Oh. My. God. Maggie Wheeler was pulling double duty on two of the biggest sitcoms of the ’90s.
The actress, 63, looked back on playing Janice in “Friends” while guest-starring as Linda Gruenfelder in “Everybody Loves Raymond” while attending an event for the latter show at The Paley Museum in New York City on June 16.
Ray Romano (Ray Barone), Patricia Heaton (Debra Barone) and series creator Phil Rosenthal were also present.
“I feel very, very fortunate, not only to have been in such exceptional shows that live on and that have captured the hearts of millions of people,” Wheeler exclusively told The Post on the red carpet, “but to have been able to do them at the same time was very, very special.”
Wheeler appeared as Janice, Chandler Bing’s (played by the late Matthew Perry) longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend, across all 10 seasons of “Friends,” which aired from 1994 to 2004.
She debuted as Linda Gruenfelder, Debra’s friend, in Season 1 of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” appearing in 12 episodes.
Her other roles have included Marva Kulp, Jr. in the 1998 remake of “The Parent Trap” and Anita Warrell in the ABC sitcom “Ellen.”
“I had a smile that I couldn’t wipe off my face during that era because I was working with such great comedians, such great writers, having a chance to play these women who I love,” Wheeler said.
“To be able to bring such extraordinary writing to life — that is the best gift an actor can have,” she added. “I got to do it in two places at the same time. I’m very lucky.”
Regarding filming in front of a live studio audience for both series, Wheeler described the experience as a “living organism.”
“I think that’s one of the things that makes these sitcoms feel so wonderful and be so much fun: the theatrical sort of experience that you have with the audience,” she said. “You know when a joke works, you know when it doesn’t, and everyone gets to hover around and make changes in the moment.”
“It’s a really alive process, and one that I really loved,” she concluded.
On “Friends,” though, that experience came with a twist: Wheeler was kept out of sight so Janice’s appearances would come as a shock to the in-studio audiences.
“I wasn’t allowed to even really wander around craft services,” she said during the April 14 episode of “Still Here Hollywood” with Steve Kmetko. “They made me stay in my dressing room.”
Wheeler explained that she would sneak down to set and hide behind a black scrim, completely blocked from the audience’s view until her entrance.
Often met with gasps and laughter from the audience, she said Janice’s appearances were “a little bit of a rockstar feeling.” She compared it to how audiences would respond to Kramer’s (Michael Richards) entrances on “Seinfeld.”
Wheeler also has a special memory from the “Everybody Loves Raymond” set: her oldest daughter Juno took her first steps there.
“I was on the stage, and my husband was with my baby,” she told People in June.
Wheeler shares daughters Juno and Gemma with her husband, Daniel Borden. The pair have been married since 1990.
“My daughter took her first steps, and he didn’t know who to tell, so he carried her out onto the lot, and it was dark. It was late at night. Only the security guard was out there, and he said, ‘She walked! She’s walking,’” she recalled. “So many things happened during those early years. I am so excited that I was able to be part of it.”
“Everybody Loves Raymond” ran for nine seasons on CBS from 1996 to 2005.
At The Paley Museum, Romano and Heaton shut down rumors of a possible revival.
“The obvious is Peter [Boyle] and Doris [Roberts] and one of the kids — they’re no longer with us,” Romano, 66, told The Post. “We’re all heartbroken. They’re a big part of the show, the dynamic.”
Heaton, 67, added: “To try to do it again without the cast members that we’ve lost would be a disservice to the show.”
Boyle, who played Romano’s on-screen father Frank Barone, died from multiple myeloma and heart disease in 2006 at 71. Roberts, Romano’s mother, died in 2016 at 90. Sawyer Sweeten, one of Romano and Heaton’s on-screen twin sons (Geoffrey Barone), died by suicide in 2015 at 19.
However, Romano revealed that a reunion is in the works.
“Will there be a reunion? That we would love to do,” he said. “So I think we’re considering and working on that happening.”
