What David Schwimmer Was Like Behind The Scenes Of Friends

Although David Schwimmer got his start in front of the camera on “Friends,” he eventually sat in the director’s chair. The actor worked behind the camera on a total of 10 episodes, including “The One Where Joey Dates Rachel” and “The One with the Birth Mother.” Patty Lin, who retired from TV work in 2008, helped write “The One with All the Candy” in Season 7, which Schwimmer also directed. She remembers him calling her by name behind the scenes (rare for lead actors and higher-ups). As Lin shared in her memoir, he asked her, “Patty, can you scooch closer to the door?” She scooched, “thrilled that instead of saying, ‘Hey, you,’ Schwimmer addressed [her] by name,” per Us Weekly. For Lin, this tiny moment of respect was the “high point” of her time on the “Friends.” “For once, I felt like I had something to do with the show,” she wrote. 

Although David Schwimmer was a caring collaborator on-set, he did struggle with two of his costars in Season 1: Namely, the capuchin monkeys that played Ross’s pet, Marcel. “I hate the monkey,” Schwimmer revealed in a 1995 interview with Entertainment Weekly, adding, “The trainers won’t let me bond with it. They’re really, really possessive. It’s like, ‘Land on your marks, do your job, don’t touch or bond with the monkey.’ It’s a bummer.” Marcel was eventually written out and the actor was able to relax.