Lisa Kudrow
Appearances
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then I saw that person a few years later on one of the Housewives. Interesting. On a show. And I went, okay. Interesting. But I can be sort of judgmental. And someone comes in and they're just like, riffraff. You know? Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know because I know I've seen things. Yeah, words are canceled now. We have to look it up.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, but even like back then, I saw it in an old movie where it's like, oh, they're an actor. All actors are riffraff. And then it came up in something else and someone was like, don't say that. That's a horrible thing to say. Oh, really? And I went, riffraff? It doesn't sound like really bad. Yeah, it doesn't. Okay, we got clearance. Oh, good. What's the origin?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And Chuck Lorre was there too, I think. Oh, wow, Dax, you missed a lot of people.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
How was I to know I wasn't- And there were people in the house, so they went in. And they probably thought- Like other people are in. I guess it's inside and outside. I'm getting chilly. Yep. Should we just go inside?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
We were out of the house. I'm just trying to say that it's all fine. It's okay. It's okay. No one meant any harm. No. Mostly it's good people in the world. Let's just keep telling ourselves that, right? And at some point we're all going to die anyway, and it's all going to be okay. Totally.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
So people probably fucked in our bedroom. We're not doing that anymore. Let that be the worst thing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, that is how it was. Because junior high, I thought, oof, we're all supposed to be popular. That's supposed to happen developmentally, right? See, again, why I'm not fun at a dinner party.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Because I want to get into the evolutionary behavioral things about it. In your history. Yeah, you're generous.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And that, yeah, is very important evolutionarily. Modeling, playing out scenarios, having a plan. The world is scary if we can't do that. Right. Don't we all do that? No. Happy people do not do that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know. Yes, to just be fine with what is. And then something comes up, you'll deal with it. I can be that person sometimes. Very happy when I am. But today, I mean, I have to say it's election day. So everything is just like, all right, what's going to happen? What should we prepare for? Oh, my God. Right.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I'm going to focus on getting myself to where I think I need to be. And that is college somewhere on the East Coast and not here in Southern California.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
My head's full of 10 different things. You walked in today and I went, Jesus, he looks so good. Gorgeous.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It happens with men, too, by the way. Have you seen The Substance? No. What is it?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, and she says, no, I don't want to go back to being old.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It's church right now. Right. Women can't and shouldn't. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's the chilling, terrifying thing. By the way, you know the movie here? No. Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Robert Zemeckis. It's going through time and they shot it and they could actually shoot the scene and then look at the playback of them as younger and it's ready for them to see.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And all I got from that was, this is an endorsement for AI and oh my God. It's not like, oh, it's going to ruin everything.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
What will there be left for, forget actors, but what about up and coming actors? They'll just be licensing and recycling.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, and then set that completely aside. What work will there be for human beings?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, you do talk about that? Oh, yeah. And then what? So there'll be some kind of living stipend for people? There'll be no work. How can it possibly be enough?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Look it, I'm shaking. I know you are. I don't know if it's chilly in here. There's a blanket.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
This is our night-night time now. 99! Put her to sleep. Stay in your bedroom tonight. Put her to sleep. This is a drag. This isn't working out.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's the fallacy. Yeah. Right. Okay. Because you said that's the healing power of fame.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It's an equalizer. That's for sure. So what you're saying is so people will.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Be miserable. But then what they're going to see is being here on this planet in this life is about something else. It's not about what I do. It's about who I love and who loves me. It's about connecting. It's about being part of a community. But a community doing what?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Painting. It doesn't have to be for a result. The domestic robot will do that better. Oh, it will be better. The artist robots will do it better.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. Everyone needs an occupation. I don't mean a professional occupation. I mean, you need something to occupy your time and you need to decide what's fulfilling and what isn't.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
But you're saying that'll be solved. And I'm saying, I don't know what government can afford to solve that on a satisfactory level.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Population decline. Sure. That's a terrible joke. Because it's not funny. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, get in touch with this hotline. Yes. That's right. Trigger warning.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I'd need to see an episode of that. Maybe there was one on Star Trek or a good writer is going to have to play that out for me to see. I'll get back to you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I was able to do it myself. Okay, good. I'm like Harry Houdini. Somehow I was able to score my hand under the loose blanket.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, I grew up with John Lovitz. He and my brother, best friends. And he grew up in Encino as well? Tarzana. And he was at our house all the time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I let him know after college I decided I should try acting because I always was interested, but threw it away. After I graduated, I realized... wait a minute, don't have any regrets later. I know you plan to get married and have kids and all of that, but you might regret not ever even trying. So know for sure why you didn't pursue acting. So I let
