Sean Penn was one of the many, many famous guest stars that appeared on “Friends” during its run, and apparently, he freaked out Matthew Perry a bit when he did. According to Lisa Kudrow, Perry unexpectedly worried that Penn would jump out and tickle him.
Yes, that sounds odd on its face. But the key context here is that Perry, Kudrow and fellow “Friends” star Matt LeBlanc had an ongoing bit of jumping out to “ambush tickle each other.” Kudrow explained the situation a bit during an appearance on “The View” on Thursday, in support of season 3 of “The Comeback.”
“It’s terrifying. And someone would be lurking, you know, they walk by and (flinches) you just went like that,” she detailed.
Kudrow recalled one episode in particular had Perry extra on edge: “The One With the Halloween Party.”
Penn guest starred as Eric, the boyfriend of Phoebe’s (Kudrow) twin sister Ursula. The episode is a fan-favorite, seeing Perry’s Chandler dressed in a giant pink bunny outfit — which is precisely what he was wearing when he thought Penn was getting in on the game between Perry and his co-stars.
“He walked by Matthew and Matthew went ‘WOAH!’ And then came over and said ‘Just thought Sean Penn was gonna try to tickle me,’” Kudrow recalled. “We laughed so hard, of course Sean Penn wasn’t gonna tickle him!”
“It was just a funny, at the time. Sean Penn would go ‘Woo!’” she joked, miming Penn launching a tickle attack. “It didn’t make sense.”
