This Friends guest actor is not a fan of their cameo: Here's everything you should know about it

One of the highlights of NBC's Friends is the cameos from several Hollywood stars. Over the course of the ten seasons, several stars, including Julia Roberts, Robin Williams, Brad Pitt, and Sean Penn, appeared on the NBC show. But there is one specific cameo that even the guest star and the main cast of the series were not a fan of.

The cameo is that of Jean-Claude Van Damme. For the uninitiated, the Belgian actor and martial artist cameoed in the second season's thirteenth episode, "The One After The Superbowl: Part II" as a fictionalized version of himself. In that Friends episode, Monica and Rachel compete with each other for his attention. The official logline of the episode reads:

"Ross spends some quality time with Marcel, his former pet monkey. Chandler gets a big surprise from a sexy former classmate."

This has been considered one of the weakest episodes of the series. Moreover, Van Damme's cameo was not liked back in 1996, and it has aged even more poorly now, thirty years later.

What did Jean-Claude Van Damme say about his Friends cameo?

For the uninitiated, a major part of the episode dealt with Monica and Rachel trying to woo the Hollywood action star, who is in New York to shoot a movie. Rachel and Monica become rivals, but the episode ends with them bidding the star goodbye and becoming friends again. This storyline has aged badly as people demand less and less superficial storylines.

Moreover, critics especially described the actor's performance as bland compared to the other actors' quick, banter-filled performances. Even Van Damme was a bit critical of his performance in a 2023 interview with The New York Post:

"My acting is so bad. I look so like a ham. Like, ‘Hey, girls.’ It’s like, I’m ashamed of myself."

However, in the same interview, the actor also looked back at his Friends co-stars, Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston:

"I was on the set, and those girls, they go, and they kiss me, and they kiss me on the lips. I didn’t know what to do, how to do … It was strange. They were very nice.”

Other cast and crew members were also not fond of working with Jean-Claude Van Damme:

It seems that the cast and crew of the sitcom did not have a pleasant time working with the erstwhile action star. It seems that Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox had a particularly unpleasant experience working with the actor. Director Michael Lembeck, who has helmed several episodes of Friends, said this about the cast and crew's experience in a The Hollywood Reporter (THR) interview:

"Having completely blown up our shooting day, we had to scramble. Then he’s unprepared and arrogant! But this is the story I want to share: We shoot him and Jennifer first. Then she walks over to me and says, “Lem, Lem, would you do me a favor and ask him not to put his tongue in my mouth when he’s kissing me?” I tell him everything is great but it’s a tight shot so maybe let’s not do that. Then we’re shooting a scene later with Courteney. Here comes Courteney walking toward me and saying, “Lem, can you please tell him not to put his tongue in my mouth?” I couldn’t believe it! I had to tell him again, but a little firmer."

Trending

What do you think about Jean-Claude Van Damme's cameo?

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback