Of all the Friends cast members, I get the impression that David Schwimmer would be the easiest to rile. As the sitcom took off in the ‘90s, Schwimmer stayed committed to his highfalutin theater roots, always projecting “serious actor” vibes even while he was avoiding the poop being hurled by Marcel the capuchin monkey.
So it’s pretty funny that decades after Friends left the air, the show’s fans are harassing Schwimmer with jokes from the show. While promoting his new Goosebumps series (serious acting!) on Good Morning America, the guy who played Ross says he gets startling shoutouts on a daily basis.
What makes him jump when he’s out on the streets these days? “A lot of random people shouting ‘pivot’ at me,” he confessed. It’s a reference to the episode when Ross, Chandler and Rachel try to maneuver an oversized couch up a narrow set of stairs, punctuated by Ross’ whiny howls of “Pivot!” His instructions are so annoying that Matthew Perry’s Chandler eventually responds with an irate “Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!”
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“Sometimes it’s startling,” admitted Schwimmer about the random shrieks. “But also it’s just a reminder that the series lives on.” With a weary sigh, he sarcastically told Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan that a random roar of Pivot! “never gets old.”
“Pivot!” isn’t the only Ross phrase that Schwimmer hears on the streets — it’s just the funniest. “When I meet people on the street from another country and they say, ‘I just have to say, I learned English watching your show,’” Schwimmer said. “Or a father stops me and says, ‘My kid was really, really ill, and the one thing that kept them going in the hospital was just watching Friends,’ you feel really grateful and blessed to have done something that people find fun.”
Nothing is more fun than Ross being pinned in by furniture while his friends scream at him to shut up. “You never ever anticipate that kind of thing,” Friends co-creator David Crane told Entertainment Weekly about “Pivot!” becoming one of the show’s signature catchphrases. “You’re just trying to tell funny stories and have it work. There was never an eye toward, ‘Wow, this is an iconic moment.’”
Whatever the intention, Friends gave its fans the perfect ammunition to pester Ross in the real world. If you see Schwimmer in the wild, you know what to do.