ZM's Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley's Fact of the Day (of the Week!) - Friends Week!

Episode Date: November 2, 2023

On This FOTD(OTW) Podcast, No-one told us life was gonna be this waaaaay *Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap?*  It's Friends Week Baby!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ZM Podcast Network. Play ZM's Fletch, Vaughn and Hayley. Hello and welcome to Fact of the Day of the Week. This week, Vaughn pops down to Central Perk for a muffin and dishes the dirt on friends. It's time for... Fact of the Day, Day, Day, day, day. Today's fact of the day is about friends, and that will be the fact of the day theme this week.

Great. Because Matthew Perry passed away over the weekend. Sad. You know by now. I think you know by now. I think the world knows. But that's the reason why we're doing it. So today's Fact of the Day, friends theme, is about the couch in Central Perk. Oh, yeah.

The famous orange couch. Yeah. Because it was found by a set designer called Greg Grande. It's got an E on the end. It doesn't have a thing over the E, but I'm giving it the Grande. It might be just Greg Grande. It's got an E on the end. Doesn't have a thing over the E, but I'm giving it the Grande. It might be just Greg Grand. So you're saying that Greg is not Ariana's brother or related cousin? Could be related to Ariana Grande.

Yeah, right. Could be. It's not ruled that out yet. Yeah, we don't know. So they had to dress the set for Friends for the Central Perk Cafe, and he was in charge of getting a couch, and he said, there might be something downstairs and they said well we need one pronto

so he went into the basement that's quickly, that's another Spanish word isn't it? Or is it Italian? Pronto. It's Italiano. Pronto Bruno so he went pronto down to the basement of the studio's production lot in California

and he found an orange couch in the back corner. Sorry, it's Latin. Oh, everything's Latin. Italian is basically Latin 2.0. Yeah, but it says Spanish Latin here, so maybe you need to apologise. To the Latinos. Oh, no, but then it says here Italian. I think we're right.

It comes from Italian. You owe us an apology for making us apologise to the Spanish. Do I need to apologise to the Italians or to you? You apologise to me. Why do I have to apologise to the Latinos? I was apologising to the Latinos. I was giving them a free word. Yeah.

You incorrectly dragged the Latinos into this argument. They wanted to be left the hell out of it. Okay. Yeah, right. So he found it and it was literally under other pieces of furniture. Okay. Stacked up.

Like in a storage unit. No, just in the basement of the studios. Right. He dusted it off, brought it up to the set and because he said I really liked

the carving in it. Network executives are like, it's tattered, it's yuck, we're trying to make this show seem like really new and like

high end. For the young ones, this is no good. James Burrows, director, who's directed pretty much every rom-com you've ever heard of and created half of them as well. He was like, no, no, no, no, no. This is perfect.

This is good science for everybody. It's tattered so it looks like it's been sat in. It's exactly what we're after for the aesthetic. It makes it far more believable and real than like a brand new couch being in a cafe because you never go to a cafe, a well-established popular cafe that's got brand new furniture.

No. So they popped it in there and the rest is history. Now, I was like, if it was down in that basement, where else was it used? Yeah, was it used on another show? I cannot find,

I searched Greg Grande for any other times he'd ever talked about it or if anybody had ever looked into it. No one could confirm it. They don't believe it was set furniture as much as it may have just been furniture used for people just chilling and relaxing and waiting. In the studio? Yeah, around the studios or in reception areas and stuff.

Wow. Then I found that the one that you see on the tour of the studios is the actual couch. It's not a the tour of the studios is the actual couch. It's not a replica. Okay. It is an actual couch. And you can buy a replica. In 2021.

Because TVNZ had one. Have one? Have one? This was just an orangey couch. It wasn't a replica. It wasn't a replica. The only thing that made you think, oh, is that the Friends couch is orangey and it sat in front of a Friends thing. It looked nothing like the Friends couch.

