Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - MINI: Our Friends Of Friends Reunion Special!

Episode Date: May 28, 2021

If you're a huge fan of Friends, get this podcast in your earholes ASAP! It's been one of the most highly anticipated reunions, the Friends reunion. We celebrated by doing our very own "Friends of Friends" reunion, where we spoke to the people on the outskirts. The extras, the cameos, and the people (other than the main cast) that were involved. We spoke to Ross' first wife Carol, Mr. Heckles, a woman who was cast as an extra and got taught to act by Gunther, Phil Solem from the Rembrandts who sang the theme song, and Greg Grande who was the set designer of the whole show. It was so interesting chatting to all these people and learning about so many behind-the-scenes secrets! Enjoy!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jono and Ben, new to your mornings. Friends of Skinny, New Zealand's most recommended telco. and Ross' fiancée There'll be some others you vaguely recognize But it won't be Ross or Rachel It's just all the extra guys Yeah Joe and Ben's Friends Reunion

With some actors from the show Joe and Ben's Friends Reunion All the ones you barely know Joe and Ben's Friends Reunion And all the ones you barely know. Jono and Ben's Friends Reunion, only on the radio.

Welcome along, this is Jono and Ben with you. This is our Friends of Friends podcast. Yes, welcome, yes, unsanctioned, slightly illegal, and who knows how long this will stay on the internet for before it gets shut down by the... We may turn friends into enemies. Yeah, Friends, such an iconic show. It was actually really emotional seeing that Friends reunion this week. It was so good, but we've had also our Friends of Friends reunion over the last few days.

That made me more emotional. Our Friends of Friends reunion. Well, it might make you, depending on how legal proceedings go. Yeah, no, it was really good. We caught up with people who, basically, they were associated with the show and the ones who returned our emails. Yeah. And it was really interesting.

It sounds like we're talking it down, but talking to these people, you get an insight into how the whole operation was run and some facts that, you know, your Joeys, your Rosses, your Channelers and your other ones I can't quite rattle off right now. Wouldn't have said on the special. Yeah, some really, really great moments. Here's a few highlights to keep you interested. Now, our first guest this year was Ross's first wife.

Carol was the character's name. She's played by actor Jane Sibbitt. It was two days after giving birth you were on Starring in Friends. Yeah. It was the day I got home from the hospital when I got the phone call. Could I come to work the next day? Oh, kind of sore. Big baby, 24-hour labor.

When they sent me the pilot over to convince me, when I saw David Schwimmer, I just said, I have to work with this man. I cannot believe how talented he is. And today we're talking to Michelle Davis, writer and author.

She works for Comedy Central overseas. She got to visit Friends at its peak. At that time, this was Series 9. I mean, it was a writer and author. She works for Comedy Central overseas. She got to visit friends at its peak. At that time, this was Series 9. I mean, it was a phenomenon. I remember walking in and just thinking, oh, I don't believe this. I'm in my television. It was the most surreal and amazing

and terrifying experience of my life. The singer, the writer of the theme song from a band called The Rembrandts. Phil Sollum joins us over Zoom right now. Was it true that the famous clap at the start, that wasn't you guys either, though? Somebody, they decided to put the right in there and we're like, whoa, now isn't that something?

Someone's giving us the clap here. Catch up with Larry Hankin. Now, he played an iconic character on the show, the grumpy neighbour Mr. Heckles. As I understand, after six episodes, you get to become a recurring character and your pay increases, but they cut you after five. My agent called me and said, hey, I got good news

and bad news. I said, well, what's the good news? He says, you got your fifth. You got your fifth on Friends. I go, oh, great, man. What's the bad news? They kill you in this episode. What? What?

They are some of the great highlights in our Friends of Friends interviews you'll hear over the next little while. It's all coming up, the Friends of Friends reunion. Ben and Jono call this show Jono and Ben, Breakfast on the Hits. The Hits. Our first guest, very excited about this. She was Ross's first wife on the show. Carol was the character's name. She's played by actor Jane Sibbitt.

She joins us. How's it going? Hello, nice to meet you. Hey, Jane, thank you so much for taking the time today. We really do appreciate it. Oh, it's so much fun to be here already. I'm having a blast. Now, I was reading on your website, you describe yourself

as an actress, writer, director, producer, mother, photographer, dancer, teacher, lover, friend, sister, advocate, and so much more. I mean, is there any more? Yeah, there's a lot more. It's a lot. Isn't there a lot? I mean, are we all multi-dimensional

beings? I mean, that is a very good point. I could add a few more things to my list of skills. Very limited, Jane. Is it? I'm barely struggling to get words out into this microphone right now. Ben's got some skills. He's a very slim individual. He can fit children's clothing.

Yeah, I don't know if that's a skill, but yeah. When he buys an NBA top, he can buy the kid's size, which saves him a lot of money. But people will know you from your time on Friends over here because we're still playing Friends over here. It was just released. It's a new show in New Zealand. I am so delighted.

I look forward to coming down and seeing it myself down there. Because it went for 17 years and you were in only 15 episodes, but it felt like you were talked about a lot more and felt like you featured a lot more in Friends as Carol. You know, it's funny. They are often asking me about why does it seem like Carol was always there, and they asked me,

they did a trivia question for me and asked me how many episodes was I mentioned in, and apparently I was mentioned in many, many more. Yeah. So that's why the presence. But I think also just because of the repeats. Now, you're not serious is it not

it has played them it has played we got it the first time round we are behind in a lot of things but this is serious they just keep replaying it from the start

oh yeah so they'll run it out for all its seasons and then they'll start again from the beginning and we've been doing that non-stop for 20 years yeah

and it still rates like a monster yeah it's the I love Lucy of our generation I think it is a big show And we've been doing that nonstop for 20 years. And it still rates like a monster. It's the I love Lucy of our generation, I think. It is a picture. And you almost, as a true, played the part of Rachel. It was almost going to be yours.

