FRIENDS -- Season 2 -- Pictured: (l-r) Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
London, Feb 21 (PTI) The cast of hit American sitcom "Friends" set the foundation for their on and off screen friendship by playing a game of poker, at the insistence of their director.
James Burrows, the director of the globally popular show, lent his room to the six main cast members and forced them to connect over the gambling card game, and the real-life bonding exercise was later featured in an episode of the first series of the show, reported Femalefirst.
Lisa Kudrow, who played ditsy Phoebe Buffay, said: "Burrows gave his dressing room because it was big. We really wanted to connect. I think it was sort of unspoken, but we instinctively felt like we need to be friends, we need to get along, we need to connect.
"And so we started playing poker and Jimmy gave us his room so that we could have a bigger hangout room for us."
Jennifer Aniston added: "They wrote an episode about it, actually!"
Matt LeBlanc - who was also joined in the series by David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox - also credited James with uniting the cast.
He said: "(Burrows) really encouraged us all to get along and get to know one another and be kind to one another, and support one another, help one another."
"Friends" debuted on TV screens in 1994 and made the guys: Phoebe, Rachel, Monica, Ross, Chandler and Joey recognised names in every household.
The gang - apart from Matthew - reunited for "Must See TV: A Tribute to James Burrows" which will air on NBC.
