Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry Hired By Bill Gates For A Windows 95 Video-Guide Shoot [Video]
Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry may have become household names now with their work in Friends and (for Jennifer Aniston, at least) their subsequent blockbuster hits, but their popularity was expected to be harnessed in a very different way by Bill Gates in the early 1990s, reports Stuff.co.nz.
Yes, a recent video has emerged online that shows Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry starring in a Windows 95 video-guide commissioned by none other than Microsoft owner Bill Gates: way before they had achieved the sort of popularity they are presently associated with. According to Wired, Gates had hoped that their presence in the video (considering the first season of Friends had just aired) would be able to help Microsoft make inroads in a consumer market, which although had begun to embrace computers, was still not completely trusting of their use to the average consumer.
Now, on the 20th anniversary of the release of the revolutionary operating system, the internet has just witnessed the resurfacing of the entire video-guide online. The “cybersitcom,” as it was dubbed back in the day, sees Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry teach their viewers everything from right-clicking to desktop themes to how to send an email. But before that, in the classic 90s style of self-referencing, the two of them visit the office of Bill Gates to audition for the roles of the video guides. Of course, Gates never turns up, and thus begins a sitcom of sorts, which is as educative as it is entertaining.
The comically outdated video, though still pertinent in many of its aspects, begins with a voiceover which goes something like this.
“You’ll get more than a few laughs as we present the world’s first cyber sitcom, starring two of television’s hottest comedy personalities Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry. They’ll be taking you on an adventure of computing that takes place in the office of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. Along the way, they meet a wacky bunch of propeller-heads and are introduced to the Top 25 features of Windows 95. The pace is fast and funny.”
As the voiceover promises, Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry run into a cast of characters in the video, from Boris the maintenance guy to martial arts guru Jeff Lee, but perhaps the most comical moment of the entire video is when Jennifer Aniston is challenged to a game of 3D Pinball by video game addict Joystick Bunny. The result? We’ll let you see for yourself.
[Photo: Wikipedia, Getty Images / Handout]
