Did we mention we’ve a man crush on Paul Rudd?
It took something special for a character in Friends to break into the social group of Ross, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey (you may have missed when he broke character) and Chandler, but Mike Hannigan had what it took.
Played by Paul Rudd, he became a regular fixture in the show in the final two seasons as the love interest of Phoebe.
However, Mike was never meant to be the long-term option as Phoebe’s romantic interest in the show, and in fact, the producers always had David, played by Hank Azaria, in mind for that role.
In a recent interview with The Huffington Post, Hank Azaria revealed that Paul Rudd’s character was just so popular and charming that the producers couldn’t write him out of the show.
We find that very easy to believe…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MilOPRQzeD0
Video via Eric Benson
When quizzed on whether or not he thought David moving to Minsk would be the end of him and Phoebe, Azaria replied, “No, I didn’t know that was the end of David. The plan always was kind of to bring him back.”
“I think, honestly, what happened was Paul Rudd is so awesome that they sort of found a groove with him and [my character] became more of just the grist for that mill.
“He’s a handsome devil. He’s actually annoyingly handsome. He shouldn’t really be allowed to be that handsome. He’s like the Tom Brady of comedy.”
We had first hand experience of the charming bast*rd that is Paul Rudd when our own Paddy McKenna interviewed him last year, and there was definitely a bit of brewing bromance.
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