‘Friends’: Lisa Kudrow Stole a Chandler Quality for Phoebe From Matthew Perry
One of the most beloved and enduring sitcoms of all-time is the NBC sitcom Friends. The show is as popular today as it was in its heyday in the 1990s, thanks to its inclusion on the streaming platform Netflix.
Following their time on the show, each of the main cast members went on to have success in the entertainment industry but perhaps never reaching the high that they did with Friends. Two of the actresses on the show were Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow, who recently sat down and interviewed each other for Variety.
During their talk, the two comedy legends discussed their time on Friends, their careers after the show, and the one time that Kudrow imitated their co-star Matthew Perry.
What is ‘Friends’ about?
Friends follows the hilarious incidents and wacky encounters that make up the lives of six New York City. The show featured the various friends while they make their way through their mid-20s for 10 seasons and a total of 236 episodes.
The Friends friends are made up of Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing), and David Schwimmer (Ross Geller). Many of the characters’ relationships in the show moved past the friendship phase into romance, most notably Monica and Chandler who had a loving relationship throughout most of the show.
Another less stable relationship is the on-again, off-again romance between Ross and Rachel. When they were not dating or breaking up with each other, the main characters dated others, laughed and enjoyed coffee together, and acted more like a family instead of just a group of friends.
Who are Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry?
Two of the stars of the show are Kudrow and Perry, whose characters were incredibly different. While Phoebe and Chandler did not interact as much as other pairings on the show, the two, along with their fellow cast-mates, remain good friends to this day.
They are on such good terms that a one-time special revival of the beloved show is scheduled to be made for the HBO Max streaming service. Another influence on the actor’s decision to reboot the show is the huge payday they will likely receive.
According to Business Insider, the six main cast members were able to negotiate deals that resulted in each of them being paid one million dollars per episode, during the final season of the show. This made Aniston, Cox, and Kudrow the highest-paid women in television history, and all of the main actors will likely make even more in the scheduled special.
Besides their time on the sitcom, both Perry and Kudrow have had extremely successful careers in both the field of television and film.
What did Kudrow ask Perry permission to do?
During the Variety interview, Aniston and Kudrow discussed their favorite Friends episodes. Kudrow’s answer was the episode The One Where Everybody Finds Out which is episode 14 of season five of the show.
In the episode, Phoebe finally realizes that Chandler and Monica are a couple. Phoebe and Rachel are touring and apartment across the street from Monica’s, and the two then see Monica and Chandler began to take each other’s clothes off. The camera cuts to Phoebe whose reaction is of shock and horror, as is Rachel’s who screams alongside her friend.
In the scene, Phoebe exclaims “My eyes! My eyes!” in a similar style as Chandler’s classic over the top and sarcastic reactions. Before using the impression, Kudrow was sure to ask her friend if it was OK to use his signature style. Kudrow did not want to steal he co-stars cadence, but of course, Perry allowed her to use it, and the classic moment was created.
