Memories of working as an extra on Friends

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book ‘Adventures in Tinsel Town’, which I am publishing in tribute to Matthew Perry, whose recent death has rightly been met with tributes and sadness at him losing his long struggle with addiction. RIP.

One of the best things about working as an extra on Friends, or indeed any of the other sitcoms I worked on as an extra on in my time, was the experience of being in front of a live audience. It was then you got a taste of the buzz that the cast of this major sitcom experienced on a weekly basis.

The first time I was booked by Central Casting to work on this show, I was so excited I phoned home to tell my mum. Then I phoned my sister, followed by my brother, followed by friends. After that I called people I hadn’t spoken to you in years to let them know as well.

It was surreal to think I was going to be an extra on the most popular sitcom on the planet at the time, a show I used to watch every Friday night in my small one-bedroom flat in Edinburgh, rain lashing off the window as I lost myself in the unending trials and tribulations of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Ross, and Chandler. In those days, my Friday night ritual began with Frazier at 8 followed by Friends at 8.30. Or was it Frazier at 8.30 followed by Friends at 9? No matter, the point is that at this point I was made for…