Friends actor Tom Selleck admits he was 'scared to death' while guest-starring as Dr Richard Burke

Virgin Radio

3 May 2022, 12:57

We can't get our sitcom heads around the fact Tom Selleck’s Richard Burke only starred in ten iconic Friends episodes as arguably Monica’s mustached love of her life. But we also can't believe how nervous the A-list star was taking on the 90s role.

Tom Selleck recently talked about guest-starring alongside Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry on The Kelly Clarkson Show. He admitted: "The hardest thing is to guest on a show.

"I was scared to death. I had done [an episode of] Taxi a long time before, but I hadn't done a sitcom. And so, I was really nervous."

Tom was only supposed to guest star for three episodes but made a total of nine appearances between 1995 and 2000.

And his go-to work buddy? He said: "Courteney helped a lot. Courteney's a big help.

"But that group's an incredible group of friends. They obviously became friends in life as well as on the show. And it shows. It was a wonderful place to work."

Clarkson praised: "You were amazing in Friends!"

Selleck replied: “I wasn’t amazing at what they call the table read.”

Clarkson continued: “Who cares? Bad rehearsal. Good show. That was so good. That’s literally the thing I feel like people comment about all the time – (when) Monica’s on your voicemail, breathing.”

The actor now uses his experience to help others feel at ease on set. He explained: "I try to relax the new actors because that's really hard to come on a show where everybody's up to speed."

On YouTube talk show Hot Ones last month, Cox revealed her favourite guest co-stars on Friends was none other than Selleck and praised him for being 'the nicest and the tallest'.

The question is, Richard or Chandler?