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Love It's No after I graduated because he got on Saturday Night Live. And before that, I thought, oh, it's only a magical few that are touched. Certainly no one who looks like me. But I saw him just pounding away forever in college. He was a theater major. He wanted to be an actor. And oh, dear God, how's that? It's so hard.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then he got on Saturday Night Live and I thought, oh, it's his reality. I wonder if I should try. So I let him know and he said, go to Groundlings. That's where I learned the most for acting. That's been the best preparation.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I wasn't allowed to even audition because I called them and said, John Levitz told me to call, which may have been like a fucking guy got on to Saturday Night Live, you know. Okay. Well, when's the last time you performed or acted? And I said, junior high. And I said, great. We're sending you someplace else. Oh.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
See Cynthia Seghetti, who taught improv and she had a class she taught at the Coronet Theater.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. The other person in that class was Conan O'Brien. He also was sent to Cynthia Seghetti. Oh my God. And by the way, I've told this before, but I was going to quit. I went to one class of Cynthia's. Conan wasn't there. Everyone there just felt like, oh, not for me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
These are actory people. I thought comedy would be less serious and phony. They were really overdoing it with emotional adjustments. I was like, this is just embarrassing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
This is like cheerleading. You've been embarrassed for people for quite a long time. And I didn't want to be part of that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, except when. So the next week I was like, do I go back? I should go. Just go. Come on. And I was a little late and they were already up there doing lift a disc or space ball or whatever it was. Now throw it. And you're angry. Everyone's angry. Angry now. People are throwing it. And they're like, grrr. So embarrassing. And then there was Conan. I didn't know him. He was really tall, red hair.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And he was throwing it. And he was angry. But he wasn't making a meal of it. I got it. And then Cynthia said, good commitment. And I went, that's what commitment means? I can do that. And so I just made a beeline for him when it was all over. And like, hi, I'm Lisa.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well. Pretty soon, we will be dating. Not really. Best friends. For how long?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Eight years. And then tried that for... After eight years of friendship? Three months. And then, no.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I mean, it worked out. We weren't supposed to be. They were meant to be, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, because it's a completely different relationship and we're better as friends. So that was just a weird blip.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
If the praise is coming for like indicating anger or, oh, I'm sad. I'm not buying it. It's bad. Right.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
The teacher is really just trying to make people feel safe and comfortable. Right. And so for me, it was, well, how will I ever be able to trust her? I'm going to think I'm great. And then I'm going to have horrible habits. I'm just going to become good at being bad. Right. That's not what I am hoping to learn to do.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then I need an example. I learn best by example. So what does it look like when you're doing it right? Because Robert De Niro isn't doing Spaceball or Lift a Disc right now for me to see.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Okay, yeah. Well, because Conan was, was. I mean, has always been. Yeah. And that's not a lie. The funniest person I'd ever met.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't do it, but my husband does. Oh, he does. You get it here?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. And we'd go to parties like, well, he's the best to bring to a party because he makes everyone so comfortable. He's so hilarious. And he's, I think, one of the smartest people I've ever met.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, we got accepted into paying them money for the basic class. We were allowed to do that, but we weren't in the same class. And everyone knew we were close friends. I always suspected that had something to do with if people thought there was anything good about me because I sort of had Conan's endorsement and he was already really respected. He was going to get in.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
He was in the advanced class. Is that called third level? I don't know. The advanced class.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And from there, you get voted into the Sunday company. And you do two sort of showcases. After that first performance in that advanced class, he and his writing partner, Greg Daniels, What? Yeah, you didn't know that? I don't think I knew that. Or did I? Maybe I forgot. You fucking dumbass. Can we just do this whole thing about Conan and Greg?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, but they got invited to write on Saturday Night Live.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I didn't get an official audition. I was just told Lorraine Newman had seen me at the Groundlings and she thought I was good.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, but she let me know. She let them know to pay attention or come see me. They were coming out to look at Julia Sweeney. And I think she was letting them know, look at her too.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It made me nervous because that was going to be life-changing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I wasn't going to say no to that. But it wasn't your only... You wanted to act and be in things. I thought I should probably be on a sitcom. I mean, I wasn't getting any auditions or anything at that point at all. And Saturday Night Live was good, too. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I'm just so happy I'm not getting judged for still using nicotine.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And I remember calling Conan because he was writing there. And I said, can you put in a good word or anything? He was like, no, because that's a different no.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Also, he may have known. I kind of look at Julia Sweeney. That's kind of the entire story.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
