The iconic sitcom Friends was tapped in front of a live studio audience, which was a common practice at the end of the 20th century. However, Jennifer Aniston revealed one Friends star didn’t always enjoy that aspect.
During an Actors on Actors segment for Variety, Jennifer Aniston addressed the fact that her co-star Lisa Kudrow sometimes wasn’t happy with people laughing in the audience during filming. The comedy queen talked to Abbott Elementary’s creator and star Quinta Brunson about the comedy show, and her role in The Morning Show, and also reminisced about her time on Friends. The beloved sitcom will celebrate its 30th anniversary this fall, as it premiered in 1994, and it ran on NBC for 10 seasons until its finale in 2004.
After asking Brunson whether she ever thought of having Abbot Elementary filmed in front of a live audience, Brunson replied, “I’m not a multi-cam girl. I think the rhythm of multi-cams has changed so much since you did it,” the show’s creator reflected. “And studying your show, I think what made it so stand out was you found a rhythm — it was so quick.”
Aniston went on to reveal that her co-star, Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe, wasn’t always a fan of the live audience as she was trying to say her lines. “Lisa Kudrow, by the way, hated when the audience laughed. She’d be like, ‘I’m not done! It’s not that funny!'” Taping in front of a live audience was the norm back in the ’90s and early ’00s, with shows like All in the Family, Full House, Married With Children, Cheers, and The Big Bang Theory, all including live tracks. That changed with shows like Modern Family or The Office, which led sitcoms to a different path, and filming in front of a live audience isn’t so common anymore.
“The comedy that I really respond to is comedy that is coming out of the truth of a situation where it’s not sort of showy and hitting the joke or hitting that punchline,” Aniston continued. “Jim Burrows, who was our director for the first half of the first season of Friends, he really set a tone for us. He wouldn’t even watch the actors. He would have his hands behind his back, head down. He would just pace back and forth and listen to the rhythms. Jimmy was always about “I need you to take it down. Let’s get to the truth of this. We’re just telling a story.” So that’s what I’m drawn to.”
Jennifer Aniston Recalled Friends’ Premiere Day 30 Years Ago
When Friends premiered in 1994, almost all six actors were just getting started. The sitcom starred Aniston, Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry, who sadly passed away last October. Most of them were just breaking out, except Cox, who was more recognizable thanks to several roles and her appearance in Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” music video.
During the interview with Brunson, Aniston also recalled Friends’ premiere. “It’s so strange to even think that it’s 30 years old. Because I remember the day that it was going to premiere on television, on NBC,” Aniston recalled. “Matthew Perry and I were having lunch somewhere, and we knew Lisa was getting her hair colored. So we ran into the hair salon, and I snuck up — she was in the sink — and I took the nozzle from the guy that was supposed to be doing it and just started washing her hair. It definitely flew out of control, and that was unfortunate.”
“But the excitement we had, it feels like yesterday,” Aniston reflected. “The fact that it’s had this long, wonderful life and it still means a lot to people is one of the greatest gifts I think all five of us — all six of us — we never could imagine. And we see each other. I talked on FaceTime with Court last night for an hour, and Lisa and the boys, and we just have a really — it’s a family forever.”
