It’s strange to think that Friends has been off the air now for over eleven years, as I can still hear Chandler asking if things can BE this way or that. But it’s possible that we might see new adventures from the New York City sextet in a one woman show created and performed by Saturday Night Live cast member Vanessa Bayer. Okay, so that won’t happen, but Bayer pulled out an extremely solid impression of Rachel Green on Jimmy Kimmel Live! recently, and it makes us want more. Check it out.
There’s something almost magical about the way Bayer pops that impression out, as it’s very distinctly Rachel while not adhering to Jennifer Aniston’s own voice exactly. (Even though Jennifer Aniston’s acting is almost always about 75% Rachel Green anyway.) She’s got the faux grace combined with emotional distance that made the character such a loveable bitch during the show’s ten-year run. And all it takes is steeling her jaw, flipping her fingers around, and saying “uh” a lot. It kind of sounds like she’s a guy in a sketch show trying to act like a member of royalty. Any way you look at it, Bayer could easily be in the Friends reboot presumably coming in ten years or so.
She doesn’t really do any impressions of the other friends, unfortunately, although I guess her stab at Monica with “Not now, Rachel!” wasn’t terrible. But she just talks like everyone else using her regular voice. I was really hoping to get some Schwimmer mojo from Bayer. But I guess if you’re good at something, you stick to that rather than trying to overshadow it with dinosaur talk and yelling about being on a break.
Sadly – or miraculously, depending on what side of the coffee shop you’re standing – we know that we’re never getting a Friends reunion on an official level, even though some of the stars have reunited on Jimmy Kimmel Live in the past. But maybe SNL can get something going next year that brings back some of the actors, sans Aniston. (Sans-iston?)
You’ll be able to see Bayer soon in Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck with Amy Schumer, and then of course there’s Saturday Night Live, which will be returning for Season 41 this fall. Friends, meanwhile, is on Netflix for all your streaming needs, and Jimmy Kimmel Live airs every week night on ABC.
