Lisa Kudrow: ‘Hard’ for Me to Be Real Friends With ‘Friends’

Friends star Lisa Kudrow didn’t find it natural to be “friends” with her five co-stars in the popular TV series right away.

During a sit-down with Dax Shepard on Armchair Expert, Kudrow explained that the six cast members “worked hard at being friends.” The payoff was the chemistry between Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Courtney Cox, and the late Matthew Perry that fans love about the show. But Kudrow admitted on the podcast that the “six-way relationship took some work.”

Kudrow, who played the bubbly and off-beat Phoebe Buffay over the course of its 10 seasons, explained that to become real-life friends, the cast made an effort to “really talk things through” when there were misunderstandings.

“If someone said something or did something, it didn’t get too big because it was, ‘Can I talk to you?’” she said. Kudrow struggled with the open communication style, she revealed, explaining that it was “usually not me,” who initiated the open dialogue. “I had to learn to be, like, ‘Can I talk to you about something?’” she explained.

It was “hard because I never knew that was allowed,” she said, but she learned from her co-stars—and revealed which ones were the best communicators: “I saw it modeled really well by Courtney and Jennifer and Matt,” she said, adding that they modeled to her what “respectful communication” looks like.

Kudrow, like the rest of the Friends cast, rarely has an interview that doesn’t include a question about the beloved sitcom, even though its run ended 20 years ago. But the actor, who was promoting her new Netflix series No Good Deed, said she never tires of talking about the series. “It’s a blessing,” she said, replying “no” to Shepard’s question about whether or not she wished people would “please shut up about Friends.”

“I’m too grateful,” she added.

In a recent interview with Page Six, Kudrow addressed haters who questioned whether the show’s premise of “a bunch of young people sitting on a couch talking” was even a show, recalling doubts she’d hear from detractors during the show’s early aughts. She told the site, “That’s not my problem. I’m just in it, but yes it was a show.”