Two In The Think Tank - 145 - Friends (the TV Show, not the concept)

Episode Date: August 1, 2018

So no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A. It's like you're always stuck in second gear. When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but we'll be there for you with a podcast about popular 90s sitcom, Friends! Could we BE any more fun than that?!Tickets to our just announced Melbourne Live Show on October 13 at Howler: https://www.moshtix.com.au/v2/event/do-go-on-live/105917?&skin=4406&ref=hwlrSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPodSubmit a topic idea directly to the hat: https://dogoonpod.com/submit-a-topic/Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out Matt's new podcast Prime Mates : https://www.planetbroadcasting.com/our-shows/prime-matesMatt's Tour dates: mattstewartcomedy.com/gigs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, Jess and Dave, just jumping in really quickly at the top here to make sure that you are across all the details for our upcoming Christmas show. That's right, we are doing a live show in Melbourne Saturday December the 2nd, 2023, our final podcast of the year, our Christmas special. It's downstairs at Morris House, which usually be called the European beer cafe. On Saturday December the 2nd, 2023 at 4.30pm, come along, come one, come all, and get tickets at dogoonpod.com. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now.

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from our great mates Hello and welcome to another oh god that was gone already Dave can you do only you wrap it? Hello everybody, but they was day Dave can you you do one where you wrap it? Hello, everybody, my name is Dave. Dave, can you not do that? I want to do that. Oh. Hello, everyone. Hello, my name is Dave.

To another episode off to go on. My name is Dave Warnakian. I'm here with two people that I hold dear. That's a wrap. No, it wasn't. Jess Berkins and Matt Stewart, hello. Hello, thank you so much Jess for making it impossible for me to edit out that mistake. But if Matt did it out, she asked

me to do a rap version of the intro and I said don't do it and I kind of half did it. You didn't half do it. You said I'm here with people I hold dear that's the opening line of many Slim Shady LPs. LPs? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. See, I'm down. Don't real Slim Shady? Yes, stand him up. And then sit him back down. It's my time to talk. Not you. The real Slim Shady, stand him up.

Stand him up. On a date. On a date. That'll show him. You're not putting him back in the corner. What's that mean? Nobody puts slim in the corner. That's what they've back in the corner. What's that mean? Nobody puts slim in the corner. That's what they've said in the past.

Yep. And continue to do so. Hello, everyone. Hello, Boppa. Hello, Davy Boy. Hello, Maddie Stu. DJ Maddie Stu. DJ.

Ready to podcast. I am ready to put what are you doing over there? We were wrapping. What are you doing over there? I'm just chomping at the bit. Chomping at the bit. That's what I was gonna do. I'm chomping at the bit.

Some people say chomps, some people say chomps. Yeah, I think you find out the way. Context wise, we get it. Well the recipe is ready. Chomping at the bit. Yeah, the chomp is here. And I'm, I'm kind of get into my report. Dave, do you want to give us a little explanation of what the show is all it's always on me and then I get bullied for not doing a good job

I'm on it. I'm on it. Thank you. Thank you. Do you go on? Was created in 2015 When Matt Stewart Dave Warnke and Jess Perkins Created a podcast and what they do. I mean, I don't go to this much detail. I'll let you know. Excuse me. And on that podcast, what they do is, one of them chooses a topic,

does a report on that topic. The other two, well, they don't want to know what a topic is today. I don't actually, that's sound, what easy to explain. I mean, she said it in a weird bird voice, put a puff of that. The words were very simple, Dave. I am sorry. Well, I didn't claim said it in a weird, brooded voice, put a puff of that. The words were

very simple, Dave. I didn't claim that I did a good job. I just got given the job. And then I, as I said, I often get bullied for not doing a good job. It's just, it's just it's all loose now. Great. Jess is in your job. Love it. And the way we get on the topic is by the report, give her asking a question. So this week is my turn to do a report. And Jess and Dave do not know what the report is on. I just said that. The question today is to try to steal your job. Yes, it's a quick recap.

Man's blaming. Question. Yes, a podcast is audio based. What? Question this week is, which American sitcom was going to be called Insomnia Cafe during its development? Frasier. No. Friends. Yes. Yes. I think that's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom.

I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom. I think it's a terrible name for a sitcom.

I think it's a terrible name for a seen. I've ever seen his lame. Thinking about that a lot, like it just, yeah. It's one of those things where everything sound would sound a bit dolmouth first. Coca-Cola. Well, do go on. Yeah. Now that always sounded great.

That's great. Three syllables. This topic was suggested by Will Barron. And I went back to it. He suggested it's quite, this was quite a while back in the hat. So you think the original hat? Yeah, and the old original hat.

And... And then he brackets, he said, the TV show, not the concept in front. I remember reading that. Not the concept of friendship, was there? There really may be love. And then I've gone back to his Twitter account and there are zero tweets.

He's like, he's wiped it down. He's wiped it down. Wiped it clean, like a... A pino clean and an eceptic wipe? Like it's some sort of burner account. Yeah, that's what it feels like. It feels like a crimes being committed. He's just been wiped from the internet.

Yeah. Did you go to glimps and it said this man never existed. There hasn't been a wheelbarrow in around these parts for seven years. Yes. This Twitter account, it's a goddamn ghost town. Why am I doing here? I'll just tune some hay.

The sheriff again? No, this is a different character. This is a nuanced character with a thick backstory. Yeah, thick. Thick. And thick, but. Oh. And thick, but. Oh. And thick, but.

And when I say thick backstory, I'm talking about his butt. Well, that's a thick backside. Uh, well, let's talk about friends. The concept? Um, the TV show. Ah. Are you guys, are you a big fan, man? I didn't know if you were.

Uh, no, not really. Right, love that enthusiasm. Several people tweeted in saying, love the Pantary episode, because feel how passionate Matt was for the topic. I mean, I love TV comedy. I think Friends is a good show. I just don't love it. I think it feels like a comfort TV thing. Yeah.

Jess, you were a watcher? Yeah, I reckon I've seen all of friends. I realized writing this report that I'd never seen the last episode. I'm like, oh, that's how it ended. Dave, are you a fan? I don't know how it ends and I really watched it. But bits and pieces.

Yeah, so I know the concept, no all the characters, and they're sort of vague quirks. Yeah. But I'm interested to hear how it came about, and... I did, so the episode three of my grand new podcast primates is about an episode of Friends from season one, where Ross gets a monkey. So I've been thinking about friends a bit lately.

The concept. The concept. And that's why I can't you two amongst my friends. Get out. Yeah, I do. I really do. They're not just like co-workers. We're amongst.

You're amongst them. Yeah, when my friends are around, you're amongst my friends. Oh wow. Oh no, what has he done? The Rachel. And during that episode, we were talking with Alistair Tromba Virtualzon with me

and we were talking about maybe how, like, I can't remember if you agreed or not, but friends is maybe like something like the Beatles and Seinfeld is like Rolling Stones of Wasp first. So they were like the two big ones. Yeah, I do know how people say, I'm not a friends person, I'm one of a Seinfeld. Yeah, you want to be a guy.

You want to be a guy. A lot of people are one of the other and I'd say I'm a Seinfeld person. I'm more of a sign felt. Yeah, you want a lot of people are one of the other. And I'd say I'm a sign felt person. I would say, I do love sign felt, but I don't, I only love sign felt because I don't like friends. Yeah. I think you can totally like both. I'd say I'm friends

because I never really watched much of sign felt. Right. Interesting. Well, just, you have just been excommunicated from this podcast. Really? Because it's serious to me. No, that, I'm.

You're gonna do that. You're gonna ruin the pod over sign felt. Yeah, it's a great show. What sign going to do that. You're going to ruin the pod over Seinfeld. Yeah, it's a great show. What Seinfeld ever done for you though. Maybe laugh. Okay, have I not done that? How dare you! Thank you. Probably not as much as George Costanza's father. Man, he's one of the funniest characters I've ever seen.

Jerry, Stella. He's so funny. Oh, God. It's already... It's already now! He's so funny. Oh, God. Ready. Serena. Serena. The good times we've had. Well, we're not talking about that. We're talking about friends, the concept and the show.

But I'm really glad to hear that you're a fan, Jess. Yeah. I'd say I'm probably halfway between you and Dave. Perfect. We got the whole bloody spectrum here. Friends, creative duo. that's a good start. The first sentence doesn't make sense. The friends creative duo was made up of Marta Kaufman and David Crane.

So, as you see those names at the... Yeah, I remember the names. Before even said them, they just came to my mind. I've seen more than I thought. Who had previously had some success with a sitcom on HBO called Dream On, which I don't recall at all, starring Brian Benben, who plays... Is that a dog? No, is that a super dog?

Someone's come up with that as a name for a character, Brian Benben, who plays Martin Topper. Topper. A book editor who had watched a lot of TVs a child in the 1950s and he expresses his thoughts through snippets of old TV dramas in black and white. This ran for six seasons from 1990 to 1996. Wow.

That sounds like a pretty crazy concept. Yeah. They also created an NBC sitcom called The Powers that Be and I've cooked out a little summary from the Wikipedia page It's about Witches or good guests, but no wizards They work at a power plant. No neither of those. Oh, they are bees. No, they get this. It's a double whammy Here we go, then last name is power. Yes.

Oh wow. And they are bees. And at the center of the series is US Senator William Powers. So they work in power ticks. So they're okay. A parody of the political establishment in Washington DC. Margaret, the Senator's status hungry wife, treats Charlotte, they're made with comedic, distain, comedic.

Caitlin, the Senator's daughter, has an eating disorder and is married to Representative Theodore Van Horn, who is suicidal. Their son, Pierce, is mature, beyond his years from having to care for his unbalanced parents. So if you lipkin the Senator's illegitimate daughter is a loud, crass New Jersey, and who's surprised the family when she moves to Washington and

begins to bond with her father. The Senator's staff includes an intelligent and beautiful aide, Jordan Miller, who is also Powell's mistress and the factless aide, Bradley Grist. So is this a comedy? It's a comedy. There is so much going on. This is really much going on. What was the elevator pitch for that? All'd, the senators and it's pretty fucked. So there's a suicidal character that someone's got. Eating the sword. There's the illegitimate daughter. There's a mistress.

There's so much going on. Anyway, the glass is from 92 to 93. That one didn't last so long. I wonder why. Oh, look, I don't know that for sure, but it did like that power up makes it sound like the heads about to explode. How do they fit? Yeah. Even all of those people in the same episode. Then again, I think when you... Yeah, the quitters ran for 18 minutes. If you try to explain

like friends in a paragraph, like all they're trying to fit everything in. It sounds insane. Yeah, that's true. So I've spread out, I'm sure it's not episode one. Here's illegitimate daughter, here's suicidal. Those kids cool. We get to that and then it's first ad break. Yeah. And then it just peed us out from there. They also created a sitcom called Family Album, which is another one that's a not a great city.

Their surname is Album. The surname is Family. They are all records. No, they are. Yes, they're a family of records. So that was in 1993, which centered around the learner family who moved from California to Philadelphia to be closer to their family.

But according to their poster, they didn't realize how close. So they've stapled themselves to their parents' backs. I kind of made me think it was maybe like an everybody loved the moment kind of idea. The series was canceled after six episodes. Oh, dear. So when Kaufman and Crane started pitching the idea of friends,

they had some sort of runs on the board. They had varying degrees of success, but they had some successes. I think they're also both involved in Veronica's closet or something. I read that very late, but after I'd finished the report. According to Crane, it was just another pilot to them. And after family album was canceled, he remembers that they were scrambling in a panic wondering

if they would ever let us back on the air again. They were nervous, so they'd maybe mucked up their last chance. Right. The other sitcoms they had put together were all based around blood-related families They were nervous, so they maybe mucked up their last chance. The other sitcoms they had put together were all based around blood-related families to different degrees with a central lead character. So they were keen to try and ensemble comedy. And according to Kaufman, the idea of friends was close to their hearts because they had

lived it. They had friends. They had friends. But they never had a family. So that's why the family stuff didn't work. Yeah. They just couldn't relate. Wow, imagine having friends, firstly,

just as a constant. They really bring a niche perspective. But then being able to then use that life experience to influence your art. Right what you know. Wow, wow, that's why everything I write is about loneliness. That's what I know. But it works.

