Oprah: This show today is going to be so much fun. You know the hit show Friends. (to the audience) D’you all know that show? (audience cheers) Well, if you don’t, you have been living under a rock. Because not since Cheers has there been that much fun. Real people hanging around our living rooms. They remind you of yourself. Remind me of myself when I was younger. Anyway, it’s not only the hottest new sitcom, but last week, it was the third most-watched show in America. That means a lot - you’re all watching the show. All six of them are here today - all six. (cheers) Like, nobody cancelled. Live on The Oprah Show for their first ever TV interview. So, before I bring them out, I’ve got one question for you: Is this too fun or what? They’re so much fun!
[Friends theme song is played and a few scenes from season one are shown.]
Oprah: So, let’s bring them out. My first guest plays a guy who’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. (audience laughs) You like that. But he’s sinserely passionate. He’s a struggling actor. Joey Trabbiani (she pronounced it that way, not a typo!) on Friends but in real life his acting career has really taken off. (to person in the audience) What do you think of Joey? Who has a Joey opinion? You do? Yes, yes.
Woman #1: I think he has the cutest butt. He did an episode one time where he played a butt double or tried out for a butt touble, like Al Pacino’s or -
Oprah: I missed that one.
Woman #1: (makes big eyes as Matt LeBlanc walks out) There he is! (audience screams)
Oprah: There he is! Matt LeBlanc! Hi, Matt. You butt-doubled?
Matt: (as they greet each other) Yeah. (sits down in the chair on the right, there are six chairs where all of them will sit eventually)
Oprah: Ha, butt double. The next character is a flaky Friend. (to audience) Sit down, we’re live. You gotta sit quickly. (cont’d) Is a flaky Friend but she is, like, really in touch what with her inner self and everything and she uses words like "twirly" and "floopy" and "non-floopy." And (to audience) who likes her? Okay.
Man #1: I really like her because when she played the twins, she was - there was two of her, so… that really worked well.
Oprah: Welcome the Friend Phoebe Buffay, Lisa Kudrow! (cheers) Hi, Lisa! (they greet each other and Lisa sits down on the left) Now this Friend has some of the funniest lines ever but his biggest claim to fame is getting trapped in an ATM with a Victoria’s Secret model, Jill. (to audience) What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? What do you think?
Woman #2: Oh, he’s got the best wit, the best (???), the best personality. The best over all package on the show, I think.
Oprah: You think the best over all package? Please welcome, Matthew Perry who plays Chandler Bing! (cheers) Hi. (they greet each other and Matthew sits down to Lisa’s left) Okay, our next Friend left her groom at the altar, she cut her strings to daddy and that’s just the beginning of her man troubles. (to audience) Who wants to talk? Yes.
Man #2: I like her because she’s got a great personality and she’s got great chemistry with the other characters and especially, she likes to shop. (cheers)
Oprah: You like to shop. Welcome Jennifer Aniston who plays Rachel Green. (they greet each other)
Jennifer: Oprah! So nice to meet you! (she sits down to Matt’s right; cute: she touches his knee, he lays his arm around her)
Oprah: Our next Friend is the mother hen who plays the occasional voice of reason. She previously starred in Family Ties and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective but a true fan will remember this. The year was 1984, Bruce Springsteen was on fire with this song, and just look who he plugged out from the audience (music video is shown)… (to Man #3) So, you’re a big Courteney fan?
Man #3: Yeah, the video is actually the reason why. (Something like: "When I was 14, she was my first crush." Can’t quite make it out.)
Oprah: Really?
Man #3: Yes. (cheers)
Oprah: Please welcome Courteney! (greetings, Courteney sits down to Matthew’s left) I know you love having that video as your claim to fame now.
Courteney: Yes.
Oprah: Loving having that. Now, our next Friend, he’s an Oprah Show in itself. The wife left him for another woman. We did that years ago. Then turns up pregnant with his baby. (to audience) Who’s a big Ross fan here? Yes, yes, yes.
