Friends actress Lisa Kudrow has opened up about how she found it irritating when the live studio audience, of the hit show, laughed at moments which weren’t really that funny. Speaking during Conan O’Brien’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Kudrow said that sometimes she would just look out at the audience after they had laughed for too long and feel “really angry” because she’d been waiting a long time to deliver the next line.
Furthermore, Kudrow stated that filming a 30-minute episode for Friends could be lengthy, taking anywhere between six to eight hours, as multiple takes were required to get things right. This repetition meant that the laughter in the studio audience would eventually stop, but it was likely that the canned laughter from the initial takes would be used in the final show edit. Kudrow said that she believed that the audience were instructed not to laugh so much, but it didn’t always make a difference.
Kudrow argued that the TV show wasn’t for the studio audience, but for viewers at home as they were “in service to” the public watching. As such, she had to stay in character, even if the laughter took too long. Although stage plays were different, as she had found ways to keep busy without interfering with the show, on TV she felt awkward and was left nodding or standing waiting until the laughter died down.
Last month, Kudrow stated that she’s been rewatching the series to remember the show’s late co-star, Matthew Perry, who passed away last year at the age of 54. Perry was discovered unconscious at his residence in Los Angeles and an autopsy discovered that he had died due to acute ketamine effects with drowning as a contributing factor. LAPD subsequently launched a criminal investigation into the incident, and they reportedly feel that multiple people should be held accountable for Perry’s passing. The matter is allegedly still ongoing and nearing a conclusion.
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