THIS IS BRAND NEW INFORMATION! Erm, actually guys. No it’s not. Not even close. We’ve been led up the garden path with all this hype around the Friends Reunion tonight (you can watch on Now or Sky if you don’t already know, but I trust you do. In fact you may have already have watched with one eye during a Zoom meeting today seeing as it ‘dropped’ at around 8am this morning.)
Yes, it’s exciting because we’re nostalgia-obsessed, friend-starved millennials who love to pore over programmes from the 90s and 00s until we can quote every line, and this reunion feels like revisiting family from our youth. But the thing is, this love-in for old-times-sake isn’t anywhere near as unusual as we’ve been led to believe. The gang has actually been back together countless times before. Perhaps the pandemic has given us cultural amnesia.
This is a case of The One Where We Forgot They’ve Done This Loads Of Times Before. So let’s revisit some of their previous reunions. At least it looks like the Friends cast are only ever on a break.
2020
Just last year, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow reunited for a sketch at the Emmy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. They pretended to be flatmates as they talk to Kimmel via video link. Jason Bateman also gate-crashes, for reasons no one quite understands. The men of Friends were obviously too busy… sitting at home in the middle of the pandemic.
2019
In 2019, when Jennifer Aniston joined Instagram she did so with a break-the-internet selfie of her and the entire Friends gang all back together. She commented on the picture: ‘And now we’re Instagram FRIENDS too. HI INSTAGRAM 👋🏻’ Afterwards she told Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio show ‘We had dinner, the whole gang. Everyone was there.’
2016
In 2016 all the cast but Matthew Perry joined forces again for a slightly stilted sit on chat show sofa for James Burrows tribute. The special, commemorating the 1,000th episode of TV that Burrows has directed, reunited stars from his most famous shows which, of course, included Friends.
2014
In 2014 there was the one where Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow reunited on the Jimmy Kimmel show on a set made to look identical to Monica’s apartment. Jimmy writes himself into a Friends script as fan fiction, where he’s ‘Ross’ and Rachel, Monica and Phoebe all want to make love to him. Hmmm
2014
Well Jimmy, you’ve proved it. You have the best access when it comes to the Friends women, because Jen An and Lisa Kudrow reunited again on Jimmy Kimmel Live later that year – when they played a game of ‘Celebrity Curse Off’, both screaming profanities at each other. (Lisa explains she has a teenage son – that’s how she knows certain words) and she reveals the word she used to say often on the Friends set. Jen wins though.
READ MORE: Can We Please Stop Identifying With Friends Characters So Much?
GALLERY: 20 REASONS WE LOVE JENNIFER ANISTON
20 reasons why we love Jennifer Aniston!
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16 of 22Rita Ora is our current style obsession. We crave more and more pictures of her delicious carnival outfits (see red feathered headdress.)
Rita Ora is our current style obsession. We crave more and more pictures of her delicious carnival outfits (see red feathered headdress
17 of 22And even when it all goes horribly wrong (cue knee socks and flip flops!) it’s ok, because we are hungry style spectator awaiting her next fashion parade. Don’t get the wrong idea, we’re not asking you to follow her lead or anything – well, not all of the time anyway.
And even when it all goes horribly wrong (cue knee socks and flip flops!) it’s ok, because we are hungry style spectator awaiting her next fashion parade. Don’t get the wrong idea, we’re not asking you to follow her lead or anything – well, not all of the time anyway
18 of 22However, there are times when we can learn a thing or two from Miss Ora. Number one, don’t be afraid of colour, it can still look very chic for the most formal of dos (see yellow dress.)
However, there are times when we can learn a thing or two from Miss Ora. Number one, don’t be afraid of colour, it can still look very chic for the most formal of dos (see yellow dress
19 of 22And number two, experiment with textures. We love the fluffy sweatshirt mixed with battered old denim. And that’s Rita…often good, sometimes bad, but overall a delight to style watch.
And number two, experiment with textures. We love the fluffy sweatshirt mixed with battered old denim. And that’s Rita…often good, sometimes bad, but overall a delight to style watch
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