The one where Ross divorces the rock star…?

David Schwimmer says he once served British singer Sir Rod Stewart with divorce papers, while the actor was working in a summer job as a teenager.

The Friends star recalled a brief time as a process server – someone employed to formally serve documents to parties in a legal case – while in his first year of university and how it led to the odd encounter with Sir Rod.

Speaking on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Schwimmer said: “One summer after my freshman year in college, I was just looking for work and my mum said you can be a process server for me.

“My mum was a divorce lawyer, and so I was the guy who would pop out of the bushes and serve you divorce papers.”

The 58-year-old actor, best known for playing ‘three-divorces Ross’ in the long-running sitcom, said he felt like James Bond during the job at age 18.

“Because you get a tip, you’re tipped off as to where they might be,” he said.

“Thank goodness I’ve never run into him since – but I served Rod Stewart.

“I don’t even know if he knows. I don’t think he knows.”

“He knows now,” Colbert joked in reply.

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Schwimmer did not specify which divorce it was for, but the British star split from his first wife Alana Stewart in 1984, when the actor would have been around 18.

The veteran rocker married his current wife, Penny Lancaster, in 2007.

Schwimmer, who was born in New York City but grew up partly in Los Angeles, didn’t get his first proper acting role until 1989, according to IMDB, in TV movie A Deadly Silence, and went on to appear in Friends from 1994.

Comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 following a heart attack, his partner has said.

The actor was famous for appearing on the Channel 4 comedy improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and comedy shows like Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You.

A statement made on behalf of his partner Mark Michael Hutchinson said: “It is with great sadness we must announce actor and comedian Tony Slattery, aged 65, has passed away today, Tuesday morning, following a heart attack on Sunday evening.”

Born in 1959, Slattery went to the University of Cambridge alongside contemporaries Dame Emma Thompson, Sir Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

While there he served as president of the legendary Cambridge Footlights improvisation group.

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Slattery spoke regularly about his bipolar disorder and in 2020 revealed that he went bankrupt following a battle with substance abuse and mental health issues.

He told the Radio Times that his “fiscal illiteracy and general innumeracy” as well as his “misplaced trust in people” had also contributed to his money problems.

He released a BBC documentary called What’s The Matter With Tony Slattery? in the same year, which saw him and Hutchinson visit leading experts on mood disorders and addiction.

Stars including Beyonce, Eva Longoria and Jamie Lee Curtis have pledged funds to support families affected by the fires in Los Angeles – along with Paris Hilton, who is among those who have lost their homes.

The blazes which erupted in the Pacific Palisades and other areas of the county last week have destroyed thousands of properties and killed at least 24 people.

US reality star and businesswoman Hilton has launched an emergency fund to support families who have been displaced, and kickstarted it with a personal donation of $100,000 dollars (£82,000).

The 43-year-old, who watched her home in Malibu “burn to the ground” as the fires were covered on TV, has also been spending time with animal organisations. She announced on social media that she is fostering a dog whose owners lost their home.

“While I’ve lost my Malibu home, my thoughts are with the countless families who have lost so much more – their homes, cherished keepsakes, the communities they loved, and their sense of stability,” Hilton said in a statement on social media.

Beyonce contributed $2.5m to a newly launched LA Fire Relief Fund, created by her charitable foundation, BeyGOOD.

“The fund is earmarked to aid families in the Altadena/Pasadena area who lost their homes, and to churches and community centres to address the immediate needs of those affected by the wildfires,” the organisation said in a statement.

Beyonce’s mother Tina Knowles lost her bungalow in Malibu in the fires.

“It was my favourite place, my sanctuary, my sacred happy place,” she wrote on Instagram. “Now it is gone. God Bless all the brave men and women in our fire department who risked their lives in dangerous conditions.”

Other celebrities who have donated funds include Desperate Housewives star Longoria and her foundation, the Screen Actors Guild, the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, and Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her family – who have all pledged $1m (£819,000) each.

Prince Harry and Meghan are believed to have donated clothing, children’s items and other essential supplies, and were seen making a surprise visit to hand out food to evacuees in Pasadena.

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Actors Mel Gibson, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Billy Crystal, Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg are also among the Hollywood stars confirmed to have lost homes, along with talk show host Ricki Lake, and reality stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt.

The fires, which are burning around Los Angeles, come at the start of Hollywood’s awards season.

Organisers of the Oscars have postponed the nominations announcement twice, with the shortlists currently set to be revealed on 23 January, and the event’s annual luncheon ahead of the ceremony has been cancelled.

The show itself is still set to go ahead on 2 March. The Grammys, scheduled for 2 February, is also reportedly still set to go ahead.