During the reunion special, it was mentioned that Ross was written with actor and director David Schwimmer in mind. Executive producer, Kevin Bright, had worked with Schwimmer on some projects in the past and was determined to have him play a part in their new show.
The writers even wrote his lines in Schwimmer’s voice. With Ross being such an iconic character, we can’t imagine anyone else playing him!
Though the episodes are only 20 minutes long, they often took more than five hours to film, including 20-minute breaks between scenes for set and prop adjustments. Unlike most sitcoms, Friends was filmed in front of a live audience of 300 people every episode.
Working in front of an audience was a great way to test if the jokes were landing and if the story tracks. The only things that were filmed with cameras were the cliffhangers.
The famous Magna Doodle on the door of the boy's apartment became a permanent fixture on the show, with fans often pausing the episode to see what’s been written or drawn on it.
Electric crew member Paul Swain became primarily responsible for making sure there was always something on the board for the fans to see. “They were looking for hidden meanings being given through the Magna Doodle,” Swain commented.
Fans were quick to notice the fluctuation in Matthew Perry’s weight throughout the series, and there’s an explanation. Back in 1997, Perry entered a rehabilitation center of his own accord fo addiction. He then checked himself back in early 2021.
“I was never high at work. I was painfully hung over. Then eventually things got so bad I couldn’t hide it and everybody knew,” he later revealed to People. Sadly, the actor passed away in October 2023.
After getting married to David Arquette, who played Ursula’s stalked ex-boyfriend, Courtney Cox reminded the producers repeatedly to add her new married name to the opening credits.
They of course did, and put a funny spin on it, adding the Arquette name to every cast member for the intro to the episode “The One After Vegas”. The episode opened with a slide saying “For Courtney and David, who did get married,” as this Vegas episode was about Chandler and Monica looking for reasons to tie the knot, and not finding any.
After filming the entire series, Lisa Kudrow revealed she hated playing the guitar. She just wasn’t picking it up and suggested to the producers that maybe the bongos would be a better alternative. Even bringing in a guitar teacher didn’t remedy the situation as shortly after that Kudrow quit learning for good and stuck to the few chords she knew.
Maybe that’s why Phoebe didn’t know the names of the chords when she was teaching Joey in Season 5. Either way, “Smelly Cat” got written and for that we're grateful.
While filming The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis, the late Matthew Perry waged a bet with the fellow actor that the movie would be number one at the box office on its opening weekend.
Perry decided that if Willis lost the bet, he’d have to appear on Friends for free. As we know, the film was a raging success, and it's also how Bruce Willis played Ross’ girlfriend's dad. Willis donated his earnings for the guest appearance to charity.
In multiple interviews, both Matthew Perry and Jennifer Anniston recalled a pre-fame trip to Vegas with the rest of the cast members. Director James Burrows put the actors up in Caesar’s Palace, gave them $100 each for the casinos, and told them to enjoy themselves.
"I took them to Vegas. We ate at Caesar’s Palace in Spago. I had me and six of them and I said—I don’t know why I said this—I said, 'This is your last shot at anonymity,'" he told The Hollywood Reporter. He encouraged the cast to make the most of walking around in public without being bombarded by the press and fans.
After many years of the cast denying the possibility of a Friends reunion, it actually happened. “It’s difficult enough for the six of them to get together for a cast dinner, let alone a full-fledged reunion,” Courtney Cox told Letterman. Both David Crane and Marta Kauffman shared similar views about the subject. We’re so glad they were wrong!
The reunion was everything we were hoping for and more. Hosted by James Corden, the six main cast members and many guest actors appeared on stage, discussing fond memories and revealing juicy secrets.
The cast always has a good time on set. One day, Courtney Cox imitated Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club, which prompted Matthew Perry to quip, "Oh, Weird Science." Cox corrected him, sparking a lively debate. More and more crew members joined in and the stakes kept rising.
To settle the dispute, they sought out Judd Nelson, who happened to be close by and he confirmed Cox was correct. After sharing this story on Leno's late-night show, Cox told him that Perry had five more months serving as her “man slave”.
