Lisa Kudrow reveals behind the scenes of Friends

Lisa Kudrow, known for the hit sitcom Friends, has recently spoken about the dynamics inside the show’s writers’ room. The conversation took place 22 years after the series ended, in which Kudrow played Phoebe Buffay, alongside Jennifer Aniston as Rachel and Courteney Cox as Monica. At its peak, Friends was one of the most-watched TV shows in the world.

Behind the scenes

Kudrow said in a recent interview that there were "definitely mean things" happening behind the scenes in the writers’ room. The room consisted of 12 to 15 mostly male writers who, according to Kudrow, could sometimes be mean to the actors. The show was filmed in front of a live audience of 400 people, which increased the pressure on the cast to perform perfectly.

"If you handled one of the writers’ lines the wrong way or didn’t get the right reaction, they could be really harsh, with comments like: 'Can’t that woman read? She doesn’t even care about my line,'" Kudrow said.

Intense discussions

Kudrow also revealed that the writers often gathered late into the night and had intimate conversations about the female leads. "We know the guys in the back were working on the show until 3 a.m., and they were discussing their sexual fantasies about Jennifer and Courteney. It was intense," she added.

The discussions and the culture inside the writers’ room did not go without consequences. Amaani Lyle, a writers’ assistant, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in 2004 against the male writers. In her complaint, she described how the writers made graphic comments about sex with Aniston and Cox.

Legal consequences

Even so, Lyle’s lawsuit failed, making it a Hollywood precedent for legal protection of free expression in creative environments, also known as "the Friends case."

Kudrow’s comments came as she was promoting the return of her HBO Max sitcom The Comeback, which was inspired by her experiences in writers’ rooms.

The prospect of a reboot

As for Friends, the cast reportedly still earns $20 million a year from reruns. However, Jennifer Aniston has previously said there will be no reboot, remake, or sequel to Friends. That suggests that despite the series’ lasting popularity, there are no plans to bring the Friends universe back to life.