Lisa Kudrow is one of the most beloved TV actresses of the past 40 years. She is, of course, best known for playing, from 1994 through 2004, Phoebe Buffay, a New Age guitar-playing masseuse, on NBC’s Friends, which the New York Times has suggested “might be the best-liked sitcom ever,” and for which, in 1998, she became the first of the show’s core sextet to win an Emmy. But she has also done extensive and acclaimed work outside of that show, perhaps more so than any of her Friends costars.
Indeed, Kudrow was also memorable before Friends — and even for a while overlapping with it — on another staple of NBC’s ‘Must-See TV’ era, Mad About You. During the run of Friends, she was part of a range of well-received films, from big studio projects like 1997’s Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and 1999’s Analyze This to low-budget indies such as 1997’s Clockwatchers and 1998’s The Opposite of Sex. And since the end of Friends, she has done perhaps her best work yet as a co-creator (with Michael Patrick King), writer, executive producer and star of the HBO comedy series The Comeback, a show about Valerie Cherish, a former sitcom actress who is desperate to remain relevant.
Kudrow’s work on The Comeback — which dropped its three seasons in 2005, 2014 and 2026, respectively — has been described by the New Yorker as her “finest creation”; by the New York Times as “a character for the ages” and “a brilliant performance”; by the Independent as “one of TV’s greatest ever performances”; by Vulture as “an all-time television performance”; and by NPR as “perhaps the greatest comedic character study of the 21st century.” It brought her best actress in a comedy series Emmy nominations for the show’s first two seasons, and now, for its third, she is Emmy-nominated for both best actress in a comedy series and, with King, for best writing for a comedy series. (This year’s noms bring her career tally to 17.)
Over the course of a conversation at the Los Angeles offices of The Hollywood Reporter, the 63-year-old reflected on what led her to the Groundlings improv school and troupe, and how that shaped much of the rest of her career, including the parts she went on to play in Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion and The Comeback; how a firing from the pilot of NBC’s Frasier and humbling herself to take a small part on Mad About You ended up paving the way for her association with Friends; why her rollercoaster journey with The Comeback is, in some ways, “the highlight” of her career; plus more.
You can listen to the full conversation via the audio player above or read a few excerpts of it — lightly edited for clarity and brevity — below.
On her looks…
“I didn’t look like women who were getting cast as series regulars on sitcoms. They still wanted a certain look — very pretty and appealing and all of that — and not that funny, right, except for Shelley Long… I was told, ‘It’s very hard because you’re not gorgeous, and they want gorgeous.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay’… I don’t think that’s ridiculous. I got it. Also, it’s not just how you look; it’s how you act, too. I’m not ‘cute.’ And God, I didn’t want to be cute.”
On her early interest in playing Rachel — the part that Jennifer Aniston ultimately played — on Friends…
“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.’ 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 them [the show’s creators].’ They [later] 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.’”
On the idea that resulted in The Comeback being revived for a third and final season, 12 years after season two and 21 years after season one…
“Michael had this idea. It was so good: She’s finally the lead, offered the leading role in a multi-camera show — except it’s the first one written by AI. And I went, ‘Oh yeah.’”
On where The Comeback fits in the context of her whole career…
“It’s a highlight, and in some ways, the highlight. I mean, I hadn’t written anything before. And then to be acknowledged, holy cow, by your peers, that this is writing that’s worthy of recognition? That made me cry. I mean, I was thrilled for the acting nomination, but that one really made me cry.”
On the forthcoming sequel to Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion…
“It felt fun. I don’t know. I trust the director a lot. Tim Federle is directing this one.”
On going back, after Matthew Perry’s sudden death, and watching Friends for the first time since making it…
“It was great watching it. It became my right-before-bedtime laugh or two. I watch sitcoms before going to bed — I just want to laugh before going to bed. Some things were like, ‘Oh, I remember that,’ but a lot of it I don’t remember and it was like watching it for the first time — I mean, especially scenes that Phoebe wasn’t in, because I hadn’t seen that — and boy, everyone was good! I was just talking to [David] Schwimmer two days ago and saying, ‘God—’ Well, first I had to say sorry, because on Jimmy Fallon I’d said, ‘Ross was a terrible boyfriend!’ And he just laughed and said, ‘That’s all right.’ He hasn’t really watched it either, and I said, ‘It’s so fun. Everyone is so good!’”
