♪♪
-So I guess this is it.
-Yeah.
I guess so.
-Well, do you guys have to go to the new house right away
or do you have some time?
[ Sniffles ]
-We got some time.
-Okay, should we get some coffee?
-Sure.
Where?
♪♪
-[ Laughing ]
♪♪
Wow.
[ Laughs ]
Wow.
I mean, this is beautiful.
It's beautiful. Look at that.
♪♪
Oh, man.
So many -- So many different episodes are like
[Vocalizes] you know, Lisa playing guitar up there,
Jen and I, our first kiss,
like, the pilot, opening the umbrella.
I mean, come on.
Yeah.
Where is everyone?
Come on, I want to see everyone.
♪♪
-Oh, my God.
Oh!
-That "Oh!"
-This is all I care about.
-Hi. Hi. -Hi.
-Oh, my God.
Hello. Oh, you smell good, too.
-Yeah, so do you.
Look at that.
-Wasn't there a decision to lose this?
-Yes, I thought this was gone.
This was here in the beginning, and --
-It kept, like -- -Got in the way.
-It got in the way. Yeah.
-Sorry, you got lost behind the beam.
-As it's probably getting in the way now.
-Well, I don't know. -Oh.
-Sometimes it's a choice. -There we go.
-[ Laughs ]
Ee, ee, ee. -How crazy is this?
♪♪
-[ Laughs ]
-I hear someone.
-I just started crying.
-Floosh!
-Joo!
♪♪
-It's amazing.
Hi. -How are you?
-Ooh. Holy crap.
Oh, weird.
Alright, well, where's the tissue box?
[ Laughs ] -Uh-oh.
♪♪
-Oh! -[ Laughing ] Hey!
What are you guys doing here?
-Waiting for you.
-Oh, my God. How are you?
Oh, look at you.
Look at you. -Hello. Big blue.
-This is great.
-This is too weird.
-Look at this.
-Remember when we all used to fit through that door?
[ Laughter ]
Oh. -I got chills.
-It's so weird. Walk that way, buddy.
-Look at this.
Does Courteney still have her lines written on the table?
-Do you know what the difference is?
You know what's nuts? Oh, really?
-I never knew she did that. And I saw it.
I was like, "What is this?" She goes --
"Mind your business," she said.
[ Laughter ]
So before we shot that night, I erased it all.
-No. -And she got so mad at me.
Or had the script in the sink.
-That I do remember. -That I remember.
-There was always a script in the sink.
I didn't know why. -That was Courteney's script.
-Good for her.
Oh, my God.
-Really? -C.C.!
[ Laughter ]
-Did you cry too? -Yes.
-Okay, good.
-Of course I did.
-How are you? Ohh.
-Wow.
-I know. It's worse than you imagine.
-Look at you. -Oh, you do smell good, Court.
-Hi. -Oh, my gosh. That's crazy.
-Do you remember that night? -What?
-You had -- I don't remember what episode it was.
But you had this, like, big speech,
and you were struggling with it all week long,
and you wrote it on the table,
and then just -- and I didn't know that that's what you did.
And I saw it and I asked you,
and you told me to mind my business.
So when you weren't looking, I erased it before we shot.
-That's so mean. -And you got so mad at me.
[ Laughter ] -I didn't know you did that.
-Why would you erase it?
-Just to get you.
-God, I had so many --
so much of my dialogue within these apples.
-I didn't know. -Oh, sometimes, yeah.
I have memory issues.
-Matthew Perry's here.
-Hello.
-Hey, Matt. -Matty!
-Looshy. Hi.
-Could you be any later?
-Hey. -How are you, brother?
-Hey.
-[ Laughs ]
-How are you, bud? -Good.
-Look at all of us.
Oh, my God. -This is crazy.
-Does it seem smaller to anyone else?
From here to over there.
-Does not feel smaller. -No.
-It feels the same to me.
-And was it always purple, that wall?
-Yes. -Oh, my God.
-Yeah, you've gone crazy.
[ Laughter ]
-I mean, this is incredible.
-Yeah, it really is. The whole thing.
-Just really...
-Oh, the one thing missing --
the original cookie jar is at Lisa Kudrow's house.
-Did you take anything from the set besides --
I took a neon coffee mug.
-I have the original ball from the foosball table.
You look at it and go, "What is that old, crappy --"
-Should have taken the whole table.
-We smashed it, remember?
By the end, it got smashed.
-Oh, it did? -Then what's that?
-Well, that was before it got destroyed.
We're going back a little further.
-I need to watch this series.
-It was good. -I have the original ball.
-Yeah, yeah. -It had its moments.
-That's what I hear.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
-♪ So no one told you life was gonna be this way ♪
♪ Your job's a joke, you're broke ♪
♪ Your love life's DOA ♪
♪ It's like you're always stuck in second gear ♪
♪ When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month ♪
♪ Or even your year, but ♪
♪ I'll be there for you ♪
-♪ When the rain starts to pour ♪
-♪ I'll be there for you ♪
-♪ Like I've been there before ♪
-♪ I'll be there for you ♪
-♪ 'Cause you're there for me too ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Save it. Thank you.
You're very, very kind.
Okay, thank you so much for coming out to be here tonight.
Let's be honest, none of you had other plans.
[ Laughter ]
-Have fun, pal.
-Okay, here we go.
We excited? -We got this in the bag.
-This is gonna be fun.
-...together on a stage for the first time in years.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Jennifer Aniston,
Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer,
Matthew Perry, and Matt LeBlanc, the cast of "Friends"!
-♪ So no one told you life was gonna be this way ♪
♪ Your job's a joke, you're broke ♪
♪ Your love life's DOA ♪
♪ It's like you're always stuck in second gear ♪
♪ When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month ♪
♪ Or even your year, but ♪
♪ I'll be there for you ♪
-♪ 'Cause you're there for me too ♪
-The cast of "Friends," everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Might need to squeeze up there.
Take a seat.
Look at this. Look at all of you.
-Hello. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Hello, James Corden.
-I cannot tell you how incredible it is
to be here with all of you now.
And we are -- I should say we are shooting now
in front of the iconic fountain
where you shot the opening credits.
It's beautiful and it's lovely.
It is, however, noisy...
-Yes. -...and difficult --
difficult to conduct an interview.
So if you'll just wait, watch this.
Watch this for power. Wait there.
Done. Okay. [ Cheers and applause ]
-That's superpowers.
-Alright. I know. I know. -Those are superpowers.
-You still got it.
-I know. -Had we known
all those years ago. [ Laughter ]
-Now, how are we doing?
This has been an emotional day for all of you.
How are you feeling to be together,
the six of you right now?
-It's been so fantastic and exciting.
And we've literally just sort of slipped right back
right -- as we usually do.
-David, how have you found this time?
-Really emotional. Really, really fun, actually.
I felt, after the initial shock
of just being in the same room together,
just I think we all just fell right into our same old --
our same old kind of joking around like we're a family.
And so it really was -- -Regressed. We regressed.
-We regressed, yeah. -Back to 20s.
-How much do you stay in touch?
-Yeah, no, we stay in touch for sure.
Maybe not every day. -Sure.
-But, you know, we have such a bond
from having done this show
and forged this very tight relationship
that, you know, any time you text
or call someone, they're going to pick up.
They'll be there. -Matthew, who doesn't pick up?
[ Laughter ]
-I don't hear from anyone.
[ Laughter ]
-Now, I'm going to give you some stats, okay?
So "Friends," you made 236 episodes of the show.
It aired in over 220 territories.
"Friends" was TV's number-one comedy for six straight seasons,
averaging 25 million viewers a week.
52 million people watched the finale.
The show has been watched over 100 billion times
across all platforms.
And tonight... -That's a lot.
-...is a real
celebration of that.
And the creators of the show are here tonight
sat in the audience.
Marta Kauffman, David Crane, Kevin Bright are just sat there.
They created the show.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I'm the executive producer
and sometimes director of "Friends."
My name is Kevin Bright.
-I'm co-creator, executive producer,
and writer Marta Kauffman.
-I'm the co-creator and executive producer of "Friends."
I'm David Crane.
Marta and I spent our 20s living in New York.
We had a tight circle of friends.
-There we were in our 20s in New York
trying to make a living and find love.
-And we thought that could be a show.
-We drew on relatives of ours and friends of ours
and names were --
We named Chandler after a friend of mine.
I mean, we definitely pulled from our lives.
-We really were intrigued with the idea
of doing a true ensemble.
It's not like there's a lead and they have friends.
No, it's just about the friends.
We're following all of their stories equally,
which we felt like we hadn't seen before.
The one-sentence pitch is it's about that time in your life
when your friends are your family.
♪♪
-Want to see this area? -Yeah.
-[ Laughs ] I knew you were gonna do it.
-When did you knock?
-Only in the reunion.
Wow-ee.
Oh, the beam is back.
-Memories just flashed back
of, like, jokes coming out of the bathroom.
-I know, the bathroom. -"Oh, do not --"
Just, like, stupid things that you would do.
-Oh.
-Did you go next door?
-I have not. -Come on.
-What's back here?