You know, it's a funny story. People have asked me this. I was up for the part of Rachel. I wasn't offered the part of Rachel. So it's a really big thing. I know a lot of people have been talking about that. I was up for the part of Rachel. So it's a really big thing. I know a lot of people have been talking about that. I was up for the part of Rachel. And that's when I said to my agent,

did you tell them I'm pregnant? And my agent said, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Get the part first and then you can negotiate. I'm like, no, I really need to be honest about this up front. I don't want to waste anyone's time. And of course, that timing wouldn't work out. And I said, but please tell them I want to play the pregnant lesbian, please. They said that that timing wouldn't work out and I said but please tell them I want to pray the play the pregnant lesbian please they said that that timing wouldn't work out either so when Anita Barone I guess decided to leave the show they called me up and I had just gotten home from the hospital after delivering my child and they convinced me to come because

that was the thing yeah another actor played Carol in the pilot and then you came over two days after giving it was two days after giving birth, you were on starring in Friends. Yeah, it was the day I got home from the hospital and when I got the phone call could I come to work the next day, you know, and I said oh, kind of sore, big baby, 24 hour labor. They said, don't worry

we'll make it easy and so, seriously, when they sent me the pilot over to convince me because i was a little woozy from delivering that baby he's a big boy yeah um when i saw david schwimmer i just said i have to work with this man i cannot believe how talented he is and i you know they said it was just going to be two weeks but blessedly how many years later thank god you didn't get the role of Rachel because I don't even know what happened to that lady. There's no one that, Jennifer Edison's a friend

and there's no way I could even come close to her. Brilliance. She's amazing. I was going to ask you that. Are you still all keeping in contact with the cast? And who are you most closest to? I'm most closest to the woman who plays my wife, Jessica Hecht,

who plays Susan. She and I are the closest. Don't hang out closest to the woman who plays my wife, Jessica Hecht, who plays Susan. She and I are the closest. Don't hang out or see the rest of the cast much. I saw Jen last year before the pandemic, but that's about it. We're all scattered across the globe. Jane Sibbitt with us. She played Carol on

Friends. Now, I wanted to know, let's step away from Friends for a moment. True or false on the internet, things about yourself. First on-screen kiss was with Johnny Depp. Is that true or false? It's true. Right. So this is 21 Jump Street days, is that right?

That's correct. Yeah, it was a beautiful first kiss, yeah. Now, when you're doing a kiss on screen, is it your same sort of kiss as I'm doing in person, quite sort of fumbly and... Did I always find the tongues end up making a... You know, that odd noise, the kissing noise, which is disturbing as well.

But was Johnny Depp a great kisser, was he? He was a great kisser and he was a respectful kisser, which means on screen he didn't use his tongue. Okay, okay. Internet true or false with Jane Sibbitt? You do something now called Jane's, okay. Is that true or false with Jane Sibbitt? You do something now called Jane's Dancing Hands. Is that true or false? This is true.

What is that? What exactly is that? What is Jane's Dancing Hands? What happened was I was doing documentary films on healers and one day one of them touched my head and I went falling back into this state of bliss and when I came out of that about an hour later i'm not a girl who does any drugs or anything like that but i was in this out-of-body state for about an hour

when it came out my hands were moving in a really interesting way and since that time i've been able to help people heal some really serious diseases and mend broken bones and stop bleeding and all sorts of emotional and psychological problems too. It's been, I never, if it hadn't happened to me, I never would believe it. That was not my world and wheelhouse. So that's what Jeans Dancing Hands is. I mean, I've got a whole website that explains more.

Well, that's a lovely thing. Do you think you could do me a favour? Put your lovely hands up against the screen. I'll put my bald head against the screen. He's never tried to grow hair back. Yeah, try and grow some hair back. I want a full luscious head of hair by the end of the week. Oh, it's been so lovely

hanging out with you today. We really do appreciate that from the other side of the world. You probably have these questions about friends so many times, so thank you for tolerating all our questions. Thank you so much. I appreciate being here. Add these two men together and somehow you get three quarters worth

of a normal man. The hits with Jono and Ben for breakfast. Well, listen to me try and cleverly, hashtag not so cleverly, insert this jargon into this restaurant booking. Each one you do. Producer Julie, can you ding a bell? Yep.

Hello? Yep. Hello? Hello. How you doing? Good. Have I got hold of the cafe? Yeah. How old are you? Seven.

Never too young to get your first cafe. That's what I've always said. Oh, I just came in here with the other people outside. Oh, how's the cafe going today? I don't know. Well, you probably should if you're owning and operating your own cafe, but that's fine. Yeah.

Is it a good place to go with friends? Hello? Is the cafe... Oh, hello. Hello. You've got a very young business associate Yes Sorry about that How you doing?

I'm good thank you How you doing? Good Now your cafe Is it a good place to go with friends? Yes it is a good place to go with friends Location wise Is it nice and

I'm looking for a place central To perk me up. In Bluff? Yeah. Yes, it's right on the... Yes, it's on the main road. Yes, it's very central. Because I was talking to a colleague of mine,

we were on a break, and they suggested that we go for lunch. Oh, what a good idea. Yeah. Just a moment. Yes, what a good idea. Just a moment. Yes, Wednesday would be good. Okay, I'll come later in the week. Now, I've got to take my cat to the vet Wednesday morning.

