College basketball recruit Chandler Bing swears he's not named after Mathew Perry's 'Friends' character
Could this be any more of a coincidence?
A real-life Chandler Bing — a senior at Pace Academy in Atlanta, who has committed to play college basketball at Vanderbilt University — says he wasn't named after the late Matthew Perry's character on Friends. Really.
"My parents weren't even thinking about the show," Bing told The Tennessean in an interview published Friday. "My mom has seen the show, but when they were naming me, I guess she didn't watch it that much, wasn't even thinking about that."
Committed #blessed #godores⚓️ pic.twitter.com/23K0ZLJgfV
— Chandler Bing (@Chandler_Bing35) April 30, 2025
Of course, that's never stopped people from cracking jokes about his name.
He got them a lot growing up, "especially when I was younger," he told the newspaper. But he might not have understood their meaning.
"I actually haven't watched the show," Bing the basketballer said. "But I never really had a problem with [the jokes]. Once people told me about it, I was like, 'OK, well, I know I'm going to get it a lot now.'"
No word if there's a real Miss Chanandler Bong out there.
The love for Friends has only grown since the NBC series ended its 10-season run in 2004. Starring Perry, as well as Courteney Cox (Monica), Jennifer Anniston (Rachel), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), and David Schwimmer (Ross), the show famously followed a group of young adults making their way in New York City.
While the show was a hit during its run, its subsequent release on streaming and incessant reruns have only made it bigger. More than three decades after the sitcom premiered, fans continue to quote the characters, particularly the sarcastic Bing, and snap up merchandise such as vinyl figures, shirts, and coffee mugs. They can visit the Friends Experience in multiple cities to view costumes and props from the series.Perry died in October 2023, at 54. The cause was determined to have been a drug overdose.
His former costars continue to mourn the loss. Just last month, actress Maggie Wheeler, who played Perry's sometimes girlfriend Janice on the show, said she thought she had seen a sign from her late friend.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lisa Kudrow Makes Bold Admission About Her Time Working on 'Friends'
Lisa Kudrow Makes Bold Admission About Her Time Working on 'Friends' originally appeared on Parade. The revelation that just shattered every 90s kid's heart has me questioning everything I thought I knew about our beloved Phoebe Kudrow's latest confession about portraying the quirky masseuse-musician on proves that even our most iconic TV moments required more work behind the scenes than we ever imagined. Speaking with Parker Posey for series, the 61-year-old actress delivered a truth bomb that has fans everywhere doing double takes. Kudrow revealed that bringing Phoebe to life was actually "a lot of work" because the character was "so far from who I was as a human being." For those of us who grew up believing Kudrow simply channeled her inner free spirit every Thursday night, this admission feels like discovering Santa isn't real all over again. The actress explained she had to mentally justify everything Phoebe said to make it feel authentic: "I needed to justify everything she was saying in my head so that it felt like she meant it and it was real to her." The most mind-blowing part? According to People, Matt LeBlanc apparently told Kudrow during Season 2 or 3, "What's the matter with you? You're her. You don't have to," when she worried about not doing enough preparation. The irony that Joey Tribbiani had to remind Phoebe's actress to relax is peak Friends makes this revelation particularly fascinating is how Kudrow's dedication to craft created one of television's most memorable characters. Her six Emmy nominations and one win for Phoebe prove that sometimes the best performances come from actors stretching far beyond their comfort zones. Kudrow also shared insights about the cast's real-life dynamics, crediting Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, and LeBlanc with modeling "respectful communication" that kept their six-way friendship functional. "We really did get along," she confirmed, "We also worked hard at being friends." For 90s kids who've rewatched Friends countless times on streaming platforms, learning about Kudrow's internal process adds new layers to appreciate. Every "Smelly Cat" performance and Central Perk conversation now feels even more impressive knowing the thoughtful preparation behind Phoebe's seemingly effortless eccentricity. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 Lisa Kudrow Makes Bold Admission About Her Time Working on 'Friends' first appeared on Parade on Jun 9, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Jessica Hecht Explains How She Was Nearly Cast As Monica in 'Friends' (Exclusive)
Jessica Hecht Explains How She Was Nearly Cast As Monica in 'Friends' (Exclusive) originally appeared on Parade. There's an alternate version of history where the cast of friends includes Jessica Hecht. The prolific actress, who was recently nominated for her third Tony Award for Eureka Day, was nearly cast as Monica instead of Courteney Cox. "Can you believe that?" Hecht says laughing about the sliding doors theory while chatting with Parade in our New York studio, although she admits that she thinks she was "a total backup." 