When the Friends theme song said "your job's a joke," Jennifer Aniston didn't expect to resonate with that line.
In her InStyle cover story for the September issue, the actress revealed her first reaction to seeing Vanessa Bayer's impression of her on Saturday Night Live. Apparently, the now iconic skit caused The Morning Show star to have a physical reaction.
"I remember someone saying, 'Did you see the impression of you on SNL?'" she recalled. "My first response was, 'What? No, I'm not impression [-worthy].' They played it for me and [gasps], 'That is so not the way I sound.'"
In fact, it just didn't sit right with Jennifer. "Everyone said it was a compliment," she added. "But I had to really get my brain around that and tuck my little tail between my legs, thinking I'm being made fun of. That's always the gut instinct: 'They're making fun of me.'"
Of course, Jennifer eventually got in on the joke—even calling it the best imitation to date—and appeared alongside Vanessa on SNL's Weekend Update in 2016. In the segment, Vanessa dressed as a '90s version of Rachel Green and discussed the growing nostalgia for that era. Before long, Vanessa's bit was crashed by the Friends star.
"You know, Friends was, like, five million and five years ago," Jennifer quipped at the time. "So I think we've just got to move on."
These days, Jennifer is far more comfortable with parodies about her Friends character. "When I see those things, I think it's funny," she told InStyle. "I'm an easy laugh. I like off-color humor and self-deprecation and humanity. Dumb things I do make me laugh."
Yet, she did admit to being "freaked out" by her TikTok doppelgänger, Lisa Tranel. "She's not exactly like me," she noted. "But of all the people who have said, 'I look just like you,' she was pretty close. Sometimes you say, 'Thanks?' And other times it's, 'Wow, thank you.'"
That's some high praise for Lisa!
For more reactions to SNL impressions, scroll through the images below.
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