Friends star David Schwimmer was ‘jealous’ of Marcel the monkey, animal trainer claims

‘I think he got jealous because it wasn’t him getting the laughs,’ animal trainer claims

The trainer who worked with Marcel the monkey on hit sitcom Friends has issued an extraordinary rebuke to star David Schwimmer over his comments about the animal actor.

During the Friends reunion, Schwimmer claimed working with Marcel, a capuchin monkey, was the “worst thing” about Friends.

“Here is my problem: The monkey, obviously, was trained. It had to hit its mark and do its thing right at the perfect time,” he explained.

“What inevitably began to happen was we would all have choreographed bits kind of timed out, and it would get messed up, because the monkey didn’t do its job right. So we would have to reset, we’d have to go again, because the monkey didn’t get it right. It was time for Marcel to f*** off.”

Handler Mike Morris has now branded Schwimmer “despicable” for his comments and accused him of being “jealous” of the attention Marcel got during his eight episodes. The monkey was played by two animal actors, Marcel – who died in August last year – and Katie.

“I didn’t watch the reunion interview but I heard from others what Schwimmer said. I just don’t agree with it, if anything he threw off their timing if we want to be truthful,” he told The Sun.

“Schwimmer was fine with the monkeys for the first couple of episodes and happy to be there, but people would laugh at the monkey and I think he got jealous because it wasn’t him getting the laughs.

“He seemed to get a little bitter about them being there after that, and of course the monkeys didn’t like working with him after he turned on them. It made it harder to do the work. A five-camera show is hard to work on with animals anyway so if you have an actor that’s not very helpful, it makes it even worse.”

Morris added: “My colleague who also worked on the show says that people would laugh at the monkey and throw Schwimmer off. He’s not the kind of actor who can improvise.”

The Independent has contacted Schwimmer’s representative for comment.

(Netflix)

Back in 1995, Schwimmer opened up about working with Katie, admitting to Entertainment Weekly that he “hated” it.

”The trainers won’t let me bond with it,” Schwimmer said. ”They’re really, really possessive. It’s like, ‘Land on your marks, do your job, don’t touch or bond with the monkey.’ It’s a bummer.”

Schwimmer’s co-star Matt LeBlanc talked about Katie the monkey in a 2019 interview with Jimmy Kimmel. “I bought [the monkey] at an auction,” LeBlanc joked. “No, the monkey was… I liked the monkey. I like animals. The monkey was really cool. Schwimmer not so much.”

Marcel famously appeared in eight early Friends episodes, including “The One With the Monkey” and “The One Where the Monkey Gets Away”.

Ultimately, Ross adopts Marcel out to the San Diego Zoo, but the next time he’s reunited with his former pet, he finds out that Marcel has become a famous animal actor, appearing in the latest Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.