EXCLUSIVE: Friends’ heartthrob Eddie Cahill reveals what it was really like on the set of the iconic show

There are few television shows that can transcend generations.

Even within the exclusive club reserved for iconic, cult status shows, some are more prominent and popular than others.

Yes, we’re talking about beloved ’90s sitcom, Friends.

With the show as delightfully bingeable today as it was 20 years ago, the hysteria surrounding the series has only grown.

Adding fuel to the fire in fans’ hearts has been talks of a reunion episode, hosted by HBO Max.

Few could have predicted how popular the show would become.

Just 15 when it began, Eddie Cahill, who played Rachel’s handsome assistant turned boyfriend Tag, certainly didn’t.

In fact, chatting exclusively to Now To Love, the now 42-year-old actor admits, he hadn’t watched much of the series when he was cast.

Eddie, it’s so nice to chat to you being fans of the show ourselves, were you yourself a fan before landing the role of Tag?

I mean, it was so enormous, and it was such a part of the culture, but I was 15 when the show started, you know? And, so I was doing other things, I was just in a different place.

By the time you joined the show in season 7, it had become a phenomenon. What was it like joining such a huge series?

This was kind of at the beginning of all of my professional experience as an actor, so there was pressure, there was just pressure in general [laughs]. I remember being made aware that after I got that job, that I had landed somewhere of note.

I was a little bit naive, I don’t think I really knew what it all meant. I don’t think I even really knew what big television actually meant in the kind of broader world, but the pressure was very real.

Joining the show so young and fresh to the world of acting, did any of the cast take you under their wing?

David [Schwimmer], I think stands out in that respect. I got a phone call from him and he just kind of made himself available. You know, he said, ‘Listen, I know you’re new in town and you don’t know anybody, I’m headed out and going to this place, you want to come with me?’

So he took me out and, and I mean, in a sense, took me under his wing. But they all offered me kindness and a sense that I belong.

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What was it like between the cast behind the scenes?

They were very inviting, you know, the seven episodes I did were, were broken down over a period of time that spanned, from 2000 to 2001 and throughout the course of that, there was a holiday party and I was invited, there was also a whole bunch of crew members there. I felt like I was welcomed in.

Do you have a favourite moment from working on the show?

One of the most striking moments I remember, and it intimidated me, was the first time the lights went black and those guitar chords kicked off and the audience just went absolutely bananas and everything from my shoes through my hair just like lit on fire. It was an interesting feeling.

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