Friends Star Lisa Kudrow Reveals Fan Request She Refuses

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Friends Star Lisa Kudrow Reveals Fan Request She Refuses

30.08.2026 30 August 2026
2005
2 min.
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Friends Star Lisa Kudrow Reveals Fan Request She Refuses

Phoebe Song Request Kudrow Avoids

Lisa Kudrow has opened up about a recurring Friends fan interaction she would rather skip, even though she still looks back positively on the sitcom that made her internationally famous.

The 63-year-old actress portrayed Phoebe Buffay throughout the NBC comedy's 10-season run from 1994 until 2004. She shared the screen with Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and the late Matthew Perry.

During a recent appearance on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, Kudrow explained that most fan encounters do not bother her. She is comfortable hearing Phoebe's name in public and being asked to repeat familiar lines from the series.

One request, however, is different. She has little interest in performing Phoebe's best-known musical number, Smelly Cat.

"Sometimes people will stop me and say, 'Oh, sing Smelly Cat.' I don't want to do that. I really don't want to do that," Kudrow said.

The actress also revisited the strong connection between the Friends cast. According to Kudrow, their chemistry was not something they simply took for granted. The six stars made an effort to stay close while working together and regularly spent downtime as a group, including poker games between filming.

Kudrow's comments follow another revelation about her early history with the show. A little over a week earlier, she disclosed that she first tried out for Rachel Green, the part later made famous by Aniston.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month, Kudrow said she saw comic potential in playing Rachel as a "Jewish American Princess." At the time, she had not fully understood that Rachel was being positioned as the central romantic match for Schwimmer's Ross Geller.

She later discovered that casting decision-makers did not view her as the right fit for that role. Kudrow also remembered being told that she did not have the kind of glamorous appearance then commonly associated with female sitcom leads.

The rejection ultimately redirected her toward Phoebe, the eccentric character who became one of Friends' defining figures. Series creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman helped shape the ensemble that turned Kudrow and her five co-stars into one of television's most recognizable casts.

SCHWIMMER David

Chief Executive Officer, London Stock Exchange Group
#37
KAUFFMAN Marta

American television writer and producer
#120
ANISTON Jennifer

American actress
#122
CRANE David

American writer and producer
#199
KUDROW Lisa

American actress
#201
LEBLANC Matthew

American actor
#202
COX Courteney

American actress
#169
GROSS Terry

American journalist
#735
MOSLEY Tonya

American radio and television journalist
#739
PERRY Matthew

American and Canadian actor
#744
The Hollywood Reporter (THR)

#36
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

#71

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Section: culture

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