you remember the ones you can actually see. But this is a wildly unfair slight on a small but powerful minority: the characters who remain staunchly offscreen. For decades – mostly in comedies, with a handful of dramatic exceptions – these invisible workhorses have more than earned their keep, and they deserve their props. Here are the 10 best characters whose faces you have never actually clapped eyes on.
Ugly Naked Guy (formerly Cute Naked Guy) was a nudist who lived across the street from Monica and Rachel. He never closes his curtains, and sleeps in a hammock beside the window. At one point, the gang thought Ugly Naked Guy had died, and tried to poke him with a long-range device made of chopsticks. Ugly Naked Guy ranks so low here because he was actually seen on camera three times across the duration of Friends, but only from behind. Fans speculated for years about the identity of the man who played him; an internet sleuth eventually worked out it was an actor named Jon Haugen.