They were in the audience. And I thought I'm having it. They're here to see me, too.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, but I'm usually wrong. I don't remember things well. I just know, yeah, Julius Sweeney. That's all I know.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Because most people say, well, you got to get off that. Why? Yeah. Because they don't know. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
But I know because I was a groundling. I voted in Will Ferrell. Oh. Get out.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, that wasn't even a question for anyone voting. Everything you need here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Will Ferrell.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Did you know this? No, I did, but I don't know what year. Okay.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's why I got voted in. I was in a play. No, I was in a play. Ladies Room. That Robin Schiff, who was a groundling, she wrote it. It was really successful. And then I got to be in a movie with Teresa Russell, directed by Sandra Locke. I got cut out of it, but it was not comedy either. And I got to audition for so many things. Because of a sketch? Because of that play. Oh, wow. A play.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
At the Tiffany Theater, which was the Equity Waiver Theater in L.A. And it ran forever. And it was me and this girl, Christy Miller, who was also in the Groundling program. Christy Miller. Christy.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Christy Miller. And at first, the characters were called Airhead One, Airhead Two. We were a total of like five minutes in and out of the stage. Then the play is backed by Aaron Spelling and Douglas Kramer. Oh, wow. They give the characters names Romy and Michelle. Stop.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
So much later. Oh my God. So much later. There's a bad pilot with Romy and Michelle that Spelling Kramer made. It's not great. Okay. Because I realized I kept saying so bad and that's unkind.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Either right before or around the same time, because I knew one of them, I wasn't a SAG pilot. member. So you had to get two jobs. I had to get Taft, Hartley, and then join or something like that. So it was Cheers and Romy and Michelle, but it was called Temporarily Yours. Wow.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's why I got into Groundlings. Because you had done... I was ready to hand it over to I think because I was friends with Conan. I think it's because you were good.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. Oh, good. Right. That's not the problem. It was the delivery system. That's the problem. Tobacco is the best delivery system. The dosage was really perfect. How long did you partake in that delivery system? 20 years. Nice. Yeah. And then 20 years of this. I'm 20 years on this too.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yes. I mean, I do know Piers thought... That's funny. But I was not a crowd pleaser with the growling audience. I wasn't doing like fright wigs and blackened teeth, you know. Right. Yeah, you were embarrassed by that. I wasn't. I mean. I would have been. I did one sort of like that. If people can see your face. One time. You're almost throwing up. You're kind of holding back a moment. One time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
But I was trying to be clever, by the way. Pat Sajak had a late night show. Oh, yes.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
A talk show. For a minute. And he was going to start having sketches. And so they wanted Groundlings to come do sketches. So they came to watch a show. And the director of the main company at the time, I was smoking and I was going to go get cigarettes. He goes, let me walk with you. I was like, no, I didn't think he liked me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
all right and we're walking he says so pat sajak people were out here and they watched the show so they liked julia of course sweeney i went yeah yeah he said everyone and i don't even understand any of this but you oh my god and he really did say it like that because i remember thinking Manners, at least. Yeah. Sure. But all right. I went, huh. I think he said, this is crazy.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And I could see how you might be confused with that because an eight and a six have circles in them.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Anyway, it was to see if there was any association between hemispheric dominance, handedness, and headache types. So it wasn't just cluster headache.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It was just to see if people who were right hemispheric dominant had more cluster headache. But it was every headache amongst all headache types. But the answer was no. Okay.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
He was concerned, not concerned, but he was interested in headache because he got almost every headache type.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It's a complicated explanation that has to do with, if it holds, it's his theory, which was impressive because he had the first working theory, that it had to do with some damage to the hypothalamus. Mostly men had cluster headache and that the damage may have come from burning the candle on both ends was his theory at the time. But I don't think stress brought on the cluster headaches.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I think it was a circadian or circannual. rhythm thing for episodic cluster and people who had it chronically all the time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, the pattern had to do with the light changing. A lot of them are hormone related too, right? Migraines, but not cluster headaches.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
