The ‘Friends’ Monkey Trainer Clapped Back at David Schwimmer for Bad-Mouthing Marcel
"I find it despicable for him to still be speaking ill of her."
Remember that funny yet also cringy moment on the Friends reunion special when David Schwimmer bad-mouthed Marcel the capuchin monkey? Well, the Friends monkey trainer is now speaking out on Schwimmer’s “despicable” behavior, calling him an actor that’s “not very helpful” and “harder to work with.”
In case you didn’t see the Friends reunion special (seriously, how could you miss it?), let’s rewind for a second. During the cast Q&A, host James Corden asked the gang, especially Schwimmer, what it was like filming with a real monkey on set. Aside from Jennifer Aniston, no one was too keen on the scenes with Marcel. Schwimmer personally added that having to allow the monkey to eat “live grubs on your shoulder” was a breaking point for him as well as the excess petting he had to partake in since Marcel and his character, Ross Geller, were supposed to be viewed as inseparable. Doesn’t seem too outlandish of a thing to say, no?
Guess again. Animal trainer Mike Morris, who worked with one of the two monkeys who portrayed Marcel on Friends, recently told The Sun in a July 5th interview that what started off as a good relationship quickly spiraled downward. He also hinted at there being jealousy between the two co-stars.
The first couple episodes he [Schwimmer] was pretty friendly with the monkey and after that, the monkey was getting a lot of laughs and either it was throwing him off or getting a little jealous, Morris said. After that, he seemed to get a little bitter about them being there. It made it harder to work with them.
Morris dug in even deeper explaining having to train a monkey for a “five-camera show is hard to work” and Schwimmer’s unhelpful attitude only made things “harder” and more difficult. He took it one step further, sharing he has never and will never see an episode of Friends because of Schwimmer. “Him still talking ill about the monkey all these years later seems pretty childish to me.” Yikes.
Lastly, Morris shared that the other monkey who played Marcel had recently died of cancer, making Schwimmer’s comments even more despicable in his eyes.
“Schwimmer was talking ill of the dead when he made those comments,” Morris continued. “I find it despicable for him to still be speaking ill of her.” In Scwhimmer’s defense, we doubt he was aware of that at the time of the reunion. Also, RIP Marcel.
Morris concluded that Aniston and Matt LeBlanc were a pleasure to work with unlike Schwimmer. Is it just us or does this all just seem a bit bananas?
