Lisa Kudrow has revealed a secret she discovered while filming the Friends reunion.
The actress sat down with actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett for their Smartless podcast, released on Tuesday.
During the show, Kudrow said she was the only Friends cast member who had to audition for legendary sitcom director Jimmy Burrows, who shot the pilot and several episodes of the first season.
Although, she was cast as Phoebe Buffay in 1994—a leading role she would play for Friends' 10-season run—Kudrow had been fired from Burrows' other show Frasier the year before.
The 61-year-old described the moment she was let go as "devastating."
"So when you went to audition for [Friends], [Burrows] was already very familiar with you?" Arnett asked.
"Familiar enough that I got fired from the last thing," Kudrow joked.
She continued: "When we shot the reunion for Friends, or something else, like a Jim Burrows celebration, where I learned that I was the only cast member from Friends that had to audition for Jimmy Burrows, because I had just gotten fired from Frasier."
When asked if it was true that Burrows had been "instrumental" in Kudrow being let go from the Cheers spinoff, the 61-year-old said "probably."
"So he felt bad," Bateman said. "He probably didn't want to cast you in Friends but was like 'ah, listen, I already fired this kid once give her this job.'"
"No, he's not like that," Kudrow replied, before describing the uncomfortable audition process.
"When I auditioned, [it was] just this small room, he's sitting at a desk and I'm in a chair," she said.
"The audition was like a little monologue thing. When [it was] done, he just went 'No notes,' and I thought 'all right, I don't know what means. It's hopeless or it's perfect?"
Kudrow had initially been cast as Roz Doyle in Frasier, who produces the lead character's radio show. However, she was fired only three days into filming.
During a 2021 interview with People, Kudrow said the decision was mostly down to Burrows, telling the outlet "I wasn't right for the part."
"I wasn't right for the part [or] for the chemistry of the group," she said.
The Comeback star also explained how she landed the role of Phoebe during Smartless.
Friends co-creator David Crane was dating Jeffrey Klarik, writer of Mad About You. Kudrow played snippy waitress Ursula on the 1990s sitcom, a character that would later make several cameo appearances on Friends as Phoebe's twin sister.
"Jeffrey said 'What about Lisa, that might be a good Phoebe,'" she said.
The role of Phoebe would go on to change Kudrow's life. The Friends cast became megastars, with Kudrow nominated for six Emmy awards during the show's run, and winning Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1998.
The season 10 finale drew 52.5 million viewers when it aired in 2004. The sitcom is still one of the most watched TV shows of all time. According to HBO Max, viewers streamed 25 billion minutes of Friends in 2023 alone, almost 20 years since the show ended.
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.