But there are men who get headaches. Well, young men. And then as you get older, if I'm remembering it right, because I worked there for eight years, guys get older, their headaches go away.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, I mean, I'm sorry. Look at me now. It's like, no, no, I'm not. No joking. This isn't funny. Everything's very serious. Come on.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. There's those migraines, you know, like hemiplegic migraines, or I don't know, maybe they don't call those anymore. But half of the face or body gets paralyzed. And the scary thing is when it happens, you think, I think you got to get a brain scan. Yeah, stroke. It's happening, but it's not.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
My brother's a neurologist and he now is the headache specialist. And he had just explained it. And now because of my age, I don't remember what he said. Right.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Simulation, right. What do you mean? Like, do you think you're living on?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I'm processing everything you're saying and trying to figure how it's the same as the way I see things. Because I do think that there's too much we don't know. So it could be that. It could be God. It could be anything. Something stinks. I don't know if something stinks. I think that what stinks is that we require to measure it, see it, describe it, define it. We need to know.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I know. Well, it's just two lung irritants and throat irritants. It's not good.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
In order to accept it, when the one thing I learned from science and scientific method is there's more we don't know than we do know. So just because you can't doesn't mean it's not happening.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's what I think. There are things we can't explain that we've just known.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. Well, okay. Here's the thing. When there was no way I was going to be an actress and I was in college and my plan even on graduation was I'm going to go to graduate school and study evolutionary theory. Not going to be a doctor. That's fine. I'd come home for spring breaks. And I'd be driving around in L.A. and you'd hear on the radio a commercial for a new sitcom or a sitcom.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. By the way, this is why I'm no fun in a dinner party.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And they're promoting it with their best joke. I have huge quote marks. I'm waving like a lunatic.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I'm driving along and I'd hear that joke, which would just be like, well, that's what she said last time. And I think, oh, my God. Why do they have to hit it so hard? Can't they just throw it away? That's what she said last time. And then the thought was, Lisa, please remember to throw it away when you do it. Oh. And I went, what? I'm not doing that. Right. But you always were.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Because I get like, oh no, that's terrible. Two irritants. Did you read the study on...
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then other things like that. I'd watch David Letterman and watch someone who was being very, very phony. You know, that's not the way they talked. Not really. No. I love that. I love that. You know, like that kind of thing. And I thought. Oh, my God, Lisa, when you're on Letterman, please try to be yourself. I'm like, yeah. Wait, when am I going to be on Letterman? For what?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
The latest evolutionary theory? Am I going to come up with some world altering?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't feel like that was that part of me responding. It felt like it was someone else saying, Lisa, when you do it. But it wasn't a voice. It wasn't anything else. It was a thought in my head. But to respond to it like, wait, what are you saying? What does that mean?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Sometimes I just know what I know. Although now I'm feeling like an idiot.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
After talking to you that, oh, yeah, she studied science and she thinks that something in the cosmos is talking to her. But it did feel like such a strong feeling that shouldn't rationally be there. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I didn't. I rejected it. Yeah. Until Levitz. And it was very practical. I'm 22. I don't have a mortgage. I don't have any responsibility. Now's the time to try that. And you don't want to have any regrets. I'd forgotten about those other things.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Right. You're the least competent person in the household. So you're the dumbass.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know. Things shift and change in me all the time. What's important, who I am, what kind of mood I'm in, either very analytical or I'm very like, you know, it doesn't matter. It's okay. You'll rise to the occasion. I feel like a different person. And Diane Keaton once said to me a long time ago, something like, oh, I was 25. I was a different person.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Like, well, don't you feel like you're the same person? No, I've been so many different people. Right. Of course not. We've all been so many different people at different times.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I agree with that. But what about core beliefs? Beliefs and opinions are different, aren't they? Values and opinions are different, for sure.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
There's a higher order, something shifted in the list of priorities.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Because I don't like permanent decisions, except for my son. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Right. They made a mistake. And then they corrected the mistake.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I'm not sure. Or I don't want to know. Maybe more to the point. Maybe I am. After Friends, I did two different shows that was basically just me. Yes. So I did have to think about, oh, what's wrong with you? Ah. Coming from the most quintessential ensemble. And to me, that has nothing to do with it. Right, right, right. Coincidence. By the way, maybe it does have nothing to do with it. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, yeah. You're set. Oh, you're Frasier. Yeah, she was original. Remember, they made a mistake and then they corrected it. Like, no, let's stick with Kelsey.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It was a funny idea. No, the Roz character. I mean, they, I think had Perry Gilpin in mind when they wrote the part and she and I were the ones that went to the network and I just sort of changed their mind for a minute. And that was a mistake. They reversed course.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
