Elton John, Courteney Cox and Ed Sheeran hilariously serenade Lisa Kudrow

Elton John, Courteney Cox, Brandi Carlile and Ed Sheeran

Elton John, Courteney Cox, Ed Sheeran and Brandi Carlile serenaded Friends star Lisa Kudrow with a very special version of “Tiny Dancer” on Sunday (6 June).

Sheeran and Cox, who recently recreated Monica and Ross’ New Year’s Eve dance routine, this time invited some guests to help them with another tribute to an iconic Friends moment.

In a video posted to Instagram, Sheeran began: “Lisa Kudrow, this is for you.”

In the third season of Friends, Kudrow’s character Phoebe declared that the most romantic song ever is “the one Elton John wrote for that guy in Who’s The Boss”. 

Confused, Rachel asks which song she means, and she sings in response: “Hold me close, young Tony Danza.”

With Cox on piano, Sheeran and Carlile on guitar and John leading the vocals, the four of them recreated “Tiny Dancer”, but with Phoebe’s famous mis-quote.

When the rendition ended clumsily, Sheeran yelled: “Whatever, whatever! We did it! Tony Danza!”

 

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A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos)

Last month saw the long-awaited Friends reunion special, featuring all members of the original cast, as well as Lady Gaga, who even performed a version of “Smelly Cat” with Kudrow.

Although the reunion was broadcast around the world to delighted fans, the few fleeting LGBT+ moments in the special were censored in China. 

Streaming platforms opted to remove around six minutes of footage from Friends: The Reunion, including moments when LGBT+ fans gushed about their love of the show.

Chinese streamers controversially cut a clip where German fan Ricardo said: “I was a gay man who wanted to have hair like Jennifer Aniston, so you can imagine how lonely I sometimes felt.”

They also removed cut back Lady Gaga’s cameo to just a few seconds, as she has been considered a controversial figure in China ever since she met the Dalai Lama in 2016.