Topics: Celebrity, Lisa Kudrow, Friends, TV And Film
For many us, Friends was our go-to programme to whack on when you wanted something easy, light-hearted and - generally - funny.
And while it's clear the throwback sitcom, which is currently available to stream on Netflix, is in many peoples' 'Top 10 in TV' list due to its quick wit, quote-worthy one-liners and hilarious inside jokes - the stars themselves didn't always find things so funny.
Lisa Kudrow, the beloved actress behind the iconic Phoebe Buffay, has recently revealed exactly how she really felt while filming Friends and she didn't hold back.
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Now, any fan of the show will be all-too familiar with the seemingly relentless laughter coming from the live studio audience that pretty much punctuated every other line from the characters.
Speaking on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, the 60-year-old Primetime Emmy award-winning star explained exactly why the audience p*ssed her off so much.
"Because they were laughing for too long," she recalled. "It wasn’t that funny. That’s why.
"It wasn’t an honest response and it irritated me. Now you’re just ruining the timing of the rest of the show. There are other lines."
Lisa continued: "Sometimes I would just look out if they’d been laughing too long, and go, 'Come on'. Really angry."
She carried on: "A TV show is not for the studio audience.
"It is made for the TV viewers at home. That’s who we are in service to. If it was a stage play, yeah laugh as long as you want. I’ll figure out things to keep my character busy waiting to continue with it. That’s fine.
"It’s being filmed and now I’m just standing there … you do like nod, 'Yeah, I said that'. It’s terrible. They instructed our audience not to do anything like that, I think."
Lisa also revealed that it could sometimes take up to a whopping eight hours just to film a 30-minute episode.
Because of this, the film crew would do 'so many takes' that eventually the audience would 'stop laughing'.
Then, according to the actress, the show's writers would react by thinking the material was no longer funny and started on rewrites and, inevitably, more takes.
"But it worked the first time!" Lisa added. "All I knew is you’re going to take the laugh track from the first take and move it to whatever take this is. Who is suffering because they’re not laughing? I am okay if they aren’t laughing as hard. We can keep going."
Fans of Friends have since shared their reactions to Lisa's comments with many in total agreement with her.
One X user praised: "She's so real for that."
"She’s so real bc same," echoed a second while a third penned: "Good request."
A fourth gushed: "Naah Phoebe was the funniest character in Friends for me."
"I get her tbh," added another while a final X user agreed: "I could definitely see that.
"Especially if you're ready to move to your next line and they are still laughing, so now your timing is off."
