Lisa Kudrow admitted she is still haunted by the laughter of the studio audience during the taping of Friends, 20 years after the series’ final episode aired.
While appearing in the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a FriendThe 60-year-old actress explained why she didn’t like the sound of the live audience laughing at her jokes.
‘[I was irritated] because they laughed too long. It wasn’t that funny,’ she explained to O’Brien. ‘That’s why. It wasn’t an honest answer and that irritated me.’
She continued, “It’s like, ‘Now you’re just ruining the timing of the rest of the show.’ Sometimes I’d just look and see if they were laughing too long and say, ‘Come on.’ Really angry.”
The Emmy winner, who played Phoebe Buffay alongside Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry, explained that their show was “not for the studio audience.”
Lisa Kudrow admitted she’s still haunted by the laughter of the studio audience, 20 years after Friends aired its final episode
“It’s made for the TV audience at home. That’s what we’re in it for,” she insisted. “If it was a play—yes, laugh as long as you want! I’ll think of things to keep my character occupied, waiting to go through with it, that’s fine. But then it’s filmed, and now I’m just kind of standing there.”
Kudrow said the noise prompted her to do “things you hate,” such as nodding as if to say, “That’s right! I said so!”
She further noted that the show’s warm-up would specifically advise the audience not to do “anything like that.”
The mother of one, who is married to Michel Stern, revealed it would take “six to eight hours” to record a half-hour episode of the beloved show.
This is the second time this month that Kudrow has spoken about her frustrations with live audiences during her time on Friends, which aired from 1994 to 2004.
Earlier this month she said Entertainment tonight that it was ‘annoyed’ when ‘she [the studio audience] would laugh too long.’
“God bless them. They were so excited to be there that sometimes the laughter just lasted longer than if they had laughed at something else,” the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion star said.
Lisa added: ‘I thought, ‘Okay, take it easy. It’s not that funny. And there’s more to say!”
The Emmy winner played the beloved character Phoebe Buffay, alongside Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green (R), Courteney Cox as Monica Geller (L), Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani and Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing.
Aniston recently revealed in an interview that Kudrow “hated it when the audience laughed” during the taping of Friends during her Variety’s Actors on Actors interview
The clarification comes after Aniston stated during her Variety’s Actors on Actors interview that Kudrow “hated it when the audience laughed” during the filming of Friends.
‘She’d be like, “I’m not done yet! It’s not that funny!”‘
Kudrow recently announced that she has been rewatching episodes of Friends to keep the memory of her late co-star Matthew Perry alive.
She explained that watching the episodes allowed her to pay tribute to Perry, who died in October at the age of 54.
“Honestly, I couldn’t watch it because it’s too embarrassing to watch myself. But if I make it about Matthew, then that’s OK,” she told THR. “And it’s just a celebration of how hilarious he was — and that’s what I want to remember [about him].
During her appearance on the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, the 60-year-old actress explained why she didn’t like the sound of the live audience laughing at her jokes
Kudrow recalled the days on set with Perry, who she said left her crying with laughter.
She said, “You laugh all day, actually, between scenes, because these are funny people. And especially someone like Matthew, whose goal was, How much can I laugh every day in real life? So we always laughed so hard, tears would roll down our cheeks.”
According to an earlier report from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, the actor died of an overdose in his hot tub at home on October 28, 2023.
The actor was determined to have died in an accident and the autopsy report released in May revealed that the actor died from acute effects of ketamine.
Contributing factors were cited as drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a prescription drug often used to treat people with opioid addiction.
Last month, Kudrow revealed that she started rewatching episodes of Friends to keep the memory of her late co-star Matthew Perry alive — eight months after his tragic death at the age of 54.
The actor died of an overdose in his hot tub at home on October 28, 2023, according to an earlier report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner; seen in November 2022
It was later reported that Perry was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy at the time of his death.
In December of last year, a medical expert speculated to Page Six that the actor had “likely” obtained ketamine illegally for “recreational use.”
Although Perry was undergoing ketamine treatment for anxiety and depression at the time of his death, the autopsy report stated that “the ketamine in his system at death could not have come from that infusion therapy.”
Police now believe that ‘multiple people’ should be charged.
When the Friends star died, the LAPD launched an investigation into the circumstances of his overdose.
Matthew Perry pictured in his hot tub in his last Facebook post before his death in October 2023
In a People report last month, a law enforcement source said the investigation is now “nearly complete.”
The source did not specify who the “multiple individuals” are who may be charged, adding that any future action would ultimately be determined by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife, Brooke Mueller, has been questioned “multiple times” by the LAPD in connection with Perry’s death. The two reportedly got to know each other better while in rehab, a new report reveals.
Mueller has never been arrested or handcuffed in connection with the investigations, sources said. In contact that she cooperates with the criminal investigation.
“She has hired lawyers and has had multiple meetings with police since they arrived at her modest home with a search warrant. She has remained tight-lipped about the situation,” a source told the magazine.