It appears there were times when the set on “Friends” was not very friendly.
Actress Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay on the hit sitcom, called dealing with the writers’ room “brutal.”
Kudrow said in an interview with the Sunday Times the atmosphere behind the scenes was often tense. It was also at times inappropriate.
“There was definitely mean stuff going on behind the scenes,” the, 62-year-old actress said.
Kudrow claimed the pressure to perform was matched by harsh feedback from writers if lines didn’t land perfectly.
“Don’t forget, we were recording in front of a live audience of 400,” she said. “And if you messed up one of these writers’ lines, or it didn’t get the perfect response, they could be like, ‘Can’t the b—- f—ing read? She’s not even trying. She f—ed up my line.’”
Kudrow also said there were troubling conversations behind the scenes and alleged the show’s writing staff, which she said was made up of “mostly men,” made sexually explicit comments about her co-stars.
“We know that back in the room, the guys would be up late discussing their sexual fantasies about Jennifer and Courteney. It was intense,” Kudrow said, later adding, “Oh, it could be brutal.”
“Friends” has been defined as the feel-good sitcom of the 1990s.
Even amid the supposed tension, Kudrow said she learned to that block out and focus on the job.
“These guys … were sitting up until 3 a.m. trying to write the show, so my attitude was, ‘Say what you like about me behind my back because then it doesn’t matter,’” she said.
Friends,” which debuted on NBC in 1994, was one of the most-watched sitcoms on television.
Kudrow won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1998 for her work on the show.