Right. It's a smelly cat. It's really starting to smell, so I think the vet was going to sort that out. And then I'll afterwards pop into your place. That would be good. Could I have a name for the reservation, please? Certainly.

Jonathan? Jonathan? Now, because we're going to go for lunch. Yes. But then we decided to pivot. Yes. Pivot. For dinner.

Oh, right. So Wednesday for dinner. Okay. Do you serve wine? We serve wine. Yes, we do. Do you serve serving? We serve wine, yes, we do. Do you serve Sauvignon, Matt LeBlanc? Matt LeBlanc?

Yeah, that's... Sauvignon. Can I stop here? It's Jono and Ben calling from the Hits radio station. Oh, hello. Hello. No, I was trying to see how many Friends references Jono could work from the TV show Friends into a conversation.

Yeah, as soon as he said Matt LaBlanca, I was like how you doing? He started with, now you get why he said how you doing? Yeah, weirdly at the start. It was a very weird conversation about smelly cats and central perk. Yeah.

How did he go though? How did he go? Sneaky. Really sneaky. Oh, sneaky. That's how I like to be known, sneaky. It was interesting because I thought I recognised the voice. I wanted to say, now, how do I know your voice? Yeah, well, did you want to say, now, is that New Zealand's premier and most loved broadcaster,

Jono Pryor, talking down the phone to me? It's absolutely what I wanted to say. That's what she wanted to say. Why don't you say it now? It's not too late. What is that? It's too many words for me to understand. It's too many words. Yeah. It is too many I wanted to say. Why don't you say it now? It's not too late. It's too many words for me to understand. It's too many words.

It is too many words. It's on this business card, but it's too many words to say out loud. Hey, listen, what I love too is that child labour is alive and well and bluff. It was so good. The initiative to pick up the phone was very polite. Yes, well, he's got a cold today, a sore throat,

so he's not at school and he came with me to work. We've just arrived. Yeah, and I got roped into a job outside and he came in the head. It's like everyone's outside. I'm on the phone

wondering if somebody was actually calling. He's like, I'll take this booking, Mum. I've got it. Oh, hey, we want to send you out something for mucking around

some of your day, all right? You hold the line. We'll grab your details. Okay, thanks. It's a signed photo of New Zealand's premier and most hold the line, we'll grab your details. Okay, thanks. It's a signed photo of New Zealand's premier and most loved broadcaster, Jono Pryor. Personally signed to you. Oh, it's better than that.

Hey, we actually have, we've got some Peter Alexander Friends pyjamas. That would be lovely. Yeah, we've got some of those to give away. There you go, will you hold the line, we'll send those out to you. Okay, cheers. And you can find those Peter Alexander Friends pyjamas, the sleepwear collection, available in store and online at peteralexander.co.nz

Morning, this show contains traces of Jono and Ben. The hits with Jono and Ben for breakfast. This morning though, we're going to catch up with Larry Hankin. Now, he played an iconic character on the show, the grumpy neighbour Mr. Heckles. Mr. Heckles, no one is making any noise up here. You're

disturbing my oboe practice. You don't play the oboe. I could play the oboe. And I'm going to have to ask you to keep it down. And we're very lucky to have him joining us now over Zoom from the United States. Larry Hankin, how are you doing? I'm alive.

I'm alive and well. You do so much. Uh, I'm, I'm, I'm alive. I'm alive and well. Well, you do, you do so much. Um, actor, screenwriter, producer, director, singer, author, artist. Where would people most recognize you from? Would it be friends, fair to say? Or would you say? It would be, uh, yeah. Actually, I would say that the plethora of fans is from friends.

And they're all under 16. They're like 12 to 16. Then there's a drop off and then it starts coming back around 34 to 45. The original kids who watched Friends when it was original, they're now grown up. They have daughters.

The daughters are now watching the reruns and the moms and the daughters watch it together. Yeah, well, I mean, in New Zealand, we haven't stopped playing Friends since 1999. It's just been on loop the whole time. It pretty much has. I mean, it was the five episodes you were in. It felt like you were in a lot

because you were quite an integral character to the show. I mean, you were the reason that Joey and Chandler ended up flatting together. Because I understand after six episodes you get to become a recurring character and your pay increases, but they cut you after five. Yeah, you were like, your character died. How about that? How about that? Yeah, let's go get him.

Come on. Get a beer bottle and meet me outside. Let's fix that right now. Bring it back to life, Mr. Hickles. What happened was I just, yeah, I did five, and my agent called me and said, hey, I got good news and bad news. I said, well, what's the good news? He says, you got your fifth.

You got your fifth on Friends. They wanted to call, but yeah, they want you to do it. I go, oh, great, man. Five. One more. Recurring character. Because you get a real bump that you could buy a house. You're on the property level.

Okay, so what's the bad news? I got five. Well, you know, what could be bad? What's the bad news? They kill you in this episode. What? What? What? You have a heart attack.

They need the apartment for Chandler. Chandler is moving out. They're throwing him out of the apartment. But here's the weird thing. Because I asked around. When I found out, I got on the set. So my first day of my fifth show I didn't know that it was also the first day of the new season and the first day of the new season they have a party I went to the set

but there was nobody there so I said where is everybody and they said they're upstairs there it's a party it's opening of the new season. So I go upstairs. I was really angry. Now, this is three days after I got the phone call that you're being killed on this show. But I didn't realize that I had kept in that anger for three days. I mean, I was really angry. Yeah, right. Because here's how it worked. I said, what's the bad news? So I was related. I had a house. I had five or one more, and I could get a down payment on the house. Right. Had the driveway.