You're saying they lied to us. They lied to us. The national broadcaster. They lied to us. So you can buy a replica from Tonk, which is a pop culture collectibles e-commerce store. It released a life-sized replica of the Orange couch that sat in the central perk for $3,299 US dollars. Jeez. It did come semi-assembled

yet with attached the four legs and some brackets. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. So he said it's got the same wood carving. It's got the same tassel-y bits at the bottom. Nice. And the nearest orange as well as the stitching and the shape they could find. So I don't know if those are still for sale.

Such a good couch. But hold on. Actually, I'll tell you if they're for sale. You could buy a central perk. I can't shop in New Zealand. It's telling me I can't buy it here anyway. Or your shipping hon. Oh, the shipping hon.

It would be so much. You need a boat and stuff. Hon, it would be way too much. Get it in a container. Get it over here. So today's fact of the day is the iconic orange couch from the Central Perk set of Friends was just rotting in a basement before it was found

and is so popular that you could buy a replica for $3,299 US dollars. It's Friends fact of the Day themed week. Yeah. That's a weird. Tributes are pouring in still. Salma Hayek just put a photo on Instagram. There's been a word from a rep for Lisa Kudrow, but they haven't directly said anything.

No. Which I feel like is a sign of real grief. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Not poo-pooing people that publicly declare it but it's like what do you say? Yeah.

What do your best friends die? They're taking some time to actually mourn. Be in it. Rather than put out a public word. Well, Jess has been in touch.

Okay. Jess knows a lot about friends as it turns out. Oh, really? Yeah. I believe she may have worked for TVNZ because,

remember how I said that couch was a poor knockoff? Yeah. She said the TVNZ Friends couch was sent to us by Warners for the Friends anniversary a few years ago. Oh, yeah. I believe they sent them to lots of networks that played Friends. It came with a whole set up, rug, coffee table, mugs, et cetera. It's meant to be a replica, but any fan, such as yourself,

knows that it's not exactly the same. No. I said, I knew it, but close enough. And she said she went on the Warners tour in LA where they went around. My mum and dad did that before because we went to LA with my family earlier in the year. And mum and dad did that before we got there.

They didn't like it. Because it was filmed in LA, wasn't it? But they're not really Friends fans. They didn't like it. Mum's like, in LA, wasn't it? But they're not really Friends fans. They didn't like it. Mum's like, bloody hell, they wanted us to look at everything that anyone on Harry Potter ever wore. Yeah. Your father and I wish we could have done it at our own pace.

Which sums up my mum beautifully. She just wants to be able to do things at her own speed. A lot of the times that's breakneck. And sometimes that's extreme. If it's a garden centre or a garden, it's extremely slow. She wants to smell every Ulster mirror. Yeah. She wants to ask questions about roses,

but if it's something like that, she's just... She'll get through a museum in five minutes. She'll get through it. Seen it, seen it, seen it. This is where today's fact of the day comes from, and thank you to Jess who sent this in. She said, did you know the coffee machine in the Central Perk Cafe on Friends is the same as the coffee, is exactly the same machine that was used in Uncle Jesse's Smash Club on Full House.

Oh, right. Because both shows were filmed on the same soundstage. Oh, it's the exact same. It is the machine. It is the machine. Because when they needed it for Friends, it had been used, and this is the same story with the couch. It was just there. In storage.

And they were just needing to the same story with the couch. It was just there. In storage. And they were just needing to chuck this together for the show. So they just grabbed the coffee machine and put it in there. So then I was like, what else can we find out about the studio that it was filmed on? What stage it was filmed on? Friends, the first season of Friends was filmed on exactly the same stage as Everyone Loves Raymond. Oh. Which Friends was like, this is great, we need a bigger stage and then Everyone Loves Raymond started the next year. And then they moved to stage

24 where they were there for the rest of their time from 1995 to 2004 in Los Angeles, even though it was set in New York. And that was the stage that Full House had been using up until they needed to use it. And that was the stage that Full House had been using up until they needed to use it. And it's the stage that Fuller House used, the reboot, after they used it again at the end of it all. So that's why apparently there's a few other things that were used in Friends that was also from Full House as well. I always feel like lying to you when I find out a show isn't where it's meant to be. Yeah, I know.

