It's a bummer when the creative process of something sounds like more fun that the finished article. Take Friends, for example; the blandest, most unoffensive populist sitcom about untroubled good-looking gonks ever.
Friends, whichever way you look at it, was rubbish. But the creative process that went into writing Friends sounds like a riot – all dirty jokes and endless lewd sexual banter. And Los Angeles judges have just thrown out a case that claimed all the rude jokes were wrong. It's legally OK to say bad things about Jennifer Aniston! Thank Christ – that's our bread and butter.
Even though Friends was a giant monster hit of a sitcom – so big, in fact, that the cast of Friends are doomed to spend the rest of their lives as stumbling hasbeens – it was always a bit monotone. Remember The One Where Everyone Was Smug? The One With The Hilarious Misunderstanding? The One That Channel Four Repeats Every Single Morning At 7.30? Us neither.
But behind the scenes, Friends was a hotbed of cutting-edge, ultra-offensive dirty humour. That's what Amaani Lyle said, anyway. She worked on Friends for four months, transcribing writing sessions. Lyle was given the boot for apparently not being very fast; and then she went on the rampage, claiming that the bawdy jokes in the Friends writing sessions constituted sexual harassment and taking Friends to court. At the start of the affair, Amaani Lyle said:
"I would have to listen to comments about the sexual conduct many of the writers would like to do with Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston."
Not Lisa Kudrow, though. Even misogynist chauvinists have their standards. But a panel of seven Justices ruled that Amaani Lyle would not be able to sue Friends. This isn't about sexual harassment – this is about freedom of speech, they decided. Justice Ming Chin wrote in the ruling:
"The First Amendment protects creativity. Lawsuits like this one, directed at restricting the creative process in a workplace whose very business is speech related, present a clear and present danger to fundamental free speech rights."
Besides, he didn't add, without the writers there would never have been that episode of Friends where Jennifer Aniston dressed up in that gold bikini. Those guys rock!
So, now that offensive humour has been legally defined as being OK – kind of – let's hope that when the inevitable Friends reunion or Friends movie rolls around – and it will, what with Matt LeBlanc's divorce and Jennifer Aniston's wedding to pay for – we finally get to see the Friends episodes that fans have been dreaming of: The One Where Chandler Gets A Pineapple Studded With Shards Of Broken Glass Rammed Up His Arse Until He Tearfully Promises Not To Be So Fucking Smug All The Time.
Read more:
Friends cleared over dirty jokes – BBC
[story by Stuart Heritage]
