Matthew Perry Provided The Laughs For Friends' Opening Fountain Shoot
A memorable theme song is a pretty key ingredient for a great TV show. We all remember those opening piano notes from "The Office," and if you grew up in the '90s, you've got "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" memorized word for word. Of course, one of the catchiest theme songs in television history has to be the one from "Friends," where the show's six young stars throw caution to the wind and start partying it up to "I'll Be There for You" by The Rembrandts.
While the song itself is a beloved earworm, what truly makes the moment is how Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, and the late, great Matthew Perry decide to hop into a fountain in the middle of the night. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, series set decorator Greg Grande described the vibes during the shoot, saying, "To my best recollection, that wasn't a scripted thing. It was more impromptu. As [the actors] got later into the evening, they had more fun with the back and forth. They were just happy to hang out."
However, the actors themselves don't exactly share that rose-tinted view of the fountain montage. To hear them describe it, the shoot was long, cold, and pretty miserable. So what kept the young stars smiling and laughing for the camera when things were getting grim? Well, despite the cold water and the long production, there was one saving grace — Matthew Perry.
'That's what they were shooting – us laughing at Matthew Perry making fun of how uncomfortable it was to be in that fountain'
While appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2021, Courteney Cox revealed that filming the fountain montage was a bit of a nightmare. "We were in that fountain for a long time," the Monica actress explained. "Someone thought that would be fun, and let me tell you what happened: It's not fun to be dancing in a fountain for hours and hours." Worse still, production began at 4am, which probably didn't improve anybody's mood.
Fortunately, Matthew Perry was there to keep things light with his trademark wit. In the foreword for Perry's memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Things," Lisa Kudrow praised her co-star as a source of inspiration from the very beginning of the series, writing that he "could lift us all up during a grueling night shoot"
Similarly, in the TV series' companion book, "Friends ... 'til the End," the Phoebe actress elaborated a little more on that night, saying, "Matthew Perry was cracking us up making so many jokes about how long it was taking. I remember him saying, "I can't remember a time when I wasn't wet. I can't remember a time when I wasn't cold." We were laughing really hard. That's what they were shooting – us laughing at Matthew Perry making fun of how uncomfortable it was to be in that fountain."