friends reunion
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Revelations From the Cozy, Gossipy Friends Reunion

Turns out Jen Aniston and David Schwimmer were star-crossed lovers IRL

Let’s not make this The Story Where We Bury The Juicy Lede: When you watch the Friends reunion special (which comes out today on Crave), you’ll come away with two things. One, a case of the warm fuzzies, and two, the revelation that Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer were “crushing hard” on each other for the first two seasons of the show. Ross and Rachel were star-crossed lovers IRL too!

“At some point, we both were crushing hard on each other but it was like two ships passing,” David/Ross says. “One of us was always in a relationship, and we never crossed that boundary.”

James Corden, the somewhat incongruent host of the two-hour special, tees this up with what he calls a “cheeky” question, asking how it’s possible that in a cast of single hotties, no one ever hooked up. In what we can only assume is an agreed upon bit of dish, Jen looks at David, and says, “Well, David?” He picks up the cue, saying, “Well, first season I had a major crush on Jen.” She adds: “It was reciprocated.”

Matt LeBlanc chimes in, muttering “Bullshit!” into his coffee mug with Joey-esque comedic timing. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he says as Jen holds up her hands in Rachel-like protest. (It’s all too perfect not to be scripted, surely? If anything, thanks to them for giving us a scene from a new episode of Friends they’ve all sworn we’ll never get.) 

“I remember, honestly, one time saying to David, ‘It’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I kiss it’s on national television,” Jen goes on. Cut to the replay of Ross and Rachel’s first onscreen kiss in Central Perk, which “sure enough” was their first snog offscreen too. “We just channelled all of our adoration and love for each other into Ross and Rachel.”

friends reunion
CraveThe Friends cast filming the reunion special in front of the opening credit fountain

Courtney Cox says she re-watched that scene recently with tears running down her face. “The tension was palpable,” she remembers. “I’m glad you didn’t, because otherwise you would just be great actors.” Jen, turning to David with what can only be described as A Look: “We weren’t great actors.” Did the rest of the cast know? “We knew, we knew,” says Matthew Perry, before we’re treated to a montage of outtakes that demonstrate just how obvious the pair’s crush was. A true ’90s Romeo and Juliet, folks.

More notable highlights include the spectre of Justin Bieber strutting down a catwalk wearing Ross’ “Spud-nik” costume, Cindy Crawford modelling Ross’ infamous leather pants, and BTS appearances from David Beckham and Malala Yousafzai(?!). Here, a few more fun tidbits from this cosy reunion special that’s filmed in front of the actual fountain where they shot the opening credits 27 years ago.

1. Courtney Cox used to write her lines on the kitchen table

A Monica in many ways, Courtney struggled to apply her character’s perfectionism to remembering her lines. She says she was constantly hiding scripts so she could peek at them throughout filming, which happened in front of a live audience. The sink was a favourite spot, as was the bowl of apples on the round table in the set’s kitchen. She got busted—by Matt LeBlanc, of all people—when he spied that she’d pencilled her lines on the table itself. As a joke, he erased them without her knowing, which still doesn’t feel funny 27 years later.

friends reunion
CraveThe cast revisits the original set

2. Chandler and Monica were never meant to make it as a couple

As part of a discussion on the ways that audience reaction affected the trajectory of the show, showrunner Marta Kauffman talks about how the rapturous response to Monica and Chandler’s scenes caused the writers to extend their relationship beyond a fling. “That moment was the beginning of how we re-thought Monica and Chandler,” says co-creator David Crane. “The original thought was that they would sleep together in London as a brief thing.” Luckily, that episode came at the end of the season, so the writers had time to re-jig their plans, and—true fact here—the best couple on Friends was born.

3. David Schwimmer hated Marcel the Monkey

Reinforcing our suspicion that these actors made millions just by playing a version of themselves, David Schwimmer goes Full Ross for a rant about primate with whom he had to share scenes in season one’s The One With The Monkey. “I love animals, however…” he begins, launching into a bitter recollection of the monkey messing up his comedic timing by not hitting his mark at the right time, so they’d have to start all over again. “The monkey didn’t do its job right,” he says. “Combined with, when the monkey was resting, it would sit on my shoulder, and the trainer would come up and give the monkey live grubs to eat…it would take some grubs, break them in half, these squirming live grubs, and then eat, and go like that,” here he grasps his own head. “I’d have monkey grubby hands all over.”

4. We finally know why Joey wore a sling

If you’re even moderately squeamish, there’s a bit of unseen footage that will have you (like Courtney Cox) covering your eyes. It’s what was captured when the cameras kept rolling after a stunt that involved jumping into a chair for the episode “The One With The Jam” went wrong, dislocating Matt LeBlanc’s shoulder in the process. This, by the way, is why Joey wears a sling for much of season three.

5. Janice’s scene-stealing laugh was featured to keep her from cracking up

Many of your old faves make appearances, but Maggie Wheeler, a.k.a. Janice, is the only one who gets brought onstage in the special. Her big reveal? The prominence of Janice’s famous laugh was just a way for Maggie to disguise her constant cracking up in her scenes with Mathew Perry. Oh. My. Gawd. Right?!

 

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