Lisa Kudrow admitted that she is still haunted by the studio audience’s laughter while filming Friends, two decades after the series aired its final episode.
While appearing on the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, the actress, 60, explained why she disliked the sound of the live audience chuckling at her jokes.
‘[I was irritated] because they were laughing for too long. It wasn’t that funny,’ she explained to O’Brien. ‘That’s why. It wasn’t an honest response, and it irritated me.’
She continued: ‘It’s like, “now you’re just ruining the timing of the rest of the show.” Sometimes I would just look out if they’d been laughing too long, and go, “come on.” Really angry.’
The Emmy winner, who portrayed Phoebe Buffay alongside Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry, went on to explain that their show was ‘not for the studio audience.’
Lisa Kudrow admitted that she is still haunted by the studio audience laughter, two decades after Friends aired its final episode
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Lisa Kudrow responds to Jennifer Aniston's Friends audience claim: 'It irritated me'
‘It’s made for the TV viewers at home. That’s who we’re in service to,’ she insisted. ‘If it were 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. But then, it’s being filmed, and now I’m just sort of like standing there.’
Kudrow said the noise made herself do ‘things that you hate’ like nodding along as if to say: ‘That’s right! I said that!’
She went on to note that the show’s warm-up act would specifically advise the audience not to do ‘anything like that.’
The mother-of-one, who is married to Michel Stern, pointed out that it would take ‘six to eight hours’ to shoot a half-hour episode of the beloved program.
This is the second time this month that Kudrow has spoken about feeing frustrated by the live audience during her time on Friends, which aired from 1994 to 2004.
Earlier this month, she told Entertainment Tonight that it ‘irritated’ when ‘they [the studio audience] would laugh for too long.’
‘God bless them. They were so excited to be there that sometimes the laughter would just be longer than if they would have laughed at anything else,’ the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion star said.
Lisa added, ‘I was like, “All right, well, take it easy. It’s not that funny. And there’s more to say!”‘
The Emmy winner famously portrayed the beloved character, Phoebe Buffay, alongside Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green (R), Courteney Cox as Monica Geller (L), Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani and Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing
Aniston recently revealed in an interview that Kudrow ‘hated when the audience laughed’ while they filmed Friends during her Variety’s Actors on Actors interview
The clarification comes after Aniston stated that Kudrow ‘hated when the audience laughed’ while they filmed Friends during her Variety’s Actors on Actors interview.
‘She’d be like, “I’m not done! It’s not that funny!”‘
Kudrow recently revealed she began rewatching Friends episodes to keep the memory of her late co-star Matthew Perry alive.
She explained that watching episodes allowed her to celebrate Perry, who died in October at age 54.
‘Honestly, I wasn’t able to watch it because it’s too embarrassing to watch yourself. But if I make it about Matthew, then that’s OK,’ she told THR. ‘And it’s just celebrating how hilarious he was — and that is what I want to remember [about him].’
While appearing on the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend , the actress, 60, explained why she disliked the sound of the live audience chuckling at her jokes
Kudrow reflected on the days on set with Perry – who she said left her crying with laughter.
She said: ‘You’re just laughing all day long, basically, in between the scenes, because these are funny people. 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.’
The actor died from an overdose on October 28, 2023 in his hot tub at his home, according to a previous report by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner.
His manner of death was ruled to be accidental, and the autopsy report released in May showed the actor died from acute effects of ketamine.
Contributing factors were given as drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a prescription drug often used to treat those with opioid addiction.
Last month, Kudrow revealed she began rewatching Friends episodes to keep the memory of her late co-star Matthew Perry alive – eight months after his tragic death aged 54
The actor died from an overdose on October 28, 2023 in his hot tub at his home, according to a previous report by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner; seen in November 2022
It was later reported that at the time of his death, Perry was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy.
In December last year, a medical expert speculated to Page Six the actor had ‘likely’ obtained ketamine illegally for ‘recreational use,’ however.
Even though Perry was undergoing ketamine treatment for anxiety and depression at the time of his passing, his autopsy report noted ‘the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy.’
Law enforcement now believe ‘multiple people’ should be charged.
When the Friends star died the LAPD began an investigation into the circumstances of his overdose.
Matthew Perry pictured in his hot tub in his final Facebook post prior to his October 2023 death
In a report by People last month, an investigative source from law enforcement said that investigation is now ‘nearing its conclusion.’
The source did not clarify who the ‘multiple people’ potentially facing charges are, adding that any future action will ultimately be determined by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Charlie Sheen’s former wife Brooke Mueller has been interviewed ‘multiple times’ by the LAPD in relation to Perry’s death after the pair reportedly bonded during stays in rehab, a new report says.
Mueller was never arrested or handcuffed regarding the inquiries with sources telling InTouch that she has been co-operating with the criminal investigation.
‘She’s hired lawyers and has had multiple meetings with law enforcement since they arrived at her sober living house with a search warrant. She’s being tight-lipped about the situation,’ a source told the magazine.