Rider Strong Remembers That Time Justin Timberlake Inadvertently Dissed Monkees’ Micky Dolenz to His Face: ‘Really Don’t Wanna Do That’

At some point, (nearly) every member of 1960s made-for-TV boy band the Monkees appeared on the series Boy Meets World.

via: EW

On the latest episode of Pod Meets World, the rewatch podcast cohosted by the stars of the classic 1990s sitcom, Rider Strong, Will Friedle, and Danielle Fishel, Strong told what the gang called one of their favorite "only in Hollywood" stories. It involved the director of the season 6 episode "Bee True," the Monkees' Micky Dolenz.

The Monkees, the 1960s Beatles-esque pop group/comedy troupe, had, you may recall, a substantial association with Boy Meets World, echoing the one between The Beach Boys and Full House. As Fishel explained, this was because one of the show's producers and writers, Jeff Sherman, was "Micky Dolenz' best friend." This led to Dolenz — arguably the zaniest of the four Monkees (and the drummer, but also one of the singers) — directing two episodes, and three of the four '60s legends (Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork) appearing as themselves in a season 8 episode.

"This is the episode where NSYNC came to visit, and I had the conversation about the Monkees," Strong recalled, sounding a little embarrassed. "So we were at craft services and it was me and Justin [Timberlake] and I guess Lance [Bass] or whoever else, having a conversation about, like, what's next? And Justin was like, 'Yeah, they want us to do, like, a TV show, you know, like with the band acting.'"

Strong asked if they'd go through with it and Timberlake apparently wasn't too enthusiastic.

"He's like, 'Yeah, we really don't wanna do that,'" he continued, then added that "we were both just sort of like acknowledging that's kind of a crappy, cheesy — a hokey idea. And just then, Micky Dolenz grabbed a handful of nuts from craft services and said, 'Why? Why not? Why not?' while he was eating."

As Will Friedle busted out laughing, Strong continued, "I just remember watching Justin turn, realize who he was talking to, make the calculation like, 'Ohhhhh! Well, uhhh, it's just now, well, we'll see, we're on tour..."

Fishel joined in on the ad-libbing, saying, "We'll probably do it!"

The Monkees, of course, were a band put together for an NBC sitcom by producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, not dissimilar to how Lou Pearlman developed NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.

Stong continued in Timberlake's voice, "'I don't know why we wouldn't do it!'" then added: "It was just one of the greatest moments, to see the calculation."

Friedle summed it up, saying, "You've got Justin Timberlake backpedalling in front of Micky Dolenz of the Monkees — only at Hollywood craft services tables do you get to see this kind of stuff." Still laughing, he added: "'Why would a boy band be in a TV show?' Ohhhhh!"

Chuckling, Fishel jumped in again with an "Ooooooh, hellooooooo!"

Anyway, the gang seemed to really enjoy this memory.

Here's the Monkees performing "I'm a Believer," written by Neil Diamond, on which Dolenz sang lead vocals, though did not actually play drums. (But let's not open that whole can of worms right now.)