Actress Lisa Kudrow has revealed the single fan request she always turns down when approached by admirers of her hit NBC sitcom Friends in New York City.
The 63-year-old star, who played offbeat musician Phoebe Buffay across all 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004, admitted she refuses to perform her character's signature acoustic song Smelly Cat in public.
Speaking on the radio show Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley this week, Kudrow insisted she has zero complaints about Friends or anything to do with it, but highlighted one fan-related exception.
Kudrow explained that she gladly greets fans who call her by her character's name or ask her to repeat famous quotes from the series. However, she draws the line at singing on command.
"Sometimes people will stop me and say, 'Oh, sing Smelly Cat,'" Kudrow said during the broadcast. "I don't want to do that. I really don't want to do that."
Friends, created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, ran on NBC for a decade and became one of the most successful television sitcoms in history. Kudrow starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and the late Matthew Perry as part of an ensemble cast playing six close friends living in Manhattan.
Cast Relationships and On-Set Bonding
Reflecting on her time on the show, Kudrow spoke warmly about how much she enjoyed making every part of Friends and described the lasting bonds formed with her co-stars over the decades.
"Just the relationship with the other actors, we had fun," Kudrow said. "That is so rare. And real honest respect, mutual respect."
Kudrow admitted that maintaining such close friendships required conscious effort from everyone in the main cast while filming the show.
"It was a really good relationship that took some work, and we did the work," she said. "It was great. Everything about it was great."
To ensure they stayed connected during long production hours, Kudrow revealed that the six actors made sure to bond off camera, frequently playing poker together during break times on set.
Audition for Rachel Green
Kudrow's latest remarks come just over a week after she revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month that she originally auditioned for the role of Rachel Green, a part that ultimately went to Jennifer Aniston.
Kudrow recalled that she was eager to play the character, whom she envisioned as a humorous archetype, but felt snubbed when executives informed her she would not work as the show's romantic interest.
"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,'" Kudrow recalled of her audition pitch.
She explained that she had failed to realize the character was central to the series' main romance with Ross Geller, played by David Schwimmer. "I told my agents, 'I can do Jewish American Princess and make that really funny,'" she said. "And so they said, 'Uh-huh. All right. Well, we'll tell [the show's creators].'"
Kudrow said casting agents later delivered a blunt assessment, telling her she wasn't gorgeous and was not suited to play the romantic lead. At the time, she admitted she did not look like the women typically cast as series regulars on network sitcoms.
"They went, 'No, no. It's so hard for them to find Phoebe. They're not messing with that,'" Kudrow said. "So that was the sweet way of saying, 'Yeah, you are not the romantic interest.'"
