Jean Claude Van Damme
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Many stars appeared throughout the run of the hit series Friends, but Jean-Claude Van Damme found his appearance in one episode in 1996 to be quite embarrassing.
In the episode titled “The One After the Super Bowl: Part 2,” the actor played himself alongside Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel and Courteney Cox’s Monica. In the episode, Rachel and Monica both develop a crush on Jean-Claude Van Damme after he begins filming a film in New York City. But when Rachel approaches him first because Monica is too shy, an argument breaks out between the two about who can go out with him.
Looking back, Van Damme said in a recent interview with the New York Post, “My acting is so bad. I look like a ham. Like, “Hey, girls.”…It’s like I’m ashamed. Then I was on set and these girls went and kissed me and kissed me on the lips. I didn’t know what to do, how to do it… It was strange. They were very nice.”
(LR) Courteney Cox, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Jennifer Aniston Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Van Damme admitted that he actually didn’t know much about the series, which ran from 1994 to 2004, before appearing in the second season.
“So when I go to the show I see these two beautiful girls and they say it’s the hottest show in the world right now. “So I was very happy,” recalled the kickboxing star. “And my agent said, ‘You have to do an episode with them.’ So you’re going to play this guy.'”
Although he’s not the biggest fan of his cameo on the show, the actor said that overall the experience was “a good memory.”
“They were very open because they did the show every day. So for them, I come to a place where everything works like a very well-trained mechanic engine,” he added. “It was wonderful.”
“Friends” also starred Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc.