Although the Friends cast portrayed a tight-knit group of inseparable pals on-screen, the reality off-screen was strikingly different, as Lisa Kudrow recently revealed.
The 61-year-old actress, famed for her quirky portrayal of Phoebe Buffay on the beloved sitcom, opened up about the surprising lack of contact between the cast after the show’s finale.
Despite its 10-season run, the iconic sextet — Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and the late Matthew Perry — only met once in the 17 years between the series’ end in 2004 and their 2021 reunion on HBO Max.
‘We’d only had dinner, the six of us, once before since the show ended,’ Kudrow admitted on Tuesday’s Dinner’s on Me podcast hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Despite the long hiatus, the cast picked up right where they left off when they finally convened for dinner 10 years after the finale.
‘Just us at someone’s house and [we] had dinner, and like, didn’t miss a beat,’ Kudrow said.
Although the Friends cast portrayed a tight-knit group of inseparable pals on-screen, the reality off-screen was strikingly different, as Lisa Kudrow recently revealed; (seen in 2022)
Despite its 10-season run, the iconic sextet — Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston , Courteney Cox , David Schwimmer , Matt LeBlanc , and the late Matthew Perry — only met once in the 17 years between the series’ end in 2004 and their 2021 reunion on HBO Max; (seen in 1994)
This revelation comes shortly after Kudrow also discussed the complexities of her relationship with her Friends co-stars on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.
In a candid conversation, she admitted that the ‘six-way relationship took some work’ and they ‘worked hard at being friends.’
Her confession comes after she admitted she started rewatching Friends to keep the memory of Perry alive following his tragic death in October 2023.
She said that over the course of the TV series’ 10 seasons, she and her costars became real-life friends.
For that reason, they had to make an effort to ‘really talk things through’ whenever they had any misunderstandings with each other.
‘If someone said something or did something, it didn’t get too big because it was, “Can I talk to you?'”
She said she struggled with the open communication style and explained it was ‘usually not me’ who would start the conversation first.
‘I had to learn to be like, “Can I talk to you about something?”‘ She said it was ‘hard’ because she wasn’t familiar with honest and straightforward dialogue.
She explained she ‘never knew that was allowed’ but she learned about ‘respectful communication’ from her costars.
‘We’d only had dinner, the six of us, once before since the show ended,’ Kudrow admitted on Tuesday’s Dinner’s on Me podcast hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson
This revelation comes shortly after Kudrow also discussed the complexities of her relationship with her Friends co-stars on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast
‘I saw it modeled really well by Courteney and Jennifer and Matt,’ she said.
This comes months after she revealed she started rewatching Friends to keep the memory of her late costar Perry alive.
Kudrow played alongside Perry’s wisecracking character Chandler Bing in the iconic show from 1994 to 2004.
Following his tragic death at the age of 54 in October 2023, she said she started watching episodes to celebrate her late costar and friend.
‘Honestly, I wasn’t able to watch it because it’s too embarrassing to watch yourself,’ she told The Hollywood Reporter in June. ‘But if I make it about Matthew, then that’s OK.’
She continued: ‘And it’s just celebrating how hilarious he was — and that is what I want to remember [about him].’
She said the talent of her castmates blew her away, and she said of Perry: ‘No one ever knew that cadence or comedic rhythm before him.’
Kudrow also reflected on the days on set with Perry, who she said often left her crying with laughter.
She said that over the course of the TV series’ 10 seasons, she and her costars became real-life friends. For that reason, they had to make an effort to ‘really talk things through’ whenever they had any misunderstandings with each other
She said she struggled with the open communication style and explained it was ‘usually not me’ who would start the conversation first. She explained she ‘never knew that was allowed’ but she learned about ‘respectful communication’ from her costars
‘I saw it modeled really well by Courteney and Jennifer and Matt,’ she said; still from Friends
‘You’re just laughing all day long, basically, in between the scenes, because these are funny people,’ she recalled.
And especially someone like Matthew, whose goal was: How many laughs can I get in real life every day? So we were always laughing so hard, tears were flying out of our faces.’
Friends was a critical and award-winning success, earning a total of 62 Emmy nominations over its 10-season run.
The show won six Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2002, and Aniston and Kudrow both received individual acting awards for their iconic portrayals of Rachel Green and Phoebe Buffay.