Woman #3: No offense to the other guys, but he has the hippest hair and the hippest clothes.
Oprah: The hippest hair and clothes. You watch every week? Okay. Welcome David Schwimmer who plays Ross Gellar. (he sits down between Courteney and Jennifer; note: without greeting Oprah, tsk) Okay. Okay. We’ll get to the monkey in a little bit. The monkey is not here, okay? ("Awww…") The monkey is not here. When we come back, I wanna find out how much backstage flirtation is going on when there is this many attractive single people working together. We’re also gonna talk about the boyfriend bonfire. But first, take a look at Monica as - at the foosballing.
[Scene from Friends. Then commercial break.]
Oprah: Oh, we’re talking today to the cast of Friends. Live here in Chicago today which is, you know, the hottest new sitcom. It’s airing Thursday nights on NBC. Earlier this season, the girlfriends of Friends held an all boyfriend bonfire. We did a show like this once. Take a look.
[Scene from Friends.]
Oprah: You see, it’s so funny? And the thing we love about this show is that - the chemistry between all you guys. It’s something that I don’t believe you can fake. Even an actor. So, the first question is: how good of friends are you? I’ll start with you, Lisa.
Lisa: We’re very good friends. Now. I mean, honestly (quiet giggles) - I can’t be funny about this. (laughter) These are five people that really honestly matter to me.
Oprah: Yeah.
Lisa: Yeah, honestly. And sometimes people ask questions like, ‘Woo, what’s Courteney like?’ And, ‘What’s - ‘ And they want some dirtier stuff but then it just gets personal.
Oprah: Cause why? They think Courteney’s gonna be a snob or something?
Lisa: I think they - No, I think they originally thought that -
Oprah: (to Courteney) Every article I read said you were gonna be the big snob. Talking with your nose up in the air, ‘Yeah, so what.’
Courteney: That’s actually who I am. (laughter)
Lisa: Courteney is actually the most grounded, I think. Uh-huh.
Matthew: This is the first time I’ve actually met Courteney. (laughter) So, she seems very, very nice and I hope we get along well.
Oprah: Yeah. Do you guys watch the show together? Do you get together on Thursday nights or are you taping still?
Jennifer: We were better about that in the beginning but we try as much as we can to get together and watch.
Oprah: So, what’s that like if you got six actors in a room watching themselves?
Jennifer: Oh, God.
Lisa: It’s a nightmare for anyone else.
Oprah: So, when you first joined the cast, Matt. Did you think it was gonna be an intimidating thing or did you think, ‘Oh, we need to bond.’ What?
Matt: When I first started, I was just really looking forward to getting along with everyone. I think we all kind of came together with an open mind, to get along and bond as quick as possible. And I think that’s kind of what happened. I mean, we all kind of hit it off right away.
Oprah: What do you do to bond, David?
David: (clears his throat like Ross does when he’s nervous) Uh… (laughter) Actually, we just - the taping of the pilot was probably the first thing. Everyone was - the reality of the business is that we don’t know if the pilot’s going to be picked up, so everyone is kind of keeping their distance and not really investing too much emotionally in the other people. I think it’s -
Oprah: You may never see them again.
David: Exactly. Or there’s also the reality that any of us could be removed after the pilot. I mean, it’s happened a lot in the business, so …
Jennifer: Is there still a possibility?
David: Yeah. So, I think, until we know that we were picked up for the season and until - I think three shows into it, that’s when we really started to, you know, …
Oprah: And now when you know that you’re the number one sitcom of the season, does that, like - what does that feel like? (No one knows who should answer, so…)
Matthew: Bad. (laughter) No, it’s overwhelming and it’s - we knew when we first read the first script that this was something that was good. And that had a shot at being something that was successful. And, I think, almost everybody up here (smiles at Jennifer and possibly David at this) has been in shows that have -
Oprah: It’s the same guy that did Taxi. One of my favorite shows of all time on earth, on TV.