Like the same with CSI Las Vegas. It was all in LA and they green screened everything. Yeah, that's bad. I was like, how dare you? That's hard, man. Actually, it's a betrayal. Can I just say, with everything that's happening in the world, I feel the most sorry for you.

Thank you. Yeah, actually, should we accept some thoughts and prayers, Hon? If we could, if anybody's got a couple. I know everybody's pretty drained on T's and P's at the moment. Yeah, T's and P's. Fletch is upset that a TV show lied to him about their film location. He said it's the most upsetting thing for him. Just saying.

Vegas is very big. You can film it all there. Yeah. Oh, man. I'm sorry. Are you all good? Do you want to cuddle? Are you all right?

Do you want to pet? Or just thoughts and prayers? I'll get through. I'll get through. I'm thinking of you and I'm praying for you. 9696, thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers. I don't know who recently upset. Who recently found out

that CSI Las Vegas, which to me, we didn't need it. We didn't need it. We didn't need it. To me, CSI was enough. They could have travelled.

CSI, what is there? CSI New York? Miami? Where was the original one? Los Angeles? That was there. No,

the original was Las Vegas. Yeah. It was filmed in LA. I can kind of see why you were disappointed then yes thank you it was their first outing thank you

do you want T's and P's I don't want T's and P's I'm not upset enough for T's and P's okay because I've got plenty to go around just concentrate them on Fletch he's heartbroken

I never watched I haven't watched a single episode of CSI or SVU or I don't even know what you're saying. I'm sending my TNPs for your CSI, how upset you are.

Thank you. So today's fact of the day, thanks to Jess, who said for the real train spotters, you will notice that the coffee machine in Central Perk is exactly the same coffee machine from Uncle Jesse's Smash Club on Full House. Just before we jingle it out of here, someone texted saying, I saw Friends being filmed in the year 2000,

two of the Bruce Willis episodes. They were in the studio audience. How cool is that? And they said, sorry, Fletch, definitely in LA. Yeah, definitely in LA. How cool would that have been? Fact of the day, day, day, day, day. Someone wants to know if you're ready to talk about the fact that Lord of the Rings wasn't filmed in Mordor or the Middle Earth.

Now you're just being bloody stupid. Being facetious. Tease and peace. Play ZM's Fletch Vaughan and Hayley. Play ZM. Fact of the day, the third in Friends Week after the sudden passing of Matthew Perry. Which, by the way, this song, the Friends theme song,

had over 1.3 million streams. Since then or on the day of? Since his death. And that was in an article I read yesterday. on the day of? Since his death. And that was in an article I read yesterday. The Rembrandts, thank you. It's very sad. Yeah, a friend, the Friends cast made a joint statement yesterday. A joint statement basically saying, well, say something later.

I have the exact statement. Oh, please do it. We're also utterly devastated with the loss of Matthew. We were more than just castmates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we're going utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just castmates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we're going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.

And time will say more as and when we're able. For now, our thoughts and love are with Maddie's family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world. I saw Ross was out yesterday and he was wearing a mask.

Yeah. And do you think he wears a mask because he's worried about COVID or because he doesn't want to be recognised? He doesn't want to be recognised. Yeah, he just put on a mask. Yeah. And do you think he wears a mask because he's worried about COVID or because he doesn't want to be recognised? He doesn't want to be recognised. Yeah, he just probably wants to be left alone. Especially at the moment, he wants to be left alone.

And was he wearing a mask before Sunday? Don't know. That's just a question I had. I think it would be to disguise his face. Maybe he was, but it would have been to disguise his face. Yeah. So people weren't constantly yelling,

Pivot! Which I'm imagining is one of the things they yell at him. Yeah. But it weren't constantly yelling, pivot! Which I'm imagining is one of the things they yell at him. Yeah. But it is Friends Fact of the Day week theme.

