Lisa Kudrow says she was fired from 'Frasier' before landing iconic role in 'Friends'
Jun 25, 2021
Washington [US], June 25 : Actor Lisa Kudrow recently opened up about a role that she was fired from just days into filming, but fret not for the star as Kudrow ended up landing her iconic role of Phoebe Buffay on 'Friends' after the ousting.
While joining her sitcom co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox on Wednesday's edition of Sirius XM's 'The Howard Stern Show', Kudrow revealed that she was also tapped to play Roz Doyle on 'Frasier' but was pulled from the gig three days into filming its pilot episode.
"I wasn't right for the part [or] for the chemistry of the group. So that wasn't working but I did think, 'Oh, I am not this guy's cup of tea,'" she said of director James Burrows and his decision to scrap Kudrow for that of Peri Gilpin, according to People magazine.
The Kelsey Grammer-led 'Frasier' ran for 11 seasons on NBC from 1993 to 2004. Paramount+ announced in February that a revival series was given the go-ahead with Grammer set to reprise his role as Frasier Crane.
Perhaps, Burrows, who directed a few episodes of 'Friends' as well, wanted to see Kudrow in another light as the 'Comeback' performer also revealed that she was "the only one of the six ['Friends' stars] who had to go in and audition for [Burrows]," adding that she "had one extra audition just for James Burrows."
"I did it and he went, 'No notes,'" Kudrow recalled of the career moment. "I left going, 'That either means she's beyond help and helpless, just like I always knew,' or 'Yeah, it's perfect. I have no notes.'"
Although Kudrow ultimately landed the role as Phoebe, she told Stern that she initially didn't feel as connected to the other characters and wasn't sure she would jibe with the crew as a whole.
"Shooting the pilot that week I was like, 'All right, here we go,'" she recalled. "Phoebe was not the character that was part of this group really, that easily. There was a struggle."
The esteemed cast of 'Friends', including Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry recently came together to film a reunion special that aired on HBO Max.
'Friends' originally aired for 10 seasons on NBC from 1994 to 2004. The beloved sitcom followed the story of six friends in their 20s and 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City.
