Friends reunion – as it happened: How to watch, reactions, best moments and all the latest on HBO Max special
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry reunited for the first time in front of TV cameras
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Your support makes all the difference.The Friends reunion has finally been released. Could we be anymore excited?
The long-awaited programme debuted on 27 May on HBO Max in the US, with UK viewers able to stream it on NOW. The special, titled Friends: The Reunion, also aired on Sky One.
Originally announced in 2020, the special was extensively delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Taping took place in April on the original Friends soundstage at the Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank, California.
The show, which was hosted by James Corden, marked the first time all six original stars – Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry – reunited in front of television cameras.
A number of revelations were made during the episode including that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston were “crushing” on each other during filming.
Mysteries were solved, such as the one surrounding the overhead beam in Monica’s apartment that suddenly disappears without explanation at some point in the series.
A host of guest stars joined in too, including a special duet performance of “Smelly Cat” by Lady Gaga and Kudrow. Reese Witherspoon, David Beckham, Justin Bieber, and BTS also made appearances, alongside Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Kit Harington, Mindy Kaling, and Malala Yousafzai.
Follow the release of the reunion special as it happened with our live blog:
So, there you have it. The official answer to the age-old question: What is Chandler’s job?
“No one really knows,” revealed guest star Tom Selleck (who played Richard Burke). Unsatisfied with the answer, we dove into the mystery behind Chandler’s profession.
Twitter is going wild over the updated Friends intro – complete with fountain and La-Z-Boy sofas.
Nobel prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has confessed to being “a Joey with a hint of Phoebe”.
Conversation has turned to Marcel, Ross’s iconic monkey friend. It’s surprising then to learn that David Schwimmer was not the animal’s biggest fan...
What has Marcel the Monkey been doing since Friends?
What ever happened to Marcel, the capuchin monkey belonging to Ross on Friends?
This reunion has cleared up a lot of questions... namely what happened to the overhead wooden beam in Monica’s apartment that suddenly disappeared?!
The Friends reunion finally revealed what happened to a bizarre feature of Monica’s apartment
A prominent wooden beam seemed to come and go depending on the episode, before vanishing altogether
Behind-the-scenes footage showed the gruelling moment Matt LeBlanc dislocated his shoulder when jumping into the sofa chair in “The One Where No One’s Ready” – and how the actor’s resulting sling was written into the show via a jumping-on-the-bed incident.
Monica and Chandler’s relationship was originally intended to be a brief hook-up, but the audience reaction to seeing the characters romantically attached led the creators to rewrite the storyline into the love story it became. Swoon!
While some of the cast members said the live audience egged them on to deliver better performances, Matthew Perry shared that their presence frightened him each time they performed. The actor said: “To me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh.”
Matthew Perry says he had ‘nightly’ fear of performing Friends in front of live audience
‘You didn’t tell us that,’ a concerned Lisa Kudrow replied
While most Friends fans have seen all 10 seasons at least five times (AT LEAST), one cast member revealed she can’t watch the show because she is so “mortified” at her performance.
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