As one of the friends, Matt LeBlanc is used to being the centre of attention... but he never expected to be the star of his own funeral - at least not yet!
Of all the tabloid stories Matt LeBlanc has heard about himself - and that includes the tales of wild sex, drugs and drink addiction - he admits that the one which shocked him the most was a report of his early demise.
'Being dead was the worst rumour,' says Matt, 30. 'I hated that. There was a news helicopter circling over my house and my publicist was on the phone, saying, "Are you ready for this? You're supposed to be dead." So I walked outside, and the story ended. Then I called my mother and told her I wasn't dead.
'I'm not the guy the tabloids paint me out to be,' insists the star of Friends, whose former chauffeur and bodyguard Damien Plumleigh fed the gutter press with tales of Matt's supposed bad habits.
'The whole thing was fabricated,' Matt says now. 'I don't do cocaine like he said, I don't have enough time to have all these addictions. I'm a healthy guy - except that I could lose 10lb.'
Despite the 'kiss-and-tells' which appear regularly in tabloids here and in the States, Matt also insists he's still very single. 'I don't have a girlfriend because I haven't met that special girl yet,' he explains. 'It's just me and my dog, Lady.'
His career leaves little time for a personal life - in addition to starring in Friends, which begins a new series on C4 on Friday, Matt's movie career has finally taken off. He's enjoying phenomenal success with his role in Lost in Space, the big-screen version of the camp Sixties TV series (to be released here on 31 July).
'When the movie hit Number One in the US, I called my mother and said, "We're Number One!" And she said, "What does that mean?" And I went, a bit taken aback, don't really know..."'
There are shades of air-headedness here, but Matt is very different from Joey Tribbiani in Friends - down-to-earth, charming and witty, he probably has more in common with supercool pilot Don West who he plays in Lost in Space, and who was his favourite on the TV series.
'I think I've seen every episode,' admits Matt. 'When you watch as a young boy you idolise the hero, and Don West was clearly the hero.'
A born action hero - in his spare time, Matt skydives, mountain bikes and snow-boards - he performed a lot of his own stunts in the film.
'I felt like a little kid running around the set with my ray gun,' he laughs. 'I had a ray gun, a helmet, a spaceship. I had a great time.'
Even so, the thought of co-starring with Gary Oldman and William Hurt had made Matt 'pretty nervous' about his second feature film. (His first, the 1996 comedy Ed, in which his co-star was a chimp, bombed, although he still stands by his decision to make it: 'I loved the script and it was designed for kids.') 'The deal for Lost in Space came together pretty quickly and I told David Schwimmer [who plays Ross in Friends] how nervous I was about doing the movie. He calmed me down, telling me the other actors were just guys. 'I feared there'd come a time when Gary and William would throw their hands up and say, "This kid doesn't know a damned thing!"' he laughs. 'Thankfully it didn't happen. Gary and I get along great, and William is an awesome actor, he finds the truth in everything.'
Matt's role in Lost in Space was filmed over six hectic weeks in London. As he was also recording Friends in Los Angeles at the time, it was an exhausting period.
'I spent half the week in LA and the rest in London. On Friends they wrote my character a little lighter, they were accommodating.'
Schmaltzy as it sounds, after four years on Friends, Matt insists the cast are as close as ever. 'We're all enjoying working together and we're focusing on staying for a while,' he says. 'Why shouldn't we? We've got a great gig - to find out what's funniest all day long.
'It's hard to believe we've been so successful. I've been an actor for 13 years and until Friends started, I had more days off than on. So, I'm enjoying the ride. If I'm ever again involved in a project whose path is as golden as Friends' is, it'll be a miracle.'
The downside of being a Friend is adjusting to the constant invasion of privacy. Matt has to cope with helicopters circling over his LA home, hoping for footage of him in his pool or Jacuzzi.
'Thank God I haven't been outside swimming nude when they've been there,' quips the actor, who admits the pressure of being high profile can be intense. 'People see you in their living room so they come up and say, "Hey!" and you go, "Do I know you?" It's weird. And you feel like everybody is watching you, waiting for you to mess up.
'As a society we like to build people up and then cut them down to make ourselves feel better. When it's actually happening to you, it's tough. 'in the beginning I didn't adjust well to being a celebrity,' he reveals. 'When I walked into a room, everyone knew who I was, and I didn't know who they were, and it put me at a disadvantage. It's not a comfortable situation. 'Plus, you can't people-watch, and that's one of the essential ways an actor gathers material. But after a while you get used to fame and you deal with it better.'
Even so, Matt has now mastered a disguise for when he feels like a day off. 'I have this long black wig, and I put on glasses, get on my bike and I take it down to the beach,' he smiles. 'When I'm moving, people don't notice me too much. Then I'm like anybody else.'
--- Oliver O'Neal