‘Friends’: Lisa Kudrow’s Favorite Scene Is Peak Phoebe
The world was this close to a Friends reunion. It’s likely that the HBO Max special starring the original six Friends cast members would be already underway if it weren’t for the global pandemic forcing everyone into lockdown. It’s just one more thing the coronavirus has ruined for everyone.
Filming on the special will begin once public health officials declare it safe enough to gather in large groups again, but for now, fans will have to make do with the Variety quarantine conversation between Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow.
The two recorded a video chat for Variety where they discussed everything from their current projects to their favorite Friends memories.
Lisa Kudrow does not watch ‘Friends’
The most surprising thing to come out of the chat was the revelation that Lisa Kudrow, known for her role as Phoebe Buffay, does not watch reruns of the show. At this point it must take effort to avoid it. The popular 90s sitcom replays on various channels at all times of day, and was on Netflix until last year.
Kudrow is holding out for something special before she starts watching the show. The cast is still famously close. They appear in group selfies on each others’ Instagram pages, and stay in touch regularly. Kudrow is hoping that one day the Friends friends will get together and watch the show together. She doesn’t want to spoil the special moment, if it does end up happening. “I don’t watch the show. I’m still not watching it in the hopes that one day we sit down and watch them together.”
Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox got caught up in ‘Friends’ bloopers
Unlike Kudrow, Aniston does watch the show. When Kudrow asked her if she’s seen any episodes while self-isolating, Aniston replied: “I love it. I love stumbling on a Friends episode.”
It’s not just Aniston. Apparently other cast members enjoy watching old episodes of the show too. For them, it’s like having some of the best years of their lives on video. Even though what ended up in the show was edited footage, Aniston can still watch scenes and remember when she and her fellow actors would “break,” or burst out laughing during a scene.
Although Kudrow doesn’t watch old episodes, she did admit to watching bloopers online, as did Aniston. Apparently Aniston and Courtney Cox, who played Monica on the show, once got stuck in an online rabbit hole of Friends bloopers.
“This one time I was with Courteney, and we were trying to find something to reference, an old Friends thing. And then we stumbled on — there’s bloopers online — and we sat there at the computer like two nerds watching these bloopers laughing at ourselves.”
Lisa Kudrow’s favorite ‘Friends’ scene actually borrows from Chandler Bing
Kudrow hasn’t rewatched the show yet, but she does know which was her favorite Phoebe moment.
Even though the scene is famous for being peak Phoebe, Kudrow actually borrowed the style of her delivery from Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing. In the scene, Phoebe accidentally glimpses Chandler naked in the window while he and Monica are undressing. She screams “My eyes! My eyes!”
Any Friends fan would remember this scene as being a great Phoebe moment, so it’s surprising to hear that Kudrow was influenced by Perry in her delivery. In fact, she asked Perry’s permission before using his Chandler Bing style.
“I actually asked his permission before we shot it. I was like, ‘I don’t know if you’ve seen the rehearsals, but I’m saying “My eyes! My eyes!” the way you do. So I just need to know that that’s OK with you. If not, I’ll say it a different way.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, go for it.'”