It works. So what's every time? Yeah, people love it. There's a senator. He's lonely. And his suicidal daughter's maid is also his mistress and also his daughter And the rabbit That talks

And imaginary How many million can I get for the pilot I thought I got a talking rabbit They pitched the idea to the NBC president at the time obviously obviously. Weird. I'd wrote it at the time, but obviously that. Is he implied? The future is in president. So they went to the mail room. They saw someone said, in 10 years, you're going to be big, son.

So I'm pitching to you. Yeah. Let's make it happen. Lost a lot of mail. You're going to be big kid. Oh, I've said the mail on fire again. Oh, no. Oh, no.

What French? I don't know what they are. We're putting it really lonely character. Justice could be you. You should run a sickle about male. And that's how King of Queens give about that. Because then, he's a different guy. He's a different guy.

Oh, that's a very good. Yep. I didn't realize that I just thought you built some random sickle and you're like, and Because the main tagliate guy, oh, that's the vriga, yeah. I didn't realize that I just thought you built some random sitcom and you're like, and that's how that happened. That's where Will and Grace started. So the president's name was Warren Littleford and they pitched to him in his office and he loved the pitch. He called it a little field.

I'm just, the pitching the idea of friends. Hahaha. We've based it on ourselves. I love it. Hahaha. Well, what he was talking about, he's like the, their idea of friends and the characters was so well developed.

Because it sounds like they were in the, they were in the market for this kind of idea. They wanted something like this, a youngish ensemble cast comedy show. And they had a few people pitching similar ideas, and then these guys came in like, according to him anyway, I've read a lot of Warren Littleford in interviews and stuff, and he does sound like, you know, he's painting probably a rose, you know, everything. Of course, I knew it was going to be huge. That sort of stuff. If the show had done terribly, and it interesting, it would have been like, I mean, we took a chance.

Yeah. I was the one fighting against this. I wanted to hit. There are so many flops as well. I think I've read that pilots like a less than a one in three chance. I was surprised that I was over in that high, but yeah. So that was interesting. I'm trying to find there was this one quote that I really loved from him. He was talking about afterwards and he was putting together a book with interviews of different people he's worked with in TV and just sort of everything's kind of big in himself up a little bit, but this one felt really funny to me. Maybe it's not, but it's what he said. I did all the interviews myself. I met LeBlanc at the Matt LeBlanc,

who's in one of the members of friends plays Joey Trabiani. Correct. So I met LeBlanc at the Moll Holland Grill and he insisted he pay for lunch. He looked at me and said, do you have any idea how much you changed my life? There is no way you're picking up this check and I finally let him pay for it. Just like a lot of those.

I finally let him pay. I was gonna pay. He's just said, got the best of everything. I'm not a tie, I'm not just saying, yeah, you definitely pay. I wanna pay, but he's telling me that I'm not a paid. He's just said, got the best of everything. I'm not a, I'm not just saying, yeah, you definitely pay, I wanna pay, but he's telling me that I'm the best. And eventually I agreed and high-five him. It's just, yeah, a bunch of that sort of stuff.

But I ordered one of each dessert. Suck that Leblanc. That would have been fun if he, like, he never, he never said fun. Like he ever had any that kind of level of fun to him. Anyway, it's so about Warren, if you're listening, he sound like a great guy. So there, one line pitch was, it's that special time in your life when your friends are your family. Which I liked, I don't really thought about that, but that is, that makes it after, you know, you move out of home

But that is, that makes it after, you know, you move out of home before you start your own family that period, you know, what we would maybe call the now time in your life, Jess. Fuck. I'm sorry. The golden years. Oh, is it? Does it? It doesn't get better, Jess. What?

I was, I mean, I know you're joking. I was genuinely banking on it getting better. Your friends are your family now. Oh, fuck. I'm going to get some friends. Yeah. You got to get some family. I got to spend time with my friends. According to an article on AV Hub, friends changed the sitcom landscape by breaking from many typical formats. The show did not revolve around a family home or workplace, but a makeshift clan. The 620 something stars were so young that the network execs initially suggested an older mentor type to give the show's opinions more weight. It's safe to say

that before friends, the youth sitcom was far from as prevalent as it is today. But then they make the point in the same article that living single, a comedy sitcom, about six African American friends living in Brooklyn preceded friends by a year. A sitcom based in New York City about six friends in their 20s. Right, but friends really broke the mold.

Yeah, I know, that same article going on about our brother, then they go, obviously there was this other show. So I hadn't heard of this. I can't remember it being played in Australia. Obviously, they have way more channels and shows than we can fit over here, even though. Especially back then. Play a lot of American TV here.

But so I've looked it up, and you know, that description, like that does sound like a rip off of friends. And it was one of the stars, Queen Latifa. No. Yeah. And she was on a chat show hosted by Andy Cohen. And it was one of those chat shows where there's multiple guests. She was also on there with Jason Siddiquis.

Siddiquis. Oh my Jason Siddiquis. Siddiquis. Siddiquis. Siddiquis? Oh, Jason Siddiquis. Siddiquis. Siddiqui. No. So she was on this show and the host, Andy Cohen, asked her if there would ever be a living single reboot.

And then Jason Siddiquis chipped in and he goes, I thought friends was the reboot. Oh, very good. Nice. That's obviously is relatively well known over there. That's what happened. Queen Latifah agreed that friends was a ripoff, basically saying, we knew we had already been doing that. It was a guy named Warren Littlefield, who would just been talking about the user on NBC. Field or Fjord?

Field. Okay. It's written field. Yeah. We're pronounced it Fjord, if you like. No, that's how you said it twice now. Good. Littleford. That's how I said it twice now. Good. Little food.

That's how I think of him. Okay. It's my little joke that man was I have. Sorry, I didn't mean to get between couple friends. Yeah, I must have friends we have. Yeah, they have these little. In jokes. Little in jokes, but I'm a bit of a cunt.

I'll even watch it. Really? At least the golden years of your life. Yeah. Fuck. We'll look back on these days, fun.ly. And they asked him, they, okay, I'm coming back into the middle of this queen Latifah quote. So it was a guy named one little food that used to run NBC and they asked him when all the new shows came

out, if there was any show he could have, which it be. He said living single and then he created friends. Apparently that's, that was on record on a Queen Latifah that he was, he loved it. He loved it, he wanted it. So he just sort of made a version of it. Or how long did he run for? Yeah, quite a few years and it is, they're talking about it being rebooted genuinely. So they would have overlapped and they'd run it at the same time? Yeah, they were running at the same time.

And is it the reason that Queen Latifa, is that maybe her big break, that show? Ah, yes. Let's say, no. Okay. Bit of both. I'm just wondering in America, is she known for that show,

but we just never thought of it. Yeah, she is known for that but she's known for a lot of stuff. Of course. She's a multi-threat. She's Queen Latifa. Yeah. Yeah. She then clarified that she thought

friends was so good. So it's not like we hated on it or anything. It was just like, you know, yeah, they rip, I mean, she doesn't say that, you know, they stole our idea. Yeah. I did not know that. Yeah, I didn't know that either, but that's pretty fascinating, because people do talk about it, like friends changed everything. The other show that is talked about as being like a proto friends that was also overlapped with it was Silent Felt, Jerry Silent Felt, comedian and co-founder, co-creator and star of Silent Felt as accused, friends of ripping him off too. In one interview in 2003, Silent Felt was asked if he thought his show would have been given time to succeed if it was to premiere today instead of in 1990, because it actually had

a few years where it built before it got huge Sunfeld. And Sunfeld responded by asking, has friends been on too in this scenario and the interview of Bob Costa replies, yeah, friends has been on. And this scenario and the interviewer Bob Costa replies, yeah, friends has been on and Seinfeld says, really? So they managed to steal it without seeing it, which is a pretty good line. Wow.

How can a man, that success will be better? Help. Also, how many people, how many friends are there in Seinfeld? Yeah, it's a different number. It's a different number, Jerry! Living singles, six to six. Yeah, that's quite clear.

Seinfeld's got three guards, sure. Maybe they stole the three guy element? Mmm. And let's remember, you can't like Seinfeld and friends apparently. You can't like? How can they be at the same thing? Yeah. They're two different things, Jerry!

He's caught later on, He called it, um, he called friend Seinfeld with good-looking people. A bit of a backhand at a bloody Jason Alexander, huh? Yeah, Jason Alexander was like, well, fuck you Jerry. Julia Louis Dreyfus. Yeah. Babe. Babe. No doubt about that. Good idea now. She's like a fine wine. She's gotten better with A. How has she gotten better? It's amazing. It's amazing. She's the one who broke the, this Seinfeld curse, which said that none of them would ever. Like all that, they all released sitcoms afterwards that failed pretty quickly.

And she, she's had a few successors since then. I like when someone asked Larry David about the Seinfeld curse, and he was like, it's ridiculous, it's just very hard to have a successful sitcom. Rough, of course. Right.'s just very hard to have the successful sitcom. Right, of course. Right, okay. Whether or not anyone else has the same chance.

Yeah, it's not a curse. That's fair. Anyway, back to friends. Many of those. Was that starting to sound like I was passionate about the topic? But back to friends. Have any of them broken the friends curse?

I mean, they've all had different levels of success after, but we should get to the success before we talk about post-success. While they were developing the Friends' Pilot, Crayon and Kaufman also had another pilot on the go during the same pilot season. The other one was tentatively titled, Enemies. Reality check. Similar.

Similar. Which is, the enemies are always a reality check. What kind of check? Oh yeah. Oh, it was C-H-E-Q-E. Oh, see. C-Z-E-C-H. Reality check republic. That's it. It was about a high school student from the Check Republic named Jamie. Oh, I love it! Who frequently lapses into elaborate fantasies. Apparently Fox made them do a gazillion re-ruts, gazoons, a quote there, and they kept wanting the show to be more risqué. Fox were like more risqué. Whereas they were fine with friends, it was quite a smooth ride, if anything else they're a little bit safer. But Fox were like, risk a whereas they were finding with friends. It was quite a smooth ride if anything

I was saying a little bit safer, but Fox will like can we make this more risk a it's this show about a high school kid with fantasies? Oh, okay. What do they want? Well apparently Crane later said that they kept wanting Jamie to be older the main character Jamie to be older They wanted him to be driving and already having sex sounds like a different show They wanted him to be driving and already having sex. Sounds like a different show. Ha ha ha. Okay. Hold on, they wanted him to be 35. Can we still set it in a school?

Of course. But I mean, this is kids. He's 35 and he can drive. Oh. Double threat. And he's a millionaire. Oh. And he brought back sex.

He's dangerous. Yeah, he's cool. I tried to find a Sydney Shindburg link to all of these, but I couldn't. and he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, runs, he runs, runs, he runs, he runs, runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he runs, he I asked for gong chips. Why is that he's asking for just plain unsalted corn chips? I've already got salsa, you fool. Oh, I was going to say nothing to prove to me, but he's got salsa, that's good. In Crane's words, reality check was terrible. That's Crane's words. And that's in a, yeah, it's his show, but it was, it was changed so much by the network

that he's like it was no good. But he said, on the other hand, the process developing friends just seemed to flow every step of the way and was easy to write. Kronen Kaufman were worried that the DUDD show would be picked up and said, you won't don't pick this one. But of course, history shows that their fears were well-founded as friends was picked up. Now get on them. Little.

