CULVER CITY, Calif. — These days, there's nothing on TV hotter than "Friends," which is in its 10th and final fabulously successful season.
But the "Friends" themselves know a TV legend when they see one. And they got to see one recently when Donny Osmond visited their set before making a guest appearance on the NBC sitcom.
"When I walked in during rehearsals, I was standing right behind the director and they all saw me. And Jennifer (Aniston) said, 'Look! It's Donny Osmond!' " Osmond said. "And they all started singing, 'I'm a little bit country. . . . ' It was so cool."
And it was also pretty cool when Matthew Perry approached him after the rehearsal "and said, 'You know, we're like the No. 1 show right now. We're a very popular show. But it was your show, "Donny & Marie," that we grew up on.' "
Osmond appears as himself — the host of the syndicated game show "Pyramid" — in tonight's episode of "Friends," in which Matt LeBlanc's character, Joey Tribbiani, is a celebrity guest on "Pyramid."
"Working with Matt was great," Osmond said during an interview in his "Pyramid" dressing room. "His sense of timing is just perfect."
The episode finds the none-too-bright Joey in trouble and turning to Osmond for help. "He panics and realizes this (contestant's) going to lose the 10,000 bucks, and he's going to be responsible. And the way the answers come out of Matt's mouth — Joey's mouth — is just so funny."
Osmond recalled a recent conversation with a writer who's working on a coffee-table book recounting the 10 years of "Friends."
"He said, 'You've got to be in it,' which is kind of cool. I made the comment that it's going to be pretty darn cool to be part of pop culture — pop-television history.
"And he said, 'Excuse me?' You already are,' " Osmond said with a laugh.
Osmond is speaking on the last day of shooting for this season of "Pyramid," and it isn't a great day for him. He has received news that his mother, Olive, has just had "another slight stroke, so my mind is there."
And yet he's smooth and glib and funny and charming with the celebrities, the contestants and the production staff. "Well, I'm driving the ship so I've got to keep the energy going. That's where 41 years of show business comes in. But you know what's interesting? It's so contagious. You really get caught up in the spirit of the game once you get started. And I still get into the game."
Osmond's enthusiasm is contagious, as is his willingness to pitch in. There aren't many other shows where you'd find the star pitching in to help the crew lift and carry some scenery, as Osmond does. And there aren't many other shows where you hear people talking about how much they like being there — how this is one of their best professional experiences — but it's a common refrain at "Pyramid."
And Osmond is genuinely grateful to be there. This is a guy who's not only survived but thrived in show business for more than four decades, he's a guy who knows he has an image that lingers from his teens and has learned to "play with that image."
"As soon as you say, yes, I'm the kid that wore the purple socks and got the pies in the face, and I'm the one who sang 'Puppy Love' — as soon as you embrace all that stuff, then you accept it."
"I learned a lot with my social-anxiety disorder. You don't fight it, you just embrace it. And as soon as you do, it goes away."
Talking and writing about that disorder — sort of a severe case of stage fright — helped him overcome it. Not that it's entirely a thing of the past. "I would lie to you if I told you it didn't still exist."
"It's part of my personality — it's Type A personality. "Perfectionists have it, because you build up in your mind exactly what you want, and so it's much bigger than it is in reality. And when you don't come up to those expectations, you berate yourself and say, 'That wasn't that good.' So that constantly eats at you. . . . You just have to say, 'It's OK to make a mistake. It's all right to fail.' Because failure breeds success. You can't point to any successful person who hasn't failed."
He pointed to his own stage career, which included the Broadway bomb "Little Johnny Jones" — which opened and closed on the same night — and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," for which he received rave reviews, and which he performed more than 2,000 times
"I'll tell you something," Osmond said, "all those mistakes I made out there (on the 'Pyramid' set) when I couldn't figure out what to say? In the mid-'90s, if I would have done that, then I would have panicked and walked off the stage."
Osmond is waiting to hear whether "Pyramid" will be renewed for next season, but he isn't idle in the meantime. He's currently laying down the vocal tracks for his 54th album. "Most of it is done over in the U.K. . . . It's a whole different career over there. The last album, it was pretty amazing. It went platinum in eight days."
"I wear two different hats. It's kind of nice to be the television personality in this country and the recording artist over there."
Remarkably, he has fans in this country who don't know him as anything other than a game-show host. For instance, he sang on the Christmas Eve show of "Pyramid" and during a commercial break, "this teenager said, 'Man, I didn't know you sing.' "
Not that there aren't plenty of people who remember the 46-year-old when he was 16. Or even when he was 6. "You can hide your high school books and grade-school books — put them in the attic. I can't. It's an open book. It's always been a situation where people recognize me, ever since I can remember. So it's just like second nature to me to have people look at me."
Osmond recalled a recent trip to the University Mall in Orem. "My third son's getting ready to go on his (LDS) mission, and we were walking through the mall, just getting some things for him. He was walking ahead of me, looking back at me. And I said, 'What are you doing?'
"He said, 'I have the greatest time watching people recognize you,' " Osmond said with a laugh.
While show business has been in the Osmond blood, Donny's five sons (ranging in age from 5 to 24) haven't expressed much interest. "They see the fame, but they also see the work and the sacrifice you have to make to get there.
"My oldest has definitely decided he doesn't want to have anything to do with it, because, first of all, it's hard. And there's a huge price to pay for fame. And you really have to want to be in it. And I really want to be in it, and that's why I'm still going 41 years later. And I'm very lucky."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com