Thank God Tom Hanks Didn't End Up Guest-Starring on 'Friends'
It's common knowledge at this point that plenty of the jokes in old episodes of Friends don't really pass muster when looked at through a modern lens. Take, for instance, "The One With The Male Nanny," an episode which mines all of its humor from the fact that new dad Ross cannot get past the fact that Rachel hired a man to help take care of baby Emma. It doesn't really stand out as one of the sitcom's highlights — but if things had gone just a little differently, it might have ended up being one of the show's most memorable episodes.
Freddie Prinze Jr., who played Sandy, just revealed that he was the producers' second choice to play the male nanny (or "manny" as he was oh-so-hilariously dubbed in the show). He only got offered the role after Tom Hanks, the nicest man in America, turned out to be unavailable.
"I wasn’t even supposed to be [Sandy], that was originally offered to Tom Hanks but he wasn’t gonna make it back from his film on time," Prinze told EW. "And so my agent called me and said, 'Do you want to be on Friends?' And I said, 'Yeah, I’ll do an episode of Friends. That’ll be great.' He said, 'Yeah, it shoots tomorrow.' And I was like, 'What?' He said, 'Yes, tomorrow, so I’ll send you the script.'"
Of course, even without Hanks, the show wasn't without its share of super-famous guest stars. Bruce Willis had an arc as Rachel's new boyfriend, who also happened to be the father of Ross' student girlfriend Elizabeth. Brad Pitt appeared as a man who loathed Rachel, a joke which only worked because the entire world knew that he and Jennifer Aniston were married in real life, while Winona Ryder played an old college friend of Rachel's.
Denise Richards played Ross and Monica's cousin, and Elle McPherson had a multi-episode stint as Joey's new roommate who eventually became his girlfriend. Reese Witherspoon and Christina Applegate both had guest roles as Rachel's sisters Jill and Amy, and when the show flew across the pond to London for Ross and Emily's wedding, Emily's mother was played by none other than Jennifer Saunders.
As the series progressed, the stunt casting got more and more absurd, but perhaps nothing will top the moment from early on in the show's run where Billy Crystal and Robin Williams appeared in the cold open; a spur-of-the-moment creative decision made solely because the two actors happened to be in the building, and which remains one of the most surreal scenes in Friends history.
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