-Look at the chairs. The chairs are here.
Ohh, yeah, oh, yeah.
-These I think can be operated by just one person.
But back then, we had three per camera.
It was a huge crew.
Four cameras, like, the choreography was incredible.
-Ohhh. -Ohhh.
-Ohh. Ohh.
[ Laughs ]
Do you remember the episode where
we never got out of the chairs?
-Yeah.
-Pizza's on the way.
I told you we wouldn't have to get up.
-But you remember the beginning of the week
after the table draft, you came to me and you go,
"It's so stupid."
I was like, "Yeah, but that's the brilliance."
And you were like, "Maybe we can have fun with this."
And then we had a blast.
-What if we have to pee?
-I'll cancel the sodas.
-Oh, they're sitting in their chairs.
-No, they aren't. Are they really?
-Oh, Matty, it's good to see you, man.
-This is great.
-Schwimmer, the episode where you guys were throwing a ball
and the whole time, you couldn't drop the ball.
-I don't remember that.
-Let me ask the boys. -What kind of ball?
-It was like a Nerf ball.
Hey, guys. Hey, do you remember the one
where you guys were throwing a ball back and forth
and you couldn't drop the ball? -Couldn't drop the ball, yeah.
-Yes. -So it was you two.
-Everybody ended up getting in on it.
Schwimmer was in on it. -No memory.
-You want to get something to eat?
Or you want to see how long
we can throw this ball back and forth?
-The ball thing. -Yeah?
-This is how old we are. This is what laptops were.
-No, I remember that.
-It's so heavy.
-Let's go look at the dressing rooms.
-This is Jennifer's forever. -My room.
Those are my hardwood floors.
-You guys ate lunch together every day.
-Yeah, we did. -First couple of years,
like, we ate every meal together.
-That's right.
-Even on the weekend. -We watched every show together.
-We were inseparable, all of us.
-Big center table here, and Enger would cook --
-It all seems small to me, the whole stage.
-No, that's impossible, though,
because we haven't grown.
-Well, speak for yourself. -Shut up. [ Laughs ]
-Let's talk about favorite episodes.
Everybody's got their favorite episodes.
I'm keen to know what are yours.
-I love the Thanksgiving ones, but I also -- I loved
when we traded -- when we lost the apartment.
The quiz, the embryos.
-Yeah, the one with the embryos.
-Yeah, but that quiz was really fun and really devastating.
-Yeah.
-I just can't believe that you think
that you and Chandler know me and Rachel better
than we know you.
-Well, we do.
-What is Monica's biggest pet peeve?
-Animals dressed as humans. -That's correct.
-What name appears on the address label?
-It's Chandler Bing! -No!
-Actually, it's "Miss Chanandler Bond."
-If we win, they have to get rid of the rooster.
-Ooh, that's interesting. -But if we win...
we get your apartment.
-What is Chandler Bing's job?
-Oh, oh, he's a transponds-- transponster!
-That's not even a word!
No! -Oh, my God.
-Yes! -Whoo!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Okay, the test is ready.
Each team will answer a set of trivia questions, okay?
The categories are "Fears and Pet Peeves,"
"Ancient History"... -Oh, no!
-..."Literature"... -Uh-oh.
-...and "It's All Relative." -Okay.
-Now the coin toss to see who goes first.
-Okay.
-Okay, somebody call it this time.
-Oh, sorry. -Okay, here we go.
-Okay.
Heads.
-Oh, it's tails, and the boys go first.
-Alright. Okay.
-Okay, here we go. Pick your category.
-Ancient History. -Alright.
"Rachel wrote Ross a letter and demanded he read it
before they got back together.
How many pages was that letter?"
-18 pages.
-Damn.
-18 pages... -Front and back!
-Front and back is correct.
-Oh, my God, that's good.
-This is the letter. -Is that the letter?
-This is the letter.
-Who gets the points for that?
-What? -Me.
-Okay, ladies, pick a category.
-It's All Relative. -It's All Relative.
-Alright. -Yes.
-"Ladies, can you name this voice?"
-That's my monkey.
-Oh! Mr. -- Mr. Henkel.
-Mr. Winkel -- Hinkel? -Hinkel.
-Wait. No, no, no. Really? -No? What's his name?
-Wait, wait. Do it one more time.
-Can we hear it again?
-We know it. We know it.
-No, wait, "That's my monkey."
It's the guy who lives downstairs.
-And his name would be...? -Mr. Rickles.
-No. -I know it. I know it.
-[Bleep] -I know it!
-It's not your turn!
-No, will, the mystery voice please reveal himself?
[ Cheers and applause ]
It's Larry Hankin back as Mr. Heckles.
-Heckles!
-I said Larry Hankin.
-You all owe me a cat and a waffle.
[ Laughter ]
-Larry Hankin, everyone.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-But why didn't I get points for getting the name right?!
-Alright, okay, guys, you're up.
-Literature. -Literature.
-Oh, that's a good choice, gentlemen.
-Thank you. -Literature.
"According to Monica, how many erogenous zones
are there on the female body?" -Seven.
-Courteney, Courteney, is that correct?
-That's correct. Seven.
[ Applause ]
-Alright, ladies.
-Ancient History. -Ancient History.
-Oh, you know what?
I'm -- I'm gonna need a little help
with this question. -Oh, dear.
-Gentlemen.
-Oh. -Oh!
-"This very barbershop quartet famously delivered
a message to Rachel from Ross,
but can you complete the lyrics?"
-One, two, three.
-♪ Congratulations on your first week ♪
♪ At your brand-new job ♪
♪ It won't be long before you're the boss ♪
-♪ Oompah, oompah, oompah ♪
-♪ And you know who will be there to support you ♪
♪ Your one and only boyfriend ♪
-Your something. -Ross.
-It's not Ross? -Wait.
-Is that -- Does that feel right?
-Wait, wait. ♪ Your one and only boyfriend ♪
-Gentlemen?
-♪ Dah-dah, dah-dah, boyfriend Ross ♪
-♪ Dah-dah, dah-dah, boyfriend Ro-- ♪
Is that correct, gentlemen?
-It's nice to have a boyfriend.
-♪ Your loyal, loving boyfriend, Ross ♪
Ross.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thanks, guys.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
-I think "Friends" has this magic
because each character is so distinct
that they could hold a television show by themselves.
[ Knock on door ]
-Yes?
-Hi. Is Rachel here? I'm her sister.
-When my agent called me and said,
"Do you want to play
Rachel Green's sister on 'Friends,'"
I was like, "Have I won the lottery?"
-Which sister is this?
Is this the spoiled one or the one that bit her?
-Daddy cut me off. -Never mind. I got it.
-Okay, so one of the most exciting things was I got
to be in this scene where I'm in the apartment
and Joey walks in and he goes...
-Hey, how you doin'?
-Don't.
-And it was his iconic line and I was so excited.
And to watch a famous character say his famous line, come on.
-Hey, it's Phoebe.
We can talk to Phoebe.
-If you think about Monica or Phoebe or Rachel,
each one of them is a leading character.
But together, you get this great repartee, all the actors
at the top of their game, and great chemistry.
-Alright.
-No! Joey, we swore we'd never tell.
-They'll never understand.
-We have to say something.
We have to get it out. It's eating me alive.
-They were funny, they were engaging,
they knew their characters so well,
but they also worked so well together.
There was a real sense of love for each other.
-Monica... -Bigger, louder.
-...got stung by a jellyfish.
-Alright.
I got stung.
Stung bad.
I couldn't stand. I couldn't -- I couldn't walk.
-We were two miles from the house.
We were scared and alone.
We didn't think we could make it.
-I was in too much pain.
-And I was tired from digging the huge hole.
-And then Joey remembered something.
-I'd seen this thing on the Discovery Channel.
-Wait a minute. I saw that on the Discovery Channel.
Yeah. About jellyfish and how if y--
Eww. -Eww!
-You -- You peed on yourself?
-Eww!
-You can't say that. You don't know.
I thought I was gonna pass out from the pain.
Anyway, I-I tried,
but I couldn't.
I just couldn't bend that way, so...
-Oh, Monica looks at Joey. -Eww!
-That's right, I stepped up.
-[ Laughs ]
-She's my friend and she needed help.
If I had to, I'd pee on any one of you.
Only, uh, I couldn't.
I got the stage fright.
I wanted to help,
but there was just too much pressure, so -- so I, uh --
I turned to Chandler. -[ Muffled scream ]
Joey kept screaming at me, "Do it, do it, do it now."
Sometimes late at night, I can still hear the screaming.
-That -- That's 'cause sometimes I just do it through the wall
to freak you out.
-And scene.
-You know, I was laughing in that scene.
Do you remember the first table read ever?
That's the first time I laid eyes on any of you.
-I don't remember how -- I remember what you wore.
That's it. -That's unbelievable.
-I don't remember what the boys wore.
I do remember what Courteney and you wore.
That's it. -What did I wear?
-A white lacy hippie-ish blouse. -Oh, I was trying to be Phoebe.
-You were being Phoebe. And jeans.
And Courteney had a pink babydoll tee
from Fred Segal with a white trim.
