Finally, Friends fans in London are getting the closest thing possible to the spin-off we deserved-Adam Miller-Entertainment – Metro

Gunther is finally getting his own stage show coming to London (Picture: NBC)

‘For the last few years I’ve just been completely immersed in Friends,’ says comic actor Brendan Murphy who has boldly taken the most loved sitcom of all time and transformed all 10 seasons into a one man play.

Friend is the stage show retuning to London, imagining what happened to Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey once the gang went their separate ways and stopped spending every waking hour at Central Perk instead of doing their actual jobs through the eyes of underappreciated ‘seventh friend’ Gunther.

Gunther (played by James Michael Tyler, who died in 2021) was the agitated manager of the group’s favourite New York hangout, infatuated with Rachel (played by Jennifer Aniston) and subsequently spent 10 seasons wishing hell on her on-off love interest Ross (David Schwimmer).

Of course Friends ended with Rachel ditching her job in Paris, despite not even consulting Ross about taking their daughter with her and instead, decided to ‘get off the plane’ and finally forgive him for cheating on her when they were ‘on a break’.

Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) moved to the suburbs to raise their adopted twins, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and her husband Mike (Paul Rudd) planned to make babies and Joey (Matt LeBLanc) is shacked up with his new chick and duck.

None of them, however, filled Gunther in on their new ventures and in turn the forgotten barista has no idea why Rachel and her friends have suddenly stopped coming to the coffee house.

Joseph Maudsley will be starring as Gunther in Brendan Murphy’s one man show at London’s Kings’ Theatre (Picture: Rod Penn)

‘The premise is that it’s all been told by Gunther so that immediately sort of carves out the story but what do we actually know about Gunther?’ Murphy tellsMetro.co.uk.‘We know that he works at the coffee store, that Central Perk is his world but he’s got this rivalry with Ross, which Ross isn’t really aware of.

‘If you were looking for the main narrative arc, across the 10 seasons, we’re looking at the Ross and Rachel storyline, which for Gunther makes a lot of sense but I also wanted to hit as many of the moments people are looking forward to: the lobster, the Holiday Armadillo – all of that. And I wanted to throw a lot of songs in there too so it’s, like a sort of 90s early noughties, nostalgia ride.’

Gunther was initially only lined up for a handful of Friends episodes, just booked in for the first series and even then he had no lines.

To the shock of creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane he gained a cult following here in the UK and got bumped up to being the character who made the most appearances throughout the entirety of Friends aside from the main six.

But James Michael Tyler wasn’t even an actor or had any aspirations to be on TV until someone with real-life barrister experience was needed to make the role seem more ‘authentic’, and he was the only man on set qualified for the job.

We all have a sense of who Gunther is but we actually know very little about him

The night before his first appearance on Friends, his hair stylist pal asked if he could practice bleaching on Tyler’s hair. The creators loved the look, kept it for the entire 10 seasons and through various peculiar twists of fate one of television’s most adored characters was sealed. It’s the ultimate butterfly effect, later spawning an unlikely new play from a British comic giving Gunther a new lease of life.

‘We all have a sense of who Gunther is but we actually know very little about him,’ says Murphy.

‘Just going through and doing like the research, it’s brilliant for someone like me, who’s writing effectively fan fiction. You know what people want but it’s also such a blank canvas so you can build huge backstory and just have fun with it.

This is the closest thing to a great Friends spin-off we’re going to get (Picture: Rod Penn)

Brendan Murphy’s one man play is returning to London (Picture: The Other Richard)

All we really know about Gunther from Kauffman and Crane’s source material is he loves bright clothes, bleached hair, and Rachel. For Murphy though, while steadily losing the plot performing a show in Las Vegas, that was enough to inspire Friend (The One With Gunther).

‘We can assume he’s a recluse, he’s really funny and deploys them at just the right times so I wanted to show his world and what he thinks is happening here.

‘He’s keen to make friends, that’s for sure, he’s a little abit on the edge. Of course there are times when he is distraught and crushed by his inability to cultivate this relatoinship with Rachel. There’s a sense of hopefulness while still also being able to throw down a cuttng sarcastic comment.’

Friend (The One With Gunther) has already been a hinge hit around the world. It’s taken off at Edinburgh Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, and was recently staged in Toronto until it was momentarily pulled following the death of Matthew Perry.

‘Fans had just seen the news and saw it as a cynical cash grab even though logistcally that wouldn’t make sense, being able to make a show and sell tickets in that time, but that’s how it was perceived online.’

Otherwise though, a trip down memory lane with the six people who were always there for us throughout the 90s and noughties has been welcomed by fans who have spent the last year praying for more Friends only to be punished with a one-off special hosted by James Corden.

‘Friends is everywhere, you still can’t escape it, but this show has really managed to connect with people and it’s not just a surface level appreciation, it’s the people who are real true Friends fans that have loved it.’

Friend (The One With Gunther) runs from May 14 to Saturday May 16 at King’s Head Theatre, London.

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