Brooke Shields reveals prank to make Matthew Perry laugh on Friends: "I just wanted to be funny"

Brooke Shields recalls performing a prank to make Matthew Perry laugh on Friends, resulting in rug burns.

Actress Brooke Shields recently shared a behind-the-scenes story from her time guest-starring on Friends, revealing a stunt she did to make Matthew Perry laugh. In a January 13 appearance on The View, the 59-year-old actress revealed her desire to impress the cast and feel like a part of the team.

"When you go onto a show that's so well-oiled and so successful and I was such a fan, all I wanted was for them to like me," Shields explained on the talk show. "I just wanted to be funny, but I wasn't in the group. They were very tight and had all these inside jokes."

The Blue Lagoon star was inspired by a prank that Perry – who passed away in October 2023 at age 54 – would often pull on set. She described Perry's recurring joke with the cast, where he "would run and throw himself on the floor in front of a girl and pretend to look up her skirt," pointing out how such a stunt couldn't be done today, as "you'd get canceled." However, in that moment, the actress decided to give Perry a taste of his own prank. "If I can make him laugh, it's just going to feel so good."

Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

"I thought, 'Oh my God, I know what I'm going to do.' I ran so fast from one end of the stage all the way to the other, threw myself on the ground and pretended to look up his pant leg, and everybody was quiet," Shields explained. "I'm on the floor and I'm like, 'I just suck … I look like a crazy person.' I'm on the floor for what felt like an hour. It was probably one second and all of a sudden he started laughing, and they all started laughing."

Eventually, Perry asked her, "How did you know to do that?" to which she replied, "I have just been watching you. I just wanted to say thank you for giving us such humor."

Shields called the moment "really sweet," but it left her with a few minor injuries. "The rug burns," she recalled, "I had rug burns all over my knees!"

Shields made a guest appearance on a 1996 episode of the comedy Friends titled "The One After the Super Bowl," where she portrayed a stalker who is convinced that Joey is the soap opera character he plays on TV. The episode also featured appearances by Julia Roberts, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Fred Willard, and Dan Castellaneta.

Shields' appearance on the talk show coincided with the release of her new book, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed To Get Old, which is set to be available on January 14. The book provides "an intimate and empowering exploration of aging, challenging the conventional view of what it means for a woman to grow older," according to the synopsis.