Friends star Paul Rudd says he felt “like a prop” on the show

Friends star Paul Rudd has revealed he felt “like a prop” while filming the hugely popular sitcom.

The Ant-Man actor – who played Phoebe Buffay’s love interest Mike Hannigan from 2002 through to its conclusion in 2004 – said “it’s an interesting thing to be a part of” a series that isn’t really about your character at all.

“In something like Friends, the show was about them. I was only in it for just a blip. I felt, ‘I’m like a prop on this show. It’s not about Mike Hannigan,'” he told his Marvel co-star Chris Evans as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors series.

“But there’s a very interesting feeling to be a part of something that has that kind of profound impact on pop culture.”

In an earlier interview with Metro, Rudd recalled how he’d only signed on for a couple of episodes initially but due to his onscreen chemistry with Lisa Kudrow, showrunners David Crane, Kevin Bright and Marta Kauffman had him stick around a lot longer.

“I have really fond memories but doing that many episodes? That was news to me,” he said.

“It was never the original idea. I only ever signed on for two episodes but they kept writing more and had more ideas for that character, so it was certainly exciting,” he added.

“But it was a strange phenomenon to work with this very well established and highly regarded group of people known all over the world.”

Friends airs daily on Comedy Central in the UK and is also streaming on Netflix in the UK.