And reality check. That's a good set to get it. The show was to be based around the lives of six people, which we've already discussed who are friendly with each other. And I'll talk more about these friends soon. Friendly but not too friendly. They were acquaintances. Yeah. But first they needed a place for these titular friends to hang out. Hmm. They knew they couldn't use a bar or pub because

of cheers. Cheers has been a massively successful sitcom that ran from 82 to 93. Of course they copyrighted the concept of a bar. Of a bar. No one could ever enter a bar on TV. They generally said that she is ruled out a bar as an idea. It's just was too synonymous with cheers at that stage and it just wrapped up cheers. So it would have seemed like, you know, they just wanted to avoid that. They also wanted to avoid doing it in a sort of a diner like Tom's diner in in Seinfeld. Monk's diner. Monk's diner. The real diner is called Tom's diner.

Right. I think or a regular or anyway. So their options are already narrowed down a bit, which maybe worked as a bit of an advantage. So then one day during development, Kaufman and Crane walked past the cafe and they thought, and this is a direct quote from Kaufman, Oh, that would be a cool place to put these people. A cafe. Yeah.

Previously, when they were listing a bar, a diner, they didn't make the link to a cafe. Not until I saw one in the flesh. Wow. And I don't have friends, but I would think of a cafe. But hey, that's me, Melbourne, you know, I think cafe before Dynah. Cafe culture here. But they also, they did, I did read amongst it that at that stage,

cafes weren't a place you went and hung out at. It was like the little field called it a bit of a head scratcher, the idea of setting it. Who's Littlefield? Is he the same as Littlefield? Yes, have we not? He did flip back to Littlefield earlier. That's so much.

What if I've written it down that way? Littlefield, he thought it was, he was, I love the concept. They're like, it's at a cafe. What? What is that? Scratch my head. What do you mean?

Well, he, that's a quote from him. He called it a bit of a head scratcher. Tell me more. I'm good. I don't know. Good act out. Thank you. He's literally scratched his head. I can hear it. Well, I had a bit of an itch there. Oh, now they're popping up everywhere. No, he's going crazy. No, you'll make me itchy. But he also said that they were completely ahead of the curve in what a coffee shop meant in a young adult person's life.

They knew that they were this generation's new living room. Crane and Kaufman downplayed that, though, they just were like, now it was a cool place to put them and we walked past one. Yeah. We needed a spot, we weren't. No, it was a social commentary. Yeah. And also, they're like, we weren't capturing,

we didn't mean to capture the zeitgeist or whatever. No, take it, take the credit. And they don't want it to be like signfile, which is a social commentary. Yeah. And also, they're like, we weren't capturing, we didn't mean to capture the zeitgeist or whatever. No, take it, take the credits. And they don't want it to be like, sign file, which is a diner, which is a cafe diner. Yeah, so it's actually the same thing. And they talk openly on the show about, we're four people that never eat a meal at home. Yeah.

So it is basically their living room. Yeah. But they're like, this is cutting it. Yeah, I know it's interesting. But I mean, this is cutting it. Yeah, I know it's interesting. But I mean, this is all through was a little fad, little foiled. So the title, same before, that it was potentially gonna be called Insomnia Cafe. You know that cafe they walked past?

What is Namos? Insomnia Cafe. Friends, right. So they were, it was called friends, sorry. In summary account, which is to be honest, a pretty rubbish name for a cafe. Are they open 24-7? I guess it is that just about caffeine keeping you up. It's stupid regardless.

It's like talking out one of the side effects of your biggest selling product. Yeah, that's dumb. It's sort of like calling a bar, regret bar, hang over bar, lots of money gone, you said pub. Like. It's casino, probably good thing. We rich, you're not so rich, casino. You think you're rich, but we will soon change that casino. It wasn't the only suggested name they had.

What else they got? Included. At one point it was called Six of One. No. Six of One? Yeah. Six of One. Half a dozen of the other.

Half a dozen of the other. I don't like it. Was that another option? Half a dozen of the other? Yeah. I don't know. That's the same. That's the same. That's the same. It's the same. Yeah. Across the hall, I think it know that's the same. I don't know a lot about it. That's basically says the same difference.

Yeah. Across the hall, I think it was on a little fence. Don't hate that, but no. And friends like us, which I guess was shortened to friends. Yes. Yes, six, one. Yeah, I'm happy with friends, but at the time, someone who was involved in the thing

was like, that sounds like a yawn or something. What are yawn friends? Yeah, it is like a- Yawn. Can you, like, name a few other shows that are famous with a similar kind of name, just a real basic description? MASH.

So that'd be called army doctor. Army doctors, yes, right? Or even less than that. It'd probably be called friends. Cheers. And you could call it alcoholic, sir. Sad people, wings. Wings. Plain men.

Jag, Navy lawyer. That's good. Welcome to Navy lawyer. NCIS, you could call it NCIS. Nickers. NCIS, you could call it NCIS. Nickas. That's it, I'm why I enjoyed that. It's ridiculous.

So I think it was someone at the network who wanted it to shorten friends like us to friends. I bet little food took credit for it. I don't, yeah, I think. I was at a cafe trying to buy everyone a meal because I'm a great guy. They all insisted. I looked at with 18 muffins I get a mouse through him out into a homeless man's open arms because I'm a great guy

And then I thought friends like us, you know what? I'm just a friendly kind of guy friends Then one day that homeless guy became a billionaire and he bought me a helicopter. I couldn't say no. It would have been rude. Which I'm not. Sounds like a great guy. If you guys, it's one of you ever offered me a helicopter. I'm going to play this back and be like, I don't say no.

He did be rude. He's putting that out there now. So when, look when it's on the record, I will edit that out just in case. The biggest cross. So someone suggested friends from the network, and apparently they told them that that's what they wanted to call it at the same time. Friends from the network. Just friends, sorry. Someone from the network wanted it said, we want to call it friends, and they also said it at the same time. Friends from the network. Just friends, sorry. Someone from the network wanted to say, we want to call it friends, and they also said it on the same day. And we want to offer you the Thursday night slot between Seinfeld and Mad about you.

Right, okay, so they are watching. Which is a dream spot. Or the Seinfeld influence. Yeah, yeah. And apparently executive producer Kevin Bright replied, if you put us on Thursday nights, you can call us Kavorkian for a lot of care. Oh, very good.

See, that's the kind of line that gets remembered 20 years later in an interview. They go, that would have been tossing that around for a bit. Oh, very quaint. Kavorkian. I had a little sugar before. Can you tell? I could tell.

And David had a beer. That's why it's party time in here. You're both crashing guys. Could you pick it up a bit please? So, give me a kiss. Peppa, please, please. You're doing a lot of the heavy lifting in Matthew. Okay. Now let's talk about these titular friends characters. Okay.

We're 30 minutes in. Quote, unquote, friends. And we're just getting to the characters that love it. Detailed. And also how they work cast. Um. Auditions. Yes.

No, I can skip right beyond that part. Catwalk. Mall search. Wow. They were like, that guy looks like a Ross. He's such a Ross, they said. Which are you, Dave? I don't know, is that up to me?

Wow, great question. I don't know. Very self-aware day, very good. And who's that, is that Chandler? I don't know. I think Jess is Chandler. Jess is Chandler. You're probably.

So can you explain what you mean when you say Chandler? I think Dave is Ross. Yeah, Dave's know. So can you explain what you mean when you say Chandler? I think self-dave is Ross. Yeah, Dave's Ross. So he's a bit of a mess. And I'm Phoebe Orican. What do you think of that? I'm not right here. Okay, you don't know.

So what's the Ross tweed in? I would say I'm a combination of Chandler and Rachel. Rachel gets funnier. Like she starts off a bit, they sort of make her a bit of a diss. What are you saying? I'm, she's what are you saying there? You're just saying you're getting funnier. That means? No. Or that she gets funnier, which makes her more like you. Thank you, yes. I'm saying it. Rachel's peak funny. That's when she's sort of getting towards you. She's getting close, but no, in me, obviously. That makes sense to me. She's also a fashionista.

She works in fashion. Like me? to me. She's also a fashionista. She works in fashion. Like me. Yeah. Whereas Dave's just a boring sad set called Ross. All right. So Ross, he's a paleontologist. Oh look, that's cool. That's a cool shot. Yeah, you would think that Ross. So yeah, I'm Ross. Well, I don't choose his career, but I didn't think it was good. That is something that came up a lot in Friends appalling and has copped a bit of criticism in more recent times, is that they were very kind of anti-intellectual. Any super smart character was normally viewed pretty unfavorably. I noticed especially Ross and his friends, like shot up our head, was kind of like a lot

of jokes for different versions of that. I would argue it hasn't really aged all that well. No, I don't think it has. So I felt still great, guys. So here are the characters, Ross Geller, the part of Ross, the paleontologist, who we're talking about, the Dave character. They had David Schwimmer in mind as Kaufman and Cramer fans of his, but Schwimmer at the time was keen to get back into theatre work.

Apparently, his agent convinced him to read for the part though, and although others also read for the part, Schwimmer was the first actor cast for the show. Oh, nice. Schwimmer locked in. So Schwimmer again. Schwimmer. Thank you. Monika Gellar.

His sister. Yes, that's true. The casting of... It wasn't a coincidence. Imagine they'd written a cast of six and two of them had the same surname by coincidence. They could make up literally any names. They're like, now like, are they too related? Oh, yes.

Oh, we're better make a couple of quick edits. Why are they kissing in the first scene? Oh, it's the new culture. Kids these days. This is Gen X, this is what Gen X is doing. So the casting of Monika, who was a chef with a competitive personality, was much tighter. Apparently it was a real line ball call

between Nancy McEwan and Courtney Cox. Apparently they wanted Cox for another character, Rachel, at one point. No. But Cox found the Monika character to be more interesting. In the end, the decision was left up to Kaufman, Crane, and also the EP, Bright. And they went with Cox, who was probably

the most famous of the cast when the show started. None of them were huge names at all, but she had some sort of profile. She was, had a recognizable face as she was in Bruce Springsteen's dancing in the dark film clip where he pulled her up on stage and they danced together. In the dark? Yeah, you know in a dim dimly lit arena.

I'll rename the song Bruce. Dancing in the dimly lit arena. I love it. That's my autobiography. She also had a stint as Michael J. Fox's girlfriend on Family Ties. That's my autobiography. She also had a stint as Michael J. Fox's girlfriend on Family Ties. That's right. She was in an episode of Sinefeld

where I think she pretended to be Jerry's wife to get, what was it, a discount on something or something? Classic Sinefeld said the same thing. And she was also in Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura pet detective. Oh. As I think it made me... When he started with the, she appeared in a music clip. I thought it was gonna end there.

Like, the others really had zero profile. That was the best bit. But she had done a bit. She had done a bit, yeah. And I mean, everyone had done a bit, but hers were the high, probably the highest profile things. And that dancing in the dark film clip is genuinely like a very well-known classic.

Dancing in a dimlet. People, it's got its own dance, you know? That one where you You sort of do the swing and arm click God, you're cool Joey Trubiani Joey a sleazy Pleasley a sleazy dimwitted aspiring actor was played by Matt Leblanc and according to Littlefield When Matt Leblanc came into audition. He was just Joey. He earned it. It was undeniable in the room. He was delightful. There was no nail biting on that one. That was an easy

casting. We had Chandler Bing, the half-jess. Chandler was the goofy, goofy, wisecracken business executive. And when it came to casting him, the team thought it couldn't be any easier. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. I enjoyed that too much. No, it is enough. But it turned out to be more complicated than they first thought. They saw John Favreau and John Cryer for the part. And they were also interested in a guy called Craig Bureco, Matthew Perry actually.

