Lisa Kudrow might have hated filming the opening credit sequence for “Friends” much more than listening to the studio viewers snigger too lengthy.
On Monday’s episode of the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast, the actor reminisced in regards to the late Matthew Perry, spurring Kudrow to inform a hilarious and bittersweet story about her former co-star — and the way their present’s now-iconic opening might be considered as an homage to Perry.
“Honest to God, shooting those titles in the fountain was a nightmare,” Kudrow stated. The “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” star went on to clarify that the collection’ intro was filmed late at evening when the water within the fountain was extraordinarily chilly.
“We’d done, I think, 500 takes of dancing,” Kudrow stated, describing it as “unmotivated.”
Noting that she doesn’t like every type of “discomfort, at all,” she remembered getting fairly cranky towards the tip of the shoot, snapping at crew members who recommended she play with a shawl.
“I was a real joy,” Kudrow stated, poking enjoyable at herself.
“And it was so cold, and we had to keep doing it,” Kudrow recalled. “They said, ‘We’re going to do one more take.’ And he [Perry] said: ‘One more? OK. Can’t remember a time I wasn’t in a fountain.’”
Kudrow continued to mimic Perry, mimicking his distinctive cadence when he cracked jokes.
“Seriously. Can’t remember a time I wasn’t wet,” Kudrow recalled Perry snarking. “What, are we wet? In a fountain? What, are we dancing in a fountain?”
She added, “I don’t know when I’ve laughed so hard.”
The “Comeback” star additionally famous that this occurred earlier than Perry’s comedic means of talking was written into his “Friends” character, Chandler Bing, and that the entire solid was tickled by his supply.
“You see us laughing, and it’s because … [the crew said] ‘Ready, we’re going to go again,’ [and Perry said] ‘What, are we going at it again? Are we going to do it again?’” Kudrow recalled, noting that the solid was “laughing hysterically, just doubled over — and that’s in the titles.”
So, in response to Kudrow, the laughter within the “Friends” intro is totally real, however it’s geared toward Perry’s sarcastic response to the absurd state of affairs.
Her loving anecdote — which she’s additionally shared previously — provides some context to a narrative in regards to the intro that set decorator Greg Grande recounted to Entertainment Weekly in 2022, although he remembered the actors being far much less grumpy.
When the journal requested Grande how the solid ended up within the fountain within the first place, he stated: “To my best recollection, that wasn’t a scripted thing. … It was more impromptu. As [the actors] got later into the evening, they had more fun with the back and forth. They were just happy to hang out and have a few cocktails, probably. I don’t want to say who started it, but one of them did, and they ended up inside the fountain. And that was some of the best footage. It was kind of an impromptu, wonderful moment.”
Because of Kudrow, followers now know that the explanation it was so magical is as a result of a moist, crabby Perry couldn’t be any funnier.
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