I've got to find a better way to say that. Anyway, I don't care enough. I thought we could talk about the money they make. Okay. So,

it started out they were paid $25,000 per episode. That was the first $22,500 per episode for the first season. By the end of it, they were getting over $1 million each in episode. It was one of the most expensive TV shows to make, and it was all in the cast. Yeah.

It was like they were using the same sets they'd always used. Very little of it was shot outside the primary sets. But by that stage, this was syndicated all over the world and you could tell it was going to be repeated forever and a day. It was just magic. Yeah. So they were paid a million dollars per episode, but they also got, in the last few seasons,

buy-in to syndication rights and the money they made off that. So now each member of the Friends cast is approximately making $20 million a year on reruns. Yeah. They were so smart with those negotiations. And they did it as a team, eh? Yep.

They had negotiated together. And because they were nothing without all of them, were they? Yeah, totally. They were nothing without the cast. They wanted no one to be the lead, no one to be more important. And then some of them were getting more famous, like Jennifer Aniston was going off and doing lots of other work. Yeah.

Actually, as was Matthew Perry. It was Matthew Perry working on another role that got Bruce Willis to appear on Friends. Yes. We talked about this briefly yesterday. They did a movie called The Whole Nine Yards together and he said, Matthew Perry said to Bruce Willis, if this movie opens number one, you come

and do a stint on Friends. And Bruce Willis is like do you know how hard it is to get a movie to open number one? It's impossible. Matthew Perry's like, I've got a good feeling about this. Open number one. So he came and did his stint on Friends,

Bruce Willis, who was a massive movie star at the time and it was quite the get and donated all of his appearance fee to charity. Good man.

Well done. Good man, Bruce Willis. He's not doing too well at the moment. He's not doing great. I could not find how much they paid Paul Rudd. Oh, yeah.

But Paul Rudd said he really tried because they were like, you're going to be married to Phoebe. He's like, well, that kind of makes me a pretty close to top tier character. I'm going to try to get on some of these residuals. Did he? They were just like, no, Paul Rudd. He's like, fair enough. Yeah, good call.

I pushed the mark. Sorry. Couldn't find how much Brad Pitt got paid to do it either. That was apparently well wrapped up and kept quiet, but it was because he was dating Jennifer Aniston at the time. Yeah. The guy that played Gunther for the first episode was paid $5,000. His final appearance was paid $40,000 for the last lot of episode runs he did.

Shoot, $5,000. Put in perspective of what, like like New Zealand TV stars get paid yeah $5,000 for back then and for a small role is a lot of money huge

yeah lead actors on New Zealand TV shows wouldn't make $5,000 a fortnight or would like Chris Warner you imagine

would be like $5,000 a week or something so then yeah his last episode was $40,000

and Cole Sprouse who played Ross's son. Yes. It was then Zack and Cody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sweet Life of Zack and Cody. So he got paid $20,000 for his first episode. Jeepers. And $20,000 for his last episode.

So he got paid the same throughout. Oh, wow. He didn't do much. Nah, I guess he was just the cute kid, right? How much did the monkey get paid? No word on the monkey getting paid. Marcel. Didn't get paid.

Marcel was also a female monkey. I don't know if everybody knows that. Yes. I did not know that. Well, now you do. You do. You do. Wow.

Yeah. So today's fact of the day is the members of the Friends cast make approximately $20 million per year on the residuals from reruns. Fact of the day, day, day, day, day. Fact of the day, day-themed week here at Fact of the Day. Actually, yes. No Friends theme?

Because it's about... I want to do the claps because I'm so good at the claps. No, you're not. Do four. Four claps. I told you life was going to be this way. No! Both of you.

Don't do 20 claps. One, two, three, four. I always do one too many. One, two, three, four. Nope, that's five. Yeah, I know. You've got to clap fast, as fast as you can. Oh, my God.

You've got a song. Because this was the original theme song for Friends when it was called Friends Like Us for the pilot. Oh, my God, I love this song. Yeah, but I'm not enticed to watch the show. Not at this part. It's R.E.M.'s shiny, happy people. And the Friends pilot.

