‘I shouldn’t be here’: Paul Rudd shares regret over final Friends episode

‘I felt very privileged but I was like, “Oh I just want to sit back here and not get in the way,”’ actor recalled

Paul Rudd has admitted that he felt “strange” being in the final episode of Friends.

The Marvel star joined the long-running sitcom in 2002 as Mike Hannigan, a love interest and eventual husband of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow).

Appearing on Heart Breakfast on Friday (17 February), Rudd said that it was “fun” if “surreal” being on the show”.

“The whole thing was a bit surreal, I must say, to be a part of that,” he explained. “Because I came on really near the end... I never knew that I was going to be in as many as I was.

“But it also felt strange. I mean, I was in that last episode and I just thought, ‘I shouldn’t be here. I’m getting a front row seat to things I’m not supposed to see.’”

Rudd makes a brief appearance in the final episode of Friends – titled “The Last One” – in which Mike and Phoebe agree to have a baby together after Monica and Chandler welcome their twins.

Rudd continued: “They were all crying, it was all emotional, and I was just like, ‘Woah.’ I felt very privileged but I was like, ‘Oh I just want to sit back here and not get in the way.’”

In 2019, Rudd recalled an awkward encounter between him and Jennifer Aniston while filming the last episode.

Paul Rudd and Lisa Kudrow on ‘Friends’ (Fox)

“I was in the last episode, which made no sense to me whatsoever,” he said on The Graham Norton Show.

Rudd ran into Aniston, who was crying, and decided to make a joke about the show ending.

“So to break the ice I went over and just went, ‘We did it, huh? What a ride,’” he said. “The joke inevitably fell flat.”