Matthew: Jim Burrows. Oh, I know. He’s just amazing. And - so we knew it had a shot at something and then NBC gave it a great time slot, we knew that people would at least watch the first couple and what’s been going on has just been amazing.
Oprah: Do you guys hate the label Generation X because our friendship’s timeless or do you not. Do you hate it?
Jennifer: Well, it doesn’t really apply to us.
David: Well… (hesitates to continue)
Jennifer: (hits his knee with her finger) Go.
David: Okay. (chuckles) Yeah, I do [hate it.] I just hate the label in general because to me it’s kind of slacker (Jennifer nods her head in agreement) and all my [??] aggressively pursuing our jobs or relationships or just trying to come to groups with, like, identities - no one is kind of laying back and (cool-y), ‘Yeah, yeah…We’re Generation X.’ Everyone I know is kind of aggressive - I don’t like the connotation.
Oprah: Do you love the character you play?
David: I do, yes.
Oprah: Do you all do - tell me about the relationship to the character you play. Are you anything like the character you play?
Matt: I think to a certain extent, yeah. I’d like to think I’m not quite as dumb as Joey. (laughter)
Oprah: I love the one [episode] that starts "omnipotent", "omnipotent." (laughter)
Matt: Yeah, sorry to hear.
Oprah: Sorry to hear. Anything like the character you play, Lisa?
Lisa: (overly Phoebe-ish) No. (laughter)
Oprah: Do you like the character you play?
Lisa: Yeah, yeah, she’s nice.
Oprah: Fun to play?
Lisa: Very fun to play. Really nice person and I get in a fun mood if I’m her for a long, long time.
Oprah: You have to be, yeah.
David: I realize you have to be the smartest person in the bunch to play a character that ditzy. I mean, it takes a really smart, smart person to play someone that kind of out there.
Oprah: Because ditzy is not ditzy unless it’s done well.
David: Exactly, and Lisa has that.
Lisa: Aww, thanks, Dave.
Oprah: (to woman in the audience) Okay, you have a question?
Woman #4: Yeah, I wanna know how your new found fame has changed your personal lives.
Matthew: Not at all. (starts pretend crying and holds his hand in front of his face; laughter)
Lisa: If you’re in L.A. no one cares because there are better, bigger stars than us walking around, so… no one -
Oprah: How easy is it to go out? Do you buy something special? Do you - you bought a bigger house. You got a larger pool, you’re knocking down a wall. How has it changed you?
David: I bought Ohio.
Oprah: You bought Ohio? Really Jennifer, anything?
Jennifer: No, I haven’t felt… I still just go to work every day… and… and… the only difference is…
Oprah: You don’t feel it yet?
Jennifer: I mean the people on the street… but I’m - (pointing to the others) I don’t get it as much as these guys, I don’t know why. I haven’t been bombarded by people, and I don’t feel of it has changed my life that much.
Oprah: Really? Not in any way?
Jennifer: (thinks hard) I mean, of course I can buy -
Oprah: You can buy stuff.
Jennifer: Yeah. I can buy a house. If I want to. (laughter)
Matthew: What’s your deal? I can’t get a house. I got a couch. (laughter)
Lisa: I think we’re kind of self-conscious about it. We’re kind of young and ‘I’m gonna buy a car and then I’m gonna buy a house…’ There’s just something… I don’t know. (laughter)
Oprah: (to woman in audience) Okay, you had a question? One question and then we’ll take a break.
Woman #5: David, do you own and train the monkey and how do you all like working with the monkey? Is it hard to work with an animal or?
Cast: Oh, God. (You hear Jennifer especially.)
David: Yes. Honestly, I don’t own the monkey. The monkey’s actually
Oprah: He doesn’t own the monkey, he doesn’t want to own the monkey.
David: Exactly. Very, very expensive. The animal - the monkey itself is a sweetheart. Nothing against the - her name is actually Monkey.
Jennifer: And Katie.
