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Friends Trivia

Central Perk is supposedly modelled on the Manhattan Café in New York (which I'm fairly sure doesn't exist).

When the pilot show was approved by the network, and a series commissioned, the entire cast was sent on a free trip to Las Vegas.

Many titles were considered for the series, such as "Once Upon A Time In The West Village", "Six of One", "Insomnia Café" and "Across The Hall". The original title "Friends Like Us" was then shortened.

The producers of Friends admit that the characters could never afford the rents on their apartments. The cast certainly can though, as they all currently get $100,000 per show. (They insist on all being paid the same). Multiply that by 100 and you realise that these people make a serious amount of money. Thoroughly deserved though. For the sixth season they want $200,000.

The opening footage of the cast dancing in a fountain was filmed on the Warner Bros. lot in LA at 5am.

Guest stars on Friends have included Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Isabella Rossellini, George Clooney and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

The six main characters ...
Rachel Karen Green (Jennifer Aniston): waitress, now works in the fashion industry, lives in Monica's flat
Monica Geller (Courteney Cox): chef, Rachel's friend from high school
Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow): aromatherapist, lives with her grandmother, spacy but lovable New Age waif, has a twin sister Ursula who is a waitress
Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc): actor/model
Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry): data processor, shares flat with Joey, Ross's college roommate.
Ross Geller (David Schwimmer): palaeontologist, works in museum, Monica's brother, sensitive and hopeless romantic, has a son named Ben from ex wife Carol who is a lesbian

...and their living arrangements

The cast get on as well in real life as they do on screen. They play poker and scrabble and the girls go shopping together. They also huddle together before each episode to wish each other luck.

The cast have all made forays into the movie world, with differing degrees of success. Lisa Kudrow has deservedly received the greatest critical acclaim.
Also Jennifer and Courteney have appeared in adverts for hair care products, L'Oreal and Head and Shoulders respectively.
Jennifer Aniston's filmography

The actors are similar to their characters: Courteney Cox says she is Monica, and Matthew Perry's wit is so legendary that his gags have often been incorporated into the show. Like Joey, Matt LeBlanc has a reputation as a womaniser. He has been linked to English actress Minnie Driver, porn star Jenna Jameson, Goldie Hawn's 16-year-old daughter Kate Hudson, and several strippers. (He's now with model Melissa McKnight). However, Matt says that he isn't as dumb as Joey, and Lisa Kudrow is fed up with people talking slower to her, as if she was like Phoebe in real life. David Schwimmer was the only actor the writers had in mind when Friends began. Courteney auditioned as Rachel, and Jennifer as Monica. Lisa ended up on the show almost by accident after losing a part on Frasier.

Relations:

• Courteney's stepcousin is Stewart Copeland of The Police, and her husband (since June 13 '99!) is David Arquette, who starred with Courteney in Scream and has also been in Friends.
• Matthew's dad, an actor, starred in the Old Spice aftershave ads. His mother was press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
• Lisa Kudrow's father Lee is a world expert on headaches.
• Lisa is married to Michael Stern, a French advertising executive, and they now have a baby boy, Julian. Lisa met Michael in 1987 when he was the boyfriend of her roommate.
• Matt LeBlanc admits to being a mummy's boy, and is devoted to his Italian mother, Pat Grossman. He didn't meet his father until he was eight.
• David Schwimmer is the son of two Los Angeles lawyers; his mother Arlene handled Roseanne's first divorce.
• Jennifer's godfather is Telly Savalas, who gave her a pink bicycle on her seventh birthday.

..and relationships

• Lisa Kudrow used to date American talk-show host Conan O'Brien
• Counting Crow's lead singer Adam Duritz has been linked to both Jennifer and Courteney.
• Matthew Perry, who has also been linked to actress Tricia Fisher, dated Julia Roberts after she appeared on the show in the second series. "She does leave toothpaste all over the sink and she's always wanting to borrow money." Despite such celebrity girlfriends, he recently lost two and a half stone, while depressed and on painkillers, and he attributes this to his failure with women.
• Jennifer's former loves include ER's Noah Wyle, actor Jonathan Silverman, Matthew Perry, Tate Donovan, and Grant Heslov, from True Lies. She is now stepping out with Brad Pitt.
• As well as a five year relationship with Michael Keaton, Courteney had a thing with a brickie from Leeds called Paul. She claims this to be the only time she was really in love. "He made a hell of a Yorkshire pudding."
• David Schwimmer's current girlfriend is actress Mili Avital, who starred with him in Kissing A Fool. Before that he was with chanteuse (and ex-Neighbours star) Natalie Imbruglia. He is keen to start a family: "I think that's why we're here - to have children, raise them well and try to improve the quality of life for all the people who will follow."

On-screen couplings:

We've had Ross and Rachel obviously, and more recently Monica and Chandler, but what about Phoebe and Joey (The One with Two Parts- Part 2, when he thought she was Ursula), Monica and Joey (The One with the Flashback), Rachel fantasising abut Chandler (same episode), Ross and Phoebe making out on a pool table (same episode) and Rachel kissing Monica (The One with all the Haste (?)). It's only a matter of time before we see Ross and Monica together.

Awards

Matthew Perry had his first taste of acting when he was in the seventh grade. "After I got my first laugh on stage, I was hooked."

He looked at 40 other houses in Los Angeles before choosing his W-shaped ranch house with a pool.

David Schwimmer attended Beverly Hills High, the school on which Beverly Hills 90210, which Matthew Perry later appeared in, is based.

It seems the words Mates and Friends became confused somewhere in November 1998 when Jennifer's image appeared on boxes of condoms in Russia.

Strange but false:

• Jennifer and Courteney had a full-on catfight over Adam Duritz
• After Jennifer started going out with Tate Donovan, her apartment was trashed by Sandra Bullock, Donovan's partner for 4 years.
• The cast of Friends made a pact never to sleep with each other.

Merchandise:

A Friends album, featuring music from REM, Joni Mitchell and Hootie and the Blowfish, has been released. There is also a book available entitled "Cooking with Friends", full of recipes for when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month or your year, and a video called "Friends in their Own Words" which reveals some of the history of the six cast members and what they think of the show and each other. Other Friends stuff available includes the inevitable mugs, t-shirts and calendars and a book called "The 100% Totally Unofficial Friends Special."

Friends
Courteney Cox Trivia