-Yeah, I just remember that's when we all met
or I remember meeting everyone the first time.
-You don't remember what I was wearing?
-I don't remember what,
but I do remember you're the first person I saw.
And I was like, "Oh, okay. That's why I've been losing out
on all of these roles over these years.
I mean, this is the good-- this is the hunk.
You know, right here. Of course he's Joey."
And then hearing all of you for the first time,
I -- that blew me away. -That's what I remember.
-I just thought everyone was so perfectly cast.
-Yeah. Yeah. -That's what I remember.
-Casting the show was really hard,
much more so than I think we expected it to be.
-We saw approximately a gazillion people.
-There are so many different scenarios
where it wasn't going to be these six people.
It would have been such a different show.
We had seen David for another role
for a pilot we'd done the year before.
-His hangdog expression stuck with us.
So when we started doing Ross, that was in our minds.
-Try to get David. David has quit television.
He's had a miserable experience doing another show.
He's moved back to Chicago to just do theater.
And we had to beg him and beseech him.
And "We wrote this for you."
-I believe we sent him gift baskets.
-I have no recollection of the gift basket.
I thought we just sent him the script.
We assured him that whatever his past experience was,
this was going to be different, we promise.
And he -- he came on board.
Alright, we got one.
We saw a bunch of women who read Phoebe,
and it was nothing.
And meanwhile, my husband, Jeffrey, was writing
and producing on "Mad About You," and he said,
"Phoebe is right here playing Ursula the waitress."
-Here you go.
Can I get you anything else? -No, thanks. We're fine.
-Okay, I'm just gonna go get your check, then.
-Got it right here. -Great. Okay. Right.
-You could see a lot of the beginnings of Phoebe there,
but on "Mad About You," she had more of an edge.
Phoebe was a much more positive image.
-Lisa was someone who came in and nailed the audition.
She not only did everything we'd hoped,
she elevated the material.
-Lisa Kudrow was the second one
to get cast in "Friends" right after David.
And that was at the beginning, so we thought we were on a roll.
And then came about two and a half months
where we cast no one.
-Matt LeBlanc, if I remember correctly,
had like $11 in his pocket when he auditioned.
Maybe it was $9, but it wasn't a lot.
-We saw a lot of guys who you believed were actors,
guys who liked women, but they weren't funny.
Then Matt came in and suddenly on him, the lines felt funny.
-He hadn't done an awful lot.
He'd done another show, but he hadn't done an awful lot.
-So Matt went right down to the wire,
auditioned at the network, at NBC with another actor,
and he killed it, and he got the part as Joey.
But the funny thing about it is
the other actor ended up in the show
in "The One With the Unagi,"
playing Fake Joey, ironically.
-How are you doing?
-No, no, no, no, no.
How you doin'?
How you doin'? Damn it, Carl.
Go wait in the hall.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-What do you remember about the audition process?
-I remember I had gone in a bunch of times,
and I think it was on the final callback.
I had gone -- I had gone with a friend of mine to run lines
and he said, you know,
"So the show's about friends and being friends
with, you know, just a group of friends?"
I was like, "Yeah, kind of."
He goes, "Then we should go out drinking."
And I was like, "Yeah, that's a good idea."
So to make a long story short,
I woke up in the middle of the night at his apartment
and had to go to the bathroom, and I got up too fast.
And I can't believe I'm telling this,
but I kind of blacked out, as you do,
and fell face first into the toilet.
And I hit my nose on the bottom of the toilet seat
and a huge, like, chunk of meat came off my nose.
And I'm looking in the mirror and it's bleeding.
I was like, "Oh, my God."
So I have to go in for the big callback.
And it's like a big, ugly scab on my nose.
And Marta Kauffman said, "What happened to your face?"
[ Laughter ]
And I told the truth and got the job so...
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Look at that. -Right? That's what happened.
-And, David, I know that at the time,
I think you were -- you were doing a lot of theater.
What was it about "Friends" that attracted you to it?
-Marta and David made it clear to me, made it known to me
that they had written the role of Ross with my voice in mind.
And I was like, "Well, I don't understand."
Ah, it's a bug. It's a bug. -Oh, no!
Is it gone? -No, it's right there.
-[Bleep]
[ Laughter ]
Aah! Oh, that's fuzz. That's fuzz.
That's alright.
[ Laughter ]
-Was it real?
-Is it gone? -It's gone, it's gone.
-Can I just say --
-The important thing is that we dealt with it well.
-Yeah.
You even reacted to that like Phoebe.
-That was great.
That was much more entertaining than my story.
It really was.
-We were having a tough time finding Monica,
and we really saw Courteney as kind of a Rachel at the time.
-We met with Courteney Cox, and she explained to us
why she didn't think she was a Rachel
and that she herself was more of a Monica.
And she was right.
Courteney brought this incredible joy to the character.
-She'd been in the Bruce Springsteen video
and with Michael J. Fox on "Family Ties."
So people knew Courteney.
-Not enough so that it made it the Courteney Cox show,
which was always the fear.
We didn't want stars.
But everything Courteney brought to it
made Monica so much richer
than what we had originally intended.
I thought Chandler was gonna be the easiest part to cast,
because he's not just a character.
He's got jokes. He's got, like, actual real jokes.
So I thought, "Here we go. This is gonna be great."
And we saw actor after actor, and it wasn't funny.
-We had worked with Matthew Perry on "Dream On."
And when Matthew reads that dialogue, it sparkles
and it comes alive.
And for the first time through the casting process,
we knew there was a character there
and that this was the only guy to play it.
-There was just a little problem.
He had already signed on for another sitcom.
-It was about luggage handlers in the future at LAX.
It just sounded insane.
-Enjoy Los Angeles.
By the way, Griffith Park has the best picnic areas.
-Thank you. You are most insignificant.
-And then someone from Warner Bros. actually was
at the taping of "2194"
and thought "This show is never going.
Put him in 'Friends.' We'll be okay."
Suddenly it was like "There's our Chandler."
-And I just won $1 million.
-He spins the lines in a way that they're his.
And there's so many comedy skills there.
♪♪
-Rachel was the hardest part to cast,
and it was the last part we cast.
-She could be a really unlikable character.
I mean, this is an incredibly selfish, self-involved,
spoiled -- in the wrong hands, you don't like Rachel.
-We saw lots and lots and lots of other women.
-Women who come in wearing actual wedding dresses
and none of it --
You didn't really fall in love, and you needed to,
'cause you needed to feel what Ross was feeling.
And then Jennifer came in.
-Jennifer had a similar problem to Matthew in that
she'd already signed on
to a show called "Muddling Through."
-You gonna eat that steak or argue with it?
-Madeline, this here steak was supposed to be rare.
-Gidney, tell me something.
How often do we have steak on the menu?
-Shoot, hardly ever.
-That's right.
So what you have there is a rare steak.
-And they had already shot six episodes of this show,
so it was a little bit more than just the pilot.
-And we took this big risk to cast her,
share her with this other show
and we'll see who wins.
-And we even shot not only the pilot,
but probably three episodes of "Friends"
while that show was still on television.
And if it had -- if CBS had picked it up,
we would have had to reshoot
the first three episodes of "Friends."
-Jennifer had this warmth and sincerity
and genuineness about her, where she just made you feel
okay about everything else that Rachel was
that you might have passed judgment on.
-I was kind of hoping that wouldn't be an issue.
Thank you.
-Cut. Alright.
-So, that's right.
So, Matthew and Jen, you were in another show.
I mean, Jen, what were your first impressions
of the rest of the cast
when you finally got to meet them,
when it was made clear that you could do the show?
-Well, first of all, I had a graveyard of failed pilots.
I did a pilot a year and I thought,
"That's what you do.
You do a pilot a year and you have some cash.
And then you go on to another pilot."
And I just remember sitting with these five other people
and thinking,
"This is the greatest group of people,
the greatest script.
I have to do this."
And I actually, tail between my legs,
hat in hand, went to the producer of the show I was on
because they hired me in second position,
and I said, "Please release me from this show.
I love this show that I'm doing right now.
Nothing against your show.
I just love these people and I am having so much fun."
And he said -- he goes, "I-I saw that show.
I'm gonna tell you something.
That show's not gonna make you a star."
[ Laughter ]
"This show is gonna make you a star."
Enough said. -Well, he's here tonight.
That producer's here tonight. -No!
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
-Okay, guys, you're up.
-Okay, It's All Relative.
-"While in Las Vegas,
Joey finds his identical hand twin."
-Wouldn't you pay good money to see these identical hands
showcased in some type of a, uh, entertainment venue?
-If you leave now, I will chop off my hand
and give it to you.
-From this lineup...
please identify Joey's hand twin.
[ Laughter ]
-2 or 3.
-I think it's 2. -You think it's 2?
-I think it's 2.
-Right there, number 2.
-Yes, that is correct.
[ Cheers and applause ]
It's Thomas Lennon, everybody.
-Great seeing you guys. Great seeing you.
-Great to see you.
-Alright.
Alright, ladies, ladies, you're up.
-Fears. Fears and Pet Peeves. -Fears and Pet Peeves.
-Louder, Court.
