All for One...
By Janet Weeks "TV Guide"

So are you best friends in real life?
LISA: Were all good friends. When it's lunch time and someone wants to eat off set, it's understood there's an open invitation to lunch for whoever wants to go. But a lot of the time us girls all go to the same place together.
COURTENEY: The guys often eat together too, or they'll want to play video games in their room or something. We're all really close. The girls are probably my two best friends in the world. There's unconditional love between us which means we always sort out any problems between us.
MATTHEW: But don't you love us guys, too? We thought we were tight with you girls!
COURTENEY: I said all six of us were close!
MATTHEW: No you didn't!
COURTENEY: But I meant it, though! We're all so close we can take hot baths together!
MATTHEW: Yes, but first we walk upstairs to our dressing rooms and work things out!

So the guys actually do get on with the girls, then?
LISA: They're, well, OK! No, we all like each other and once in a while we'll be waiting around the set for something and we'll just gather in someone's room to hand out until things get going on the shoot. The guys do tend to hang out with the guys and the girls with the girls, but may be we've been conditioned to behave like that - everywhere we go we're introduced in alphabetical order and that immediately puts us ladies first!

If you really need to talk to someone on the show, who do you go to?
MATT: Well, if Matthew gives me enough money I'll say we all reach out for him!
MATTHEW: It depends on the kind of problem. I'd feel comfortable going to anyone. David has a very strong business head and he's very creative. Matty is really smart about relationships and how to handle sticky situations with people.
MATT: I can only sort out other people's relationships, though! Jen is just an angel with great advice all the time and Lisa is really, really smart and creative. Courtney is like a big sister.

Do you ever find yourselves acting like your character by mistake?
JENNIFER: That has happened to me. I've reacted like Rachel in real life, embarrassingly enough!
MATT: We so much time building up the character during rehearsals that you get home and sometimes you haven't left the guy or girl behind. That's a little strange.

How has being in Friends changed your lives?
JENNIFER: Well, I get recognised so I don't have the freedom to go shopping whenever I want. The show has also given us a very comfortable income and that changes your lifestyle.
COURTENEY: I think that in my real life I sometimes think like a sitcom. My friends say that since I've been on Friends I've become funnier - I don't steal jokes from the show, but I get with the spirit of it.
DAVID: I think for me it's the experience with the media, the backlash we've felt, that has contributed to a loss of innocence. I've gone through a loss of naivety that sometimes I wish I still had. Ross has become less innocent too, and may be that has something to do with me changing.

Why do you reckon Friends is such a popular show?
LISA: I thinks it represents in this day and age, friends have become like a second family for many people. People live more spread out from their families ever before and their friends have come to replace them.
DAVID: Lisa stole my answer! I was going to say exactly the same thing. Divorces are more common, more people go away to college or work abroad so families are split up. So you create another family out of a group of friends.
MATTHEW: The good thing about friendships is you get to choose your friends, but you don't get to choose your family.

Do you think people watching can tell your friends in real life?
COURTENEY: Definitely - that's why the show keeps on working. Because we all share the same work environment and the fame thing, we really relate to each other. If I have a problem, a lot of the time I turn t these guys. Well I don't turn to Matthew, but there you go! No, I didn't mean that!

So, own up then - who's the richest, who's the funniest and who's the most intelligent of you all?
MATT: Well, the richest is me. The funniest is me and, well, I guess somebody else should go next!
MATTHEW: Yeah, I'm the most intelligent!

Do you thinks you've become like your character at all?
JENNIFER: Yeah, everything sort of morphs into one. The friendships are very similar. The writers watch us and they get to know us and start to write in things that are similar to events that really took place. That happened with the poker game scene because we were all obsessed with playing poker at the time. But there are lots of unreal things, too. David and I don't actually like each other at all!
DAVID: She's right.
JENNIFER: I remember the producers saying they never expected Joey to be so loving and warm. Matt just oozes those qualities and they've rubbed off. He's one of the sweetest people ever.

Is that true?
JENNIFER: Yes, it's very true.
MATT: That's very nice of you. She's never said that about you, Matthew!
COURTENEY: Then there's Lisa, who's nothing like Phoebe. Lisa's really with it. She's so hot on doing impressions of people. Also she's a top university graduate. She's so smart unlike Phoebe.
LISA: Thanks you, I love you!
MATTHEW: Someone say something nice about me!

OK, is Matthew like Chandler, then?
LISA: They've taken a lot of Matthew and put it into Chandler - if any one of us is copied, it's Matthew most of all. He's got such an attractive style of humor that we all latched on to.
MATTHEW: I feel much better now, thanks.

What do you do on your days off?
LISA: We only have one week off every so often so I have to catch up on things at home, being the only married one. If we're lucky enough to fit in some film work, we do that. I don't travel much because I'm not a good traveller.
DAVID: Us guys all travelled to England for a break earlier this year. It was a mix of work and play.
MATT: We went to London together and it turned into a vacation for the three of us. We also went to Paris briefly. it was fun in London because nobody expected to see us three walking down the street together. We attracted a fair crowd! But in Paris we were treated like anybody else. That was strange...

Do you worry that the show has passed it's peak?
MATTHEW: I think I peaked about a year and a half ago! I just do the same old stuff over and over!
MATT: We'll still watch you! No, he's right, though - But if we don't have that challenge, it wouldn't be fun foe us anymore.
JENNIFER: It never gets boring for us because the character are evolving and we add different dimensions to them as the years go on.

So where will it all end up?
COURTENEY: We could be like the Cheers people and become really good friends for life.
MATTHEW: We're already getting to the stage where we're picking up each other's traits, like friends do. You know, Matty's even starting to look like me!
MATT: Hey now, I wouldn't go that far!

YOU (STILL) GOT TO HAVE FRIENDS