Lisa Kudrow, widely known for her portrayal of Phoebe Buffay on the iconic NBC sitcom Friends (1994-2004), recently opened up about a surprising source of frustration during the show’s production: the studio audience. Speaking candidly on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, Kudrow shared her thoughts on the challenges posed by live audience reactions during filming, providing a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse into one of television’s most beloved series.
Lisa Kudrow’s frustrations with the studio audience
Reflecting on her experiences, Lisa Kudrow revealed the laughter from the studio audience often disrupted the flow of the show.
“I had become annoyed because they were laughing for too long. It wasn’t that funny. That’s why,” Kudrow explained to Conan O’Brien. “It wasn’t an honest response and it irritated me. Now you’re just ruining the timing of the rest of the show. There are other lines. Sometimes I would just look out if they’d been laughing too long, and go, ‘Come on.’ Really angry.”
Kudrow emphasized that her primary focus was on the viewers at home, rather than the live audience present during filming.
“A TV show is not for the studio audience,” she told O’Brien. “It is made for the TV viewers at home. That’s who we are in service to. If it was a stage play, yeah, laugh as long as you want. I’ll figure out things to keep my character busy waiting to continue with it. That’s fine.”
Friends had an extensive filming process
The process of filming each episode of Friends, which spanned 10 seasons, was extensive. Lisa Kudrow explained it could take anywhere from six to eight hours to shoot an episode, often requiring numerous takes.
“They instructed our audience not to do anything like that, I think,” she explained, describing how the extended filming sessions would sometimes lead the audience to stop laughing, causing concern among the writers about the humor of the jokes.
“But it worked the first time!” the actor told Conan O’Brien. “All I knew is you’re going to take the laugh track from the first take and move it to whatever take this is. Who is suffering because they’re not laughing? I am okay if they aren’t laughing as hard. We can keep going.”
Lisa Kudrow wasn’t shy about her feelings
Lisa Kudrow’s feelings about the studio audience didn’t go unnoticed by her Friends co-stars. Jennifer Aniston, who portrayed Rachel Green, previously commented on Kudrow’s frustrations.
“Lisa Kudrow, by the way, hated when the audience laughed,” she admitted. “She’d be like, ‘I’m not done! It’s not that funny!'”
Ultimately, the show had to go on, and Kudrow curbed her frustrations to get the shots they needed.
Matthew Perry appreciated David Schwimmer’s comedic timing
While appearing on the Origins with Cush Jumbo podcast, David Schwimmer learned that, maybe, the audience laughter was warranted. Host Cush Jumbo told the actor that his late co-star, Matthew Perry, had praised his comedy skills when asked by Jumbo about whether or not such comedic timing came naturally.
“[Perry] talks about how it’s not out of control at all, that you’re a linchpin person in a scene and that mostly people were always looking to you to know physically what direction things should go in,” she relayed to Schwimmer. “Without you being the pin the other things don’t work, which I thought was very, very complimentary and probably very true.”
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The praise came as a shock to Schwimmer, who responded, “That’s a huge compliment and I’m surprised to hear it because Matthew was reserved with me. He would not say that to me, but I appreciate that a lot.”