-"Ladies, there's a message on the answering machine.
Can you identify the voice?"
Matt, can you hit that button?
-"Hey, guys, I'm finally retiring from ophthalmology
and would love for all of you
to come to my retirement party next week."
-Tom -- Oh, sorry. -Let me know if you can make it.
-Tom Selleck. -Tom Selleck.
-Oh, my God. I didn't say that. Wait.
You looked so disappointed. -Well, it's okay.
Will the mystery voice please make himself known?
-How could it not be?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Look who it is.
-Tom Selleck, everybody.
-Hello.
-Do you want to sit for a sec?
-How you doing? -Good to see you, buddy.
-Wow. -Wow.
-Alright, Tom, you have a bonus question.
-Alright. -Oh, God. Okay.
-Monica famously chose Chandler over Richard.
What did Chandler do for a living?
-Oh, my God.
[ Laughter ]
-Just think this through. Think it through.
-I say transponster.
-No, that's what we lost the apartment over.
-Oh, I thought we never found out, though.
-Transponster sounds good to me. -Yes.
-Transponster's not right.
-That's what I said. That's not even a word.
And then we lost.
-Right. Here's the answer. And it's...
-Oh, Tom has it. -Yeah.
Nobody knows, really.
-That's the answer. -That's what I just said.
-Hey, that's the answer.
-Yeah, that is the answer.
-I think that should go to the girls, then.
-I do too. -Whoa, whoa, whoa.
-They didn't have -- No, no, no.
-Yeah, yeah, we said nobody knows.
-And the girls are the winners.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Obviously, the show came out
and immediately resonated with people.
When did you start to feel like those changes
that you'd been told about were starting --
the world was starting to change?
-The summer. -It was -- Yeah.
When we came back for a second season,
it was a completely different ballgame.
-I think people were starting to say, "Hey,"
and you were not -- you were scared.
And "What do you want?" And at first, it's very jarring.
No one really prepares you for what that's going to be like.
-I remember one time I was -- It was middle of the week,
I guess it was, I don't remember what day of the week.
Doesn't matter.
-It goes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
-Yeah, that part I know. But it was -- I was --
I happened to have the news on, and on the TV,
they had the screen split into six boxes.
And it was an aerial shot, live, of each of our houses.
-Oh, geez.
-And I remember looking at it going "What the --"
and I could hear the helicopter over my house.
I was like, "What the hell?"
And I'm looking close at the screen, and my roof is a mess.
So when the helicopter flew away,
I got the ladder out and went up on the roof
and sure as shit, I've got some leaks up there.
I had to call the roofer and have them come over and fix it.
-The fact is, like, no one was going through
what we were going through except the other five.
So I think that was really --
-So there's no shoulders outside of this group
to sort of go, "Oh, this is so --"
And I think it kind of created --
imprinted in our neural pathways
this sort of, like, we are actually family.
-Yeah. Because our family couldn't relate.
Our friends, our closest friends couldn't relate.
They were there for us, I think. -Your family could--
My family was more starstruck about it than we were.
-But the only other people who really knew what it was like
were the other five.
-It seemed like you weren't getting...
-We were doing a show, and we were working really hard.
But it wasn't until I was walking through the airport --
I don't remember where I was going --
but they were on every magazine.
And I was like, "Whoa. Holy shit. This is crazy."
♪♪
-The theme song became a hit on a radio station.
And when I heard that on my car one day,
that was like, "Wow, this is not your average television show."
-They're on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone. I mean, we're a TV show.
-They've somehow entered the zeitgeist.
I don't know when that happened.
-♪ I'll be there for you ♪
-Jennifer is gorgeous. Why is it such a phenomenon?
It just suits her very well. It's spectacular.
-I think my favorite was I was dropping my kids off,
and my rabbi stopped me and asked me about Ross and Rachel
and when they were gonna get together
and how that's gonna happen.
-Wherever we were,
suddenly there are thousands of people gathered.
-It's like the Beatles were there.
Everybody was screaming
and yelling and behind barricades.
It was crazy. -Bye!
-Once "Friends" had gone global,
I think we were in 18 different languages.
-[ Speaking Japanese ]
-[ Speaking Spanish ]
-[ Speaking French ]
-Basically any place I went,
you know, from Jordan to India, they knew what "Friends" was.
-My mom bought me the DVDs of the whole series
when I was in elementary school.
"Friends" really had a big hand in teaching me English,
and the show really taught me the things
about life and true friendship.
-We love "Friends."
-Ohh.
-Could I be wearing any more clothes?
-My eyes! My eyes!
-Pervert! Pervert!
-Shut up! Shut up!
-♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ What are they feeding you? ♪
-Excuse me. Excuse me.
Yeah, noisy boys.
-We became fans of "Friends"
when we were in first year in college.
We were too shy to talk to girls,
so "Friends" was a way to boost our morale
and boost our confidence
and be able to make new friends, especially ladies.
-Yeah, baby.
-My most favorite episode on "Friends" is the episode
in which Monica asks Chandler to marry her.
After seeing that,
I knew that is the way I wanted to ask my soul mate
and my husband to marry me, and that's exactly what I did.
-I'm a single mom, and, you know, society pushes us
to marry the first guy who does say, "Will you marry me?"
But I mean, as a woman, you have to take control of your life.
So watching that episode got me thinking
that I can also take charge of my own relationship.
-We're engaged!
[ Cheering ]
-I was battling depression.
I was at a very dark place.
One week, I wouldn't go out.
The need to even eat was a problem.
I wouldn't eat.
-I was a gay man who wanted to have hair like Jennifer Aniston.
So you can imagine how lonely I sometimes felt.
-And "Friends" was what I came home to.
"Friends" was...
They were my friends since I didn't really have any.
And, um...I can't.
-It became a reason for me to wake up every day
because I felt I had friends around me.
-Like every Chandler,
I found my Monica.
I'm gonna cry.
-That's so nice.
-They have no idea
the kind of impact they partially made in this world,
so when they sleep, they should relax
knowing that they have saved more lives,
even if they don't know them. I am one.
-And for those who don't like the show, just, uh...
-I think you're like Joey 100%,
because you just walk into my room
with these jokes that don't make sense.
-They are funny. -But you are howling.
Like, you have tears coming out of your eyes.
-They're always funny.
-So, yeah, I think you're Joey
with a hint of Phoebe.
♪♪
-Vee loves "Friends."
And I realize what, like, this true addiction
to a TV show means.
We watched it together as well. -And then I got you hooked.
Yes, and that was my proudest moment.
When I got her hooked on it, I was like,
"Mission accomplished."
And then we'd stay up all night watching it together.
-You know, "Friends" brought friends together.
-Okay, everyone, gather up.
-One of my favorite moments from "Friends" is the routine,
and that's the show where Ross and Monica
want to perform their favorite dance.
-I know what'll get us up on a platform.
-What? -The routine.
-Five, six, seven, eight.
-♪ Boys, the trouble with ♪
♪ Boys, the troubles with, boys ♪
♪ They're nothing but trouble ♪
♪ Boys, the trouble with ♪
♪ Boys, the troubles with, boys ♪
♪ They're nothing but trouble ♪
♪ They'll make you think they've got a halo above them ♪
♪ But boys are trouble ♪
♪ Trouble is all of them ♪
♪ Boys, the trouble with ♪
♪ Boys, the troubles with, boys ♪
♪ They're nothing but trouble ♪
♪ Boys, the trouble with ♪
♪ Boys, the troubles with, boys ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It's on the end.
Now, throughout tonight,
we're gonna take questions from the audience.
There's a lot of fans here.
Has anybody got a question tonight
for the cast of "Friends"?
Yes, there's a lady right here.
Yes. What's your question?
-So, "Friends" was obviously amazing for all of you,
but was there anything that you didn't like?
-Way to keep it positive. [ Laughter ]
Was there anything that you didn't like
while you were shooting the show?
-The monkey. -And the monkey.
-Oh, the monkey. -Not Marcel. Really?
-The monkey scared me. -I loved the monkey.
-David was not a fan.
-Yeah, 'cause you didn't have to touch it.
-What? I did too. -Yeah, she did. She did.
-Eh. See -- [ Laughter ]
First of all, I want to say I love animals.
I love primates.
I have nothing against animals.
I'm an animal lover.
However, I'm --
Here was my problem.
Like, the monkey,
obviously, it was trained and it had to hit its mark
and do its thing right at the, you know, at the perfect time.
But what inevitably began to happen
was we would all have choreographed,
like, bits kind of timed out, and it would get messed up
because the monkey didn't do its job right.
So we'd have to -- we'd have to -- we'd have to reset.
We'd have to go again because the monkey
didn't get it right. -David's so angry still.
-So this kept happening over and over
where we're about to do something really funny.
But the monkey didn't hit its mark,
so we have to start again.
-I would like you to be more serious about this.
[ Laughter ]
-That combined -- See, you didn't have to deal with it.
And that combined with when the monkey was resting
and just waiting for, you know, for us to roll,
it would sit on my shoulder and the trainer would come up
and just open and give -- give the monkey live grubs to eat.
