Rudd played Phoebe Buffay's husband, Mike Hannigan, in the final seasons of the show.
Phoebe Buffay's beloved husband, Mike Hannigan, was almost short-lived on Friends.
Actor Paul Rudd opens up on Friday's The Graham Norton Show about the popular sitcom, which he appeared on from 2002 until the show's end in 2004, and how he almost didn't get to keep his recurring role after accidentally hurting co-star Jennifer Aniston on set.
"I was on set for my first episode and Jennifer was on a Segway because she had broken her toe, and everyone was marveling at it," Rudd recalls. "Matt LeBlanc asked to have a go and immediately knew how to do it. I then asked to try it too."
That's when things took a turn for the disastrous.
"I spun 'round and rolled it right over Jennifer's foot!" he reveals. "The producers' look of panic was as if to say, 'Is it too late to fire him? Has his character been established yet?' I felt awful. Such an inauspicious start."
And it seems that even after two years on the show, Rudd still wasn't on Aniston's best side. He also opens up about a time toward the end of the filming when he caught his co-star in an emotional moment.
"I was on the soundstage and Jennifer Aniston was crying, and I thought, 'I'm not supposed to be here,' so to break the ice, I went over and said, 'Well, we did it, what a ride,'" he reveals. "The joke inevitably fell flat."
But overall, Rudd calls working on Friends "an incredible thing to be part of."
Prior to working on Friends, Rudd had co-starred with Aniston in 1998's The Object of My Affection, and following Friends, they also co-starred in 2012's Wanderlust alongside Aniston's now-ex-husband, Justin Theroux.
For more on the 25th anniversary of Friends, watch the clip below:
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