Aisha Tyler remembers feeling ‘petrified’ to join the cast of Friends

Friends had many guest stars over the years, some of them iconic! There were those actors who were already known like Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, and Reese Witherspoon. One awesome guest star we all loved was Aisha Tyler, aka Charlie Wheeler.

The paleontology professor was first introduced towards the end of the popular sitcom, in season 9 episode 20 “The One With the Soap Opera Party.” She remained on the show for a total of nine episodes, which is longer than most of the guest stars. Though the brilliant mind first dates Joey, she gravitates to the fellow paleontologist-thinking mind, and starts a relationship with Ross.

On April 24, 2023, it will be 20 years since that episode aired, which a milestone for the actress! The star spoke with Entertainment Tonight recently, and shared her thoughts from her time on set of Friends season 9 and 10. One feeling she remembers was being “petrified.”

Aisha Tyler remembers feeling ‘petrified’ to join the cast of Friends

Tyler told ET that she’d already seen all the episodes of Friends before her audition because she was such a fan of the comedy. Everyone, including those in the industry, knew just how big the show was at the time. I mean, look at how popular it still is now. The series is iconic!

And that puts a lot of pressure on those guest stars. Tyler explained to the news outlet how she did a curtain call with the main cast at the end of the episode for the live audience, and then Matthew Perry, who played Chandler, leaned over and told the Charlie actress her life is about to change. Tyler said:

"It was a really sweet, kind thing to say to someone who’s just petrified and just trying not to pee on herself a little bit from fear."

It certainly was no joke to be on the biggest show with the biggest stars of the time! And the star said all of the cast members were incredibly kind” and “incredibly welcoming.” What’s fun for her is that to this day almost 20 years later and following a successful acting career beyond Friends, she still has people recognize her for playing Charlie! She said:

"To this day, people come up to me and go, ‘Charlie, Charlie,’ or they just go, ‘Black girl from Friends.’"

All 10 seasons of Friends are streaming on HBO Max.