Oh, Bureco. Bureco. So Jess seemed to really interested for the other people, so I thought I'd try on that. Throw a beer co-op on bone. Yeah. Try and give him something. No one gives a bad beer co-op. Can I try to be as a bowl as me? Perry had already, and Matthew Perry, who ended up being the part. Spoiler of them. Matthew Perry apparently coached Craigko and that's probably sabotaged

coach to want to like little league soccer. What was that? No, they coached him. He said this is this is how I'd play it and and he and because of that they really liked Birko but they found that out later. So he was helping him. That's really strange. I'm not in this part. I'm I don't fully get it either. But I think in in part it was for this reason. I'm not going to get either. But I think in part it was for this reason. I'm guessing our friends on one hand. But in the end they wanted Perry, but unfortunately for them he was signed on to a competing pilot, right? So I guess maybe that's why he did

because he thought he was attached to this other thing. That pilot was called, you know about this, I don't know. Annoes. LAX-2194. Oh, I can't. Which was about baggage handlers who sorted aliens luggage at Los Angeles International Airport in the year 2194. Oh, get far. That is greenlit from me. That's a yes from me. Give that a 10 seasons. That is a hard note. Is that if a maker? I've seen a clip from it. No, I didn't get past the pilot luckily for Chandler.

You could argue, maybe not, but it- But he was one of the main plead characters. He would have been, yeah, he would have been right, he would have been in that and he was locked in for that. Then there was Phoebe Buffet, Kathy Griffin and Jane Lynch both went for the part of Phoebe, the Ditsy hippie masseuse, and they actually met each other at the audition and we came real-life friends. Oh, that's cute. The three of them.

At the audition. No, just Kathy and Jane. All right. But the team we came for Lisa Kudra to play the part, but she was already occasionally playing the character of Ursula, a waitress on Mad About You. And according to Littlefield, star and EP of Mad About You, Paul Reiser, was exceptional about letting her move to France. He loved that she was doing on Mad About You, but it wasn't a series regular character. And then they brilliantly came up with the

notion that Phoebe and Ursula were sisters, and she could pop up again on Mad About You. Brilliant. Brilliant. Isn't that brilliant? That is. He'll throw out praise. They figured out that they could just be sisters. That is brilliant. Brilliant.

This opens up a fun little shared university between friends. So I didn't know about this yet. Also, more surprisingly, potentially, it's a shared university between friends, Matt about you and Sinefeld, which might be surprising, seeing as Sinefeld has called a friend of ripoff of Sinefeld how he would let that happen, but it sort of happened in a bit of a backdoor way, if I'm mad about you, this is what happened. So mad about you ran from 92.99, friends from 94 to 2004 and Sinefeld from 89 to 98. So they're all on the same time in 94 to 98. Ursula, who works as a waitress on Mount About You,

becomes the sister of Phoebe from friends. So that links those two shows. Also one time Helen Hunt, who starred as Jamie alongside Paul Reiser on Mount About You was once on friends and characters Jamie and at the coffee shop she confused Phoebe for Ursula. Oh! She's, you know, like, oh, what are you doing at this different? Across over it. Yeah, just a little nod there. Love it. They're not an episode of Mount About You, Kramer, character played by Michael Richards and Sainte Hale. I can't handle these crossovers. I can't remember exactly what I'm reading. It took over Paul Reiser old apartment or he was Paul Reiser's tenant or something. And Paul in that same even references

the comedian from across the hall named Jerry. Right. So this links friends to Matt about you and Matt about you to Seinfeld. Me and that they all share a universe. One thing that mucks this up though a bit is that in an episode of Sunfeld George, who's played by Jason Alexander

and Susan played by Heidi Swedberg, watching an episode of Mad About You in Bed. So how can I be in the same universe if one of them's still a TV show on that universe? And also Courtney Cox was Jerry's girlfriend. But I mean, that's an actor thing. I think that's, you can explain that away. Sure, but having... I tend not to overthink things like this. But then actually watching a TV show, But I mean, that's an actor thing. I think that's, you can explain that away. Sure.

But having... I tend not to overthink things like this. But then, actually, watching a TV show. I mean, you said you didn't overthink it, but you were the one who brought that up. So... You asked a really complicated question. Wow. Okay.

Matt, I'm sorry about him. No, that's fine. I didn't think you'd turn on me. Like that, for that. And I... Dave, you never know when we're going to turn. I know. So, I swam.

And sometimes you just freak out. And then at the end of the day, I really don't care for shared universes. I couldn't get f**k. I did my, when I was on the weekly planet on the planet broadcasting network, I went on to talk about shared universes and I talked about this shared universe. It's one of my real passions.

Wow, you're a real expert then. Portal, huh? Well, I don't wanna, I don't wanna Warren, what's his name myself, Little Proud? Well, he knows what his name is. Little Proud. Little Proud, I'm feeling a little Warren, Little Proud. Rachel Grains, another one of the characters.

Tell us I'm green. Yeah. Every other name's like, you know, like pop culture wise, Runga Bell. I didn't know her last name was green. I just guess she's just Rachel. Yeah. She's like, share.

Yes. But for the right. Is that my go-to example? I think share may now be a reference more in the show than the Simpsons. Wow. But it's normally that one reference like share. Thank you. No, thank you. Yes, you're welcome. Thank you for sharing. Very good. Do you reckon anyone's ever noticed that before? The share sounds a bit like

share. Or I don't know they have. Yeah, well that feels clever. Have very droll. So of Jennifer Aniston, little field has said, we loved her and wanted her. The problem was she was tied to another series. So we took her in second position. When it was time to go, I think it's, you know, you start missionary. James. So you're going to say good position second position. Oh, let's get a bit. I'm a. I didn't say it. Just implied.

When it was time to go into production and start shooting episodes, she was still under an option at CBS. What does that mean? Sorry. And no one had been successful about getting her released. Dave, you're having a work pretty hard for some of these now. If you're finding a new window in that, I was told that we had to replace her. This is to replace her. This is a little... There was too much risk, but I said, no, we're not gonna do that. I have a boner. So yeah, no, I can see that. That last one I can see.

Yeah, I won't do that last Um, I have a bone. So they asked little field. They said, will you personally guarantee that if she doesn't get released, that your finance are reshooting of these episodes. So they're shooting these episodes and it would, it would cost them a lot of money to reshoot them if they had to swap her out. Wow, I got it. Got heaps.

And he, he said he was like, well, no, but we'll figure something out. Um, I thought it got heaps. And he said he was like, well, no, but we'll figure something out. That was enough. He said we were incredibly vulnerable and business affairs thought we were nuts. Every time we shot another episode with Jennifer, we put millions of dollars at risk. But it all worked out.

Sounds like, yeah. Just not just the pilot, but like they were starting to film season one. It sort of sounds like. they didn't legally have it Why hang on what did I say there? Yeah another episode. Yeah, that's interesting Um He said we also took Matthew Perry in second position to a futuristic hour series at LAX

But we didn't think that was much of a threat Oh But also accurate Matt we watched the pilot and read the summary and it's not gonna happen. Hey, I don't think Perry's been super nice about the show. It sounds stupid. I saw a little clip out of it and I'm like, oh yeah, I kinda get it.

Why, I had so stupid. What's the tall guy from Drew Carey's show and from that? Run styles. From whose line? It's him and he's like playing a robot. Oh, he's a robot. He's a little bit like a part robot.

Oh. Sort of guy with a weird voice. You want me over? I'm back in. Yeah, no, that's all. He's watching, I'm like, this could be something, but- Ten seasons, that's tell-j-j-j-j-j. A bit of it.

The clips I saw were a bit corny, but it could have grown into something maybe. If either of those projects or both of them went forwards and friends could have been like in a lot of trouble. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now. You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify

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there's no better time to bring it home for the holidays and work out your way. Unleash everything. It's your workout, your rules. As long as you show up, Peloton's instructors will help you show off and keep you coming back for more. For Peloton's best offer of the season, head to onepeloton.com, all access membership separate terms apply. Are you working way too hard for way too little? There's never been a better time to consider a career in IT.

You could enjoy a recession resistant career and a rewarding field with plenty of growth opportunities and often flexible work environments. Go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation. You could start your new career in months, not years. Before the show aired, the co-creator of Cheers, my name James Burrows, had a good feeling about the show. So he brought the six stars to Vegas to party, telling them to enjoy themselves as, quote, this is your last shot at anonymity.

Once the show comes on the air, you guys will never be able to go anywhere without being hounded. Have fun! She'd be like, oh, okay. I'm an amazing prediction. Yeah. And this guy, he's like a TV legend. being how did. Have fun! That is. Okay. I'm an amazing prediction. Yeah.

And this guy, he's like a TV legend. He's directed over a thousand episodes of TV sitcoms. And did he have a, so what was his position with friends? He did, he went on to direct some episodes. So maybe that's how he was connected there, but some, he'd obviously seen some of it. Maybe he directed some first season episodes. And he was like, but it all been shot, but he hadn't seen some of it. Maybe he directed some first season episodes. And he was like, but it all been shot,

but he hadn't aired. And he's like, this is, he just knew it was gonna be big. On September the 22nd, 1994 at 8.30 pm, friends premiered between Matt about you at 8 and San felt at 9. In testing the pilot rated as a high week, I don't know what that scale is, but I'm like. I think that's me in general. Yeah, you're a high week. Yeah,'t know what that scale is, but I'm like. I think that's me in general.

Yeah, you're a high week. Yeah, I'm on the cusp of average. I mean, is a low week better or worse than a high week? I, I, I read it as a high week's better than a low week. You're, you're better at being weak. I think it's a you go. Yeah, low week, high week. Medium week, high week.

Low good medium good high good. So it good. Medium, good, high good. That's pretty low. I think it's pretty low, but according to Littlefield, that's okay, things don't always test great, but we were hopeful. So why do you test? Yeah, that's confusing. If you just ignore it.

Yeah, that's just quick. Have you ever seen a pilot of a show and gone, oh, this is great. Like pilots are always a bit shit. They've got to get through all the expositions and all that sort of stuff. You've got to give everything three episodes. Which is unfortunate because in pilot season they, I don't really do that. But I guess then some of them get picked up and it must be such a frustrating thing.

Takes like the chance of getting to a pilot, it's a huge effort. To get beyond that is huge. And then to get to the end of a first season and into multiple seasons, it just so few would make it. It's like turtles exit a beach. Yeah, the chances of actually making it to be another turtle that drops off another eggs. It really makes you think. Sometimes I just like to have a deep thought. About second position.

That turtles in second position. He said it was not an instant hit, but there was this slow, wonderful build. I looked up the ratings and the first episode had 20 million viewers. Isn't it a hit? A proud idea, that's a good, that's not seen as a blinder hit, but that is a really good. At the time, that would have been Australia's whole population.

That's a high week. Would you guys be happy if an episode of our podcast got 20 million listens? What do we drop and down? Yeah, just that would mean less than everyone in the country's heard it. Yeah. We'll require listening.

Yeah, you're right. That was a super hard question on my part. You never know what we'll turn on you. So 20 million api they're like, oh yeah, but it was I think that's still a very good. But according to him, so build, the ratings in build, but I suppose you're right when you said it's a great slot mad about you in time. build, the ratings did build. But I suppose you were right when you said it's a great slide. Mad about you in time, like peak, they're killing it. So people like, I'm gonna watch those two, should I?

I'll give the first one a bother finding the remote. Yeah, and often the first ones high, isn't it? And then people drop off. Yes. Then they find the actual audience. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. But the ratings built in this case.

Ooh. And even by the end of the first season, they were regularly cracking 30 million, which has seen as being like... Jonas. Cracking 30 million bonus. And that's just the men watching. Yeah.

