20 years after the immeasurably famous series came to an end, people are still asking stars like Lisa Kudrow what it was like to film the milestone sitcomFriends. Kudrow has had many other splendid roles since 2004, but she will forever be associated with bohemian masseuse and passionate hippie Phoebe, a vital pillar ofFriends’main cast. The cast may not have known the magnitude of what they were getting into at the beginning, butMatthew Perry’s favorite episode ofFriendsreveals how their individual talents and group chemistry were the heart of the show.
During a recent interview, part ofVariety’s Actors on Actorsseries,Lisa Kudrow was asked by actress Parker Posey if it was “fun” or “felt like a sport” to portray Phoebe.While Kudrow assured her that “It became fun. I was fun the whole time because the cast had fun,” she also had to develop her approach to the performance. Check out her comments below:
Phoebe was so far from who I was as a human being, it was work — I needed to justify everything she was saying in my head so that it felt like she meant it and it was real to her.
This makes sense when much of what Phoebe says is supposed to be funny because of how bizarre it is, and the other characters simply have no idea how to respond. However,Kudrow cited Matt LeBlanc directly telling her that by the second or third season, she didn’t need to be doing all this work to justify Phoebe,because she had the performance down. Check out her further comments below:
It was a lot of work. I remember season 2 or 3, I went, “Oh my God, I’m not doing the work.” And [Matt] LeBlanc went, “What’s the matter with you? You’re her [Phoebe]. You don’t have to.”
What This Means For Lisa Kudrow’s Performance As Phoebe Buffay
Lisa Kudrow Made Phoebe Authentic
Being introduced to a character like Phoebe for the first time may have been jarring for Lisa Kudrow, but the iconic actress immediately tried to understand her. Like many sitcom characters, including the rest of the cast ofFriends, Phoebe’s idiosyncrasies are taken to extremes and put into ludicrous situations for laugh-out-loud results. What makes Kudrow’s work so impactful, however, is that she really wanted to legitimize Phoebe’s actions. Aseverything Phoebe does should make sense to her in her head,this lends an authenticity to her character that helped make her so beloved.
In the early seasons,Phoebe nonchalantly mentions the events of her tragic past, reveals that she is something of a casual occultist, and goes on her famous quest to return moneythat she doesn’t see as rightfully hers. Kudrow felt that Phoebe’s characterization was so far away from her reality that she had to work to play her truthfully. However, it also tracks that after a few seasons of this, she would be in tune with Phoebe enough to automatically deliver the perfect reactions, without going through Phoebe’s thought process step-by-step beforehand.
Our Take On Matt LeBlanc Helping Lisa Kudrow With Her Friends Performance
Joey & Phoebe Understand Each Other So Well
It is ironic and sweet that it was Matt LeBlanc to point out to Kudrow that she didn’t need to work so hard because she had become Phoebe, as of a few years in.Joey and Phoebehave a special bond inFriends, as the two characters who aren’t in a romantic subplot with another member of the core group.
For all its laughs, there is a lot of serious character work going on behind the scenes ofFriends, and both Joey and Phoebe, as well as LeBlanc and Kudrow, worked with their deep understanding of the other’s true nature.