David: And Katie is her double. And it’s great. The reality is that when you’re filming, you only have so much time and so much rehearsal and the monkey although it’s trained just can’t get everything right every time. And usually does not. So, ehm,
Oprah: Isn’t this diplomatic? This is so diplomatic.
David: Well, I have to be. So, it’s just really exhausting. It takes literally twice as much time, so -
Oprah: So, when you see it’s gonna be a scene with a monkey you know it’s not gonna be a good day.
David: Yeah, it’s gonna be a long day.
Matthew: We have a clip of David beating up the monkey. (laughter)
[Scenes with Marcel, the monkey. Then commercial break.]
Oprah: Growing up, which TV families did you watch?
David, Jennifer and (???): Patridge family.
Matt: Brady Bunch.
Courteney: Bewitched was my favorite.
Jennifer: Oh, Bewitched!
Oprah: Aren’t you glad the television is more realistic or are you - or you’re, ‘Oh, we’re better off when TV family was…’ Of course you were. I don’t know. Anyway…
Jennifer: I think television has such an impact on society that it needs to be a little more realistic if you’re gonna be putting messages out there. I mean, it’s nice to have a fantasy to go to - is great. But so many people are affected by what they see and I think it’s our responsibility to be as realistic as you can be.
Lisa: You know, my parents -
Oprah: I was gonna say what Jennifer - I’m sorry, I’m gonna let you speak.
Lisa: I was gonna say that my parents wouldn’t let my brothers and sister watch Leave it to Beaver. Cause it wasn’t real enough. (laughter) They forbade it. It was forbidden.
Oprah: You are kidding.
Lisa: No, that was funny.
Oprah: That was funny, yeah.
[Clips of Marcel, the monkey again.]
Man #4: I have a question for David. We’ve seen you on NYPD Blue and Law and Order as lawyers, playing dramatic roles. Do you consider yourself a dramatic actor or a comedic actor? Plus: was your death scene on NYPD Blue your first major death scene?
David: That’s a good one. It was my first major death scene on television, in a play it was not. And I guess I just consider myself an actor. I love doing dramatic stuff and I love doing comedic stuff, as well. I trained at Northwestern and we kind of ran the gammot there. (applause) Thanks for watching NYPD Blue.
Oprah: Do you guys do funny stuff when you’re, you know, off - I mean, on the set to pass the time? Especially those long days with the monkeys.
Jennifer: Ask him. (points at Matthew)
Oprah: Ask Matthew, yes?
Matthew: This is television, ask him.
Lisa: He’s hilarious.
Jennifer: He’s constantly making us laugh.
David: He keeps us in a good mood all the time.
Jennifer: If the energy is low, Matty comes in and it’s just…
David: Or a long, grueling photoshoot, after the fifth hour of it (Jennifer laughs), he comes with one-liners.
Lisa: Can’t remember a time when he - it’s just funny when you’re there. (Matthew hugs her as he sits right next to her and kisses her shoulder.)
Woman #6: I was wondering if you have platonic relationships with the opposite sex off the show as well?
Oprah: (because not everyone understood the question) Do you have platonic friends off the show?
Courteney: Oh, yeah. I have a group of friends - maybe six of them, are just like this (points to her co-stars). (to Matt) I actually don’t have a friend like your character. His character can just be really… in real life, I’m not sure. You know, you’re so enthralled with women, I’m just not sure. (to Matthew) But I definitely have a friend like Chandler.
Jennifer: Definitely. We all do.
Oprah: Do you believe that men and women can just be friends for long periods of time, that you can have platonic relationships with two very attractive people?
Cast: Yes.
Courteney: I’m not so sure that - at one point in the relationship, someone might have had a crush on the other person but it didn’t pan out. I think it usually starts that way.
David: I think it’s always the case in the male-female relationship in a friendship that one person -
Oprah: A man can’t be in a relationship without -
David: No, one or the other is always a little attracted to the other person. And then they realize eventually it wasn’t gonna happen and -
Oprah: At some point it’s always there, it has to come up, even though it may not be resolved. You know?