So the monkey -- the monkey would be sitting on my shoulder,
take some grubs -- take some grubs,
like, break them in half, these squirming, live --
then eat it, and then he'd just go like that.
So I'd have monkey grubby hands all over, all over.
And it just wasn't -- it was -- it was time for Marcel to...
[ Laughter ]
...to [bleep] off, you know?
[ Laughter and applause ]
-I got to say, great question.
You really threw up some good answers there.
Alright. Okay. Let's go --
I think we've got another question.
Yes. There's a couple here in the audience here.
Do you have a question?
-Yes, I do.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Ladies and gentlemen, it's Mr. and Mrs. Geller.
Christina Pickles and Elliott Gould, everybody.
-Yay!
-Eliot, Christina, I'm keen to know,
what do you remember about that time?
-I remember they were awfully nice to us.
-Very down-to-earth, real people.
-We loved it because they loved us.
And one day we came to work and they said,
"The parents are here, the parents are here."
And it was so moving.
And we really did feel like their parents.
In fact, we used to worry about them quite a lot.
And Elliott said to me,
"We're behaving like we're really their parents,"
and we really did feel we were because they're so sweet.
-We love you. -That's incredibly sweet.
Thank you so much for being here tonight.
Fantastic. [ Cheers and applause ]
-I'd have to say, I'm most like Monica
because I'm a clean freak.
You know, I travel a lot
and I'm always in hotels.
I've always got downtime.
When I'm missing the kids, when I'm missing the family,
I put on "Friends" because it makes me smile.
-Orange juice and what looks like cider.
-My favorite episode has to be
where they're all getting ready in the apartment.
-It's fat. I drank fat.
-Ross is hurrying everyone up
because he has a huge speech to make, and he's nervous.
-Why aren't you guys dressed? -We have a half-hour.
-When Chandler goes to the toilet,
Joey sits in Chandler's chair,
and then he comes back and it all escalates.
-You're in my seat. -How is this your seat?
-Because I was sitting there. -But then you left.
-Well, it's not like I went to Spain.
-Joey eventually gives up his seat,
but he takes the cushions with him.
-What are you doing?
-Well, you said I had to give you the chair.
You didn't say anything about the cushions.
-The cushions are the essence of the chair.
-That's right. I'm taking the essence.
-It's one of those episodes that when I'm away
and when I'm feeling a little bit low,
I just put it on
and it makes me smile to almost the point of crying.
-You hide my clothes, I'm wearing everything you own.
-Oh, my God. -Look at me, I'm Chandler.
Could I be wearing any more clothes?
Maybe if I wasn't going commando.
-[ Groans ]
-"The One Where Nobody's Ready," it's the first episode
we ever did that's shot in real time like a play.
-I'll tell you, it's hot with all this stuff on.
I better not do any, I don't know, lunges.
-Some of that was you had to do some bottle shows.
You had to do shows that weren't gonna cost a fortune
and keep them located just on our sets
without building new sets, without, you know.
So how do you make a story where you put everybody in one room?
-What were you doing when your arm came out of the socket?
-Oh. -Shoulder.
-That was when he and I were fighting over the chair.
-That was one of the best episodes we ever did.
-Oh, oh, I remember. -Okay, you tell it.
-Firemen. -Yeah.
-There were firemen in the episode.
-No. -No? I'm sorry.
-There were firemen on the set.
-No, Warner Bros. fire department
came in to help Joey.
I'm sorry. I take it back.
-But go ahead and announce that again.
That's the best moment I've had in months.
-Chandler and Joey have been fighting over this chair,
and Joey runs and jumps into the chair.
-We shot it three times, and it went perfectly.
Lord knows why we had to shoot it a fourth time.
-You want to go for me sitting on Matty's lap?
-And I went just to jump over the coffee table
and somehow tripped. -Oh, God.
-And my legs went up in the air
and my shoulder came out of the socket.
-Are we gonna watch this? His arm getting pulled out?
-Oh, here it is. -Oh, shit.
-I don't want to see pain.
-It doesn't look like anything till I stand up.
-Okay, okay.
-Action.
[ Door opens, closes ]
-Oh, no!
-Ow, ow, ow. It happened right there?
-Yeah. -Did it already happen?
-Yeah. -Shit.
-Ohh.
-[ Laughs ]
-Oh, are you pulling on it? Are you pulling the wrong arm?
-No, it's the other one. -It's the other one.
-No, no, no, no, it's going down too far.
Oh, shit.
-Okay, Gretchen? Just a moment, please.
Should we cut? -Ow!
-Ohh. -Ohh.
-Are you for real? -Yeah.
-Yeah, 'cause he dislocated his shoulder.
-Oh, I thought someone tried to pull on it.
Jesus.
-Cut.
-So in come all the paramedics and whatever,
and they've got to take him to the hospital.
And so that was the end of filming
because it wasn't even an episode
we're like, "Well, we can shoot out the other scenes."
No, it happened to be on the one episode
where it's just the six of them,
they're all in it, and we're done for the night.
-And the way -- do you remember how
the sling was written into the show?
-No. -Oh.
[ Springs sproinging ] -Whoa!
[ Thud ]
-See, Joe, that's why your parents told you
not to jump on the bed.
-So we had to put that into the show,
but we waited until he was okay again
to film the ending of "The One Where No One Was Ready."
-Did you tell the doctor you did it
jumping up and down on your bed? -No.
-So what started out to be the simplest "Friends" episode
ended up taking the longest amount of time to shoot.
-There was one thing that we did every show
that we didn't do that night before we started.
-Our huddle. -Mm-hmm.
-We didn't do it that night. -We didn't do the huddle.
-We didn't do it?
-That's the one time we didn't do it.
-Why didn't we do it? -I don't know.
-That's right, 'cause we were sort of like,
"You know what? We're taking too long.
The audience has been waiting. Let's just go."
I think that's why we didn't do it.
-Really? -Well, it was sort of early on.
It wasn't like -- -It was very early on.
-And then after that,
we were like, "Do we need to do the huddle?"
And he'd say, "Yeah." -Yeah, we do.
-"'Cause I don't want anything else falling off me."
Yeah. -We do need to do the huddle.
-After that, we always did it.
-Let's go see where we did the huddle.
-Right here. Let's go.
Straight down to this purple door.
-We did the huddle right here.
-Yeah. -Right around here.
-Come on, let's do a huddle. Come on.
-Wait. You mean we...
[ Cheers and applause ]
-So the atmosphere on tape night was always crackling.
There was a lot of energy.
♪♪
It was exciting. You're putting on a show.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It was a fun night,
but it was a really hard working night for us
and we would listen to the audience.
And if a joke didn't land, even if we loved that joke,
they were telling us it's not good enough.
So we would put our heads together and try to beat it.
-It's a buffet. It's in trouble.
-It's in trouble, like I'm gonna go eat it all.
-How about "Here's where I win all my money back"?
-[ Laughs ] I like that. Great.
-Kevin, there's a lot of changes coming.
-Good shit. -You guys ready?
-Where is the waitress? I'm starving.
-It's a buffet, man.
-Oh, here's where I win all my money back.
-I really enjoyed the energy of the audience, though.
I mean, the live audience. -Oh, yeah.
-I mean... -I did, too.
-It's like doing a one-act play every week with all of us.
-I found myself, like,
when they would laugh at something,
I would think to myself, "Oh, if you think that's funny,
when till you get a load of this next line."
They would challenge me to try even --
I felt this rewarding feeling.
Or not. Or a flat nothing. -I'm coming over here.
I feel left out over there. -Sit here.
At least to me,
I felt like I was gonna die if they didn't laugh.
And it's not healthy for sure.
But I would sometimes say a line,
and they wouldn't laugh, and I would sweat
and -- and just, like, go into convulsions.
If I didn't get the laugh I was supposed to get,
I would freak out. -It would take you down.
-You didn't tell us that. -No?
-No, I don't remember you ever saying that.
-Oh, yeah, I felt like that every single night.
-One of the times we listened to the audience the most
was when we were shooting in London
and Monica and Chandler are in bed together.
-Action.
-I'm getting married today!
-Morning, Ross.
-I'm getting married!
A-whoo-hoo! -Whoo-hoo!
-Do you think he knew I was here?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-The audience went insane.
-We were just standing there going "This is insane."
We just let them go.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Okay, your turn.
No, I'm kidding.
-Cut! -He told me to say it.
He did.
-I think that moment was the beginning
of how we rethought Monica and Chandler,
'cause the original plan was
they would sleep together in London,
it was a brief thing,
and we'd have some fun with it afterward
as they're both like, "Oh, my God, what did we do?"
-But the way the audience reacted,
we realized there's more to this
and we need to pay attention.
-Well, I've never done that with you before.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-That was the end of the season,
so we had time to really ruminate and think about it,
but it was such a powerful moment
that we knew we had to explore it more.
-We expanded it from just a "one night in London" thing
to "this could be a thing" thing.
-I'm still on London time. Does that count?
-Oh, that counts. -Oh, good.
-We still, at that point,
didn't quite realize how far it would go.
We still thought maybe it'd be fun with them doing it in secret
and hiding it, which did give us a lot of funny stuff.