I was in the driveway. Pulling in, the garage door is starting to open up, and he said, but you get killed. Boom. Wow. The house is gone. So in my mind, and I swear to God, this is real. In my mind, I had a house and 10 seconds later, friends took it away from me. And that anger I held in, I didn't know it. And when I went in and they went upstairs to the party and I saw the three producers and all of a sudden that anger just welled up.

And I went over and I said, what the hell did you people do? Why did you kill me? No, no. The character. Why did you kill them? Why did you do that? And the room just shut up. A hundred people.

And the one of the producers who is a really smart. I didn't get along with anybody there, but I thought she was really smart. She just leaned into me and she said, could we talk about this a little later? Just like that. And it just snapped me out of this anger thing. And I go, and I realized what I had done because the place was dead silent. Wow. And I realized everybody's looking at me and they're all,

fuck, this is... Oh, Larry's made this awkward. I'm not cool. So I just, I said, and I just turned around and I said, where can I go? Craft services table. I just start headed for the craft services table. They got a cup of coffee, anything to get away. And as I'm walking to the craft services table to get a cup of coffee, anything to get away.

And as I'm walking to the craft services table, all the people around, they just split. Just a parting of the seas. Moses heading for coffee and some salmon. What a party.

What a party. And I get to the thing and I'm thinking, what should I do? And now I'm all alone and nobody will come near me and tell them. So I'm there all alone. What should I do? And I just get a cup of coffee and on and on, go like this. And this kid, about 15 or 16, all of a sudden he appears. He comes right over and he stands right next to me and he looks up at me.

And he says, dude, that was so cool. That's what I do. Oh, Larry, that's the story of that. You should be like, kill the neighbor, kill the other one. His other neighbors. Kill the next door neighbor. Well, I tried every day. They would come after my thing with the, you know, why did you do that?

They wouldn't come near me. If I would walk towards them, they would walk away. So I just gave up. I just said, I just, you know, I'll do my part and go away. But meanwhile, I mean, Mr. Heckles is a huge, huge character. A huge character. Totally. Oh, that must be awesome.

So screw you, friends. Screw you, friends. I'm there and you can't get rid of me. Listen, lovely chatting with you, Larry. Screw you, friends. I'm there and you can't get rid of me. Listen, lovely chatting with you, Larry. You're an absolute character. Congratulations on all the success you've had in your career. It's such an illustrious career and we wish you all the best.

Keep safe over there. It's been lots of fun. Aye. He's fun. We apologise in advance. Sorry about that. Sorry about that. I'm sorry to rope you into this.

Sorry you've been dragged into this. Jono and Pam. Breakfast on the heads. The heads. The heads. The heads. The Friends reunion was last night on TBNZ2. For you, Percy, can I ask you a question? Yeah.

Where did it rank on the list of reunions for you? On a scale of a soldier reuniting with a dog... Oh, that's quite emotional. ...to the Sky Rugby Post Analysis Show reunion? Oh, that's, again, quite emotional as well. We're talking about second phase ball from ruck situations, I'm like, oh. Where did the Friends reunion say?

Tony Johnson, no one says it better. Look, I really actually enjoyed the Friends reunion. It was done really well. I was thinking it was just them going to be blabbering away to Cordon on a couch for two hours, but it was really cleverly put together. Them seeing the set for the first time in probably 17 years them seeing each other for so long

them reading lines of old scenes and talking about stuff I found it quite emotional watching it it was like a huge part of your life as well as obviously a massive part of these people on the show's life. It was like they were my friends except they're not, they're far better than me, they're famous rich millionaires

Now did any of them hook up on the show? That was a question James Corden, the host, asked and here was the answer. Yeah, the first season, I had a major crush on Jen. And I think we both, at some point, we were both crushing hard on each other but it was like two ships passing because one of us was always in a relationship, and we never crossed

that boundary. We respected that, but we both Bullshit. I love Matt Blanc saying, I saw what went on. A lot of canoodling on the couch. Yeah, between Ross and Rachel on screen and off screen as well. And can we pay homage to David Schwimmer's pun there? Ships passing in the night, but one of us was in a relationship. Oh, Schwimmer.

No, and Gordon didn't acknowledge that in the moment. No, it was really clever. Now, getting the cast together, the now iconic cast for Friends was obviously a big job, choosing the right people to play these roles. And Jennifer Aniston was actually on another show that had already started filming and she went up to the producer of that show to ask if she could leave the current show that always had for me to be to be on friends and here was his response

and I actually would tell between my legs hat in hand went to the producer of the show I was on and I said please release me from this show I love this show that I'm doing right now. Nothing against your show. And he said, I saw that show. That show's not going to make you a star. This show is going to make you a star. Well, he's here tonight. That producer's here tonight.

Same thing was said to Ben before he embarked on a journey with me, and it turns out that guy was right. He was right. That situation, he was right. Yeah, I should have stuck with the other one. As well as that, Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey, yeah, he went to his audition,

and he had to audition multiple times for the role of Joey, and he went out drinking the night before with a friend, by the sound of it, and turned out to his audition a little worse for wear. To make a long story short, I woke up in the middle of the night at his apartment and had to go to the bathroom, and I got up too fast, and I can't believe I'm telling this,

but I kind of blacked out and fell face first into the toilet, and I hit my nose on the bottom of the toilet seat, and a huge chunk of meat came off my nose. And I'm looking in the mirror, and it's bleeding. I was like, oh, my God. So I have to go in for the big callback, and it's like a big, ugly scab on my nose. And I'm looking in the mirror and it's bleeding. I was like, oh my God. So I have to go in for the big callback. And it's like a big, ugly scab on my nose.