Courteney: It usually gets resolved. You usually talk about it. It doesn’t always have to happen that way but usually you work it out.
Matthew: When we first started the show, there was a lot of …
David: … all the women wanting men.
Matthew: A lot of that. (laughter) And by episode four, I was like, ‘Girls, back off. We do have to work together.’ And now it’s a year later and …
Lisa: All that tension.
Matthew: … we’ve worked it all out.
Oprah: Would you ever consider a relationship with anybody on the set because I would think that it would be really tough if it didn’t work out. Yeah, so is that like, ‘Hands off.’ You’re just like - you would not.
Jennifer: We don’t even think about that.
David: LeBlanc and I a little bit. (laughter)
Jennifer: Easy!
[Scene of Joey teaching Ross to talk sexy. Commercial break. Scene of the guys trying to teach the girls Poker.]
Oprah: Did you already know how to play Poker before?
Jennifer: We play in the back room. We call it our Poker room.
Courteney: Everyone but me.
Jennifer: Everyone but you and LeBlanc, well…
Matt: Nah. Don’t know.
Oprah: Don’t know, okay. This is what’s so funny.
Courteney: At the beginning of the season, they would literally run from scene right back to the Poker room, playing, playing, playing. I was like, ‘Oh, you’re gonna get really sick of each other.’ And at about episode four you will come knocking on my door, trying to get to know me. But no.
Oprah: You all went to Vegas together, we love that.
Jennifer: Jim Burrows took us in an effort to bond that was sort of…
David: … obviously didn’t work.
(A group of friends, five people, stand up in the crowd and one of them asks a question.)
Man #7: It was actually something you brought up on the show. When someone dates somebody, it’s kind of the rite of passage to bring that person you’re dating into the group of friends and everybody has their own opinion about them and your friends don’t like…
Oprah: So, is it fun? No.
Jennifer: No, it’s a nightmare. It’s horrible.
Oprah: Has it happened to you guys? Have you done it, Matt?
Matt: We’ve done it a couple of different ways on the show where Monica’s brought a guy which we really didn’t like and we’ve done it - so she broke up with him - and then we’ve done it in a way where we really, really like him and that freaked her out and she broke up with him anyway. (laughter)
Oprah: Filming that scene we just saw before during the break, that whole you (Joey and Ross) talking dirty, I mean, how did you not crack up during that?
David: Oh my God.
Matt: Ugh, God.
David: Because we knew exactly - we knew that Matt Perry was behind us and I swear in rehearsal, it was, we were, I - I can’t talk. I think we didn’t crack up only because the audience was there and it was pressure, we were on cam- we were being filmed but in rehearsal, I was just losing it, knowing how classic a moment it was and knowing he would enter the room. It was just… too much.
Matt: It’s also so funny. I mean, the dialogue leading up to that point was just such a bizarre situation.
Oprah: You were saying you were all trying to shuffle it different ways.
Matthew: Yeah, that was an example of the collaborative nature that we have on the show. There’s a funny moment - on the page a very funny moment - and just how do you portray it the funniest way? So I tried a couple times where I make my presence known earlier and they do a big take, like, ‘Whoa!’ That kind of thing and then we thought the funniest way is that slow reveal like, ‘Oh, my God, he’s actually seeing us do this. Oh, my God.’ Then we went back and forth a bunch of differnet ways, you know?
Oprah: One of the reasons you guys are so good is that it is rehearsed. Is it hard to make funny funny seven takes later?
Matthew: We change the way we do it, you know? I mean it’s not - we don’t do it the same way seven times in a row, so we try to keep it as funny as possible and hopefully end up with the funniest.
Man #8: I was just wondering if the guys would grace us with their Paolo impression?
Matt & Matthew: How did that go?
David: Like (does the impression). Like mocking him? (All three of them do the impression. Applause.)
Woman #7: Okay, Ross, this question is for you. Do you think that there’s any chance that you and your wife or should I say ex-wife could reunite after the baby is born?