Oh, I was like this. Oh, yeah, they're good. They'll be in the fountain. Umbrella. Same vibe, eh? Same real 90s vibe. Totally could have worked. So the pilot was filmed and the pilot was called Friends Like Us.

Right. And they were just like, it could just be Friends. Yeah. Everyone was like, okay, cool. And then it became Friends and they changed the song. Now, other working titles for Friends. I'm imagining the Rembrandts was probably a lot cheaper. Because at the time, R.E.M. were one of the biggest bands in the world.

Yeah, totally. And this song as well was huge. It was already known. It was already pretty big. Other working titles for Friends before the pilot stage, where it was called Friends Like Us, it was called Insomnia Cafe. That sucks.

Terrible name for a show. Across the Hall. Oh, because they were in sucks. Terrible name for a show. Across the Hall. Oh, because they were in May, yeah. Because they lived across the hall. And that was also when Phoebe and Ross were supposed to be secondary characters because they didn't live with them. That's right.

Yeah, right. Because there was Monica and Rachel on that side and Joey and Chandler on the other one. And across the hall. And six of one. Half a dozen of the other. They suck. They're great. They went with friends because all and six of one. Man, it's so great they went with Friends because all of those

are rubbish. Now, in 1993, Matthew Perry, RIP, lost him, this is why we're doing Friends Week, co-wrote and pitched

a sitcom to NBC about a group of 20-somethings called Maxwell's House and they lived in an apartment in New York City and the network said, respectfully, this is great,

we're going to turn it down because we've already got a show like that in the works and he's like, I'm interested, I'm to turn it down because we've already got a show like that in the works. And he's like, I'm interested. I'm keen. Let me know. And then he got the role of Chandler.

So he was one of the first ones, eh? Yeah, yeah. Him and Ross. Wasn't Jennifer Aniston the last? She was the missing piece. Yes. She was the last person to be cast. What's her name?

Courtney Cox auditioned for Rachel. And they were like, you're a better Monica. And Lisa Kudrow was Phoebe, and she auditioned to be Phoebe, but she was already on Mad About You playing Ursula, and that's when they're like, this is owned by the same TV network that's broadcasting it. Why don't we make that your twin sister? Far out.

And that's when they weaved that in. And Ursula was originally in Mad About You. Right. So I've learned a lot of things. About friends. About friends this week. A lot of them. A lot of them.

I'm running these by Sade, who's probably the biggest Friends fan I know. Yep. And I say, do you know this? And if she says yes, then it doesn't make the fact of the day. Because I think Friends fans would know it. Yeah, right.

But she didn't know about this theme song, so. Love it. Today's fact of the day is, before it was called Friends, it had a she didn't know about this theme song, so. Love it. Today's Fact of the Day is, before it was called Friends, it had a bunch of names and this was supposed to be the theme song. I will say that in the next 10 minutes, we're going to give away a double pass to Friday's Live.

Yeah, so keep listening. Keep listening. Sorry to interrupt, Vaughan. Go away. Never do it again. It's Friends Week at Fact of the Day. I see, what was the latest news with the passing of Matthew Perry? I think a toxicology report.

Oh, we didn't read that. It's not going to change anything, is it? No. It's just going to make us even sadder. So we're doing facts all about friends. Yes. And today is facts about the friends' apartment doors. Oh, the purple door. The doors. Oh, okay. Yeah, inside. Yes. And today is facts about their friends' apartment doors. Oh, the purple door.

The doors. Oh, okay. Inside. Yeah. Hmm? The inside the apartment, not outside. The doors, both inside and outside. You can't have an inside of the door without an outside. No, I mean in the actual apartment corridor. The corridor, yes, into the apartment.

Because I've been in New York. This part of the fact of the day is taking a lot longer to explain than I thought it would. You don't want to adore us? We're having to walk flesh through what a door does. No, I just imagine the exterior. Because in New York, you can go to the building. Yeah, but that's not where it is.