[ Knock on door ] -Hey, it's me. Coming in.
-[ Inhales deeply ]
-I've had a very long, hard day.
-I love the episode where they've just returned home
from London and Monica and Chandler
are trying to keep it a secret that they've been hooking up.
♪♪
-So thanks for having me over.
-The cast, they know how powerful
just, like, a funny visual set piece will be,
and it's funnier than anything they could have ever said.
-Rach.
Phoebs.
-See ya.
-So the really great thing about "Friends"
is they're so good with farce. -What the hell was that?
-So when there's a secret like Monica and Chandler are dating,
it's so fun because we the audience knows,
but none of the rest of the cast knows.
-Okay, this is from "The One Where Everyone Finds Out."
Ugly naked guy's apartment.
Phoebe and Rachel have tagged along with Ross.
Although it's pretty empty, it's a great place.
-Oh, my God.
I love this apartment. Isn't it perfect?
-I can't believe I never realized how -- how great it is.
-Well, that is because your eye immediately
goes to the big naked man. -It's amazing.
You better hurry up and fill out an application,
or I'm gonna beat you to it.
-Ohh.
[ Laughter ]
-That's sort of how you did it. -Is that?
-Well, I never thought I'd say this,
but, um, I'm gonna go use ugly naked guy's bathroom.
-She exits. Phoebe looks out the window.
-Oh, look, there's Monica and Chandler.
Hey! Hey, you guys! Hey!
-Chandler and Monica are standing close together.
They start taking off each other's clothes.
Phoebe's mind is totally blown.
-Oh! Oh!
Oh! Oh!
Chandler and Monica! Chandler and Monica!
-Rachel sees what Phoebe is seeing.
-Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
-Chandler and Monica! -Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
-Oh! My eyes! My eyes! -I know.
Phoebe, Phoebe, Phoebe, Phoebs, Phoebe.
-Oh! -It's okay. It's okay.
It's okay. -They're doing it!
-I know. I know. I actually know.
I know I know. -You know?
-I do. I know. And Joey knows.
But Ross doesn't know. So you have to stop screaming.
-What's going on? [ Both scream ]
-What, what? -Nothing.
Oh, God, we're just so excited
that you might get this apartment.
-Actually, it looks really good.
[ Both screaming ]
-Get in here. Come on. Get in here. Hug it out.
Hug it out. Hug it out.
-[ Shrieks ]
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Oh, my God. Alright.
Yeah, don't get too excited.
I haven't done this in a long time.
So I should be Phoebe for this.
Okay.
♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ What are they feeding you? ♪
♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ It's not your fault ♪
♪ They won't take you to the vet ♪
♪ You're obviously not their favorite pet ♪
♪ You may not be a bed of roses ♪
♪ And you're no friend of those with noses ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
Hi.
-It's so weird, 'cause I was walking down the street
and I just happen to have my... -Guitar.
-Yeah. -Oh, my God.
-You need some help? -Yeah, I mean, I think so.
-I love "Smelly Cat." It's one of my favorite songs.
-Oh, my God. -You mind if I...
-Oh, please. -...take "Smelly Cat"
for a spin?
-Yeah, that would be great. -Alright.
♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ What are they feeding you? ♪
♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ It's not your fault ♪
-That was not bad.
-Not -- Was it okay?
-Um, yeah, yeah, it was really, really good.
-Thank you so much.
-♪ They won't take you to the vet ♪
♪ You're obviously not their favorite pet ♪
-♪ You may not be a bed of roses ♪
♪ And you're no friend of those with noses ♪
-♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ What are they feeding you? ♪
♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ It's not your fault ♪
-♪ Smelly, smelly, smelly, really bad, smelly, smelly cat ♪
♪ It's not your fault ♪
♪ Smelly, smelly, smelly, really bad, smelly, smelly cat ♪
♪ It's not your fault ♪
-♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ What are they feeding you? ♪
♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ It's not your fault ♪
♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ What are they feeding you? ♪
♪ Smelly cat, smelly cat ♪
♪ It's not your fault ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah. That's right.
No, but thank you. Thank you.
This was so great.
I still think it's better when it's just me.
[ Laughter ] -It is.
-Oh, you heard it.
-Can I just say something?
Thank you so much for being the person
for all of us on "Friends"
that was the -- I don't know if this is the right way to say it,
but the different one or the one that was really herself.
-Thank you. And thanks for carrying it along.
I'm gonna start crying. -Yeah.
♪♪
-There are seasons I've never seen.
-Me too. -Really?
-Yeah. -I've seen them all.
I've seen every episode.
-I would imagine I've seen them all.
-Michel and I started watching some of Season 4,
which I thought I had watched.
It's as if I didn't.
-Do you enjoy them when you watch them?
-He enjoys them more than I do
'cause I'm mortified with myself.
-Why? -I don't know.
-You're so good. -I don't know.
-Like Lisa, I hadn't seen it really in 17 years
until my daughter just started watching it this past year.
And that kind of sucked me into it.
-For me when I watch it, it's -- I'm --
it's hard to watch myself,
but I feel that way about anything I do
because I don't believe the acting that I'm doing,
because I know it's not true,
'cause it was me doing it.
-That's what you do for a living.
-No, I know, but it's weird to look at myself.
I'm like, "I don't buy a word of it."
It's really weird.
But to watch you guys, I was just so proud to be on the show.
It's just some of the stuff is so great.
-Yeah. When I do watch the episodes,
I'm laughing out loud once in every scene
because you all make me laugh so hard.
-That thing with the leather pants.
Oh, my God. That's still -- That was on the other day.
I just happened to be in the kitchen with Maureen
and we were eating dinner and "Friends" is on.
And I'm like, "Oh, look at that. Let's see which one it is."
And it happened to be the one with the leather pants.
And I said to my daughter, "Watch this.
This is funny. Watch David."
And it was really, really, really funny.
Every little thing, like pulling the pants up
and, like, slipping and smacking yourself in the head.
And I know you. It was all so calculated.
Nothing happens by accident with you.
I've watched you put things together and it was brilliant.
-I can't quite be specific about which one,
but I know I'm part of the Geller family.
I'm incredibly anal, I'm neurotic as hell,
and I wear overly tight trousers.
-Whoa.
-I think one of the reasons "Friends" is so funny
is the fact that these six actors
are masters of physical comedy.
-Ohh. -Ohh.
-There's a scene with David Schwimmer
where Ross has decided not to pay for
the delivery service of a sofa,
and they start taking the couch up the stairs
and quite quickly, everyone gets into trouble.
This is not something that's gonna go up the stairs.
-Turn.
-I don't think we can turn anymore.
-And David Schwimmer starts telling them to pivot.
-Here we go, pivot.
Pivot.
Pivot!
-Shut up, shut up, shut up!
-The thing about that scene is it's so simple.
If you were to see it on the page initially,
it's three actors carrying a couch up the stairwell.
There's maybe a page of dialogue,
and nothing really in that dialogue suggests
anything massively comic.
But what they do in that time
in carrying that couch up those stairs
is one of the funniest things I've seen on TV.
[ Laughter ]
-[ Laughing ]
-Okay. Here we go.
-Pivot!
[ Laughter ]
Pivot!
[ Laughter ]
-[ Laughing ]
-Alright, let's cut.
♪♪
-Remember our marks?
Do you remember what color you were?
-Yellow. -Blue.
-You're blue? -I don't -- I never looked down.
I always used the corner --
-You looked. -I used the corner --
-You tripped every time. You wouldn't look.
-Wait, what happened? I don't remember you tripping.
-The big -- yeah.
-He ran in, he looked at his mark --
-No, I tripped on that. -He tripped.
[ Laughter ]
-He just fell -- -Every single time.
-And I ran. -You ran as fast as you could.
-But the second time I came in and looked like this.
I went like this the second time. I came running.
Phoebs, check it out, check it out, check it out, check it out.
-Phoebs, check it out.
[ Laughter ]
-The third time, I went to pull the chair over,
and the chair fell over.
Phoebs, check it out, check it out, check it out, check it out.
Jesus.
[ Laughter ]
Sorry.
And the final time, you came in.
-Because I was like, "Somebody is getting a laugh.
I can't handle it.
I need to get -- I need to get a laugh too."
-Phoebs, Phoebs.
Check it out, check it out, check it out, check it out.
-Oh, Soap Opera Digest.
[ Laughter ]
Oh, no.
-That yeti is one smooth talker.
-Yetis are smooth talkers.
That's why, um...
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, these are bloopers?
-That yeti is one smooth talker.
-Yetis are smooth talkers.
That's why you never see any pictures.
[ Laughter ]
-He cannot play at our wedding.
Everyone will leave.
It'll be like when he rapped at my "butt" mitzvah.
-[ Laughs ]
-Your "butt" mitzvah?
[ Laughter ]
-Thank you.
[ All shout indistinctly ]
What?
[ All shout indistinctly ]
[ Laughter ]
-How can you keep straight a face?
[ All shout indistinctly ]
-[ Laughing ]
[ Laughter ]
-How much do you have that's good?
-None. -None of it? Okay.