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 "I knew the casting director from high school," Hecht says, telling the story of her audition. "I grew up in a small town near Hartford, Connecticut called Bloomfield. There was nobody else. The only other person from my town who's an actor or has anything to do with entertainment is Anika Noni Rose. But there was this woman, Ellie Kanner. I was out in Los Angeles, and my agent said, 'Oh, I sent your picture into this casting director for Friends. There's one part, they're not sure if the actor will take. They want to still look at some other actors, and I think she knows you from high school.' So I went in, mostly excited to see Ellie Kanner, and then they started to read me for Monica." Obviously, Hecht didn't end up booking the role, which went to Cox instead. "I think looking at me back then, I'm tall and I just had a bigger size than the rest," Hecht says, regarding why she wasn't ultimately cast. "Now I look at it, and I think how perfect Courteney was, I would have been more of a Lisa, just physically and energetically." Fans of Friends will, however, recognize Hecht as Susan Bunch, the new girlfriend of Ross's ex-wife Carol. "They just couldn't figure out how to make Susan work," Hecht says about her casting, "Because they – well, it's terrible. But they just wanted a lesbian that didn't look exactly like lesbians had previously, let's be honest." "Use your imagination!" Hecht continues laughing, "They're wonderful. They come in all sizes." Related: Hecht appeared on 13 episodes of the series, making her debut in the second episode of Season 1. She filmed many of her episodes before the series became the juggernaut it would eventually become. "If you're at the very beginning, you don't know what it's going to be. So you're just there trying to help them figure out what the show is. And you don't feel the weight of its history, because it has no history, and you don't know what it'll be," Hecht says of working on that first season. "In Friends, it's not that it was casual, but the show was not iconic by any stretch. So I had more creativity, and I had more of a sense of just trusting my gut about what I wanted to do with this character. And Jane Sibbett, who played my beautiful wife, we were so locked into each other, so it was mostly about our energy together. The actors were awesome, but nobody had that confidence yet, so it was a very delicious time." It is crazy to think about how different Hecht's life would be now if she were one of the six titular "friends." But perhaps then she wouldn't have three Tony nominations to her name either!Jessica Hecht Explains How She Was Nearly Cast As Monica in 'Friends' (Exclusive) first appeared on Parade on Jun 11, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bob Iger Says Disney Unlikely to Follow Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery In Exiting the TV Channel Business
Will Disney follow Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast in splitting off most of its TV assets from its streaming business? Don't bet on it. CEO Bob Iger appeared on CNBC Tuesday morning, where he was interviewed by David Faber about his company's acquisition of Comcast's share in Hulu, which was finalized Monday. More from The Hollywood Reporter Disney's House of Mouse Global Tour Debuts New Mickey & Friends Collabs and Disneyland Anniversary Merch in L.A. (Exclusive) Disney+ Inks New Deal to Bundle With Crave, TSN in Canada Inside Hollywood's Succession Wars But Faber also used the opportunity to ask whether Iger, who effectively kickstarted the idea of splitting linear TV from streaming in a CNBC interview two years ago, whether Disney is reevaluating its decision to keep its company together. Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday that it would split itself in two: One company with the studios and HBO Max streaming business, and another with its global TV networks. That move followed a similar decision from Comcast, which is spinning out most of its cable channels into Versant later this year, but keeping NBC, Bravo, Peacock and theme parks for itself. 'Soon after I returned to Disney, I put everything on the table and asked the team to evaluate whether we should buy Hulu or whether we should sell Hulu, whether we should sell our linear television networks or whether we should hold on to them, and after a pretty lengthy process internally, and really taking a long look at what these properties could mean to us, long term, we decided that the best course for us to take was to not only buy [Hulu] in its entirety, but also to hold on to the linear television networks and to integrate them seamlessly with our streaming business,' Iger said. 'What that has enabled us to do is aggregate revenue, both on the sub fee side and on the advertising side. There is still enough linear television subscribers to generate a significant amount of revenue in advertising and in subscription fees. We program them seamlessly, we manage them in one organization. And so there's been great economies of scale in doing that.' 'It's one of the things that's enabled us to turn the streaming business around from a huge loss to profitability, and over the next several years, it will enable us to grow margins significantly on the streaming side, because of the ability to amortize program costs and the ability to essentially aggregate audiences in revenue,' he added. 'It's also interesting to us that as many others exit that business, I think it gives us a stronger hand to stay in that business. We're very focused. We will have, interestingly enough, a linear television business that's paired with a streaming business. So when you think about it, these spin off companies won't have the assets from a streaming perspective that we will have.' And having a broadcast network like ABC is a big part of that. 'I think there's a lot more value in a broadcast network, again, if it's paired very, very seamlessly with a streaming business,' Iger said. 'I mean, you think about our core networks, obviously, ESPN is a big one. That will be connected, obviously, fully with ESPN's digital offering. Disney Channel is connected seamlessly with Disney Plus. FX and ABC have fed Hulu programming very effectively. And now when you think about all four, and we also have Nat Geo, which does the same with Disney Plus, when you think about those five networks and how they're programmed across linear and streaming, you've got a business that actually provides us an opportunity to not only grow, but to grow margins in the process as well. So, again, we like the direction we're going. We like the fact that we're one of the few that is doing this, because I think it sets us up to be even more competitive in a marketplace that's becoming even more fragmented.' Iger also said that Disney+ will most likely follow the path laid by Netflix, which stopped reporting its subscriber numbers on a quarterly basis. 'Probably,' Iger said, when asked by Faber if the company will pursue that strategy. 'We're focused on EBITDA and cash flow and growing margins, and that's, in fact, what we're doing. I think at some point, what we're mostly going to disclose is the bottom line.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
