You never know who you’ll run into at Central Perk … or a firepit! Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Friends premiere with two unexpected pals: Charlie Puth and Judd Apatow.
Cox, 55, Kudrow, 56, and Puth, 27, shared photos via Instagram on Sunday, September 22, from their hangout with Apatow, 51, in what appeared to be a backyard with a large fire to keep them warm.
“Trying to play it cool with all this heat. #friends25,” Cox captioned one snap of the foursome. In the comments section, Apatow’s 16-year-old daughter, Iris, wrote, “This photo is intimidating.”
The “Mother” singer uploaded the same shot, albeit slightly zoomed out, on his Instagram page, with three thinking-face emojis as the caption. His friend Alfredo Flores jokingly called him “Mr. Bing” in the comments, referencing Matthew Perry’s Friends character.
Kudrow, meanwhile, shared a picture without Apatow, who instead took on the role of photographer. “So excited to celebrate we burst into flames. Photo credit to @juddapatow #friends25,” she wrote.
While the group may seem like an unlikely pairing, Puth has a little-known connection to Cox. He has been dating singer Charlotte Lawrence since earlier this year; her father, Bill Lawrence, created another one of Cox’s popular TV shows, Cougar Town.
The Friends pilot aired on September 22, 1994, with Cox as Monica Geller, Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller. The NBC sitcom’s 10-season run came to an end on May 6, 2004.
Aniston, 50, and Kudrow won Primetime Emmy Awards for their roles, while Perry, 50, LeBlanc, 52, and Schwimmer, 52, received nominations. Cox was the only core cast member who never scored a nod. In total, the show won six Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2002.
Friends gained a new generation of fans when all 236 episodes hit Netflix in January 2015. It is expected to leave the streaming service in early 2020 to move over to HBO Max.
