'Friends' Director Reveals Which Guest Actress Was 'Not Particularly Funny'
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James Burrows, who directed more than a dozen episodes of Friends (and hundreds of episodes across shows like Cheers and Will & Grace), has revealed that not everyone on the beloved NBC sitcom had good comedic instincts. The Daily Mail reports that in his new memoir, Directed By James Burrows, the TV legend specifically refers to actress Helen Baxendale as "not particularly funny."
Baxendale joined the cast of Friends in its fourth season for a 14-episode arc as Ross Geller's girlfriend and eventual fiancée and wife, Emily Waltham. As fans of the show remember, Ross and Emily's relationship unraveled after Ross accidentally said Rachel Green's name at the altar.
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"She was nice but not particularly funny," Burrows said of shooting the episode "The One with All the Rugby," which took place well before the big wedding finale. David Schwimmer, who played Ross, "had no one to bounce off," he added. "It was like clapping with one hand."
"In sitcoms and any type of romantic comedy, the funny is just as important as the chemistry," he continued. "We discovered that any new girlfriend for Ross needed to be as funny as Rachel."
Unfortunately, recasting on a TV show can be difficult. "Often, you can't recast, because of tight shooting deadlines or other logistical considerations," Burrows wrote per the Daily Mail. "...Sometimes you start an arc and it ain't working out, so you have to get rid of that person. If it's a day player, it's a quick goodbye."
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For her part, Baxendale has previously said of working on Friends that the cast was "very nice and professional."
"We were never great mates though," she added. "People expect because it is called 'Friends' that everyone was great friends, but they were real professionals. They'd been doing it for years and I was one of many guest stars to appear."
Ultimately, her character got written out of the series earlier than expected because Baxendale got pregnant in real life and planned to leave the United States. Although she enjoyed her time on the show, she has no regrets about walking away.
"Fame just didn’t fit in with my life," she told the Daily Mail in 2012. "I don’t know how much would have come from staying in the States anyway. I didn’t want to live in America, when all my circumstances were leading me back to Britain. I don’t regret it for a minute."
