'Everyone Hated the Monkey': Melora Hardin on 'Friends' Cast's True Feelings About Marcel

He was one of the most memorable animal sidekicks in sitcom history, but it turns out Marcel the monkey wasn't so popular behind the scenes. Actress Melora Hardin recently reflected on her 1994 guest appearance on Friends, revealing that the main cast loathed working with their primate co-star. "Everybody hated the monkey on Friends," Hardin told Entertainment Weekly. "They all hated working with the monkey."

An Actor's High-Wire Act

In the Season 1 episode "The One With the Stoned Guy," Hardin's character Celia is trying to get intimate with Ross (David Schwimmer) when Marcel interrupts by yanking her hair. Hardin confessed she was "totally freaked out" during the scene. An avowed animal lover, she explained it was a unique acting challenge: she had to appear convincingly panicked for the audience without actually alarming the animal.

"I had to make sure I was doing it in a way that the monkey didn't think I was really freaking out," she recalled. "But the audience had to feel I was freaking out. So I had to pick movements that were not going to freak the monkey out, but would look real to the audience." Marcel was portrayed by two white-headed capuchin monkeys, one named Katie and another literally named Monkey.

Schwimmer's Frustration vs. The Trainer's Rebuttal

Hardin's recollection aligns perfectly with comments from David Schwimmer himself. In a 1995 interview with EW, he bluntly stated, "I hate the monkey... I wish it were dead." During the 2021HBO reunion special, he elaborated that the monkey's inability to hit its marks would ruin meticulously timed comedic bits. "We would have to reset, we'd have to go again, because the monkey didn't get it right," Schwimmer explained.

However, the monkey's trainer, Mike Morris, fired back later in 2021, claiming Schwimmer was simply "jealous" because Marcel was getting a lot of laughs from the audience. Ultimately, Marcel was written out of the show after the first season.