And Marta Kaufman said, what happened to your face? And I told the truth and got the job. Got the gig. And that goes to show you kids, if you don't take your job seriously and you go out on benders, you will win in the end.

Yes, yes. That's truly it. It hasn't worked for you so far, Ju. I know. Just watching you again, I guess you kind of, I appreciated how good they were, all were as actors,

you know, comedic actors. They were all incredible. And even like, they had the guy from Game of Thrones who played Jon Snow talking about a scene, that famous scene, the pivot scene,

you know, the one where they're trying to move a couch and Ross is just yelling pivot? Pivot! Pivot! Pivot! Pivot! It's such a funny scene, but he was saying, you know,

this actor who was in Game of Thrones, you look at that script, there's nothing happening in the scene, it's just like three people moving a couch, one guy yells pivot lots of times, the other one gets angry. It's not really a funny script, that particular scene, but how it's one of the most funny scenes ever from the show just through their performance. And that's what they call acting.

Yeah. Good acting. Comedic acting. Something we've never been able to do. Well, that's it. It was a really good reunion. I thought it was really well put together. And next, our unsanctioned friends reunion.

Like Ben's unsanctioned underground kakapo fighting club. How's that going there? It's not going. It's a bloodbath every Friday night if you want to come along. No holds barred. Kakapos all in on each other. Experts in semi-accurate, half-remembered information. Vaguely known information

but maybe not correct. Jono and Ben. New Zealand's breakfast on the hits. Today we're talking to Michelle Davis. Now, she's a writer and author. She works for Comedy Central overseas. And she got to visit Friends at its peak when it was hugely popular. She was an extra on the show, wasn't she? Yeah, she got to write a piece.

She got to spend a whole day on the Friends set. And as Jono said, she got to be an extra and act in a scene on Friends and she joins us right now from the UK. Good morning, Michelle. I'm very well. Well, it's actually evening here. It's almost tea time in good old London. Oh, doesn't that sound so quaint and sophisticated?

Hey, Michelle, now you were working for a magazine in 2003, so 17 odd years ago, and you became an extra on Friends. I did. And it is still the highlight of my career. And it will be whatever I do, whatever else I achieve, I could probably sell, you know, I could sell as many books as J.K. Rowling and people still wouldn't be as excited as hearing that I was once in Friends. Was episode 21 of series nine, I understand,

called The One with the Fertility Test. I mean, how much TV time did you get and what did you have to do on the show? So I am, it's quite a brief appearance, but I'm in the opening credits. You know how they used to always have like a little opening scene and then it would go into the song?

So this opening scene was, some of them were all sort of in the in central perk and um my job was to sort of stand behind them and um just sort of be in the background but because i was doing it for this magazine as a feature the director came up to me and said okay at the point that david schwimmer says the word department that's your cue to move and we want you to go over to where gunther is at the counter and order a coffee and i just i just absolutely frozen when you want me to act i was shaking wow shaking because at that at that time this was series nine i mean it was a phenomenon it was yeah yeah I remember walking in and just thinking,

oh, I don't believe this. I'm in my television. It was the most surreal and amazing and terrifying experience of my life. Wow. Is Gunther a trained barista? Yes, he is. That's how he got the job.

Oh, he is? Yeah. Wow. So on the first day when they started filming, they were casting for the show and they were looking for background extras. They had them all assembled and they said, oh, does anyone actually know how to work a coffee machine?

And he stuck his hand up and that was it. They were like, right, okay, you can go behind the bar, pretend to make coffee because you know what you're doing. And that for him just became this incredible 10-year experience. Wow. Now, Michelle, you are, of course, extra on Friends. We're talking about this for a bit. And Gunther, I understand, told you how to act in the background, what you do to silently chat in the coffee shop.

I've never heard this before. Well, the best thing to do when you're pretending to speak in the background, because obviously you're not allowed to make a noise, you've just got to pretend, is say the phrase apples and pears over, over and over, because it makes the best mouth sound. So him and the director said that to me,

and when the episode is on and I do catch myself, I do look like I'm actually having a normal conversation, but I'm just saying apples and pears, apples and pears. Now, do you get to talk to the big bangers, your Rosses, your Rachels, your Joes, your Channelers? Can you look them in the eye? Can you interact with them? Or do you keep your distance?

Well, as you can imagine, being within the presence of the cast of Friends is pretty overwhelming. And understandably, people just cannot stop gawping at them. So, you know, you mustn't stare at the talent. But it's really hard. It's really hard. You know, you're a few feet away from Jennifer Aniston. They were so nice, though.

I mean, you know, they were so lovely to everyone who worked on the show. You know, everyone from the runners down. It really felt like a collaborative effort. And I did speak to Matthew Perry, but only because I turned around suddenly and stood on his foot. And he was quite nice about it. Quickly before you go, Michelle, we're going to name the actor.

You've got to say one word about them with your brief encounter with the cast of Friends, okay? Jennifer Anderson. Short. Short? Oh, yeah. I read that you said she was quite petite in real life. Yeah.

Like, so short that when I first saw this person from behind on set and I thought, oh, who's that child? And then she turned around and it was all of my daughters. Matt LeBlanc. Sonny. Matthew Peary. Can I say two words? Smells nice. Oh, yes. I understand when you bumped into him, he smelled

quite good. Yeah. Really nice aftershave. David Schrummer. Muscly. Oh, is he muscly? Really stacked. Yeah. Muscly. Stacked. You don'tly? Really stacked. Yeah. Muscly. Stacked? You don't see that on screen. Okay, Courtney Cox. Beautiful. So beautiful close up.

