The Friends actor David Schwimmer spent years unable to listen to the theme tune of his smash-hit comedy, he revealed yesterday. According to the star, he was forced to hear it so many times at the height of his fame that the mere sound of it made him feel miserable.
“I’ll be really honest, there was a time for quite a while that just hearing the theme song would really … uggh,” he said during an appearance on Matt Lucas and David Walliams’ Making a Scene podcast.
“You know what I mean? I just had that reaction. I just had heard it so many times. Any time you’d go on a show or a talkshow or an interview, that would be your intro song. So I just didn’t have the greatest response to it.”
The star’s dislike of The Rembrandts’ I’ll Be There for You came during a period of his life when he also struggled with the level of fame he earned from playing Ross Geller. According to the actor, he can date the last time he was able to inconspicuously appear in public to 1994.
“Jim Burrows [the director] took the cast to Vegas … this was before we were on the air or anything. We were walking through the casino at one point, and he said to us, remember this moment, it’s the last time you’re going to be able to walk through a casino like this – basically, with total anonymity.”
For Schwimmer, this was far from a welcome development. “The moment that I realised Jim Burrows was right, I was at LAX … trying to catch a flight. I’m not one of those actors that has an entourage with me. It’s me, that’s it. I just go solo,” he said.
“So, I’m going through … I hear a blood-curdling scream. I was genuinely frightened. I thought someone was being stabbed or something. And a group of girls come and like – like literally just scream and grab me. And they won’t let me go … I mean, it was terrifying.
“It took me a long time to get adjusted to that kind of fame. You had three cars following you everywhere you went, staked outside your house. You had absolutely no privacy ever.”
The star’s fondness for his Friends career has, however, improved in recent years – largely thanks to his daughter.
“I never watched the show after we finished it. For me, it’s like: ‘I did it. I’m moving on.’ Then my kid discovered it around age nine or something, and started watching it. And I’d be making breakfast or whatever, and I’d hear my kid’s laughter. My whole relationship to that song and to the show changed again.”
