Cafe “Insomnia”: 16 unexpected facts about the series “Friends” and its characters

1. The main roles of the series were played by Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courteney Cox (Monica), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), Matthew Perry (Chandler), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), David Schwimmer (Ross). Everyone was approved from the first audition, only Rachel was originally to be played by Courteney Cox.

2. The name of the series did not appear immediately. “Insomnia Cafe”, “Friends Like Us”, “Six of One” are just some of the options, but the producers went for the simplest.

3. The main cast of “Friends” didn’t really like the show’s main theme song, but they never openly admitted it.

4. The names of the characters are taken from the television series All My Children, which was very popular at that time. Chandler is the surname of one of the families. Rachel Green’s surname is taken from Janet Green. Ross and Phoebe’s names are transferred as is, Monica is Monique, and Joey goes by the name Joseph “Joey” Martin.

5. The show’s creators planned that there would be four main characters, with Phoebe and Chandler in supporting roles.

6. Before filming the pilot, all six spent a few days in Las Vegas enjoying the last days of freedom and the chance to travel without risking recognition.

7. Joey and Monica were supposed to be having an affair, but after the positive public reaction to the pairing of Monica and Chandler, this plot development was dropped.

8. Some of the actors who didn’t audition for lead roles got supporting roles. Hank Azaria auditioned for the role of Joey and became David, while Jane Lynch played a real estate agent in place of Phoebe.

9. Lisa Kudrow refused to play guitar and repeatedly asked to replace Phoebe’s instrument with another one. But she failed. Besides, she never learned to play.

10. Bruce Willis appeared on the show after losing a bet to Matthew Perry, who he starred with in the movie The Nine Yards. Willis thought the film would fail at the box office.

11. The famous café sofa was discovered by chance in the basement of the Warner Brothers studio building.

12. Some jokes were not included in the series due to rental restrictions. Thus, on the screen it was impossible to show condoms and joke about sex outside certain limits.

13. Lisa Kudrow’s real pregnancy became part of the show. According to the script, she was carrying triplets for her half-brother and his wife, and she was given a special pillow to enlarge her belly.

14. From the third to the fifth season, Ross said he was 29 years old.

15. Courteney Cox is the only actress to not receive an Emmy Award nomination for a series, while Lisa Kudrow has had six! She and Jennifer Aniston received the award.

16. In the first season, the fees for the main actors were 22.5 thousand dollars each, and by the tenth season they had reached a million.

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