Lisa Kudrow played Phoebe Buffay, on all 10 seasons of Friends.
Lisa Kudrow is “too embarrassed” to watch Friends in front of her family.
The 62-year-old actress waits until her 67-year-old husband, Michel Stern, is in bed before she puts on a couple of episodes of the NBC sitcom, in which the star played the quirky and optimistic singer-songwriter and masseuse, Phoebe Buffay.
Appearing on the Thursday morning (26.03.26) edition of BBC Radio 2’s The Scott Mills Breakfast Show, stand-in host Gary Davies asked what sitcoms Lisa watches, to which she replied: “Friends at night before going to bed.
“I haven’t seen a lot of episodes. I sit in the family room, and I wait until my husband goes to sleep because I’m too embarrassed for anyone to see me watching it – but I’ll tell all of you!”
Gary, 68, quipped that she “won’t tell your husband, but you tell all of our listeners”, to which Lisa clarified: “No, he knows that I like watching it.”
Lisa did not watch many episodes of Friends when they aired because she was too busy filming the comedy series – which followed the lives of Phoebe, Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) and Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) living in Manhattan, New York.
Lisa added: “Only the first couple of seasons because we were busy. I don’t think any of us watched every episode.
“And we were also not hanging out watching the show as it’s being shot. At first, you are. And then you’re just too busy – even during the show.”
Friends gives Lisa a good laugh before she heads to bed.
Gary wondered what she thinks of the episodes after all these years, and Lisa replied: “Hilarious. I say her when it’s me.
“If my husband comes in to get something, he’s like, ‘Oh, you’re watching your show. OK.’ Then he watches a little. It’s funny.”
Lisa also shared that she has just reached the series eight finale, where Rachel and Ross welcome their daughter, Emma, into the world.
Friends ran from 1994 until 2004, with 236 episodes made, and Lisa is proud to have been a part of the show.
Gary wondered if she feels “over the moon” that she was a cast member on Friends, to which Lisa responded: “Oh, yeah! But I was then.
“I mean, yes, I was cautiously optimistic, I was trying to be realistic. But once it was clear that it was working, and we were probably going to be on for a while, it was so fast, it was right after that very first season.
“And yes, we were all really grateful. We were pretty good, I have to say, in terms of attitude. We were all really grateful. We worked really hard on our relationship, too, because we all felt like, ‘This translates to, so let’s be good together.’
“It was just great. Everything about it, I have to say.”
Lisa Kudrow ‘too embarrassed’ to watch Friends in front of her family
