When originally aired, the episode ran longer than usual as a promotional stunt in order to compete with Survivor. The DVD version is shorter, but the uncut version is actually the one that was originally aired.
Phoebe gets a job selling toner to people over the phone when she eventually ends up talking Earl out of committing suicide. Earl is played by Jason Alexander
who played a character on Malcolm in the Middle (2000) who sold toner over the phone.
The E-cliner 3000 is a modified version of an actual recliner, the La-Z-Boy Oasis (or "Cool Chair"). The Oasis featured a telephone jack and a refrigerator unit under the right arm, but did not have speakers as stated on the show.
The running gag in this episode is that Ross was a "medical miracle" because his Mom Judy was told she was barren so her and Jack could never have kids. However this contradicts an earlier episode, where Jack said he had to marry Judy after knocking her up early into their relationship. It quite likely that's how she got pregnant though. If she thought she were barren she likely wasn't careful about birth control.