Lisa Kudrow reveals there's one request from 'Friends' fans she will never fulfill
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘Friends’ star Lisa Kudrow revealed the one fan request she always turns down while reflecting on the show’s success after starring as Phoebe Buffay for all 10 seasons.
The series, which ran from 1994 to 2004, followed six best friends living in New York City and starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, the late Matthew Perry, and Kudrow.
Lisa Kudrow explains why she refuses to sing ‘Smelly Cat’
Kudrow admitted that she does have one fan-related “exception.” The 63-year-old emphasized she has "zero complaints about 'Friends' or anything to do with it" and doesn't mind fans asking her to repeat specific Phoebe lines or calling her by the character’s name. However, she doesn't like being asked to sing the fan-favorite jingle 'Smelly Cat'.
“Sometimes people will stop me and say, ‘Oh, sing Smelly Cat.’ I don’t want to do that. I really don’t want to do that,” she said during an appearance on the 'Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley' podcast.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kudrow spoke about how much she enjoyed making “every part” of 'Friends' and the bonds she made with her co-stars that have lasted decades. “Just the relationship with the other actors, we had fun. That is so rare. And real honest respect, mutual respect,” she shared.
The actress further admitted, "It was a really good relationship that took some work, and we did the work. It was great. Everything about it was great.” Kudrow also said that she and her co-stars “made sure” to bond and even played poker together during their break times on set.
During a 2024 appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', She also recalled Sandra Bullock calling her “Phoebe” at a party, saying, “I was at a party, a big party, and I was talking to Sandra Bullock — name-dropping, I have to, but it’s true — and we were talking, and she was like, ‘Well, I guess you’ll just have to talk to yourself, Phoebe, about something,’ and she called me Phoebe!”
“But she caught herself,” Kudrow continued with a laugh while adding, “She went, ‘What did I just do?’”
Lisa Kudrow recalls auditioning for Rachel Green before landing Phoebe Buffay
Kudrow’s interview comes just a little over a week after she revealed that she initially auditioned for the role of Rachel Green, which eventually went to Jennifer Aniston. She felt snubbed when she was told that she “wouldn’t work as the romantic interest,” even though she wanted to play the “Jewish American Princess” role.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month, Kudrow talked about the moment she lost the part, “Idiot that I am, I went, ‘Oh, but you know what? I got to say, Rachel is Jewish. And boy, I love doing a Jewish American Princess. I think I could make that really funny.’”
She said she was “not even clocking that, ‘Oh no, this is the romantic lead to Ross.’ Right? I told my agents, ‘I can do Jewish American Princess and make that really funny. And so they said, ‘Uh-huh. All right. Well, we’ll tell [the show’s creators].’”
Kudrow said she was later told by casting agents that she “wasn’t gorgeous” and was not suited for the part. She said, “They went, ‘No, no. It’s so hard for them to find Phoebe. They’re not messing with that.’ So that was the sweet way of saying, ‘Yeah, you are not the romantic interest.’”
The actress also admitted that at the time she didn’t “look like women who were getting cast as series regulars on sitcoms.”
