Matthew Perry Almost Broke One Major Friends Rule
The hit sitcom "Friends" boasted a large roster of celebrity guests during its run, including Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Ben Stiller, and, of course, Sean Penn. In his memoir "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," core cast member Matthew Perry — who tragically died at the age of 54 — described one particularly fun scene he'd hoped to shoot with Penn, and it would have involved breaking a big production rule.
In the season 8 episode titled "The One with the Halloween Party," Perry's "Friends" character Chandler Bing is dressed in a bunny suit for the group's Halloween party. That alone was comical, but Perry wanted to take things up a notch and so, according to his memoir, he pitched a bookend scene with Penn that would have aired after the main story. In the scene, the duo would have broken the metaphorical fourth wall, with Perry approaching Penn backstage to talk about his acting career — and he would have still been wearing the bunny suit during the talk.
A serious discussion while wearing a ridiculous costume
According to Perry's memoir, he'd wanted to approach Penn backstage while smoking to ask the actor if they could chat for a second. Penn would ask him what's up, and Perry would launch into a brief discussion about his acting career, saying while smoking, "Well, I've been really giving this a lot of thought. And I think you're a good person to talk to about this."
The comedic moment would follow, Perry explained, when he stamped out the cigarette with his bunny foot and said, "I've been looking to transition myself into dramatic work." Per his pitch, Perry wrote that Penn would take a long pause while looking him up and down in his Halloween costume, and then he would say, "Good luck."
Perry wrote in his memoir that the pitch went over well and resulted in a "great laugh at the table read." So why didn't this bookend scene appear at the end of season 8, episode 6? Because, Perry explained in his book, it would have been the first time in the show's long run that it broke the metaphorical fourth wall, and the two ultimately weren't able to get permission to shoot the scene.