David: No, no.
Woman #7: No, you’re sure not.
David: It’s interesting. It’s a good question because we talk a lot as a cast and with the writers and trying to portray, to remain the reality situation as much as possible and in portraying that gay relationship in a positive way and the reality is, it’s just, that’s the way it is. It’s a sad thing but as a father - the baby is really going to be brought up by these two women and I’m gonna try to be part of the baby’s life but yeah. I mean, we’re staying true to who she is. So, no.
Woman #7: Thank you.
[Scene of Friends.]
(The cast came up with question about Friends which the fans in the audience have to answer to win a T-shirt.)
Matt: Okay. This is a question about my character since I know him the best. "What play was Joey seen in and signed by his agent to get his big break as the butt double for Al Pacino?"
Woman #8: Freud. (wins the T-shirt)
Oprah: Jennifer?
Jennifer: Okay. "In the Poker episode, what was my winning hand?"
Woman #9: (insert right answer here)
David: Yes.
Jennifer: Yes, it was.
Oprah: That’s a trivia question!
Jennifer: David came up with that.
David: "What was the name of the laundry detergent I used on our first date?"
Jennifer: It wasn’t a date.
Oprah: Laundry detergent you used on your first date?
David: Yeah. What I thought was our first date. (One person says "Über," the other "Weiss")
Oprah: Courteney? Your question.
Courteney: I hope it’s not too hard. "The episode where Jon Lovitz was on, where I was cooking for him, I made something for him as an appitizer and he repeated it three times."
(The person in the audience says "tartlets.") Oh, that was the appitizer but not the one I was thinking of. You’re right.
Oprah: Okay, Matthew, we’re waiting.
Matthew: Okay. "When Chandler was stuck in the ATM with Jill Goodacher (sp?), Jill Goodacher offered him gum. What did he - what did I say?"
Woman #10: Gum would be perfection. (That’s right, she gets the shirt.)
Lisa: Okay, this is really hard.
Jennifer: Okay, Lisa. (chuckles)
Lisa: Yeah, really hard. "Who knows the song that was playing during the blackout show that Phoebe was writing?" And you’ve got to sing it.
Jennifer: Oh, that’s a good one.
Oprah: That is a good one.
Lisa: That is mine. Not so dumb after all.
(The cast sings the song because the lady didn’t want to.)
Jennifer: What was the first?
Matthew: New York City.
David: I was out on the balcony, so I don’t remember.
? New York City has no power and the milk is getting sour. But to me it is not scary… ?
[Commercial break. Then a group of teenage girls gush about Friends.]
Oprah: How does it make you feel when you have that kind of impact on the country.
Lisa: Didn’t know ’till just now.
Jennifer: That was the first time we’ve ever actually seen something like that. It’s amazing.
Matthew: It’s great to look at.
David: Yeah.
[Commercial break.]
Oprah: Favorite episodes. Do you have favorite ones?
Jennifer: Favorite episode or favorite - favorite episode, I’d have to say the Poker episode. I love that episode.
Oprah: Was that scene that you and Matt did your favorite, David?
David: Actually, my favorite scene was that slow motion dive where Phoebe saves Marcel with the dart in the butt.
Jennifer: That really was great.
Oprah: Okay, favorite scene or episode, Lisa?
Lisa: Yeah, that cracked me up and also when Jennifer and Courteney switched [characters in the George Clooney/Noah Wyle episode]. Hilarious.
Oprah: I love that, too. Matthew?
Matthew: When Monica dated a guy that we all loved and then she informed us that she was dumping him and we took it all like we were being dumped. I really like that scene a lot.
Oprah: Courteney?
Courteney: I think the one with the sonogram, the second episode. When - I can’t even remember what was in that episode, I just remember it was my favorite.
[Commercial break.]
Oprah: Friends airs Thursday nights on NBC right after Seinfeld. I hope you guys stay for a loong time.
Cast: Thank you.
Copyright: Laura / cookie jar