Friends’ Lisa Kudrow happily embraces her character Phoebe Buffay, but she draws the line when fans make this request.
Lisa Kudrow refuses to sing her Friends hit song Smelly Cat when fans ask.
The 63-year-old actress has “zero complaints about Friends or anything to do with it” and will happily repeat her character Phoebe Buffay’s iconic lines, but she draws the line when it comes to performing her beloved alter ego’s tune.
On a recent episode of the Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley podcast, Lisa said: “Sometimes people will stop me and say, ‘Oh, sing Smelly Cat.’
“I don’t want to do that. I really don’t want to do that.”
The NBC sitcom, which ran from 1994 until 2004, followed six best friends living in New York: Phoebe, Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) and Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc).
Lisa adored “every part” of making the show because of the enduring bond she made with her co-stars.
She added: “We had fun. That is so rare. And real honest respect, mutual respect. It was a really good relationship.
“That took some work, and we did the work. It was great.”
What helped was making sure they spent downtime on set together, including playing poker during break times.
Earlier this month, Lisa revealed she auditioned to play Rachel before Jennifer, 57, landed the role.
The entertainer explained on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast: “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.’
“Not even clocking that, ‘Oh no, this is the romantic lead to Ross.’ Right? I told my agents, ‘I can do Jewish American Princess and make that really funny.’
“And so they said, ‘Uh-huh. All right. Well, we’ll tell them [the show’s creators].'”
Lisa said her team told her she was set to play Phoebe instead, and admitted she thought there were other reasons.
She added: “They [later] went, ‘No, no. It’s so hard for them to find Phoebe. They’re not messing with that.’
“So that was the sweet way of saying, ‘Yeah, you are not the romantic interest.'”
Lisa missed out on sitcom roles because she was “not gorgeous” enough, insisting she understood getting snubbed for certain roles when casting directors wanted to go in a different direction.
The Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion alum said: “I didn’t look like women who were getting cast as series regulars on sitcoms.
“They still wanted a certain look – very pretty and appealing and all of that – and not that funny, right, except for Shelley Long…
“I was told, ‘It’s very hard because you’re not gorgeous, and they want gorgeous.’ And I’m like, ‘OK’…
“I don’t think that’s ridiculous. I got it. Also, it’s not just how you look; it’s how you act, too. I’m not ‘cute.’ And God, I didn’t want to be cute.”
Lisa Kudrow refuses to do this one Friends request
