They are still friends, after all these years.

Castmates Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, reuniting for only the second time since 2004 for an HBO Max special called Friends: The Reunion, demonstrated to all that their friendship wasn’t faked.

The special begins with all six Friends meeting up again on a slavishly reconstructed set featuring Central Perk and the two main apartments, sharing hugs and memories (or trying to remember the good old days), before switching to a James Corden-hosted interview on stage in front of a live audience, featuring show creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, and former semi-regulars like Christina Pickles and Elliott Gould, who played Ross and Monica’s parents.

From there the special hops around…a lot. We see pre-taped interviews with the creators (including and Kevin Bright) only to jump back to the cast reminiscing about episodes, over to Corden’s questions, then to a recreation of the famous trivia competition that pitted the boys against the girls, complete with a visit from Tom Selleck. And interspersed between all that were clips from the show (including some hilarious outtakes) and interviews from famous guests and fans like Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, boy band BTS and Malala.

The gang also does a table read of some of some memorable scenes from the show. The rapid transitions are a bit chaotic, but they do serve to fill in the back story of how the cast came together and the show became the global phenomenon it was. But despite all the moments crafted to elicit laughs, one of the funniest moments in the special comes when Lisa Kudrow fights off a rogue bug in an interview segment, seeming very Phoebe-like.

Despite the seemingly disorganized presentation, it’s apparent that over 236 episodes, the show about what Crane calls “that time in your life when your friends are your family” brought the cast together in a way that made them true friends for life.

The cast dropped a few bombshells, too. Corden asked if the cast ever engaged in any on-set romances, and the answer was kind of. At least one romance between the characters also wasn’t strictly acting. Among the bombshells dropped by the cast was the revelation that life almost imitated art on the set of the show. “The first season, I had a major crush on Jen,” Schwimmer reveals. “We were both crushing hard on each other.” Aniston quickly backs up his version of events, saying Schwimmer might actually have been her lobster.

Unlike their characters, though, the actors never got around to doing anything about their romantic longing. “It was two ships passing, because one of us was always in a relationship,” Schwimmer explains. “We never crossed that boundary — we respected that.” After Schwimmer insists that he and Aniston never went beyond just wanting to be together, Matt LeBlanc semi-jokingly piped up with a “bulls**t!” Aniston and Schwimmer said the attraction between them, shown informed their characters’ fictional romance.

One cast member that was almost universally hated, though, was Marcel the monkey, who Schimmer said smeared his face with live grub residue when he wasn’t blowing takes.

In another random moment, Lady Gaga drops in to Central Perk to duet with Kudrow on “Smelly Cat”, only to be joined by a choir to back them up. And recurring nightmare Janice (Maggie Wheeler) pops in to hijack the conversation and explain the origin of her infamous laugh. Even James Michael Tyler (Gunther) Zoom-ed in to be part of the festivities. The special recounts the pantheon of famous guest stars, like Danny DeVito, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, and Julia Roberts.

As if that wasn’t enough nonsense, Corden hosts a fashion show featuring the likes of Cara Delevingne, Justin Bieber, Cindy Crawford and even Matt LeBlanc sporting iconic looks from the show. Poor Delevingne had to strut her stuff in the Holiday Armadillo costume.

Kudrow emphatically denies wanting to to do new episodes of the other show, but says that its ultimately up to Crane and Kauffman, even though the whole cast obviously enjoys reliving their time on the set together.

Overall, the special was more than adequate: good fun for anyone who loved the show and you could do worse than to relive the greatest moments through the eyes of the cast, creators and fans. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air reunion special may have had more laughs (and certainly more tears), but Friends: The Reunion Special is definitely worth a watch for fans.