By the second season, they moved it to the 8 PM time slot and they never look back. It was the Thursday night anchor for the rest of its run. But were the quote unquote friends actually friends in real life? Oh wow. I'm really hoping for some sweet drama. I live for it. According to Rolling Sense 1995 cover story about the show, the actors all got together to watch every show on Thursday nights. That's lame. Like real friends. Really?

Yeah. And the three male leads traveled to Europe together after the first season wrapped. Also downlined, Jennifer Anderson became Cox's daughter's grandmother. Grotmother. Grotmother. Well, I was just losing my mind.

I don't even realize I'm mispronouncing these words. Grotmother. Grotmother. Wow. I don't even realize I'm mispronouncing these words. Grotmother. Grotmother. Wow. That doesn't sound favorable. It's very Hollywood. Yeah, for sure. You've got a godmother then a grotmother.

Yes. Yes. Oh, yeah. What role does the grotmother play? Oh, if you don't know. It's embarrassing. It's rude to ask. Oh.

It really is. Oh, so you don't, no. It's embarrassing, it's rude to ask. Oh. It really is. Oh, so I do apologize. Can I please shotgun Groudmother to all of your future children, both of you? Yes, you can. If you give them helicopters. Obviously, what kind of Groudmother would I be if I wasn't

giving them my Groud children? I know, it's rude to talk about, but that is obviously rule number one of being a Groudmother. Choppers. Choppers. Choppers for all it's rude to talk about, but that is obviously rule number one of being a Grot mother. Choppers. Choppers for all. Get him to the chopper. Number one.

For the christening, get him to the chopper. Yeah, that was, yeah, that's some people don't know. Arnold Schwarzenegger was whoever that person was Grot mother. Yeah, is that even a real quote? Yeah. Get him to the chopper. The show is sometimes called the sitcom for Generation X. According to the AV club articles

to go on the other four, Gen X's did not buy into the job for life corporations their parents did. Understanding the jobs came and went as did authority figures. On the show, the man. And symbolized by a slew of unhelpful parents.

But friends would always be there. Yeah, all their parents are pretty shit. Yeah. If I remember incorrectly, yes, I am. As always. Ha ha ha. In this cultural landscape, the friend's theme song,

partially penned by the series creators, made perfect sense. Well, no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your jobs are joke. You'll broke. Your love life's DOA. A far cry from turning the world on with a smile or celebrating the happy days that he yours and mine. This is also from the quote from that article. Waitress Rachel who starts the song. No, I was like, I don't remember this verse. I'm gonna be this way.

Rachel the waitress. What's the extended cut? When did you go from theme song to article? The full length. The full length of principle air. Yeah, like the full version. The full version. Oh no, it was the second verse.

No. I thought I was singing the song no, it was the second verse. No. I thought I was singing the song, and then I was, was I not singing? No. No, you didn't change tone at all. And then I thought, I'm not a fan, but this doesn't sound familiar. Your job's a joke, you broke, your love life's DOA, end song. Right, because I was thinking,

DOA! There you go. Change of tone now, you understand. Rachel, the way Trace is a great character. Well, I got through a full sentence before that. No, but I was also confused. What was the next sentence? A far cry from turning the world up with the smile.

I could be dating that couldn't be along. I was on your side until he said Rachel, the way Trace was like, oh, hang on. That's when I tweaked this word. All celebrating the happy days. I mean, they're quoting a couple of different, a couple of different sitcom theme songs. Oh. So they're saying that the song is a little bit more gritty. It's then happy days theme or whatever the song that's

the song about turning the world on with us. Well, okay. Cool. I wait your spiritual who starts the series off by walking away from a secure future with author Donters Barry, Despairs early on, what if it all doesn't come together? Jan's job is so boring, no one can even remember what it is.

And most of Joe's income initially comes from being a subject in medical studies. Monika's message to Rachel at the end of the pilot is, welcome to the real world, it sucks, you're gonna love it. So apparently that sums up Gen X. Right, but I vaguely remember reading about their lifestyle. Is it possible? No, the fact that they live in those apartments in a great location in New York is I think I sort of pay for on their way. I think for Rachel, mine have been, but the Monica is a full-time chef,

Chandler being as some sort of executive, business executive, and Ross as a power intelligence center museum. They, I believe, would have been fun. So I think I actually have vaguely, vaguely remember in my readings that that was talked about how they were almost subsidizing the other three. Phoebe and masseuse, Rachel and Waitress and Joey and out of work actor getting medical in the meantime.

And there's like always long running jokes or not really jokes, but it's like a subplot of Chan like lending Joey money or paying for things. Right. That's sort of how they're trying to live. Even when they know how to live together. Right. Do you explain how they all know each other? Yeah.

So Monica and Ross of siblings. So they went to school with Rachel. So they met. Rachel and Monica were friends. They met in the womb. In school. No. Out of the room, they are different ages.

I knew that. Just playing dumb for comedic content. And then it's not fun when you explain that. So that's how those connections. Chandler went to those high school as well, I think, or college. Okay. College with Ross. Chandler's college was Ross. So they all come out from Monica. Monica, if they're all, it's very even, but if anyone was initially slightly more the star than anyone else, it was Monica and her role. Like everything's harder revolves around her to some extent. Like it all sort of fans out,

the group fans out from her. But, and in those early episodes, she was the only one that had solo scenes or her friends outside of the group. We only met her co-workers and stuff like that. Early on, but apparently very soon after that, they made it all very even screen time and stuff like that. Or whatever.

Who gives a fuck? All right. I do, because you're giving this report. And I asked, because I had no idea. Great. But I can't remember about Phoebe and... Me either, and Joey. I don't remember where they came from.

Yeah. I mean, Chandler and Joey are like best mates. Yes, but I don't know when they met. Yeah, by the end of the first season, even the theme song, I'll be there for you by the Rembrandt. So we were talking about it just before it became a hit. This was not expected. It was never written to be a hit song. It was written specifically as the show's theme. So did it go for a full went for less than a minute and And Kaufman and Crane are actually literally writers on the song

So I don't think they have expected a writer hit song But when a radio DJ looped it to make it closer to the length of a normal single It became so popular that they decided to add some verses and release it as a single. When they did, it was a hit around the world, charting in the top 10 in countries like Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, Norway, and Belgium. And it topped the Canadian charts for five consecutive weeks. Holy shit. The cast were moving on. Or did you have any.

End quote on those. This is no longer the theme song. I'm jumping around a little bit. Do you have any questions about the song there Dave? No, no. They were a band for a little while before that, the Rembrandts. And I think it's one of those kind of cursed chalices. It would have made them a lot of money, but it's, they went from playing little underground

clubs apparently to playing huge shows. But only people want to hear that one. Yeah, they want to hear that song. So I don't know whether they'd take it back or not. It must be nice to live a comfortable life, but it must be a bit tedious that no one gives a shit about. The music you want to make, whatever. Anyway, so talking about money, how much are you going on? I paid per episode first season. First season? 10 gram per episode. Per episode, yeah.

I mean, it's not that fascinating. It does 22,000, 22 and a half thousand dollars per episode. Per episode. It's really great, isn't it? Yeah, it's amazing. I guess like, it's almost like actors you make no money, but it's you buy a lottery ticket every time you go to an audition and you might just make a big... Oh, if you get picked up, yeah, it's just like you go... Oh, holy shit. 98% of people are on zero dollars a year. And other people's like, yeah, I made 400 grand last year. Yeah.

And I'm gonna show that no one's even heard of you. Yeah, that's right. It's like what? It could potentially not be seen, you know, not be a hit and you still get at least a really good years wage. So everyone was on the same wage in season one. Season two, things changed a bit.

And different cast members started getting slightly different salaries. Really? She makes no sense. I would be pissed off. Unless I was richer than everyone else. But then that would make you feel weird in different ways, right?

I think it's just an uncomfortable sort of scenario. And they agreed, according to the article on amiz.com, which a lot of the quotes from little, little man and a cough minute, and crane from this article, very interesting interview. So according to that article, it says, prior to negotiating for season three, the cast decided to negotiate collectively,

despite Warner Brothers preference, who was obviously the studio, their preference for individual deals. Salaries were up to $75,000 per episode in the third season. Then $85,000 for season four. By season five, they're taking 100,000, then 125,000. I don't know. It keeps stepping up. To return for season seven and eight, the six actors were paid 750,000 per show. I mean, it's the biggest show in the world.

And then, and finally, the last two season, one million per episode. Yeah, I knew they were doing a million. I thought it was just the last season in the world. And then finally, the last two seasons, one million per episode. Yeah, I knew they were doing a million. I thought it was just the last season, the last two. And they... We're talking about 20 in a season, isn't it? Yes. Yeah, is that right? For $20 million.

And they... What the fuck? And so they all came together and negotiated as a group, basically, a mini-union. Yeah, that's good. they threatened to walk off. And they obviously, they got a super good deal because of that sort of stuff. Well, I think that's fair,

because especially as you mentioned, they get to a point where it's equal screen time and they're an ensemble. There is an elite actor and then bit parts here and there where it makes sense. If somebody's working five days a week, 12 hour days, and somebody else is doing three days a week short. You know, like that makes sense

that they get paid differently. But these are all equals. Why, how would you reason that they would get paid differently? And it just for camaraderie and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, it'd be awful. According to Littlefield, from day one, Martin David, who was his Coffman and Crane, put forth that this was truly an ensemble show.

And very quickly, the actors said, we want to be treated all as equals. I think David Schwimmer knew exactly what would hold the cast together for many, many years to come. Everyone involved with friends made a tremendous amount of money, but it was really the wisdom of swimmer who said, I don't wanna come to work in an environment where someone is making more. This is all our show and we should all be treated the same.

The series ran for 10 years and during the top, okay, that was me. I thought I was on the same point but I was changing point there. So I can understand why you guys are so confused. It's a jump or something. You had it this time. Yeah, I did jumper. Yeah, I did hear. That should be a I should really. Normally my reports are one big flowing thing but this is just jumping in and out of different. Right. Mineral dot points. Isn't that fun?

We have fun. We're reporting dot points. We never look at each other's reports. Yeah. You don't write it out, yeah, right. I do it with paragraphs with headings on each sort of section so I can look back through if I need to. That would have saved me in this case. Do you have any idea how much crane and Kaufman made from the show? No, I'm not sure, but I'd be, I imagine more. Joking them making even more like creators.

And do they write a lot of the show as well? I don't think they were. I'm not sure about that. But as creators, would they get cut of other things? Well, I mentioned I see. Yeah, maybe. Well, I imagine that every time it's indicated, so for example, if it's on Netflix or something, I think like that, and it keeps getting repeated,

I think that's big money. Yeah. Whereas maybe the cast don't get... I think they get some. Would they get a slice of that? Ooh, yes. So all I need to do is land a TV show. In America.

And it has to be the biggest show of the generation. I don't think that's possible. Not too much to ask. No, I don't think there's too much to ask. Do you think I could ever get to a place? I was, you were the wrong person to ask you, my biggest cheerleader. I was gonna say, do you think I could get to a place

where I could get paid a million dollars for an episode? Yeah, yeah, so I mean I mean I did about that You're a bot. Is it not happening already? Every year. He says this is your year every year Every year it's been a better year than the last every year. He says this is the year you get paid more one million dollars in one single week I think I think Cranon Kaufman did also write for the show. Yeah. But that would make sense. Yeah. So they're background. So we don't know how much, but it's safe to say they got and they're producing EP creators. Yeah. Like they had a few different roles. A few different hats. A few different hats. Yeah. Because they had all that money. They could buy

a few different. You can buy a fancy hat. No problem. Go. I played it. How was it going to ask you any questions when you walk around with a bit of a can buy a fancy hat, no problem. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. parenthood. Lisa could drove was the first to get pregnant. And they wrote this into the show in season four, though could row was unsure about Phoebe getting pregnant as well. The writers came up with a storyline where Phoebe would act as a surrogate for her brother's triplets.

