Summary
- The cast of Friends formed a genuine friendship behind the scenes, which contributed to their on-screen chemistry.
- They would watch the show together and give each other notes and suggestions to support one another.
- An episode of Friends was based on the cast members' poker games backstage, showing how much fun they had together.
The beloved show Friends was a massive hit, and it's still finding new audiences today. While not all cast members get along on some projects, the cast of Friends truly became friends with each other. The group even got together, so they could watch their show, and gave each other notes.
Since it first aired in 1994, members of the Friends cast have spilled plenty of secrets from behind the scenes, such as Courteney Cox's hilariously sneaky way of writing lines down that nobody knew about. Because they spent time with each other while filming the first season, the main cast developed a real friendship that came across as genuine on-screen.
The group also played poker together in director James Burrows' dressing room. There's even an episode of Friends that was based on the casts' games that took place backstage!
'Friends' Wrote An Episode Based On A Real Experience That Took Place With The Cast Backstage
The cast of Friends got together for a reunion show, hosted by Andy Cohen, to honor one of the show's directors, who also directed the show's pilot episode, James Burrows.
David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) and Courteney Cox (Monica Geller) all attended, however Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing) couldn't be there because of scheduling conflicts. He appeared via video to introduce the rest of the cast.
The cast members have spoken about working on the show, and truly are friends in real-life. The group discussed how they wanted to spend time with each other to develop their friendships when not filming. Matt LeBlanc spoke about director James Burrows wanting the cast to connect, "And play poker," Jennifer Aniston added.
"You played poker," Cohen said, wanting to be sure. One of the ways the cast got closer was by getting together for poker games, and season one, episode eighteen of the series, "The One With All The Poker", was created based off the cast members getting together to play in Burrows' dressing room backstage.
Clearly the cast members had a great time playing, because Friends created an episode based on the cast's game! The episode was directed by James Burrows. The director shared his large dressing room with the cast members, so they could have a place to get together.
Lisa Kudrow spoke about James Burrows lending his dressing room to the cast. "He gave us his dressing room, because it was big, and it should have been, that's fine." She continued, explaining, "So we started playing poker and Jimmy (Burrows) gave us his room, so we could have a bigger hangout room for us."
"And they wrote an episode about it (the cast play poker) actually," Jennifer Aniston added, earning laughter from the audience.
The cast didn't mention if any of the memorable moments or hilarious quotes from the episode were based on any of their real-life poker games, but it would be fun to know if any were!
'Friends' Cast Members Began Building Their Real-Life Friendship Before The Show Aired
One reason Friends was such a hit (and is still finding new audiences today) is because the six main cast members formed a real-life friendship behind the scenes when the show first started filming.
Matt LeBlanc said, "Right in the beginning, he (James Burrows) really encouraged us all to sort of, get along and get to know one another, and be kind to one another and support one another, and watch one another, and help one another."
Lisa Kudrow said they all seemed to realize it was important they developed a real-life friendship. "I think it was unspoken, but we instinctively felt like we need to be friends, we need to get along, we need to connect."
Going more into depth about how their friendship began, Jennifer Aniston said, "I have to say, at the beginning, it was not a hard thing - we just wanted to hang out with each other. It was not a (feeling like) 'We have to do this, ugh!'"
She continued, adding that they would hang out at each other's houses, and even watched the show together. "We really just fell in love and adored each other instantly, and would hang out at each other's houses, and watched the show together."
'Friends' Cast Members Gave Each Other Notes When They Watched The Show Together
The cast members of Friends have discussed their real-life friendship, which could be seen on-screen as the actors had incredible chemistry with each other. The series had several surprisingly unscripted moments, and one of David Schwimmer's unscripted moments led to one of the most iconic lines on Friends.
During their interview, Jennifer Aniston revealed the show's cast members "watched the show together" and they would even offer each other notes for their characters.
"We did in the beginning, we watched the show together, the first year," Courteney Cox added.
Explaining, Matt LeBlanc said, "Yeah we would sort of, you would sort of watch each other's...scenes you weren't in, you would kind of like watch and sit and kind of go... Kind of think of ideas for one another, kind of go, 'What if you try it this way?' Everybody was really supportive of one another."
"You gave each other notes?" Cohen asked, "Or suggestions," Jennifer Aniston added, putting a sweet spin on it, explaining they weren't negative when helping each other.
Lisa Kudrow added that the idea came from Courteney Cox, who'd gotten the idea from Seinfeld: her first notable sitcom appearance before Friends. "But that was also because Courteney started off saying, 'Listen ya'll, I was on Seinfeld, and they'll all help each other, so just let's help each other.'"
The cast members' real friendship, which developed to the point that an episode was based off of their backstage poker games, proves that the catchy theme song that introduced each episode, I'll Be There For You, was a perfect choice.
