Friends: Why Didn't Greg Kinnear Film His Scenes In Front Of A Live Studio Audience?

Greg Kinnear brought his distinctive talent to make an antagonist charming to the NBC show, "Friends." Throughout "Friends" Season 10, Episode 6 ("The One with Ross's Grant"), Kinnear's character, Dr. Benjamin "Benji" Hobart, has a series of intense encounters with Dr. Charlie Wheeler (Aisha Tyler) and her then-love interest, Dr. Ross Geller (David Schwimmer). The New York University professor gets alarmed after Benji explicitly states he would like to, once again, romantically pursue Charlie. 

In a February 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Kinnear noted that a studio audience was typically present while the "Friends" cast was on camera. However, he explained that he did not perform before a live crowd as he was getting used to his first days as a parent. "[I]t's crazy, my oldest daughter was born like the night before I was going to go on 'Friends.' I was so excited to go do it in front of the live audience and hang with the whole gang here — and I ended up having to pretape all my stuff with Schwimmer and so I blame my daughter," quipped the former "Talk Soup" host.

While Greg Kinnear and Courteney Cox did not share a scene during his brief time as a "Friends" actor, they have interacted as "Shining Vale" co-stars. During the Entertainment Tonight interview, the "Little Miss Sunshine" star stated he appreciated that he and Cox eventually filmed together. "I had a great time doing ['Friends']. Unfortunately, I didn't get to work with Courteney. I had to wait for 'Shining Vale' but it was all wonderful in the end," said Kinnear.

Kinnear also complimented Cox as his "Shining Vale" castmate in a February 2022 "Ellen DeGeneres Show" interview. He shared he enjoyed that the "Scream" actor was on edge on location of the 2022 demon-centric show. "The lovely Courteney was the perfect person to do ['Shining Vale'] with. I was so grateful, she's funny, she's smart. She is genuinely easy to scare," revealed the actor.

During the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" interview, Kinnear revealed that he believed it is important for aspiring actors to perform before audience members, like the cast of "Friends" once did. "I think it's very hard for these kids over the last couple years with COVID — is that the isolation, you know, I do think that the idea of getting in front of audiences, and the idea of being in front of people is a really valuable thing."