So she was genuinely pregnant then? She was genuinely. That's cool. Did she genuinely have triplets? No. No. Oh. She generally had a one son. A single. A single. Yeah, as we call them. A single. In the final season, though, when Courtney Cox was pregnant, it was not written into the show.

And this was because in the show, there had already been a storyline about how Chandler and Monika couldn't have kids. Instead, they used camera tricks, props, and costumes to hide the studio. I was trying to avoid saying that and I was on radio. Yeah, I knew that. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio.

I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio.

I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in the studio. I was in know why. And what room were you sitting in? I was in the Triple J studio. I was trying to avoid saying that and I was on radio.

Yeah, I knew that. I knew you. You just wanted to talk about it. You're at the ball. You mentioned it. We're done to finish the story now. I had the TV on. No sound or anything.

It's just like moving pictures. But Grace, for the entire five minute scene, was sitting on the couch and had a blanket pulled up way too high like in a strange position and a cushion on it because she was reading a book but like it was so obvious. Why not just put her behind a bench. Yeah. There's a lot of that.

Put her in a cardboard box. Behind a vase. Yeah. Oh, we're moving. All of a sudden. Again. In Brooklyn 9.9 she just has this giant one of the characters The character is not pregnant the actress is and they she's has this giant handbag that she sort of holds across their front in a

very natural way the women hold handbags I think as far as they wrote in Julian Anderson Well, she was pregnant in real life, but Scully wasn't pregnant. So they just made a get abducted by aliens and they were performing like weird things that look like they were suctioning her large stomach, which is just a pregnant belly, but it for a non-pregnant woman, it looked weird. What are these aliens doing? Oh, weird. New thing. Friends is an interesting example of changing social standards. There were things in the show

that caused a lot of controversy at the time. They probably wouldn't now, and vice versa. I haven't gone into these. Heavis, but one instance, Kaufman remembered that there were groups that decided that things should not be represented on television. The two I remember specifically were 996 the one with the Lesbian wedding. So people didn't like that in the 90's, the Lesbian.

You can't imagine that would cause a lot of controversy now. We'd hope not. And then there was one with condoms where there was one condom left and Monica and Rachel were fighting over, which I got a... We weren't even allowed to show the condom. It had to be in a box and you think that would be, I think that wouldn't be an issue. I think if you have a communal box of condoms with your house, mate. You're in a party house. Yeah, that's what I was getting to.

Yeah, I'll be like, good for you guys. You guys calling your money and buying a big box of dingas. Oh, high five. Woohoo! Saving money, saving the environment, saving sexual health. But I've only used four of this box and they're all empty. You've used eight. That's not fair.

Economically, it doesn't work out. It tears people apart. When sex is about bringing people together. Hahaha. I mean he's right in so many ways, but also I hated that he said that. Hahaha. So both those shows did go to either. So they did have what I show called the one with the lesbian wedding. Or did they? Yeah. A group. Yeah, no, so I was there, but they got a lot of flack. But they may have, um, yeah, not been allowed to. No, but they caught a lot of flack. I thought they may have not been allowed to.

No, but they were, it just caused a misuse. They weren't allowed to show the kind of, that was true that to show the box. Degas. And I think those things would be fine now, but in recent years, the show, especially, it feels like in the last six months, especially shows been getting some retroactive controversy from the way they portray a range of issues. In recent

times I just went on a search trying to find articles about this and there was so many. So just a few examples. There's an article called Millennials watching friends on Netflix shocked by storylines. Still friends, the trouble with old sitcom, and probably my favorite could friends be any more problematic. These articles talk about how friends included fat phobic, homophobic, sexist, transphobic jokes. Also featured very few non-white characters, like very, very few, maybe two across the 10 years. There was also an English girlfriend for diversity. Yeah, they talked about that a bit. They went over to England and that was sort of that was why

that was the story I was written in as sort of a time because they were huge in England, so they wanted to go out of there. And they were very Richard Branson and Fergie did cameos in it. And I think I read Kaufman saying that she kind of like looking back probably didn't need those sort of stumped. I mean, it's already huge. Yeah.

So it's an interesting one, but didn't necessarily need Richard Branson to be on there. Yeah, they really, they joke hard about Ross's ex-wife being a lesbian. Yeah. And that's shamefulwife being a lesbian. Yeah. And that's shameful to him. Right. Yeah. You know, it's really embarrassing for him or, yeah. And they're very uncomfortable around her relationship.

And there's that weird story line where their kid has a male nanny, who was like, the French junior or something. And Ross was just like, I don't understand. How can you be a man? And he felt really uncomfortable about it. And everything they showed, like the nanny was like super good with his kids, but he like, in the end he said, I can't deal with it, you got a firearm.

But is that maybe just a joke about how he's a weirdo? Like it was that weird at the time, like even people were watching like, who would act like that? Or is it more like Wives being upset if the Nanny was too good looking? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah.

It just seems so bizarre. Yeah, I saw it a couple of years ago. I'm like, yeah, but it's hard when you're watching things out of context. Right. to understand if it's the time or if that was, you know, what the intention was even at the time. Some of them, it's pretty clear, like some of them are just clearly homophobic jokes. Yeah, it's funny that at this time,

I reckon it was probably like kind of progressive because I also read recently that I hadn't really noticed that the time you just sort of let it wash over you, but all three female characters have kids, but in non-traditional ways. Right. So whether that's Phoebe's or Saregate, Rachel's a single mum, and Monica can't have kids so adopts. So like people are kind of praising it that way for being quite progressive and showing

Representing that kind of like that's a bit diverse But then you look at so many other things and you're like no you fucked up a lot too or I don't know Not fucked up, but it doesn't age that well now, I think yeah, that's tricky. Well how how how should you judge something like that? Yeah, if you yeah, I don't know it I don't know, it's a tricky one. I'm not smart enough to have. Yeah, I can't quite figure it out. Do you guys probably not the place people come for such a training? Sure. Yeah, let's make more jokes about second position. Which is also what a ballet move.

Yes. There's six positions. Sex or ballet? Which one are you talking about? Sex. What a ballet move. Yes. There's six positions. Sex or ballet? Which one are you talking about? Sex. I don't know of three positions, sexually. And ballet.

Standing, sitting, lying. What? Is that right? Yes. That's right. And upside down. Four. Wow.

The mythical fourth position. But you have to go to space to do it. It's very hard. It's expensive. It is very hard. It's expensive. It is very hard. Oh, sorry. As the show blew up, so did the fame of the cast and the producers of the show, accommodated their desires to head to Hollywood with flexible shooting schedules.

During the Friends Run, for example, I'll list a few of the movies that the actors, at least it could growrow was in movies like Romy and Michelle's high school reunion. Fuck, it's good. Romy, it's Romy, isn't it? Romy, it's Romy. Which is a, it's known as being a cracker of a movie. Cult classic.

Analyze this, and she was also in, analyze that. Jennifer Aniston was in, she's the one, Office Space, which is another classic in Bruce Almighty. Courtney Cox was in Scream Scream 2 and Scream 3 Matthew Perry was in Fools Russian 3-Tango and the whole nine yards David Schwimmer was in six days and seven arts and picking up the pieces and Matt LeBlanc was in Lookin' Italian and Ed And Ed is a movie where he played baseball with a chimp and I cannot wait to do it on primates. Anyway, does that in order of success?

Does that sound a little bit like it? And he played. He was in Ed. Yeah, he's a movie career. I think Ed was like a big vehicle for him, but yeah. Even post friends. I feel like he's just so sucked to more television stuff. Still, television is the new movies, babies. Babies. Babies.

Oh, babies. Oh, babies. Littlefield said, F-Cars was in demand, because we watched their popularity soar. I haven't done an accent from, until now, why now? Until halfway through that sentence. We view they had choices.

Oh god. And the one thing that produces were great about was that there be enough time during hiatus. I'm so sorry, Mary. Where they could do films. Matt. No. There was flexibility in when we would start back up.

What are you doing? That was great. Thank you, Doug. Two different takes, but I loved it. God, you're good. Justin Realiz was doing very specific dialect. I loved it. Yeah.

Midwest. Midwest. Midwest, so high, baby. Midwest. Midwest, yeah. Not low low low medium. Yeah, whatever Scale was before it was a high high week Midwest high week Movie schedules weren't the only obstacle for the producers a few seasons into the series Matthew Perry started a battle with it Addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol little field remembered noticing that Perry had become almost frail and realizing that there was a problem. He approached Perry's management on the producers of the show and

they acknowledged that there was a problem. And not only seven Perry went to rehab, he again went to rehab in 2001. And years later when interviewed on the BBC, he said that, quote, I don't remember three years of it. I was a little out of it at the time, somewhere between season three and six. That sounds pretty out of it, you can't remember any of it. Yeah, but he did stress that he was never high at work, just painfully hung over. Oh, wow.

So in some ways, it's worse for your performance. Yeah. Arguably. So the season did very well, rated high. The whole way through very consistently rated high, but the final, the finale rated, it's bloody socks off over 50 million viewers. Not as arson, but you know, whatever. One of the main storylines that ran through the show was the relationship between Ross

and Rachel. On again, off again, we were on a break, etc. In the pilot, Ross asks Rachel, can I ask her out sometime and she says, okay, but it's not for a year and a half before they finally go out. Crane saw one, all right, this is a Zobridden It. Crane saw one one of the biggest challenges, and that's what threw me. Crane saw one of the biggest. But then he saw one too. Grains saw one of the biggest challenges for them was keeping the audience invested

in the relationship. And when friends finished up on May 6, 2004 with episode the last one, the Ross and Rachel are came to a close with Ross confessing his love for Rachel and they lived happily ever after we assume. It was almost like the cliche thing I think, I apparently had to run to the airport to stop her. He was at the wrong airport. What a bloody series of events. It's a real comedy of errors. In that episode, Moniker and Channel, and their adopted twins moved to the suburbs as well, so there's a couple of big things there. I think Phoebe and Joey were also in the episode.

Um. But they didn't end up together. No, they did. They talked about it. Like we couldn't do that. That would be too like neat. Yeah. Little field, little field was no longer at the net work

by this time. But his fantasy, he said, was that Chandler and Joey having a spin off together. But that one have made he said, was that Chandler and Joey having a spin-off together. But that one had made a lot of sense with Chandler and Monika having moved to the suburbs with the Society of Family. Instead, NBC made Joey, a spin-off series focusing on Matt LeBlanc's Joey character, the titular Joey.

The series took over the time slot from friends, but failed to gain a big enough audience and was cancelled during the second season. Crane and Le Bonc, oh my God, talking has been so difficult today. You nearly there, mate. Crane and Le Bonc. Le Bonc. Le Bonc. Le Bonc.

Crane had a Le Bonc in second position. And Le Bonc in second position later teamed up again in 2011 for a new comedy series called Episodes. Heard about this? Yes. It's good. This series found more success and it aired five seasons in it LeBlanc plays a version of himself, which scored him the 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Comedy or Musical.

Do you know that? That's cool. I knew I was sort of critically acclaimed, but I didn't know that how. Did he? But he won awards for playing himself., but I didn't know that how. Dead heat, but he won awards for playing himself. Yeah, I didn't realize that either. I've seen some of it and I think it's pretty good from what I've seen. What a rave review.

I've seen some of it and it's all right. I think. Yeah. It's all here. There is often to stress it. I know. It's no ed. I assume.