A couple of days before shooting. I don't know, halfway through the pilot week.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I did think I might be one of those people for whom this isn't going to work out. Am I? I am. Am I, though? I don't know.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. And I would just get up every morning and walk. And then at the end of the walk, I lived near Michel Richard at the time. It was a great little cafe and they had pan au chocolat. And I'm going to have one of those at the end of my walk. And as I'm out there walking, the sun is bleaching my hair and it's getting a little lighter. So I'm getting some lighter highlights.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And I'm just in every way lightening up. And I have friends that I'm talking to who are saying like, oh my God, you're leaving the house. That's amazing. To me, it was support and encouragement. Like, well, you're doing great. Look, one door closed, another one opens. And then I think it's that one thing that I was told that it's, then what else will you do? And I could always just go back and
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
to school, get caught up in whatever's happening in evolutionary biology, take whatever classes I have to take and just continue on that path. And that was never an option. I knew I wasn't going to do that and that this is really what I wanted to do.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
A year? I don't know. I'm bad with this. Maybe people know this.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Right. Yeah, that's scary. And I really thought, I'm not his cup of tea. Yeah, he doesn't like it. I'm not for him. How much of a say does he have in things? Oh, a lot. Oh, me, a lot. And so I had to audition. I auditioned for just Jimmy. One of my auditions was in a room just Jim Burrows and I'm doing the audition and he says, no notes.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And I walk out going, that either means I give up, she's hopeless, or it was perfect. I have no notes. And then it's, I'll find out soon. It doesn't matter. What can I do? It's over. Yeah. I don't know how many years ago this was. Less than 10, I think. And there's something for Jim Burrows, like a special something. And I think it's even broadcast. And the six of us cast members are with him.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's where I think I said like, yeah, well, I had an audition. Remember the audition we all had?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I thought, this is that crazy insecurity. You think he needed to see you because it didn't work out on the last thing. Yeah, it's just part of the audition process. It's just part of it. Everyone did this. Why don't you calm down?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, not the table read. One of the rehearsals. For the pilot? For the pilot where Rachel is about to cut up credit cards and we're all sitting around the kitchen table. And he thinks, oh, you know, it'll be fun. At least get under the table. What? Oh, God. What do you mean? Let's sit under the table. And I'm climbing down. I'm just like shoving myself under the kitchen table.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And I said, I can't see anybody. He's like, yeah, but it's funny. That's all right. Oh, boy.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Oh my God. He doesn't want this to work. He doesn't even want me in the scene. Because one of the issues with the character, it's like, how do we let the audience know why they're friends with her? Right, right, right. Because she's so different. Yeah. And I don't know that this helps that. So we do the run through and David Crane, who's so nice, he's like, okay, that was good.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa, it's funny that you're under the table. I don't know that that works. And I'm thinking, he thinks this was my idea. Oh, no. Oh, no. He thinks it's my idea.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And now they won't be able to trust any of my instincts.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Thank God. I went, oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. He's like, we were just trying it. This is a turning point though. She doesn't have to do it. Yeah. In his book, he wrote like she needed to trust me. So I needed to show her. Like it was all calculated. I don't think the whole thing. What do I know? Okay. I didn't know I was the only one auditioning for him. The hell do I know?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
He'll be the first to say, it's just a pitch. 50% of them don't work.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, yeah. Then he was so fantastic because I did this show, The Comeback, and asked him to be Jimmy the director because it was him.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
To act. And he did it. Had he ever? And he was fantastic. I think no. Oh, wow.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
We also worked hard at being friends. That six-way relationship took some work and we did it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Really talking things through. If someone said something or did something, it didn't get too big because it was, can I talk to you? Usually not me because I had to learn to be, can I talk to you about something? Yeah. Because I never knew that was allowed, but I saw it modeled really well by Courtney and Jennifer and Matt. Yeah. Communication, like rule number one in any relationship. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, I was, because I was 94. May of 94. July is my birthday, so I wasn't 31. I was 30. Yeah, you were 30. Oh, my God. It's this kind of detail that is fascinating.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. No, they hadn't picked it up. By the way, here's what a bad judge of is a show going to be successful or not. I was like, it's cute. Right. I mean, it's not Seinfeld is sort of groundbreaking comedy. I'm just glad it's on NBC because I've got a recurring role on Mad About You. I got to protect that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's because when they put us on, they put us on right after Mad About You. It ended up being such a great crossover, though.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Or is it also their expectations from this group of me? Yes. So to me, that is very actory or entertaining person who's trying to please or fulfill expectations. I know there's a part of me that just wants to play too.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, my God. No, it was like a once in a huge. Who knew there'd be an Internet and then you can think about it and it would present itself to you again. Exactly.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
