Friends Star Reveals How She Came Up With Her Character’s Memorable Laugh

Oh. My. Gawd!

Maggie Wheeler, who played the iconic character Janice Litman on Friends, doesn’t sound anything like her comedy series character.

The Friends character became a well-known – and beloved – face on the 1990s show for her memorable “Oh. My. Gawd!” catchphrase, which some viewers assumed was her real-life voice.

During a sit-down interview with ITV’s This Morning, the 55-year-old actress revealed how she came up with her memorable phrase and laugh.

“It was just this progression – how Janice evolved, how the writers created the character for me,” the actress, who played Chandler Bing’s (played by Matthew Perry) on-and-off girlfriend on the show.

“So the laugh happened organically in the first rehearsal, because I needed to find a way to laugh, because Matthew Perry is so funny,” she admitted.

She added that the laugh came about as a form of cover-up for when she would break out of character in laughter because of Perry.

“And working with him, I knew right away, I thought, ‘This guy’s gonna make me laugh on set, I’ve gotta be prepared. What am I going to do?’ So I created Janice’s laugh just as a safety measure for when Matthew made me laugh.”

Even Wheeler was shocked that Janice became one of the most iconic characters on the WB show.

“It was always a surprise that she continued to have a life on the show. I was always so thrilled every time the writers decided to bring me back,” she said. “It started out as a one-shot deal – come in, do one episode – and out of that came 10 years of this extraordinary, joyful experience.”

This article originally appeared on People.