Amazing piercing blue eyes. She's really, really, yeah, really breathtaking. Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe. Shy. She was the one that really kept to herself. You know, she would sit quietly on set she wasn't you know you see phoebe and she's all a bit bonkers and she just sort of sat there very

quiet shy and reserved thank you so much for uh talking to us today uh we know how punishing this must be reliving something that you did 17 years ago but i love talking about it because when i am old and you know gray and shuffling around slippers, it will be the one thing that I will tell everyone still. I was in that programme. She put it on your tombstone. Was in Friends. Yeah. Was in Friends.

Well, Michelle, thank you so much for talking to us this morning. Your new book, Shadow of a Doubt, is out in November, I understand, which sounds like a great read. So I really appreciate your time, Michelle Davis. Thank you. It's lovely to talk to you. There you go, Michelle Davis is on sounds like a great read. So I really appreciate your time, Michelle Davis. Thank you. It was lovely to talk to you. There you go, Michelle Davis is on the episode of Friends. That was actually really fascinating.

Yeah, the inside word. That's the dirt that Corden's not going to get you on Thursday. Well, nice and quite muscly. I mean, that's the sort of stuff he's not going to tell you. They're proud of New Zealand. Go New Zealand. If only New Zealand was proud of them. Jono and Ben, New Zealand's breakfast.

On the hits. Now, Jono's Ben, New Zealand's breakfast on the hits. Now, Jono's internet wormhole. Thank you, producer Juliet. At the moment, we're in the middle of our Friends of Friends reunion. We've been talking to, you know, Friends of the Friends cast because the core cast, they didn't email us back when we asked if they were keen for a chat on the hits in New Zealand. No, they were doing something else, another Friends reunion,

which you can see tonight. They were talking to James Corden, who's actually interviewing them tonight. It's the hits in New Zealand. No, they were doing something else. Another Friends reunion, which you can see tonight. They were talking to James Corden, who's actually interviewing them tonight. It's the official Friends reunion tonight. TVNZ 2, 7 o'clock, actually. So Shoreland Street, if you're a fan of Shoreland Street, it's going to be after the Friends reunion on TVNZ 2 tonight. We were just talking about that off-air.

There's a smart programming play there from the programmers at TVNZ. Oh, yeah, we were talking about that. Yeah, because you're going to have such a bolster audience watching Friends that the flow-on effect of the way TV works, you know, they'll spill over to Shorty Street. Maybe some new people, maybe some people who haven't seen it in a while, get reignited by the storyline,

join Shorten Street back tomorrow night at 7 o'clock. Okay. Yeah, it's a smart programming play. But no, Friends, our unsanctioned Friends reunion continues on today at 8 o'clock. We've got Larry Hankin, the old grumpy neighbour who died. programming play. But no, Friends, our unsanctioned Friends reunion continues on today at 8 o'clock. We've got Larry Hankin, the old grumpy neighbour who died. So he was quite an integral character

because when his character died, that meant that I think Joey and Chandler moved into the apartment and they became all the friends in the apartment building. But we were reading about Larry and the thing is, if you're on Friends for six episodes, that made you a regular recurring character, and your pay increased.

But he got killed on the fifth episode. Yeah, his character's gone. He didn't get the pay increase. We'll see if this is a sore point for Larry Hank in After 8 O'Clock. I bet you it would be. I mean, you know, if you're like, yeah, I won away, this is great. And then you're like, what? What?

You're pulling the rug now. Yeah. But anyway, can we then you're like, what? What? You're pulling the rug now? Yeah. But anyway, can we hit the music producer, Juliet? Oh, it's actually the Friends music. I've got some Friends facts. I got lost on the internet yesterday. And, you know, usually my facts, you don't like my facts so they're too long, they're laborious

they're not that interesting. Well not when you're like, 97 facts, you know Well I trawled through all 97 friends facts, okay and I've picked out what I believe are the three most interesting Did you know that evil

Alan DeGeneres Oh, here we go.es turned down the role of Phoebe? What? Phoebe Buffay. She was meant to play Phoebe Buffay. They offered it to Ellen DeGeneres. Really? Because Ellen had her own. She was on a sitcom for a while, wasn't she?

She had a show called Ellen. Yeah, it was Ellen. Before the Ellen talk show, right? She came out, I think, on that show as a character, but as Ellen. Yeah, it was Ellen. Before the Ellen talk show, right? She came out, I think, on that show as the character, but as Ellen. Yeah, and it was huge. It was one of the biggest rating episodes in the States for years, that was.

Yeah, OK, well, I didn't know that about Phoebe. That was a good first fact. Yeah, but that, sorry, Juliet, I should have got you to get this song before. Can you see if shiny happy people, R-E-M, is in the system? Because, you know, the original Friends, or the song that we know is the Friends

theme tune, I'll Be There For You that wasn't the original choice in the pilot they used Shiny Happy People by REM. Wow, let's play that song now. Let's see if we've got it here we go, we've got it This was meant to be the

actual theme tune. It picks up a little bit of the song, right, does it? Yeah, after this, fast forward through this boring, violent, boring nonsense. We prepared this and we got to this. Yeah. People. Oh, no, wrong word. Yeah, so that was meant to be the original theme tune. Not quite as upbeat as the one we know and love, but okay.

Jennifer Aniston hated the Rachel haircut. Really? She looks back on that period in her life, her life of style and fashion, and despises it. That was an iconic haircut.

