Lisa Kudrow, best known for playing Phoebe Buffay in the hit NBC sitcom Friends, opened up about her experience with her co-stars while she was a part of the hit series, revealing the efforts that went into building a friendship that has lasted decades.
Kudrow, during her appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast, shared her tales with hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, further disclosing how the core cast of Friends handled being overexposed and how marriage and motherhood influenced her and how the post-9/11 environment molded her opinion on entertainment and comedy.
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Without further ado, here are the snippets from Lisa Kudrow’s conversation on the podcast.
Friendship and the Effort Put In
When asked whether there was “ever a period” when she wanted people to “shut up about Friends,” Lisa Kudrow responded with a no, saying that she’s “too grateful.”
Calling the experience “fulfilling,” she went on to say how the stars “really did get along,” calling the beloved sitcom “special.” Kudrow further explained how they all “worked hard at being friends,” adding that the “six-way relationship took some work” and that some aspects of their friendship were new to her.
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The Mad About You star remarked that the co-stars who bonded over the decades believed in “really talking things through,” and that it never “got too big” when “someone said something or did something” as such incidents were dealt with through direct and “respectful communication.” Lisa Kudrow revealed that it was new to her and that she “never knew that was allowed,” claiming that she “saw it modeled really well by Courteney, and Jennifer, and Matt.”
How Lisa and the Others Handled Being Overexposed to the Public
Lisa Kudrow, during a segment in the podcast, spoke about how the show catapulted her and the other core cast members into a recurring space under the spotlight and she felt that they were “overexposed” as they “were on every talk show.” She added that the late Matthew Perry was the first one to weigh in on it, joking that they felt like they had “to get the word out that we’re on,” and how they were “asked to do some commercial or something else” as a promotional move.
Kudrow revealed that she and her co-stars wondered how they were “going to fix this” and that they eventually realized that they didn’t “need to fix it,” instead choosing to “focus on the task at hand,” which was “doing this show and doing it the best we can.” She further shared that the crew felt “the same way” and that “everyone just refocused” on “one job.”
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Humor As A Mental Health Service and How People Responded to Her (Friends) Post 9/11.
Opining on how humor is a major “mental health service,” Lisa Kudrow spoke about people expressing gratitude to her and the show whenever they bumped into her in public, especially after the 9/11 tragedy.
Kudrow recollected how people would respond to her when she would “be driving back from Warner Bros” and how they “mouthed ‘Thank You’ to her after pulling up to her while they were “at a stoplight.” She also opened up about her personal life during that period, sharing how she was the only one among the Friends core cast who was married and a mother and how she found it difficult to transition to her new domestic roles, also revealing that she “wasn’t watching anything” and wasn’t aware of any “groundbreaking comedy” at the time.
However, the encounters with people at the stoplights made her understand the significance of comedy, especially during trialsome and taxing times.