I can only assume that is. I think that's what you assume that is which one was up for Razzie's head. So he's one awards at either end of the spectrum. There is often discussion about some sort of reunion, but it doesn't sound like it will ever happen. According to Kaufman, one of the reasons there would never be a reunion is because the show was about that time in your life. When your friends are your family, stop pitching it to me, Kaufman. No, you got the, you got the pilot up already.

You got it. Yeah, now by this stage, like all their kids would be grown up and, yeah, just, they don't see each other anymore. No, how would their kids be? I saw that on Mid-Haskel, wouldn't they? It depends on the kid. I've saw that on, on social media recently, it was like, Ben would be this age, the twins would be this age.

Well, the twins were right at the end, right? Yeah. And I say the season finished. But Ross already had a kid, I think. Oh, yeah, Ben, that was Ben, right? Yeah. Oh, I saw it great. I was watching a few, there's a little special film

with Conan O'Brien asking him questions on set. Mm-hmm. And they were throwing like, what do you call things that go wrong? And I think, blueprints. Blueprints, thank you. Wow. That was a bluepuff.

And they had been, there was this one scene where Ross was determined to hear Ben's first word. So he's going to him, Ben, say data. I'm gonna tell you, Mom, you said it either way. So you may as well just say it.

Say data. And he's meant to not say anything. And he kept going, Daddo, I'm gonna tell you, Mom, you said it either way. So you might as well just say it. Say, Daddo, and he's meant to not say anything. And he kept going, Daddo. Oh. The baby. The baby, the actor kept fucking him up. Oh, that's so cute. Which is a random, and he says a Rachel, and Jennifer Annas, that every time I was like,

Oh. The day between melting into us all. The day between was just cracking the shit. Shut up. You're ruining my scene. I'm doing a swimmer. I've done it mid-quote again. So she said, one of the reasons why

it will never be a reunion is because the show was about that Tommy life when your friends are your family. And once you have your own family, it changes. Once Rachel had a baby and Mono con Chan and I had their babies, life changes. And the show is no longer the show. Wow. That's big, it's deep, I love it.

It's beautiful. Courtney Cox has said that she had enough trouble trying to bring all six friends together for a reunion dinner let alone getting them together to do any sort of reunion show. The late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel had a mini-friends reunion with Aniston Kodrow and Cox reprising their characters for a sketch Fun didn't say it, but I imagine it would have been a lot of fun. They've discreet. No, no, no That's silence is 100% yes. Wow. That's bad radio Yeah, that is not great for us. Give us a little friction, give us a little bit of lot and shape. Oh, I hate Kimmel, that guy is a prick.

Wow. Is that good enough? Yes. Don't believe that at all. But I have more of a felon down the guy. You're a felon guy. Yeah, I think so. I don't care.

I'd need it to eye, it's gonna be honest. I don't care, otherwise. But if I had to pick one Jalen oh baby really He's my mother's favorite Oh, this is I cannot get a read on him Let us in yeah, I'll like night and And the better soon as you go really is no no no the stupid what are you think get me to It's like James corner, but now he seems pretty freaking annoying. Who do you like?

I don't like any of them. I was like Letterman growing up. Yeah, you're big into Letterman, aren't you? Yeah, Craig Ferguson I thought it was great, but he's they're both done now. I think the car ones probably Colbert Yeah, I like him more as a character. Yeah, same. Conan probably. Yeah, like kind of he seems like a cool guy But I thought I should have been boring now maybe Same Conan probably yeah, like he seems like a cool guy Boring now maybe Stop the monologue. Yeah, that's so bad monologue is a dead topical humor. It's just so boring Did you see this the news you see this no?

I work in the news that Craig Ferguson's monologues were great fun because he sort of he fucked with them a little bit He went right up and did it down the barrel. He actually I'm talking about he actually would shake the camera. Can you believe it? What the crew must have hated him. I went to a taping and he and he sort of he fucked with it all like he They shot the first two things out of sequence. So he'd, he'd plan to call back. He'd do a something that we knew was going to be coming up. He'd call forward to it or something like that. It was real fun. Anyway.

Wow. What a story. Will you be telling that on your late night appearance? Matt, that was so great. Thank you for being so brave and vulnerable in the space. I just want to be present. And you are. And we are.

Is anyone want to help me at this episode? God no. You know what I listed? Topical humor is my favorite. That kind of humor is way better. Get on with the report. There was also a near full cast reunion when all but Matthew Perry appeared on a televised tribute to James Burrows

The man who took him to Vegas Perry can be there because of an acting commitment in the lead up to It Fortune.com went through some of the show's achievements including In the tent were very close in by the way in the ten seasons in which friends aired it consistently ranked in the top 10 of the final season ratings Even in its first season. Its popularity never waned right up to the final episode, which pulled in an astronomical 52.5 million viewers.

Astronomical is such a good word. In syndication, friends continue to attract the same huge audiences that is when it was hot off the presses. According to USA Today, Warner Bros. earns $1 billion annually in syndication revenue. One billion. So they're all still getting paid heaps. When the cast renegotiated their deals, just a little bit of a doctor evil there.

Yeah. Oh, I missed it a little bit. When the cast renegotiated their deals as a team, fortune.com says they receive 2% of the show's syndication income. So every member of the core cast makes approximately $20 million a year ongoing. What the actual, you'd never need to work again. Why the fuck are they in movies?

Well they're not really. I'd say the frowness has done quite a bit. Yeah, because she just loves working. Courtney Cox can fuck off. Cougatown. Fuck off Cougatown. Whoa. Yeah.

Whoa. We're taking down the big greats here. The model of Cougatown. What's Matthew Perry's in Lately? He was in the swimmer, the rebooted odd couple. All of you fuck off on New York's dad. He was also a merman on that Madagascar series. Oh yeah, that's true. The merman. Is that, I think that's his name. He was also a murmur on that Madagascar series. Oh yeah, that's true.

The same rough. Is that, I think that's his name. No, it's not. He was also, he played someone in a podcast serial I listened to. Okay. Big bucks. So he's doing really well. No, it was like a big budget podcast.

A big budget podcast. It was a budget podcast. What are we? We're a budget podcast. A big budget podcast. It was a budget podcast. What are we? We're a budget podcast. That's sure. That's sure. There's two types of budgets. Yeah, yeah.

No, I heard the tone difference, yeah. The whole episode felt like a bit of a fact, fun fact, episode rather than much of a story, right? But you have fun facts. But I do have some fun facts. Potentially fun. I will decide. You will do have some fun facts. Potentially fun. You will decide.

Here they are. The list of guest stars is pretty epic and includes, this is on friends. Brad Pitt. Yes. Oh, can you know many others? Magnum PI. Yes.

Congratulations. Greg Kenne. He, I don't have one there, but he's definitely an epic. I don't have one there, but he's definitely an epic. Yep. All right, listen. Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Robin Williams, Charlton Heston, Sean Penn. Holy shit.

And Bruce Willis. I don't remember. I remember Bruce Willis was dating Rachel. Rachel, right? Yeah. But I don't remember Julia Roberts. Hmm. That's cool.

I love Julia Roberts. One star who asked me on the show, it was knockbacked, was Juzzy T. Justin Timberlake. He asked me. He asked. According to Crane, we had a meeting with him and he was lovely, but we didn't have a good part for him. Kaufman said, my kids were furious. They wanted to kill me.

That feels weird. You feel like you're... They found a part for Fergie. I was thinking the same thing. Timberlake can actually act. He's an... Elmick Ferson was Fergie. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Timboly can actually act. He's an... Elmick first son was in it. Yeah, I mean she was no good.

You can find a role for... Most of those cameos were bad. Right. Like Bruce Willis was not good in friends. Oh right. Tom Selleck was okay. He was a recurring character though. Have you seen Bruce Willis in the movie Die Hard?

Because he is very good in the business film. Yes. So good in that Christmas film. Yeah. I love how the play bells are jing jing jingling. Brad Pitt is terrible in friends. He sucks so bad. He's a good actor. Have you ever seen him in the movie? Die Hard? Die Hard. I'm not fucking dead. Oh, does he? Brad Pitt, bloody hell. Yeah. Very versatile. Anyway, my point is, we all might mistakes. Yeah, by saying no to Justin Timberlake. Correct. Which we'll never do as a podcast. Oh, no, when he inevitably comes a knock knock knock knock on an album. Lesson, we'll find a place for him.

Speaking of a knock knock knock knock knock knock on doors. At the beginning of this year, Monica's doors had the number five on it. The producers later realized that it didn't make sense as Monica lived on a higher floor. They changed their apartment number to 20. The number on Chandler's apartment also changed from 4 to 19. God, that was fun. It's sweet that they...

Wow! It's... Matt, it's a weirder. People at home make a note of she's... They changed the numbers! For the house... Yeah, that's... weirder. People at home may have noticed you. They changed the numbers. Put the house, yeah, that's for the apartment status. Crazy. The apartment status is the same.

Wow. Yes. That brings that way more questions for people at home. Yeah. They're not changing it. But also, how could the people at home know what level they were? They were up some stairs, but they could still have been number four or five.

That's fine. I reckon they had a board meeting about this. Yeah, that's fucked. But thank you so much for that incredibly fun fact. Oh, thank you. I'm going to choose to take that sincerely. You're two from two here. Not long before, this is the final one.

Not long before Bruce Willis did a stand on Friends, as we just mentioned. He made the whole nine yards with Matthew Perry. During the shoot Perry met with Willis that the film would be number one in the box office on the opening weekend. It was number one on the opening weekend. Perry won the bet, meaning that Willis had to donate his fee

for appearing on Friends to Charity. Why would you bet against your film doing well? I don't think Bruce Will, this is a fucking badass. That's why. I think this film sucks. Yeah, that's what I'm picturing him is. He's in his trolley guy and this is a piece of shit. And Matthew Bruce is like, man, you're in it.

I mean, it's gonna be number one. I bet you. I bet you. He's like, whatever. That's amazing. It's just money. He thought it was gonna suck. That's fun. Do's just money. I thought it was gonna suck. That's fun, Jess, do you think?

Sure, not as fun as the one with a change that that is. Yeah, because of the layout. Oh, wacky. That is, yeah, that's what I should have probably coded. A wacky fact. Wacky fact. Love it. You can get wacky fact.

What? Sorry. That was great. Love it you can get wacky fact What sorry That was great is that the end of your report man that is that was great stuff great stuff. Oh my god Sorry, we should applaud him in an appropriate manner For those who don't know that's that's that they clap in the theme song Imagine if you were a voice of this far if you didn't. No, I, no one told you life was gonna be this way. Now, I, you say people that might not be fans, not a huge fan did know too much about it,

still really enjoyed that. So thanks, that's very nice. Well done, no, no, no. And I'd like to also thank the man who shall not be named that suggested this topic, who has been struck from the internet record. Yes.

Will Barron. Maybe that's what the Baron is. He's living on Baron soil. Well, yes. That's what that is. His will is Baron, because he's not left anything to anyone. Because he doesn't exist. He doesn't exist. It's got no possessions. Wow. Do you think? Love it. I love it so much.

Hey, you know what we normally do? I feel like I'm carrying you guys tonight. You know what we normally do to finish off the show? It's our fun new segment called Fact Quadal Question. Okay, now we're making jingles. And it comes from someone. It comes from one of our Patreon supporters. If you want to give back to the show review, I want to just want to keep us going. And you listen every week, you can go to patreon.com slash do go

on pod, check out all the rewards you can get in exchange, including shout outs, you get the vote for the topics that we actually get to shape the show. And you also can get two bonus episodes per month. And as Matt is about to say, if you're at the Sydney Sharnberg level, we'll read out a fact-quad a question of you choosing. And this week, our fact-quadal questioner is Kevin Ulysses, Pac-Rad. What a name, Kevin Ulysses, Pac-Rad. And you also get to give yourself a title. And Kevin has given himself the title of Junior Vice President of Cannelloni Production.