Everyone wanted the Rachel. Hated it. Loved the hairdresser, she said. The hairstylist was wonderful. There was Jono and Benny. Everyone wanted the Jono. Everyone was like,

give me the Jono haircut. We had a TV show. Yeah, but this acts to genetics, you know. Many people rocking the Jono too. And, you know, everyone's talked about how much they've earned. If you haven't heard it, 22 grand each episode in the first season, which leaped up to a million each episode for each of the cast by the end of the series.

That's still a remarkable amount of money for the first series too. Crazy. Isn't it crazy? Well, if you go off, what, how many episodes a season, they're probably pulling in over 190-odd grand, aren't they? Wow.

Because they were all, you know, no one was really an established actor, really, like household names when they first started, right? They were all kind of, you know. So that's a huge salary. Are you not getting 22,000 an episode for this show?

I'll do some negotiating for you after the programme. And this is what I found quite interesting as well. Courtney Cox, arguably probably the best actor on the show. Yeah, she was probably the most famous going into the first episodes. Was the only cast member not to get nominated for an Emmy.

All of the other... They all got nominated for an Emmy apart from Courtney Cox. Oh, there you go. They're really interesting. Jono's internet wormhole. Real Kiwi blokes with soy lattes. Mmm.

Jono and Ben, breakfast on the hits. We've been having a lot of fun this week, reflecting on the nostalgic show that was Friends. Such a huge show. It was on last night, the reunion on TVNZ2, and we've been doing our own reunion, the Friends of Friends reunion, catching up with some people involved in the show,

and a very interesting guest joins us right now. He was the set decorator from the start to the end on Friends. Greg Grande is his name. Thank you so much for joining us. How are you doing? Well, thank you for having me. Now, how the heck did you get the job of decorating the set on Friends?

I guess a little bit of luck, as it turns out, huh? Yeah. I had done the pilot called The Six of Us, which turned into the hit show Friends. The show was called The Six of Us before? Yeah. Wow. I did not know that. In pilot form it was, and then when it was released, they changed the name.

So friends. Now, what did your job exactly involve? Well, I was the guy who filled the space with furniture and pictures and artwork and Monica's apartment and Central Perk and Joey and Chandler's and all the furniture details, not unlike an interior designer would do for someone's home. Because I imagine if your job's not done properly, people would notice. But if your job's done properly, people don't notice.

Like I'm looking at a photo now and I'm like, well, there's about a dozen jackets hanging on a coat hanger. Exactly. There's a story I like to tell about the sofa in Central Perk, which we kind of rehabilitated from the Warner Brothers props rental house that was in shambles, pulled it out and kind of redid it. But it had a little bit of a rip in the back of it.

And that was a big thing about, you know, should this sofa have a rip? And then there's the couch parade. No one likes the couch, so you bring a new one in and everyone weighs in on it. The good news about Friends is that we pretty much hit it on the head with the first go around. One and done. You wheeled out the couch though. We love it, but we'll spend four days talking about the rip in the couch though.

Did the couch break at some stage? Did I read that, that the couch broke when someone fell on it in the scene? No, no one broke it. There's a story of Matt LeBlanc accidentally tripping into the club chair in Monica's apartment, and he dislocated his shoulder. That had to shut down for a week or two.

Had to shut down. Did you feel responsible for that in any way? Yeah. Now, do you put little, you know, little hidden secrets in your set design? Like I'd put up a photo of me with my parents when I was seven years old or something just in the background. Are there any little Easter eggs we can look out for?

Absolutely. Look at the picture, friends. I have four daughters. One of them is in each nook and cranny of the set, if you look really close, or on the refrigerator. Oh, really? That's awesome. What would surprise us if we and cranny of the set if you look really close or on the refrigerator. Oh really? That's awesome. What would surprise us if we got to walk on the set? Is it bigger than

we would think or smaller? Like having never been on a set like that? Much smaller. Much smaller, yeah. The perspective you would go wow, this is small. That's what most people say when they walk onto the stage over there. They're wow, this is really small.

That's what a lot of people say to Ben. They do, but that's somebody else. I've heard that about him. He won't go there. Oh, it's gone international, has it? Oh, jeez. That's embarrassing. It's humbling, but it's all right.

Well, this is... We've heard it over here on the stage. Oh, yeah, okay. It's a rumor. You say it was a stage because it was filmed in front of a live studio audience. It's not actually an apartment. That's right.

So, yeah, those all sat on stage. Had a live audience every Friday night and usually at about 9 or 10 o'clock. The show started at 6. At 9 or 10 o'clock, a few folks would leave and they'd bring in a new audience. We'd shoot until like midnight, one o'clock some nights. On Friday night.

And why would they change the audience? Because they'd start to fatigue. Exactly. And then, you know, in season seven, eight, nine and ten, it was such a popular show, most audiences didn't leave. You know, a lot of rewriting happened on show night to create the magic. So they would rewrite scripts in the moment? Lines.

Oh, lines. So I guess you'd do things and find out it worked better in an audience or not. That's all interesting, really, isn't it? Now, what's another big show you've done set designs for? Well, I don't know what you'd get over there, but I did the Cougar Town. Oh, yeah? Yes, Cougar Town.

Did air over there with, obviously, Courtney Cox. Cooked a slew of shows that come and go, you know. Yeah, right. They all come and go. I've never had one like Friends. No. I bet. I bet.

Hey, listen, thank you so much for your time this morning, mate. Really do appreciate it, Greg. All right. Good luck, guys. Broadcasting live. And mostly awake. Jono and Ben, New Zealand's Breakfast. On the hits.

