How a College Friend Inspired Lisa Kudrow’s Iconic Phoebe in ‘Friends’
December 26, 2023
While auditioning for a pilot, Lisa Kudrow was given a character whose life was full of tragedy and asked to play her in a comedic way.
In an Archive of American Television interview, Kudrow describes how she found Phoebe Buffay, the quirky masseuse and self-taught musician in Friends.
Playing Phoebe was not only Kudrow’s breakthrough role but an enormous part of her life as the show, which first aired in 1994, ran for 10 seasons.
For the pilot, then-called Friends Like Us, Kudrow was auditioning for one of the six lead roles.
Kudrow had previously appeared as a guest on a few sitcoms such as Cheers and Newhart and had a recurring role on Mad About You. She’d originally planned on researching headaches like her father Lee, a doctor, but after becoming a member of the improvisational sketch comedy theater troupe The Groundlings, the self-described “very rational, practical” Kudrow realized she had a real chance at having a career as an actress and comedian.
Phoebe’s audition monologue contained details about the character’s sad life. Phoebe’s mother had committed suicide and her stepfather was in jail. Phoebe even lived in a car in New York with a drug addict who overdosed and died. Kudrow was challenged to turn tragedy into comedy.
“I decided, well, the only way this is funny is if … okay, that reminds me of my friend from college who had to leave school because her parents thought it was making her irreligious and they didn’t want to pay for it anymore. And she had to work in a nursing home. And she never got down about it–ever,” says Kudrow. “She found things to love about working in the nursing home. What an attitude! I always admired that, and it stuck with me. And I thought, ‘Okay, that’s what this person needs to have–that attitude. Doesn’t feel sorry for herself at all.’”
Kudrow designed Phoebe to regard her tragic life as essentially normal, if not common and think of it as “not a big deal.” The creative choices Kudrow made worked. She kept being invited back for more auditions.
She soon auditioned in front of legendary director James Burrows, who fired her during the pilot episode of Frasier. She had been cast to portray Roz Doyle, but Burrows didn’t think it was working and gave the role to Peri Gilpin. Kudrow gave Burrows her rendition of Phoebe, where she recalled the director “doesn’t crack a smile–nothing. He just says, ‘No notes.’”
Unlike her Frasier experience, Kudrow was invited back, this time on a huge stage with production members in the darkened audience seats.
She remembers being in a group of potential Phoebes. Without naming names, Kudrow recalled actresses complaining, some even walking out of the audition because of the way it was set up.
Kudrow understood the setup and stayed, thinking, “But when you shoot this in front of a live audience, there’s going to be like, 200 people in the audience. If that’s going to get to you, how is this ever going to work?”
Kudrow nabbed the role of Phoebe, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of the character. As Director Burrows puts it, Friends is “a treasure in the history of television.”
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