-I can't belie-- Oh, I just looked right at you.
I'm so sorry.
-Action.
-I can't believe Emma's still asleep.
-I know. What are we going to do?
[ Laughter ]
-Ha-ha, I win.
-The [bleep] is that?
-Ready?
-Ha-ha, I win!
-What is that?
-That's [bleep] fire, you jagoff.
[ Laughter ]
-The game's over.
Take off your robe.
[ Laughter ]
-Okay, I mean...
-No! -No!
Do not take it off.
[ Laughter ]
-That was his idea.
Matty, that was your idea. You remember that?
-She carries that tray to the doctor
because if she doesn't, people die.
-[ Laughs ]
[ Laughter ]
Oh, no.
-Lisa, your laugh. Oh, my God.
-No, it's the greatest thing in the world.
-It's the most infectious laugh in the world.
It's so cute. -The most infectious sound.
-The bloopers were so funny.
When you look back, who had the loudest laugh?
Who had the loud -- Oh, really?
-Lisa. -Really, Lisa Kudrow?
You had the loudest. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-The best laugh. -I can't help it.
-The most enjoyable laugh ever. -Oh, when Lisa laughs --
-Oh, my God.
[ Cheers and applause ]
I can't believe you didn't say me.
-Maggie Wheeler, everybody. It's Janice.
-Mwah. How are you?
-Maggie Wheeler.
-Maggie, if you perch on the corner here,
Jen, you come back in, everyone shift up.
Maggie, if you perch in here for us.
Thank you for being here, Maggie.
What an absolute thrill.
Let's talk about Janice for a moment.
Where -- Where did --
Where did Janice come from?
-You know, I got the audition sides across my fax machine,
and it said "fast-talking New Yorker,"
and I thought, you know, I know her.
I-I grew up there.
I-I just -- She lives in me. That's it.
-You love me, Chandler Bing.
-Oh, no, I don't.
-You seek me out.
Something deep in your soul calls out to me like a foghorn.
Janice, Janice.
You want me, you need me,
you can't live without me.
-Matthew Perry is so funny.
And the minute I set eyes on him and he opened his mouth,
I thought, "Oh, God, I'm gonna lose it.
I'm gonna crack up.
This character needs a laugh because I'm not gonna be able
to get through a single scene with this guy."
And I just looked at him, and I went [Laughs obnoxiously]
And that was it.
It was just born in the moment.
Thank you, Matthew, for inspiring that.
Anyway, everybody, oh, my God.
The "Friends" reunion.
And I get to be a part of it. -Maggie Wheeler, everybody.
Thank you so much.
Bless you. Maggie Wheeler, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
What about that? What a treat.
-Oh, I love her.
-Now, I should say there was somebody very,
very special involved in the show
who couldn't be here tonight
but so desperately wanted to be part of the show,
he's joining us on Zoom right now.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome James Michael Tyler.
He's here. It's Gunther.
[ Cheers and applause ] Gunther himself, everybody!
He's here.
-Hey, what's up, everybody?
-How are you?
-Good to see you. You all look great.
-Tell us about your experience making the show
and how your character just came to life
over the course of these seasons.
-It was the most memorable 10 years of my life, honestly.
I could not have imagined just a better experience.
All these guys were fantastic.
It was just a joy to work with them.
I felt very, very special.
-Rachel? -Yeah?
-When's your birthday?
-May 5th. Why?
-Oh, I-I'm just making a list of people's birthdays.
-Oh, mine's December -- -Yeah, whatever.
-Ladies and gentlemen, James Michael Tyler,
Gunther himself.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thanks.
-I mean, will you allow me to ask
what I would consider to be a cheeky question?
It's impossible not to realize and see that you were all young,
hot, good-looking, successful actors.
And it's inconceivable to me that there weren't
perhaps off-screen romances.
[ Laughter ]
-Well, I mean, David?
-Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, the -- -The first season.
-Yeah, the first season, we --
I had a major crush on Jen.
I -- -It was reciprocated.
-And I think we both at some point,
we were both crushing hard on each other,
but it was like two ships passing
because one of us was always in a relationship.
So -- And we never crossed that boundary.
You know, we respected that.
And -- but we both -- -Bullshit.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-No, no.
No.
-I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
-It's true. It's true.
-Honestly, I remember saying one time to David,
"It's going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I
actually kiss is gonna be on national television."
Sure enough, first time we kissed
was in that coffee shop. -Hang on, so --
-But so we just channeled all of our adoration and love
for each other into Ross and Rachel.
[ Audience "awws" ]
-Is this blowing anyone else's mind?
Wait. Hang on. [ Cheers and applause ]
-That scene in the coffee house when their first kiss,
I mean, that was like -- I watched it the other day,
and I was weeping.
The tension, it was just palpable.
The -- It was just perfect.
I'm so glad you guys didn't because I don't know --
well, you would've just been great actors.
But, man, that was something. -Yeah, we were really
just not great actors.
♪♪
-Interior, coffee house late that night.
Rachel's putting up chairs.
Ross enters agitated.
-Hi. -I didn't get a cat.
-Oh. That's interesting.
-No, no, it's not interesting, okay?
It's very, very not interesting.
It's actually 100% completely the opposite of interesting.
-Alright. Alright. I get it, Ross.
-You had no right to tell me you ever had feelings for me.
-What? -I was doing great with Julie
before I found out about you.
-Hey, I was doing great before I found out about you.
You think it's easy for me to see you with Julie?
-Well, then you should have said something before I met her.
-I didn't know then.
And how come you never said anything to me?
-There was never a good time.
-Right, because you only had a year
and we only hung out every night.
-Not -- Not every night.
You know, and it's not like I didn't --
I didn't try, Rachel, but things got in the way,
you know, like -- like Italian guys
or, uh, ex-fiancés, or -- or -- or Italian guys.
-Hey, there was one Italian guy, okay?
And do you even have a point?
-Yeah, the point is, I-I don't need this right now, okay?
It's too late. I'm with somebody else.
Okay? I'm happy. This ship has sailed.
-Okay, so what are you saying?
You can just sort of put away feelings
or whatever the hell it was that you felt for me?
-Hey, I've been doing it since the ninth grade.
I've gotten pretty damn good at it.
-Alright, fine. You go ahead and you do that.
Alright, Ross?
'Cause I don't need your stupid ship.
-Good. -Good.
And you know what?
Now I got closure.
-He storms out.
Furious, Rachel locks the three locks on the front door.
-[ Sighs ]
♪♪
[ Crying ]
-Then she stops, leans on a table and drops her head.
When she looks up, she's startled to see Ross
at the door staring back at her.
They hold each other's gaze.
She steps slowly towards the door, then more quickly,
she unlocks the first lock, the second, the third,
and then goes to pull the door open.
[ Door rattles ]
-Try -- Try the bottom one.
-The door flies open, Ross rushes in, grabs her,
and they kiss.
♪♪
[ Applause ]
-Yay!
-Ohh. -That was good.
-I thought back on the very first year or two, you know,
when we had breaks from rehearsal,
like, there were moments we would, like, cuddle
on a couch or something.
-We would spoon and fall asleep on the couch.
♪♪
-And I'm thinking,
"How did not everyone know
we had -- were crushing on each other?"
-We knew. We knew.
-Yeah, we knew for sure.
-Great. Now. Thanks.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
It was a situation that we couldn't --
we couldn't do anything about it.
-How great, though, ultimately,
'cause if you had and it didn't work out,
it would not have probably been as great.
♪♪
-I'm gonna go down and ask each of you,
and this is just a simple yes or no answer.
-Okay. -Okay?
Were Ross and Rachel on a break?
-Absolutely. Yes. -Yes.
-Yes.
-Yeah, we were on a break.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
-We had amazing guest stars on our show.
Couldn't believe all these people
that we were all massive fans of.
-Yeah. -We had Danny DeVito.
-Did someone call for the long arm of the law?
-Oh, my God, was he funny. -Oh, that was so funny.
-I remember -- Oh, my gosh. -Ben Stiller.
-Ben. One of our biggest laughs ever.
Remember when Ben -- when we went over there?
-What are you quacking about?
Ooh, quack, quack, Donald Dodo.
[ Laughter ]
-[Bleep]
-"You chickadee, you little chickadoo."
[ Laughter ]
It was so funny.
I don't know why it was so funny.
-'Cause he's funny. -'Cause of Ben Stiller.
-And Julia Roberts. -Julia Roberts.
-That's right. -And who enjoyed Julia Roberts?
-Come on.
-Your fella Brad. -Pitt came, did one.
-Rachel Green.
God, I hate her, Ross. I hate her.
-And, of course, we had one of my idols, Sean Penn.
-Aren't you gonna give me a kiss?
-Okay, I will.
But right after, you have to tell me who the hell you are.
-And then we get the script and, of course,
I realize that "Oh, I'm a -- I'm a potato."
Hey. -Hey.
-Oh, 'cause it was the Halloween episode.
-So I had no --
like very little, if any, dialogue with him.
But here I'm thinking "Greatest actor in the world,
and I'm a [bleep] potato.
I'm a potato."
