Lisa Kudrow Reflects on ‘Friends’ — ‘It Was Such a Happy Ending’

After working on Friends for a decade, is connecting important on a project?

I was hoping, like with Ray,  I hope we get along, I hope it's OK. But I also know at this point that I can get along with anyone for a few months. So it doesn't matter. And as long as there's flow, that's really all I need. That's the one thing I've come to learn.

On Conan O’Brien’s podcast back in July, you talked about watching Friends again after Matthew Perry's death. What was that like?

I was laughing out loud, which is really all I ask for in a comedy. And more than once or twice an episode, I was laughing out loud and just appreciating how funny every one of those actors on Friends was. Every one of them made me laugh. It was great. It was a good thing to do. It wasn't about me. It was about watching Matthew. And then, Oh God, look how great Jennifer is. Courteney’s hilarious. Oh my God, Matt was funny. David, that was so funny …

Is there a character you'd like to revisit? Do you ever think “What would Phoebe Buffay be doing? What would Valerie Cherish be doing?”

I'm always thinking about what Valerie Cherish [from Kudrow’s Emmy-nominated HBO series The Comeback] is doing now. That would be really, really fun to do. And yeah, Phoebe, I've thought about that, kind of. But there's something about what [Friends co-creators] Marta [Kauffman] and David [Crane] have said — there's no going back to revisit it because it was such a happy ending. We'd like to just leave them in that space. Let's just leave it there. They're all happy. Let's not open it up and see — what did life do to these people?

What's life done to you? How are you approaching your new decade?

I really felt like celebrating my 60th birthday. What else are you going to do — are you going to apologize for continuing to live or feel bad about it? No, I'm OK with it. And now 60, all I can think is, Well, if, God willing, you're 80 … why didn't I appreciate being 60?

Your son [Julian Stern, 26] followed you into the business. Did you encourage or discourage him?

He’s a filmmaker. I encouraged what he was interested in. Since he was like 9 years old, he was making stop-motion films and doing things. And he has an eye I don't have at all. And he’s good.

Does he want to put you in a film?

Not yet. … He wants to do it on his own. I think he's curious about “Can I do it on my own?” Or, “If I get an opportunity, is it because of you?” And I think the part he needs to learn is, it doesn't matter why you get an opportunity, it's what you do with it. That's my point of view. But yeah, good for him. I like that he's ambitious for himself. 

Lisa Kudrow and Taylor Swift perform onstage during Swift's concert in Los Angeles in August 2015.

Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Before taking my 17-year-old daughter to a Taylor Swift concert, I landed on a video of you up on stage singing “Smelly Cat” with Taylor in 2015. What the heck?

What the heck? I know! That was a challenge. They asked. Taylor Swift wanted to sing "Smelly Cat.” I thought, this is one of those challenges that seems terrifying, but I should do it. She said, “I just like doing something special for the people who come see me, because they spend a lot of money on the tickets and I want to have surprises for them.” And every night she planned a different surprise for them. And I’m one of them. That was the biggest [live] audience I've been in front of.

Scratch playing in concert with Taylor Swift off your bucket list. Do you even keep one of those?

No, I'm not one of those people. I don't like traveling that much. I love our home [Kudrow’s been married to advertising executive Michel Stern for almost 30 years], and my family's around where we are. I treat every day if I'm not working like a vacation. The perfect day: Taking a long walk, listening to an audiobook … and playing a puzzle game on my phone.