Lisa Kudrow may be one of the iconic Friends, but that doesn’t mean she was always friendly with everyone in the industry.
The actor revealed on yesterday’s episode of the Smartless podcast, hosted by Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman, and Will Arnett, that she was fired from the hit ’90s sitcom Frasier — an event that put her on the path to becoming the infamous Phoebe Buffay.
In the pilot of the 11-season-long show, Kudrow played Roz Doyle, a role that was ultimately taken over by Peri Gilpin for the rest of the show’s run.
Kudrow called getting fired from Frasier “devastating,” recalling director James Burrows telling her, “this isn’t working,” while attempting to film the pilot.
While The Comeback star was understandably upset about losing out on the role, she said that she believes Gilpin was always the one who was meant to take it on.
“I think they did make a casting mistake because I went to the network with Peri Gilpin,” Kudrow said on the podcast. “I think they were just correcting a mistake. ‘Cause Peri should have always been Roz.”
Following the loss of her role on Fraiser, Kudrow booked a guest star role on the 1992 sitcom Mad About You. The character was nameless, written only as “Waitress” in the script. Kudrow said that despite her agents telling her not to take the background role, she knew she had to do it, telling them that she was “not in a position to say no.”
The actress made a lasting impression on creator Danny Jacobson, who asked her to stay on for five additional episodes after her first appearance.
“I just went, ‘Yes!’ There’s my rent for the year. I don’t have to get another job,” Kudrow told Hayes.
Producer of Mad About You Jeffrey Klarik also took a liking to Kudrow, telling his husband, Friends producer David Crane, that the actress should be cast as Phoebe.
Obviously, Crane agreed to let Kudrow audition, and the rest quickly became history. Friends premiered in 2004, almost exactly one year after the initial premiere of Frasier. Kudrow went on to win an Emmy for her performance, the first out of the Friends cast, and is still a fan-favorite amongst viewers for her quirky and fearless personality.
Frasier was recently rebooted, with Season 2 expected to hit Paramount+ this September.
