Most Unlikely and Forgotten Star of Friends Claims He's 'the Reason the Show Exists'
Friends actor who played the character you most likely forgot even existed stood up to announce the show owes its existence to him — and his very peripheral character.
Despite having ended back in 2003, Friends had a great live run for 10 years — and then kept having phenomenal success for the following 20 years. One of the most iconic sitcoms to have ever existed, Friends still captivates millions of viewers around the world who rewatch it all the time as their comfort show.
We all know the names of the people we typically thank for the existence and prosperity of Friends: David Crane and Marta Kauffman, its creators. But even more often, we praise Matthew Perry ( Chandler), Jennifer Aniston ( Rachel), Lisa Kudrow ( Phoebe), Courteney Cox ( Monica), Matt LeBlanc ( Joey), and David Schwimmer ( Ross) — the main cast of the show.
However, there's an alternative point of view!
While we're mostly focused on the six lead actors of Friends, the series also had dozens of secondary and even more tertiary characters throughout its 10-year-long TV run. And at least one of them claimed that the show's success is thanks to him!
"It sounds a little egomaniacal to say that I'm the reason the show exists. But when you look at the pilot, with Rachel dumping me at the altar and coming in to meet everybody, that moment was the impetus for the show," Mitchell Whitfield told The Guardian.
In Friends, Whitfield portrayed Dr. Barry Farber, Rachel Green's ex-fiance. Aniston's Rachel Green ran away from their wedding with this selfish orthodontist in the very first episode of Friends and met the rest of the friend group in Central Perk — and that's how the entire story began. So in some regard, Whitfield is not that wrong.
It's clear that the actor was mostly joking about his importance to the show since his Dr. Farber only appears in a few episodes and doesn't play a major role in the plot. However, it's still a pretty funny way to boost one's ego — boasting that their mostly off-screen character no one even remembers gave the start to one of the most iconic TV shows in history.
Source: The Guardian