During a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, 61-year-old Lisa Kudrow opened up about her time on Friends. She shared how the cast always had a great time on set as they were as close offscreen as onscreen. “It was great, we really did get along,” she said. “We also worked hard at being friends. That six-way relationship took some effort and we did it.” She continued, “[It was] really talking things through. If someone said something or did something, it didn’t become a big deal because it was, ‘Can I talk to you?’ — usually not me as I had to learn to be, ‘Can I talk to you about something?’ I saw it modeled really well by Courteney [Cox] and Jennifer [Aniston] and Matt [LeBlanc]. Respectful communication was key.”

From the Audition to the Big Success

When Kudrow first heard of the role on Friends, she had just been fired from a job on Frasier with renowned director James “Jim” Burrows, who was also in charge of her Friends audition. Surprisingly, it was just the two of them in the casting room and she didn't know how it went when she left. “I really thought, ‘I’m not his cup of tea, I’m not for him. How much of a say does he have in things?’” she laughed. She ended up getting the role but never expected how big the sitcom would become. “Here’s what a bad judge of whether a show’s going to be successful or not I am,” she said. “I was like, ‘It’s cute. It’s not Seinfeld or sort of groundbreaking comedy anything.’ I was just glad it was on NBC because I had a recurring role on Mad About You!”

The Challenges of Playing Phoebe

Playing Phoebe Buffay on Friends was challenging at first as she was so different from the rest of the group. “One of the issues with the character was, how do we let the audience know why they’re friends with her?” she recalled, joking that she was always told to do more quirky things than her costars. Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay on ‘Friends’ was a unique character that required a lot of thought and effort to bring to life.

The Impact of Matthew Perry's Death

Only recently has Kudrow started re-watching Friends, which Shepard noted is constantly playing on cable television following Matthew Perry’s death in October 2023. “He just was so funny,” she said of Perry. Perry, who died of an accidental drug overdose and had been open about his struggle with substance use in the past, had been sober before his death. Kudrow said she was proud of him despite how his life ended. “This will sound odd,” she explained. “I’m more comforted that he was happy the day he died. He got to die happy. And to me, that was a gift.” “I loved that Matthew I first met and the one at the end,” she added.Friends is available to stream in full on Max.