Lisa Kudrow has revealed how she and her Friends castmates dealt with the backlash they faced after the success of their hit sitcom.
The actress appeared on Monday's episode of the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast, titled "Lisa Kudrow Returns," to discuss her time on the show and how she was inspired by O'Brien when the cast was becoming overexposed.
O'Brien and Kudrow dated from 1988 to 1993. O'Brien wed Liza Powel O'Brien in 2002 and Kudrow married Michel Stern in 1995—and the two remain good friends.
O'Brien said he appreciated the fact that it seemed like Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and David Schwimmer all had each other's backs through the madness that surrounded Friends.
"I thought: Oh, they've got each other, that's got to be such a godsend," he said.
Kudrow replied: "Oh, it was, completely. And also, I mean, we kept each other in check too because not one of you is the star of the show, you know? You're accountable to five other people, and that was great, that was really good.
"Because there was a backlash for us, like, after two or three seasons—I don't remember—but, you know, we didn't know to stop [the publicity]. We were just doing what the network and studio were asking us, all of this publicity to do, and we were way overexposed, and so there was this big backlash."
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Kudrow for further comment.
One time, Kudrow recalled, the six were asked to do something in particular and met to discuss whether they should do it or not. They would always discuss things as a team, she said.
"And what we realized was, 'Yeah, let's not do it, 'cause really all we have to do right now is show up at work. Let's have a moratorium on all the press and just show up.'
"And I remember saying or—yeah, I remember saying, 'Like Conan. Like Conan.' He just showed up, did his work every night, even though the press was rough when he started [on Late Night With Conan O'Brien] and all that. You just show up, do your work, deal with the task at hand and then it will be OK," she said.
"And they were like: Who's Conan? That dork from the wedding?" O'Brien quipped as Kudrow laughed, referring to the fact that O'Brien first met the cast at Kudrow's wedding to Stern.
On the podcast, the two also discussed the fact Kudrow wed Stern after the first season, which Kudrow said was "right before the show exploded."
"The show, it's been made, but it kind of blew up over the summer. But it's just starting to blow up and you have your wedding and you sat me—I had been doing late night for, like, a year, I think, year and a half, and you sat me with the cast," O'Brien said.
"I'll never forget it. I have such a clear memory of it because everyone was so young. And I'm sitting there and I'm the vet, I've been on TV for, like, a year and a half. I'll never forget, there was kind of—Matt LeBlanc especially—was kinda like, 'Huh, I don't know, what do you think's going to happen?' And I was like, 'I think you guys are good. I think you guys are good.'"
Around that time, O'Brien joked, Friends "became bigger than Catholicism."
Elsewhere on the podcast, O'Brien said he had a "great front-row seat" to get to know how "funny" and "fantastic" Kudrow was before Friends became an international success.
"And then to see you not just nationally and internationally—everyone [goes], 'Yep, her, she's, like, she's the funniest' And I thought: How cool to see that beforehand.
"I don't know, that was an amazing thing to get to see," O'Brien said. "And also to someone who is a really good person and deserves it."
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
