David Schwimmer, the “Friends” fossil-finder we all know as Ross Geller, just spilled the beans on how fame—and that blasted theme song—nearly sent him running for the hills. On the “Making a Scene” podcast with British giggle-masters Matt Lucas and David Walliams, Schwimmer confessed he couldn’t stomach The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There For You” without gagging like he’d swallowed a bad pivot joke.
“Real talk, mates—there was a solid chunk of time where that ditty hit my ears and I’d go ‘UGHHH,’ like I’d just stepped in Chandler’s sarcasm pile,” Schwimmer groaned in the episode this week. “It was everywhere! Talk shows, interviews—every host thought it was cute to blast it as my grand entrance. I was ready to chuck a TV out the window!”
Schwimmer, who bumbled through 10 seasons of “Friends” from 1994 to 2004 alongside Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, and the dearly missed Matthew Perry, wasn’t just whining about the tune. Fame itself turned his life into a circus with no off switch. He reminisced about a pre-fame Vegas jaunt with director Jim Burrows and the gang, before the show aired and ruined his ability to blend in with the wallpaper.
“Jim drags us to a casino and goes, ‘Soak this in, kiddos—this is the last time you’ll stroll through here without a fan mob!’” Schwimmer recalled. “I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, right, drama queen.’ Oh, how wrong I was!” Cue the LAX meltdown that proved Burrows was a prophet. “I’m just a lone wolf, no posse, schlepping through the airport, when suddenly—BAM!—a scream so shrill I thought someone was reenacting Psycho,” he laughed. “Next thing I know, a pack of girls swarms me, shrieking and clawing like I’m the last slice of pizza. I’m trapped, terrified, and wondering if TSA has a ‘save me’ button!”
Adjusting to the spotlight was no picnic. “Three cars tailing you like you’re smuggling the One Ring, paparazzi camped out at your doorstep—it was like living in a fishbowl with no curtains!” Schwimmer griped. But time—and a kid—softened the blow. “Years later, I’m flipping pancakes, and I hear my nine-year-old cackling at ‘Friends’ reruns,” he said. “That laugh flipped a switch. Now the song’s less ‘nails on a chalkboard’ and more ‘aww, my kid’s happy.’ Who knew Ross could get sentimental over a clap-clap-clap-clap?”
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