Lisa Kudrow famously played Phoebe Buffay on Friends for around a decade and has since watched the cultural impact the show has made. During a recent conversation, the star shared a lot of love for both fans and her time playing the character. However, there was one popular fan request she admitted that she isn’t too fond of.
Lisa Kudrow Brought Phoebe Buffay To Life On Friends For Ten Years
Kudrow is famous for playing the eccentric Phoebe Buffay on the sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004. She also appeared as the character’s twin Ursula Buffay, a role originally created for the sitcom, Mad About You.
Following this, Kudrow become known for the HBO mockumentary series, The Comeback, where she played Valerie Cherish. This series ran from 2005 to 2026, wrapping up this past May.
Recently, Kudrow looked back at playing Phoebe during an appearance on Fresh Air with Terry Gross & Tonya Mosley. At the time, she admitted that she had “zero complaints about Friends or anything to do with it.”
In general, the actress admitted that she was fond of fans asking her to repeat famous lines from the show. She even admitted that she didn’t mind being addressed as “Phoebe.”
Kudrow Shared That She Is Often Asked About One Famous Running Gag From The Show
Kudrow also expressed that “every part” of making the sitcom was amazing for her. She explained, “Just the relationship with the other actors; we had fun. That is so rare. And real honest respect, mutual respect.” She added, “It was a really good relationship that took some work, and we did the work. It was great.”
Despite it all, the actress admitted that there was one fan request she won’t do. As she explained, “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.”
On the long-running sitcom, Phoebe was famous for coming up with quirky songs. “Smelly Cat” first appears in the episode “The One with the Baby on the Bus” and would become a running gag throughout the show.
At one point on the show, Phoebe even filmed a music video for the song, in which the character is ultimately dubbed over by a professional singer, voiced by prolific voice actress and singer E. G. Daily. Over the years, the song has also been covered by a number of artists. Back in 2015, Kudrow performed the song live with Taylor Swift as part of the singer’s 1989 World Tour.
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John Witiw has been a writer since at least 2015. He’s covered a variety of topics, especially when it comes to film and television.