Paul Rudd boasts a pretty impressive resume, as he’s been part of some of the best movies of ‘90s and the 2000s, but one of his most notable TV roles has got to be Mike Hannigan on Friends. The actor has said that he felt so “strange” being included in the series finale that he cracked a bad joke that upset the cast. However, after hearing the full story, I’m surprised he wasn’t fired on his first day on set.
Friends fans were introduced to Mike Hannigan — the fan-favorite side character who would eventually marry Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe — in Season 9, and over the course of the final two seasons, Paul Rudd reprised the role in 16 episodes. That includes the Season 10 series finale, “The Last One,” and the actor later told The Graham Norton Show it “made no sense to me whatsoever” that he was included. Feeling like a bit of a seventh wheel, Rudd said he decided to make a joke out of it. In his words:
I was on the sound stage, and I see Jennifer Aniston crying and hugging Marta Kauffman, the creator, and I thought, 'I'm not supposed to be here.' So, to break the ice, I went over and said: 'Well, we did it! What a ride!' The joke inevitably fell flat.
I mean, it’s a good joke — Paul Rudd pretending that after joining so late in its run he had much of anything to do with the show already considered one of the best sitcoms of all time. However, with Jennifer Aniston — who Rudd had co-starred with in 1998’s The Object of My Affection — and the rest of the cast sobbing during the Friends finale, I guess they weren’t in a place to receive such humor.
However, there’s more to the story — it turns out the ill-timed joke wasn’t the worst stunt Paul Rudd pulled on the set of Friends. Apparently he had a run-in (literally) with Jennifer Aniston on his first day, and I’m actually surprised he was allowed to stick around. The actor said (via Buzzfeed):
I was on the set for my first episode and Jennifer was on a Segway because she had broken her toe, and everyone was marveling at it. Matt LeBlanc asked to have a go and immediately knew how to do it. I then asked to try it too. I spun round and rolled it right over Jennifer's foot!
This is probably the worst case scenario for someone on their first day of work. Paul Rudd said it’s obvious Jennifer Aniston was in pain as producers, writers and other crew around them rushed to her aid. Rudd continued:
The producers look of panic was if to say, 'Is it too late to fire him? Has his character been established yet?' I felt awful. Such an inauspicious start.
Inauspicious indeed. Luckily for the actor, the writers must have known how vital Mike would be in Phoebe’s life, because Paul Rudd was able to keep his job. In fact, Mike’s role in giving Lisa Kudrow’s character a happy ending is precisely why the EPs have said it was important to include him in the series finale.
It sounds like quite a journey Paul Rudd went on with Friends — and Jennifer Aniston specifically. She must not have held too much of a grudge, though — for the foot injury or the bad joke — because the two went on to work together again, co-starring in Wanderlust in 2012.
If you want to relive some of Paul Rudd’s possibly less cringey moments as Mike Hannigan, all 10 seasons of Friends can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription.
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