Before Friends, Jennifer Aniston Arrogantly Turned Down A Massive TV Offer

Everyone knows that Jennifer Aniston rose to prominence thanks to her role as Rachel Green on "Friends," one of the most successful, popular, and beloved TV sitcoms in the entire history of the medium. What you might not know, though, is that Aniston actually was offered a spot on the late-night institution "Saturday Night Live" and turned it down ... and the way Aniston remembers this whole thing apparently makes her feel at least slightly embarrassed. 

During an interview with Dax Shepard on his "Armchair Expert" podcast, Aniston said she was asked, by "SNL" head honcho Lorne Michaels, to join the cast of the series, and the way she handled it was to criticize the show. "I always thought I was such hot s***," Aniston said. "The story of that is all very confusing." Apparently, because she had some friends who were already a part of "Saturday Night Live," Aniston made up her mind about how women were depicted on "SNL," particularly during that era. "I don't know why I had this self-righteous attitude of 'I don't know if women are treated the way they should be treated on this show,'" she continued.

To really drive the point home, Aniston says that she told Lorne Michaels she would accept the offer if it was in a different era — invoking Gilda Radner, an original "SNL" cast member who appeared on the series from 1975 to 1980. "I mean, this is the brain that semi-remembers things that are back that far. I can't remember, but I remember 'Friends' then happened. And that's where I went." Shepard made a crack about what a bad move Aniston made with Michaels and "SNL," but Aniston had a retort ready: "Everything is sort of meant to be."

Hilariously, this isn't the first time Jennifer Aniston has talked about refusing an invitation to join "Saturday Night Live," and she's been sticking to her same story for years. In 2021, Aniston was profiled for The Hollywood Reporter and shared basically the same story but with an important clarification: she named the two friends she had in the cast who might have given her some strong ideas about how the show handled female performers.

After Lacey Rose asked about Aniston turning Lorne Michaels down, Aniston recalled, "That was right before 'Friends,' I remember walking in, and it was [David] Spade and Sandler, and I knew those guys forever, and I was so young and dumb and I went into Lorne's office and I was like, 'I hear women are not respected on this show.'" Aniston also apparently doubled down on the Gilda Radner thing: "I don't remember exactly what I said next, but it was something like, 'I would prefer if it were like the days of Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin.'"

As she did on "Armchair Expert," Aniston poked fun at her own attitude and then clarified that she developed a love for the sketch comedy series over the years. "I mean, it was such a boys' club back then, but who the f*** was I to be saying this to Lorne Michaels?!" Aniston recalled. "So yes, adorably that happened and I've hosted 'Saturday Night Live' a couple of times, and I love it so much." (Aniston hosted in 1999 and 2004, respectively.)

If you've ever watched "Friends," you know that Jennifer Aniston is really funny even if that particular show isn't really your cup of tea. (That's me editorializing; with all due respect to Aniston and the massive legion of "Friends" fans, I am not one of you!) Thankfully, though, Aniston's career didn't fizzle out or fade after "Friends" came to a close after 236 episodes and 10 seasons in 2004. Even during "Friends," she worked on offbeat comedies like "Office Space," and after playing Rachel Greene, she appeared in "Along Came Polly," "Rumor Has It," Nicole Holofcener's standout dark comedy "Friends With Money," and ensemble comedies like "He's Just Not That Into You." For my money, Aniston is particularly good in "Horrible Bosses" as the predatory dentist Dr. Julia Harris, who targets and torments Charlie Day's Dale Arbus; her best comedic role since "Friends," though, is definitely her guest role as Claire Harper in the standout "30 Rock" episode "The One with the Cast of Night Court."

Aniston shows no signs of slowing down — she currently stars on "The Morning Show," headlining the Apple TV show with Reese Witherspoon — and she's still happy to make comedies, including her series of "Murder Mystery" movies alongside former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Adam Sandler. In fact, in that same interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Aniston joked, "'Murder Mystery' is my 'Get me to a comedy, please, I need fart jokes,' as I crawl over the COVID finish line." Aniston probably could have made a lot of fart jokes on "SNL," but as she said, "everything is sort of meant to be."