Yes, friends, such an iconic show. It's been a lot of fun looking back. It's such a big, big show. It was such a big part of all our lives. And I think James Corden, who was hosting the Friends reunion the other day, put it really well with just how big a show it was. So, Friends, you made 236 episodes of the show. It aired in over 220 territories.

Friends was TV's number one comedy for six straight seasons averaging 25 million viewers a week 52 million people watched the finale the show has been watched over a hundred billion times across all platforms someone went on to wikipedia hey i love it when you do some good research you're like hold on don't applaud you times across all platforms. Someone went on to Wikipedia. I love it when you get some good research and you're like, hold on, don't applaud yet. They went too soon, didn't they? They were like, there's a big bag of facts still to come. If you're

impressed by this, why do I say 50 million people watch the video? Don't ruin my bit! You're clapping all over it. You're not hearing it. Such impressive numbers for such a great show. And we've got one more interview for you right now on our Friends of Friends reunion.

And one of the guys who created this iconic tune became a smash hit single on its own, the Friends theme song. I'm pretty honoured to be joined by the singer, the writer of the theme song. Yeah, this iconic theme song. Friends, I'll be there for you. His main theme song from a band called The Rembrandts. Phil Sollum joins us over Zoom right now.

We're going to find out the story behind the song and how it came to be. Thanks so much for your time. Great to have you. It's my pleasure. Thank you for thinking of me. Now, the Red Brants, you're a duo, you and Danny, you blew up even bigger, you know, with the Friends theme tune,

but you kind of had fans beforehand and then you gained a whole lot of new fans afterwards and they didn't always sort of mix the same fans, right? Yeah, after the Friends theme, you know, after it was discovered that it was us that did it, because it was a 42-second long thing at the beginning of a TV show, so that's all people heard, but they started requesting it at radio stations. But our record company freaked out and said,

you better, like, write more to this song and put it out, and it's going to be on your next record, whether you like it or not, basically. And you were like, well, it didn't, I was reading you guys were like, it didn't really fit with the record, but obviously it was such a big show and such a big song. Yeah, that was the conundrum. So we had to go along with the plan or they were just going to say sayonara. We did the thing and we put it in there as a secret track.

And I guess the point I'm trying to make is once it got established, well, it ended up being like a big number one thing for two and a half months, I believe. Yeah, well, boy. So we were stuck in that category for a while. So our audiences went from sort of indie rock type people to like moms and daughters. Who loved Friends the TV show. They'd be like packed around the stage but it'd be like, well, there's our new audience. All they wanted to hear

was the Friends song. They had no idea who we were. Play the Friends song again. It turned out at one point my partner Danny said, all right,

we're just going to give you what you want right now. So we did it up front. Big mistake. We ended up playing the rest of the set. People just wandering out. That's going to be the last song. I'm sorry to ask you about this

because you're probably sick of talking about the Friends theme tune but I found it really interesting reading up about how it all came to be. It was written not by you guys but sent to you to basically provide the music and you Rembrandted up a bit, right? Yeah, the theme started out as sort of a little piano ditty that the husband of one of the producers had worked on. You know, it was just the little track with just the instrumental of a piano.

And so we got together with him and we fleshed it out and turned it into, you know, what would be a pop song that we would actually do. Have you done TV themes before? Was this a new territory? I mean, how did they come to ask you guys? Well, I've heard various stories, but I know the executive producer, Kevin Bright,

was a fan of us. Right. Yeah, right. And so is the song the bane of your life or you're actually quite appreciative of what it's given you guys? It kind of started out as a bit of bane

because we didn't have any clue that that was going to just overwrite everything that we'd tried to accomplish. At the end of the day I guess I look at it like I call it the golden albatross. You know it's a boat anchor that we have to carry around all the time yeah yeah you're like you didn't tell us this was going to derail our entire career but then on the other hand you're part of the one of the biggest shows in the world and and such an iconic piece of i guess history

worldwide i must say it's uh it was a surprise to have it turn out that way because we really had no clue that the show would have the kind of legs it did. You know, I mean, you really couldn't ask for a better introduction to, ooh, we're in the television business now. Yeah. Was it true that the famous clap at the start, that wasn't you guys either, though? That was a little sneaky thing that we went in

and did our whole instrumental thing and we sang it. We decided we had been, you know, kind of knocking back a few beers while we were tracking the song. By the time we got to vocals, we were just, you know, I was really paying attention to like the phrasing has to be like a certain way, not the way that the piano thing was, because then it was too stiff. So it was like we were being very meticulous about it, but we were also pretty much ripped.

It's hard to be meticulous when you're ripped too, isn't it? Ripticulous is what it is. Ripticulous. And so then you heard the song and the producers had added four claps to it. Here's the deal. We went in the next day, you know, sorted out our hangovers, went in the next day to do it properly. And then when they played back the track, meanwhile, somebody,

and I still haven't figured out who it was, but they decided to put the right in there. And we're like, whoa, now isn't that something? We don't even need the rest of the song. Someone's giving us the clap here. And it sparked a huge debate for years how many claps it was. Was it four claps? Was it five claps?

Apparently four. That's right. You did four just then? Everything is four. That's right. That's right. Hey, lovely to meet you, mate. You keep safe over there.

Thank you, guys. Yeah, and hopefully we'll see you down here in New Zealand sometime again soon. Want more Jono and Ben? You can wake up with the boys' weekdays from six on The Hits and via the iHeartRadio app. Jono and Ben on The Hits Breakfast. Friends of Skinny.