It's not in there. But yeah, in the studio. Have you ever seen, and it does ruin the magic, when you see a sitcom that's got sets, how it like rotates around. Yeah. And so like the Friends one was the Monica and Rachel set and then the Corridor and then Joanne Chandler's

and then they spun it and then the Central Perk was there and you spun it again and it was like another. Ross's. Yeah. And all of that. Kind of like a lazy Susan but for filming sitcoms. Exactly. Not Young Charm.

Let's go to Ross's. Yeah. Spin it around. So today's fact of the day is that, and for the Trainspotters and the Big Friends fans, you might know, but for everybody else, the original apartment numbers in the building were Joey and Chandler were four,

and Monica and Rachel were five. Yeah. Now, why do you think that was a problem? Because opposite. Oh, what floor were they on exactly yeah they were on the top really up high weren't they exactly the view when they started filming the exterior was that they were very like quite a way up so it'd be like apartment five level 10 so in episode 14 of season one yep somebody in the set design was like, actually, I think we should change them.

And changed them to apartments 19 and 20. Oh, okay. And they remained until the end of the run of the show. So they changed the apartment numbers halfway through the first season. And also, you know the very famous yellow frame around Monica's peephole? Yes. Yes. On the door where you peep out and you see who's outside.

There's the yellow frame around it. Yeah. Was not meant to be on the door. Yes, I've read this. It was a mirror that was supposed to be part of the interior decorating of that apartment, but the person doing set design and the set build knocked it over and smashed the mirror part. I was like, they were really insistent on using this yellow frame.

So we're like, I'll just stick it on the door around there for a bit of extra. And then how many people do you reckon did that to their peepholes? Put photo frames around peepholes. So many. So many of them. And you can buy online that yellow frame. Can you? Yep. The exact same yellow

frame to pop around your peephole. Please don't talk about my peephole. My house doesn't have a peephole. I'm sad. I have an apartment but I don't have a peephole. Yeah, actually you should get a peephole. We don't need a peephole. Can we install a peephole? Very easy. I don't know if you're allowed. Can you just

put in the peephole? You just drill a hole through the door. And then the, so you drill a hole right through the door. Yeah, but is that door your door? Yeah, it's my door. But are you allowed to because it's a fire door? So can you just put a hole in a fire door? No. I don't want to be told off by the firefighters.

Does anybody else have a peephole? Does anybody else have a peephole? No. No peepholes. You'd be the peephole guy. What am I going to peephole? No. No peepholes. No peepholes. You'd be the peephole guy. What am I going to peephole? Like other people walking down the corridor? They'll be like, why is that guy peeping on me?

Dude, if I lived in an apartment, my entire existence in the apartment would be just peepholing people. Peephole, yeah. Just watching everybody. I'm fascinated by it. Every time Vaughn comes around to my apartment, you need a telescope. You do need a telescope, though.

It's a waste of apartment space. It's an absolute waste. You could be seeing, I don't know, you could be seeing a booby every day. The number one thing people say when they come to my apartment. Don't be looking at boobies, look at stars. Yeah, I thought we were looking at stars. Is that what we're calling them? Yeah, yeah.

A couple of beautiful perky stars. Yeah. I'm out here stargazing. Beautiful constellation you've got there. Yeah, stunning. If you look in the apartment over there, you see a Ryan's belt. This is why I do not have a telescope.

Because of YouTube pests. Southern Cross. A couple of pests. So today's Fact of the Day and the final one for Friends of Week is all about the doors. Episode 14 of Season 1, the numbers changed

and the yellow frame around Monica's peephole on her door was never meant to be there. Fact of the day, day, day, day, day. Okay, if you had to rate, review or marry Fletch, Vaughn or Hayley, what one would it be? Okay, I would marry Hayley. I would have sex. Wait, which one is it?

No, no, no, no. It's only rate, review, marry. Oh, okay. No comment. I would have sex with the podcast. I don't know how that would work. Give us a sexy little review though.