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Friends: Lisa Kudrow says she was the ‘only one’ who had to audition twice for the show

‘I assumed all the actors did,’ Kudrow said

Inga Parkel
Wednesday 20 July 2022 17:32 BST
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Lisa Kudrow talks about the 'special audition' she did for Friends on Today show

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Lisa Kudrow has revealed that she was the only Friends cast member who had to audition twice for her role.

The 58-year-old actor starred as Phoebe Buffay on the 1994 10-season sitcom, about six New York City friends who navigate life and love together.

On a recent appearance on the Today show, Kudrow was asked about her two-step audition process for her iconic role.

“I didn’t even realise until recently [that] I had a special audition for Jim Burrows because he was directing it,” she began. “And I assumed all the actors did.

“And then I found out – like, I don’t know, four years ago – I was the only one.

“I found out that I was the only one who had to audition for him.”

While Kudrow joked that the Friends audition process was “crazy work”, she recalled in a previous interview that, in fact, her audition for The Landers Show in the 1990s was a disastrous moment in her early career.

Friends
Friends (Getty Images)

The actor is currently working as an executive producer for her NBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, an adaptation of the British series of the same name, which follows celebrities as they embark on an emotional journey to trace their family tree.

Its newest season premiered on 10 July, after it was announced in 2019 that it was returning to NBC.

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