Lisa Kudrow Reveals “Mean” Behind-the-Scenes Treatment on Friends Writers’ Room and Reflects on Being the “Sixth Friend”

Lisa Kudrow is opening up about the writers on Friends.

Kudrow, who starred on the beloved series as Phoebe Buffay, told The Times of London in an interview published April 23 about some of the “mean stuff going on behind the scenes” of the now-beloved show.

The series, which ran from 1994 to 2004, was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and also starred Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, the late Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc.

Kudrow, 62, told the outlet that the writers’ room for the series could be especially cruel to the female cast. “Don’t forget we were recording in front of a live audience of 400, and if you messed up one of these writers’ lines or it didn’t get the perfect response, they could be like, ‘Can’t the bitch f—ing read? She’s not even trying. She f—ed up my line,’ ” Kudrow said. “And we know that back in the room, the guys would be up late discussing their sexual fantasies about Jennifer and Courteney. It was intense.” “Oh, it could be brutal, but these guys — and it was mostly men in there — were sitting up until 3 a.m. trying to write the show so my attitude was, ‘Say what you like about me behind my back because then it doesn’t matter,’ ” Kudrow said.

In 1999, Friends writers’ assistant Amaani Lyle sued three of the male comedy writers, the network, studio and others for sexual harassment, claiming, in part, that she had to listen to the writers’ room discuss their fantasies about Aniston and Cox. The case ultimately went to the California Supreme Court, with the court ultimately ruling in favor of the defendants. The court ruled that even though the sexual speech occurred, none of it was directed at Lyle and it was a necessary part of the creative process. Kudrow said some of her experiences inspired her to write her TV series The Comeback with Michael Patrick King, a writer and director on Sex and the City. The first season premiered in 2005, with the third and final season airing this spring.

“Michael had all that experience from Sex and the City and we kind of encouraged each other to explore the dark side a little bit,” Kudrow told The Times.
King, 71, told The Guardian in 2019, “TV writers perceived any woman over 40 as not f—able. It’s in the DNA of many, many writers’ rooms. The show is the closest thing to my experience in writing rooms, with male energy and the sophomoric madness that happens when people are trapped, trying to do a series.”

Friends aired for 10 seasons on NBC. It continues to be a hit in syndication and found younger fans when it began streaming on Netflix in 2015. Friends now streams on HBO Max.
Earlier this month, Kudrow told the U.K. newspaper The Independent that she felt ignored at times while making Friends.

“Nobody cared about me,” Kudrow remembered. “There were certain parts of [my talent agency] that just referred to me as ‘the sixth Friend.’ ”

She explained, “There was no vision for me, and no expectations about the kind of career I could have.” Instead, “There was just, like, ‘Boy, is she lucky she got on that show.’ ” But in retrospect, that gave her the freedom to appear in a wide variety of roles, including 1996’s Mother, 1997’s Clockwatchers and 1999’s Analyze This.