Lisa Kudrow explains why she hated the laughter of the “Friends” audience.
Lisa Kudrow really hated the laughter of the studio audience during the filming of “Friends.”
It was her co-star and friend Jennifer Aniston who first revealed this little tidbit about Kudrow a few weeks ago, and now the “Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion” star explains why it bothered her so much.
“Because we laughed too long. It wasn't that funny. That's why,” Kudrow said on the Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend podcast.
“It wasn't an honest reaction, and it was frustrating. It messed up the timing of the rest of the show. I mean, there are other lines. I mean, I didn't say them. Sometimes I would just, if they laughed too long, I would look out or something and say, 'Come on.'” She also shook her head, frowned, and added, “I'm really angry.”
The actress went on to explain that she felt the laughter ruined the comedic timing.
She told O'Brien, “Because TV shows are not for studio audiences. Because TV shows aren't made for studio audiences.” [If it were a stage play, you know! You can laugh all you want, you can think of things to keep your character busy, and you wait for it to go on, which is fine, but now that it's being filmed, it's like you're just standing there. And then you do something that you don't want to do, and you go, “Oh, yeah, that's what they said!” And you nod your head and say, “You know what? It's terrible.”
To make matters worse, Kudlow explained that the audience was actually told not to laugh too long, but they ignored that request.
“I think the audience was instructed not to do that. 'We went through so many takes that they stopped laughing. No, it worked. No, it worked.
When she sat down with Quinta Brunson for Variety's Actors on Actors series last month, Aniston revealed, “Lisa Kudrow, by the way, hated it when the audience laughed.” She added, “She would say, 'Uh, still . .” she would say, ”I'm not done! I'm not done! I'm not done! It's not that funny."
Kudrow later spoke to Entertainment Tonight and acknowledged her friend's allegations.
“I was annoyed when they laughed too long,” she said. She said, “God bless them, they were so excited to be there that sometimes the laughter would be longer than they would have laughed at anything else.” [They were making TV history. But I can see Kudlow's point. That's one of those things.
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