-Oh, my God. You're Sputnik.
-Yes.
-Marry her.
-Now, there's been some incredibly memorable outfits
and costumes over the 10 seasons of "Friends,"
and we thought we'd take a look
at some of those iconic costumes right here tonight
with our very own "Friends" reunion fashion show.
Cue the music.
[ Up-tempo music plays ]
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage
Cara Delevingne.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Cara is modeling Rachel's bridesmaid dress
from Barry and Mindy's wedding in Season 2.
Look at that. -Yes.
-As far as bridesmaid dresses go,
it's actually quite understated.
Modeling Ross's leather pants from Season 5,
it's Cindy Crawford.
-Yeah!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-These are Ross's incredibly tight pants,
but once he got them on, he couldn't get them off again,
and I think we've all been there.
It's Sputnik time,
and I know when you think of Sputnik,
you think of the one, the only Justin Bieber.
-What? -What?
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-It's part Russian satellite, part potato.
Look at that. Justin Bieber, ladies and gentlemen.
It's astonishing that he's even managed to make that look cool.
♪♪
And next up, perhaps the most famous look of them all,
it's Santa's half-Jewish friend.
It's the Holiday Armadillo.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Cara Delevingne, ladies and gentlemen,
as the Holiday Armadillo.
♪♪
-Oh, my God. That's amazing. Whoo!
-This surely is a high point in her modeling career.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah, baby. -Work it, work it!
-That's amazing.
-And, ladies and gentlemen,
wearing all of Chandler's clothes,
it's Matt LeBlanc!
-[ Laughing ]
How did you do that?
♪♪
You are so cute.
Oh, my God.
-Could he be wearing any more clothes?
♪♪
-Yeah, Matty!
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
-The "Friends" finale and their farewell party.
Tonight, the cast is taping the last episode
of their historic sitcom.
Here I am on the set of "Friends"
in Monica and Chandler's apartment,
where in just hours, the show that made TV must-see must end.
-If the show was about that time in your life
when your friends are your family,
once you have family of your own,
it's no longer that time.
So the show came, I think, to a natural end.
-It was really important for us to end everyone in a good place.
We wanted to know that Monica and Chandler
were gonna have their babies.
-Hey.
-Hi. -Hi.
-[ Gasps ] -[ Gasps ]
-And that Phoebe was gonna be happy and had a life.
-I want one.
-Oh, yeah?
Well, tell me which one. I'll try to slip it in my coat.
-There was some discussion in the writers room
about do we really want Ross and Rachel to get together?
-Rachel? -I'm so sorry.
-And we discussed perhaps sort of ambivalent endings
where it seemed like down the --
and we went, "No, this is 'Friends.'
People have been waiting 10 years
to see this couple get together.
We've got to give them what they want.
We just have to find a way to do it
so the journey is unexpected."
-Isn't there any way that you could just let me off the --
[ Beep ]
-No! No!
Oh, my God. Did she get off the plane?
Did she get off the plane?!
[ Rewinding ]
-I got off the plane.
♪♪
[ Applause ]
-Cut!
♪♪
-The night itself was very difficult to get through.
I really wanted to savor every minute of it.
I knew it was going to end, and I didn't want it to end.
-Adiós, arrivederci, au revoir.
Take one, five cameras.
[ Claps ]
-Okay, should we get some coffee?
-Sure.
-Okay.
-Where?
♪♪
-And cut.
-The minute it was over...
-Marta and I looked at each other,
and I just kind of went to pieces.
-Yeah, there was a lot of crying that night.
-I don't know how we got through actual scenes.
-I remember that moment, all of us up
at the end of the hall there.
-That was nice. It was, like, private.
-Yeah.
-I feel emotional about it now that I think about it.
It was not just the end of a series.
It was the end of 10 years of relationships.
I mean, we were really, really proud of the show,
but like anything good, it's sad when it's over.
♪♪
[ Applause ]
♪♪
-That night, right after I called wrap...
Cut.
...the sets immediately started to be taken down
because there was a pilot that was coming into
the stage the next day.
-That last day, seeing them strike the set,
it's like seeing someone pack up your childhood home.
It's gone.
-We ended up with an impromptu party
where everybody just stayed on set and sat there,
and we ordered pizza and beer, people signed the flats,
and it was an incredibly lovely, moving night.
-Did we all sign this at the end?
-[ Gasps ]
-Oh, we all signed this. -Wendy.
-Oh. -Carlos!
-Oh, there's mine.
-What? -What is it?
-"I shit here." That's right.
[ Laughter ]
-I knew it!
[ Laughter ]
-Of course that's you.
-[ Laughs ]
-"The best 10 years of my life.
Love to all." -That's me.
-Oh, yeah. -That's nice.
-That is nice.
-Marika! -Not as nice as mine.
-No.
[ Laughter ]
-We're here now, all six of you.
Lisa, has it crossed your mind about, you know,
well, maybe we could do another episode,
maybe we could do a movie?
Is that something you'd ever even contemplate?
-No, no.
I'm sorry. I haven't.
No, because that's all up to Marta and David,
and I once heard them say,
and I completely agree,
that they ended the show very nicely.
Everyone's lives are very nice, and they would have to unravel
all those good things in order for there to be stories.
And, yeah, I don't want anyone's happy ending unraveled.
Yeah. Also at my age to be, say, like,
floopy, stop.
[ Laughter ]
You have to grow up. -Well, let me ask you this.
Where do you think your characters would be today?
Where's Rachel?
-Rachel. Rachel -- I think we're -- did we get married?
Let's say we got married. -Sure.
-Okay. -[ Audience "awws" ]
I think we ended up getting married, and we had some kids.
-Kids, yeah. -And you still played
with bones. -Still playing with bones.
-Playing with bones, and --
-That's paleontology.
-Paleontology, still a paleontologist.
[ Laughter ]
It gets Joey every time. I don't know why.
Playing with bones.
-Playing with the bones.
[ Laughter ]
-So you guys are together. You're happy.
You've got kids. -Yes.
-Where are Monica and Chandler?
-I think my character, Monica, is still really competitive.
Her kids are probably not even in -- you know,
they're probably graduated.
But she still is in charge of the bake sale
at, you know, an elementary school.
She's just got to keep things going.
PTA, you know.
And you are making me laugh every day.
[ Laughter ]
-I just wanted to make sure I factored in there somewhere.
-And what's Phoebe doing?
-Phoebe's married to Mike. They're probably in Connecticut.
They had kids.
And I think she was like the advocate for her kids,
who were a little different and all the other kids
who were just a little different, you know?
Creating the arts program and the music thing and all that.
Yeah.
-And where's Joey?
-I think he probably opened a sandwich shop in Venice Beach.
-Oh!
[ Laughter ]
Oh, I wish he would.
I wish he would -Why not?
-I wish he would.
-Here's Courteney Cox.
My sister on the show.
-Honest, this will really make me cry,
but this will be the last time that we're ever asked
about the show as a group, that we will do this.
Like, we're not going to do this again in 15 more years.
I'll tell you one thing.
We are not waiting so long to have a dinner.
-No, we're not. We will not wait that long to get together.
-I have really enjoyed today. I really have.
I didn't know, like, kind of what to expect coming into this.
I knew it was going to be awesome
to see these five people.
What I did not take into account was being back on the set...
-No. -...and in this environment.
And it's...it's...
it's pretty cool.
[ Chuckles ]
Yeah.
-Just please also state that I don't cry like this
when we get together and have dinners.
-Yeah, no. Jen never cries.
-No, I -- [ Laughs ]
-[ Shouting indistinctly ]
♪♪
I mean, it was an incredible time.
Everything came together.
We became best friends who --
just the chemistry, the whole thing.
It was life-changing, and it forever will be.
Not just for us, but for people who watch it.
And that's just such a great feeling to carry forever.
I'm really thankful, and I love you guys so much.
-I love you so much.
-It's Courteney? -It's Courteney.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
-The best way that I can describe it is
after the show was over, at a party or any kind of
social gathering, if one of us bumped into each other,
that was it, that was the end of the night.
You just... -Sat with that person.
-...sat with the person all night long.
-That's true. I remember.
-And that was it.
You apologized to the people you were with,
but they had to understand you had met somebody special to you
and you were going to talk to that person
for the rest of the night.
And that's the way... -I'm not laughing, I'm crying
because it's so true. -That's the way it worked.
♪♪
It's certainly the way it works with all of us.
It's just the way it is.
-Mm-hmm.
-I'm going to cry now.
-[ Laughs ] Good.
-I've got a piece of a Kleenex.
[ Laughter ]
-Thanks. I'll take it.
-It's been COVID tested.
-Thank you. I'll take it. COVID tested?
-COVID tested.
♪♪
-Ladies and gentlemen, the cast of "Friends."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-♪ So no one told you life was gonna be this way ♪
♪ Your job's a joke, you're broke ♪
♪ Your love life's DOA ♪
♪ It's like you're always stuck in second gear ♪
♪ When it hasn't been your day, your week ♪
♪ Your month or even your year, but ♪
♪ I'll be there for you ♪
♪ 'Cause you're there for me, too ♪
♪♪