Friends is one of these shows that are well known for their guest stars. From famous actors who walked through the doors of "Central Perk" (some of them ended up dating with someone from the fab six), to unknown young ones who had minor roles with maybe a line or two on script. I figure that, if you are a young actor who is trying to get on track, being in a sitcom, even if you are the guy drinking coffee on the next table or the super market cashier, helps you on the way. You are working with professionals, probably have access to free food and coffee and get a good paycheck that can get you through the rest of the month. I can't even imagine how many actors have worked on "Friends" but I decided to do a small flashback and take a look at some of the main cast's pre-fame appearances as guests, on other well successful shows, or maybe, on some shows that didn't do that well.
Lisa Kudrow
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Well, Lisa is the oldest one in the cast. Even though she looks much younger (thats a good thing in Hollywood I guess), she was 31 year old when "Friends" first aired. So, it's only natural that she's done much work before she finally made it big playing the role of her life.
One of the first videos we found when we started our research for this piece, is this one from a show called "Bob" and it's from 1993. I don't know what the show was about but it looks like one of those cool, old sitcoms that play on TV after midnight. You get stuck and stay up till 4 a.m. to watch them, even though you can just stream them online. Sometimes, it's all about the procedure. Phoebe...ehm.... Lisa comes in around 9:30 on the first clip. The most cool video though, is one that we found from a show called "Mad About you", an also well known sitcom. In this one, Lisa portrays a waitress called "drumroll....." Ursula Buffay! Later on, "Friends" and "Mad about you" had a connection, since the characters from both shows lived in N.Y.
As you can read on Wikipedia:
"In a Friends episode ("The One With The Two Parts", 1st Season), as part of a night of NBC sitcom crossovers, Jamie and Fran walk into Central Perk and mistake Phoebe for Ursula."
" In the season three episode "Pandora's Box", Jamie causes a city-wide power blackout in New York City, and the effects of the blackout are seen in the Friends episode, "The One with the Blackout", and there was also a blackout in the episode "Birthday in the Big House" of the short-lived NBC sitcom Madman of the People, which leaves open the possibility that the characters from this program may also exist in the same universe as the characters of Mad About You."
This show, also had connections with more sitcoms like "Seinfeld" for example. I think it's time for a "Mad about you" marathon.
One of the first videos we found when we started our research for this piece, is this one from a show called "Bob" and it's from 1993. I don't know what the show was about but it looks like one of those cool, old sitcoms that play on TV after midnight. You get stuck and stay up till 4 a.m. to watch them, even though you can just stream them online. Sometimes, it's all about the procedure. Phoebe...ehm.... Lisa comes in around 9:30 on the first clip. The most cool video though, is one that we found from a show called "Mad About you", an also well known sitcom. In this one, Lisa portrays a waitress called "drumroll....." Ursula Buffay! Later on, "Friends" and "Mad about you" had a connection, since the characters from both shows lived in N.Y.
As you can read on Wikipedia:
"In a Friends episode ("The One With The Two Parts", 1st Season), as part of a night of NBC sitcom crossovers, Jamie and Fran walk into Central Perk and mistake Phoebe for Ursula."
" In the season three episode "Pandora's Box", Jamie causes a city-wide power blackout in New York City, and the effects of the blackout are seen in the Friends episode, "The One with the Blackout", and there was also a blackout in the episode "Birthday in the Big House" of the short-lived NBC sitcom Madman of the People, which leaves open the possibility that the characters from this program may also exist in the same universe as the characters of Mad About You."
This show, also had connections with more sitcoms like "Seinfeld" for example. I think it's time for a "Mad about you" marathon.
Matt Le Blanc
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I remember when, many years ago, I was watching a "Married...with Children" episode and suddenly Matt Le Blanc walks through the door as one of Kelly's boyfriends! I was really happy to see him in "before Friends" action. But here is an "inception" kind of fact. There was an, amazingly shortlived, TV series called "Top of the Heap", in which Matt Le Blanc was a part of and which was a spin-off series of "Married...with children". The show lasted for only seven episodes but, it also had a spin-off, of it's own called, "Vinnie and Bobby". Matt Le Blanc played the character of Vinne Verducci on all of these shows. He also rocked the same outfit and basically, played an Italian - American... "Vinnie and Bobby" also lasted for only seven episodes. Matt Le Blanc also appeared on an episode of "Red shoe Diaries". Before he became Joey and before David Duchovny became an FBI agent! Check him out at 3:51, working that amazing 90's outfit.
David Schwimmer
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One of the first roles that Schwimmer landed was that of a lawyer in an old show called "L.A. Law", in which, he can be seen in five episodes. The real deal though, is the fact that David Schwimmer was one of the stars of a short lived show called "Monty". The show was a total failure and even though there were 12 episodes filmed, only 5 of them made it to the air. That's a good thing though, because that was the last role that he had before he became Ross. Who knows what would have happened if the show hadn't been cancelled that early? It could have caused something like a "butterfly effect" that could have brought Adam Sandler playing Ross and maybe, "Friends" would be one of those short lived TV series that had the opportunity to make it big but something was missing.
Matthew Perry
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Mathew Perry on "Beverly Hills 90210". Do I need to say anything else? He also played in an episode of "Who's the Boss?" were you can see him being Matthew Perry with some Hugh Grant kind of thing going on. I don't know why, but I always preferred the English version of this show called, "The Upper Hand".
Courteney Cox
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Courteney Cox knows well were all the ex-lovers of sitcom stars go after they "kill" them. She learned it the hard way since she was dumped by the main star of the most succesful sitcom of all time. Yep, I'm talking about "Seinfeld". She played Meryl, one of Jerry's girlfriends with whom she pretends to be husband and wife. Jerry freaks out and decides to break up with her but lets her keep his maple syrup. The episode aired on March 17th, 1994. A couple of months later, Courteney would star in a show that would let her get revenge and send many of her boyfriends back to unemployment! She also starred on a TV show called "Misfits of Science". It was an 80's superhero series and the only thing that I can tell you about it, is that it looks weird.
Jennifer Anniston
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Well, it's interesting that Jennifer Anniston was part of a show called "Ferris Bueller" which was based on the John Hughes movie "Ferris Bueller's day off". Of course the show was cancelled and now it's ancient history. I am wondering, why do they bother making shows based on classic movies? Has it ever worked? Right before that, she had also been one of the main characters in another failed sitcom called "Molloy". It only lasted for seven episodes. "Molloy" aired from July 25, 1990 until August 29, 1990 and "Ferris Bueller" first aired on August 23, 1990. Two cancelled shows in one summer, it must be really tough being an actor in Hollywood...
EXTRAS
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Maggie Wheeler (Janice) on "Seinfeld" with her regular voice!
James Michael Tyler (Gunther) in the music video for Chicane's "Come Tomorrow". Ok we cheated, this one is after "Friends", the truth is that his role at "Friends" was the very first role of his career.
James Michael Tyler (Gunther) in the music video for Chicane's "Come Tomorrow". Ok we cheated, this one is after "Friends", the truth is that his role at "Friends" was the very first role of his career.