Aisha Tyler Remembered How Being On "Friends" At The Height Of Its Popularity Was "A Big Deal"

"I was shocked you couldn't hear my teeth chattering the entire time I was on set."

Do you remember Charlie from Friends?

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And do you also remember when Quinta Brunson dragged Friends on SNL for excluding Black people?

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For context, Quinta compared Friends to her show Abbott Elementary, noting its most obvious differences, including being about teachers instead of friends, taking place in Philadelphia versus New York, "and instead of not having Black people, it does."

This, for the most part, is true — save a few Black characters who appeared in a few minutes of even fewer episodes.

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Enter Aisha Tyler. Her character, Dr. Charlie Wheeler, appeared in a whopping nine episodes, the longest of any Black character in the entire series.

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In an interview with ET, Aisha revealed that she was actually "petrified" to play Charlie 20 years ago — and I would be too, if I were one of the first recurring Black characters on the show, ever.

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The 52-year-old actor recalled fond memories of the original six cast members, but that wasn't enough to calm her nerves. "The cast was incredibly kind, incredibly welcoming," she said. "My knees were knocking. I was shocked you couldn't hear my teeth chattering the entire time I was on set."

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The Archer star remembered how one of the original cast members, in particular, shared a few words that really resonated with her. "We walked out and we did a curtain call [where] everybody [does a] bow to the audience at the end of the show," she said. "As we're backstage, Matthew Perry just leans in and goes, 'Get ready for your life to change.'"

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"It was a really sweet, kind thing to say to someone who's just petrified and just trying not to pee on herself a little bit from fear."

When Aisha joined during the ninth season of Friends in 2003, it was one of the biggest television shows. "Sometimes you don't really know what a job is going to do, how it's going to change your life. You don't know if it's going to be a hit. You don't even know if it's going to be good. You're just there to do your best work," she said. "But I knew when I got Friends that it was a big deal."

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The Criminal Minds actor wasn't just a nervous newcomer. She was a fan of Friends who felt like she could match the sitcom's comedy. "The show had a tempo. It had a way of kind of turning things on their head and emphasizing words in different ways...[than] you would in normal conversation," she said.

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"They just had a way with wordplay and a way with them with delivering lines. It just felt unique to the show. I was a fan. I felt like I could do a Friends joke."

"It was a massive show, a global hit," Aisha said. "To this day, people come up to me and go, 'Charlie, Charlie,' or they just go, 'Black girl from Friends.'"

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Friends is coming up on its 30th anniversary of its premier, featuring Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc.

I think Dr. Charlie Wheeler and the other single-episode cameos were great, but I'm also incredibly thankful for the increased diversity on television.

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So, yes, Quinta made a very valid point.