I love Cannelloni. I think it maybe was, yeah, I'm guessing that was for your benefit. I mean, it goes down my way to Suffolk is quite nicely. And... Ooh. Just I live with this. I'm...

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. Your condition sickens me. Sorry Dave, again, thank you for being brave and vulnerable in the space. Thank you so much. And thanks for cooking, what can I learn, your overseeing production of cannelloni kevin elisees. And Kevin has chosen to give us a fact.

Oh. And here it is, it's a paragraph here. James Joyce's Eulices is one of the hardest books to read in the English language. Though it has a huge cult following and people every year dress up as the characters and read from the book on the day June 16th, which is the day the book takes place and also called Bloomsday after the main character, Leopoldo Bloom. But why June 19th? Joyce's- Did you not just say June 16th? You have sold me a puppy, a Kevin, but why June 19th?

You have sold me a puppy, a Kevin. But why during 19th? It's not, or it is. Whichever day it is, Kevin, you son of a gun. Because we don't fact check our fact quite a question. I have not read this yet. I wanted to learn with everyone. Okay. Joyce chose this day since it was the day.

He had his first date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle. Santa Wanda, is this a real fact Kevin? with his future wife Nora Barnacle. Standard wonder, is this a real fact Kevin? I've definitely Nora Barnacle. That does sound for me, but it does take place on Bloomstay. Heather, BAMSTAY. The two June something or other either the 16th or the nine teams, whichever one you can make love.

You can't come on the 16 save or a two on the 19, fell or a what did I do? Well The moment the two actually had a pretty avid affair showing so much affection in the letters they sent to each other from one of the letters Joyce wrote, which sold for millions of dollars at an auction, he says, the two parts of your body which do dirty things are the loveliest to me. Oh, let's list out guesses at what they are. Which do dirty things?

It's do dirty things. Well, like, that love is. So you're butt. It's one. One's gotta be your butt, But what's the other one? The vomiting. Yeah, thank you. Yes. Oh, he's a button mouth. Horror mouth and. Yeah, well, you know, we're all good at top. He's a button mouth guy. Dave's a bloody. I'm going to suffocates. Suffice. Sufficeice this stuff. That is this week's fact.

Quero question. Thank you, Kevin Ulysses. Pack rat. We've all been a lot about James. Dirty boy Joyce. But imagine the modern equivalent of text messages between Justin Bieber and his fiance, selling for millions. I love that as an idea. That's crazy. Justin Bieber and his fiance selling for millions.

I love that as an idea. Yeah, that's crazy. One of what his favorite dirty places are. Hahaha. Yeah. And then we also like to thank some Patreon supporters. Normally Jess comes up with some sort of a game for us to... Yes, I was, I thought of this early.

Great. And I was like, oh, I've got it. And I think it's quite clear. All we need to do is give them the title of the sitcom they're in. Preferably One Word. A One Word sitcom. Oh, okay. Title. I like it. I like it. Do you like the One Word option or do you want to open it up? No, I like One Word. One word. One word sitcom. Yeah. There's also six of these people. So are you thinking maybe, ah, fuck, are you thinking give them a character? Good. Oh, that's good too. I hate to be upstaged, but that is good too. But we don't know them. That's true. But we know their names. That's true. Wow. Okay. So maybe if this is the sixth,

the characters in France, based on their name, we give them a profession and a character trait. God, it's fun, isn't it? That's fun. So which, what do we do? All three, okay, great. Well, so we get to tell them which of the six they are? Yeah.

A profession, a character trait, and the name of the sitcom. Oh my goodness, okay. Maybe one of the options. What do you got, David Boy? I would like to kick off by thanking all the way from Blackman's Bay down in beautiful Tasmania. Well Matt will be gigging in the month of August.

Yes, what day did you say I'll be there on the Wednesday before? 22nd. The 22nd of August you'll be in our Tasmania? At Jokers. Don't have a map in front of me, so I'm not sure how close Blackman's Bay is, but worth the drive-old.

So, I'd like to thank Zach Lowellen. Ooh, that's good. Zach Lowellen. Zach Lowellen. Zach with the CHE in the end. I think that's not Zach. Zace. Zace.

I think. Zace. You know how you have, like, home in a way or neighbors? Yeah, what do you got? I think... I was gonna say it was Blackman's Bay. What about beach? Love it.

Beach. Great. And he is Phoebe. Mm-hmm. He's such a Phoebe, the Phoebe of the show. Yeah. Thank you, Zach. Star of Beach.

Yeah, that's great. I'd also like to thank from Royal Oaks in Michigan the United States of America Abrialliant three Three word name okay strong American name John Cole Wilkinson That is strong John Cole Wilkinson John Cole Wilkinson Joey Yeah, he's definitely Joey. Oh, he's a Joey and he's sitcom. He's a star of plain love it Spelt any it's not cruel. It's not about his looks. It's like. Oh, he's a bit vanilla. Not unlike a plane like a

No, he's he and the theme songs on on a plane by Navvana. Yes. Or learn to fly. Foo-farters, that's the at the credit C. Yeah. All Dave Grohl versus New Dave Grohl. And it's all about a journey. God, we are the sitcom making machines. Thank you, John Cole Wilkinson, the Joey of Plain. JCW, I'd love to thank.

From Medford in... O-R, which is... Oregon. Oregon. I'd love to think from Medford in O-R, which is Oregon. Oregon, I'd love to think Connor Smith. Connor Smith. Oregon Connor might be our number one supporter name on Patreon. Yeah, true, we got a lot of conners. Love them, keep them coming Connor.

Conners. I think Conners could be the Rachel. Yeah, Rachel. I'm getting Rachel vibes as well, I totally am. What is Conno's show? Wall. Wall. Oh, that is beautiful. Yes. And it takes place in a wall. Inside a wall, yes. Right, are they hiding out from something? Oh, I won't give too much away. Of course.

But it is. What's your elevator pitch? It is masterful. Yeah, elevator pitch? It's masterful. Great. No, my elevator pitch is I can't give too much away. Oh, wow. I'm going to green light that. Thank you for the minute. Just to see what it is. TV exec.

And I'd also love to thank from California in California. From Yellowkn knife in Canada. Mr. Cole boot chart. Cole Bouchard. Jeannie. I'll be Bouchard. Jeannie, like you, Jeannie Bouchard. Correct.

Oh, that's good. Jeannie. But it's also a reboot of... Hydrate of Jeannie? No. My life is a Jeannie. Oh, my... Which was a spin off of Hydrate of Jeannie. And Cole's, is a genie. Oh, which was a spin-off of my dream and coals of course say it with me. Yes

So to say it's we're all russes called we're all russes. I like I like some parts about Ross He's fine. Yeah, can I thank someone? swimmer Is that a yes? Yeah. Sorry, I don't see you. You don't speak Shwema? I don't speak Shwema.

Well, it's very easy. It's, you say Shwema. It's much like I'm Groot. Shwema. Right. I mean, you just look at my eyes and you know what I mean. Shwema. You nodded, so I'm gonna say it's yes.

Shwima. Great. I would like to thank from my favorite place in the world. My house. No. You never invite me. Your house is a dream. After the incident.

I broke everything. Weed on the road. Weed on the road. What did you say? Weed on the road. don't know the wrong. It means it's true. Yeah, that's it. It said that that's believable.

I've heard the rumors. Island, thank you. Ronan Michael, Dermott O'Neill. What? What? That is a dream name. Dream name. James Joyce couldn't think of that.

Couldn't do it. And obviously, Jess, again, let's go together. Monica. Monica. And the show would be. I really could have been bleeding to that. The show would be called together now. Okay.

Hey babe. What did you say? Hey babe. Hey babe. Hey babe. Hey babe. One word. Yeah.

Halfon. Hey babe. Wait, it's one more time. Abroad. I just say emerald. I think you're saying airport and you were saying burrito. Abroad. Abroad.

Airport burrito. I didn't understand the game. That's a good title for a show. I'd watch airport burrito. I know you would. A lot of people are going to get to say. You basic bitch, I'd forget that, to a marketing. Yeah, you got me hooked.

Thank you so much. Ronan, Slash, Monika. I would also like to thank from Bloomington, Ian, Diana, Jacob, Olden, Miller, another good strong. I look like giving us their full names. I love this first and third name. Somehow on my Uber Eats account,

it's now Jessica Ann instead of just Jess so all my orders come as Jessica Ann and I hate it anyway. Is your nickname ever been JAP? No. Because that is the inspector's name on Puerro. Puerro that's correct. Inspector JAP. Oh. And also has a offensive connotations. Yeah, that's why I'd generally call it. Oh, yeah. But Jacob's a gem. He's our gem. He's an angel of gem. So the show's called gem.

And could he be any more Chandler? Yes. OK, you've made that reference many times without me getting it. It's just something Chandler says. Could I be any more Chandler? Yeah, but it'd be that different thing. Could you be any more? Oh, somebody's trademark.

He's trademark was could I be any more Chandler? Yeah. And that would make me hate him. Wow, okay. Ross is the number one character. He's the number one banana. He's certainly got, yeah, he's definitely the most you. Which is I love me.

Yeah. I mean Ross, which is me. Yep. No, we got it. Big time. Also, jam is a good title for a sitcom because it's J dot A dot M. Am I right? No, it's jam. One word. Any works in a jam factory. Like in Melbourne, the cinemas? Like in Melbourne, the cinemas. Oh, yes. It's very exciting. Great twist. Yeah.

We all thought he was just buttoned lids on jars. Turns out he works at the move. He's ripping ticket stubs. Oh, yeah. I got dizzy when I made that noise. It was a bit from the noise. I often like it. Thanks so much for everything you've done.

And thanks everyone for joining us here today on the show. And as we always say, Dave, give us a review because we're worth it to you. I actually, because we're on a new thing for like six months, Omni, and they list the, there's an easy way for us to see reviews from around the world. And I was reading a few the other day when I didn't even realize I needed it, but it made me feel so much better. There was so many lovely reviews. For a long time on this through iTunes, we can, whatever country and you can only see the reviews, so we can only see the Australian reviews. But we have found a way, as Matt said, to see all the international ones.

So, if you are anywhere around the world, you want to make us feel good. You're on iTunes, give us a nice review, and you feel like the box and write something cool. But if you have some kind of sick fuck who thinks, I want to hurt these people. Just don't listen. That does enough. You know, don't feel the need to be like, she's an idiot. I know. I don't need reminding dad. I must say the hate is so little.

It is. And I'm very sensitive to it. It's more minded people, huh? No, people write such lovely things and it really is nice to read, isn't it, Matt? But if you give a right, man, you can fuck off. As we always say, thank you so much for everyone who has written a beautiful five star review in the past. We really do appreciate that.

You can also find us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at do go on pod. Also our website is do go on pod.com. Our YouTube is youtube.com slash do go on pod. It'd be great if you to subscribe there. I was up to date, now I've skipped a couple episodes behind, but I'm going to get back up to date there soon. And I'll probably, you think I'll be releasing another one of our filmed live episodes soon.

From the Melbourne Comedy Festival earlier this year. I've had it for quite a few months, but I... You can see how beautiful we are. Sure, I think I came out already. Sure! We're gonna come out of here. Get lost in our eyes. In our eyes? Yeah, get lost in our eyes. Get lost in second position.

I've lost it. Alright, team. Until next week, we will say thank you for listening and I will say goodbye. Bye! Bye! This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. I mean, if you want, it's up to you.

Do you want to have a go at being the last one to say bye for once? I'm sorry. Bye. Nice. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now. You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Multitask right now quote today at progressive.com progressive casualty and trans company and affiliates National average 12 month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with

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