So special. And it was funny. These people were really funny.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Can I offer something that would have been me had I not been on the show?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, if absolutely everybody loves it, it might not be for me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
You think you're different. I've got a different sense of humor. A thousand percent.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. I only watched Everybody Loves Raymond during COVID.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then I watched Big Bang Theory and went, oh my God, that Sheldon's the best character I've ever seen in my whole life. Right. Right.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know if it was the cool club when I was on Friends. I wasn't watching anything. I was working and was the only one to get married and have a kid.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. Was it? Yeah. We'd get together and watch the episodes and stuff. And then like what you were saying about you have a kid and everything shifts everything. Everything drops about 10 pegs on the list of priorities because it's that transition also into being a parent. I don't transition well, so it takes up a lot of my attention.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
So if I am in a gathering where there are funny people around and they're doing bits, I want to participate. I also want to see if I can keep up or I'm a little competitive and I think I can do better. I can beat this. I want to see if I can win at this game. And you still feel that way. Yeah, sometimes. And then there's plenty of times where I do feel like go for it. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then also that was around the same time I started getting cast in movies while I'm doing Friends and I'm a mother for the first time. And it was just a little too much. That's a lot. Yeah. So I wasn't watching anything. I was done with the what's groundbreaking comedy. And the other big shift for me was after 9-11, I'd be driving back from Warner Brothers.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, we were at Warner Brothers. And people used to stop at a stoplight and go, ah, you know, look at you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Like very somberly. And that's when... It really sunk in. I couldn't watch CNN anymore because all it was was who died. Yeah. Who was in New York? Who was near the towers? Who was in the towers? Everyone knew someone in the towers. And I had this weird dissociated event. I was watching Will and Grace and I went, oh, yeah. Oh, thank God. I went, oh, wait, but it's in New York.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, God, who did they know in the towers? And then went, oh, no, no. I'm in TV. I know they shot this before 9-11. So it hasn't happened yet.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then I went, no, this isn't real. It will have never happened here. Yeah. And it was like, oh, thank God. Thank God I can go somewhere that didn't happen. And that's when any kind of comedy, snobbery, any of that melted away forever because entertainment is important and it's providing a huge mental health service and it is important.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, but we were always aware. There's the task at hand. We got sort of over publicized. What is overexposed?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Especially if it's a bunch of stand-ups, stand-up comedians.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yes. Also, we were overexposed. Everyone was excited at the network, at the studio. We were on every talk show. And so then it just became the joke. Matthew Perry was the first one who said, like, we feel like we need to get the word out that we're on, which was insane. And so then we were asked to do some commercial or something else. And we just went so overexposed.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And how are we going to fix this? And then it was, we don't need to fix it. They're still watching the show. We just need to focus on the task at hand, which is doing this show and doing it the best we can. And the writers and producers feel the same way. And there were conversations just about, I don't know, is this getting a little too weird? You know, like with the writing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
But everyone just got refocused on this. Make it good. Yeah. Don't forget what this is all about.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I'm getting shaky. It's too much energy. I'm talking too much.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I want to pee at some point. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, go ahead.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And she had a podcast. Yeah, she did. She had a cat podcast. I'm just remembering doing a podcast. And it was, yeah, you can use the bathroom. And it's like, this is a curtain. Deja vu.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That told you. I feel like an idiot. No. What do you mean? I do believe sometimes things just make themselves known to you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I mean, haven't you had things happen that you can't explain and come on?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, but this has to come off. Yeah, you'll take that guy off. Oh my God. I'm out of my mind. She's not talking for me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, you're not. No, are you kidding? You're talking enough. Why do these
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Wasn't that like five or 10? That was under 60, I think. Wouldn't it be funny if I thought? I think that was about 10 minutes.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Just like Vosser. Vosser. He must have gone to Vosser. Everyone at Vassar when I was there was like, yeah, I didn't get into Yale.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Right. And it can get mean if I overstep. I'm inviting some hostility potentially. Interesting. If I question or compete. Oh, sure. Yeah, but it's worse for you. Because I'm a woman. That's true.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I was like, I wonder if maybe we don't know. We're going to talk about that. Actually, because I just chit chat. I genuinely love that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, it's everything. That was the beginning of online chat stuff. And I could actually go on a computer and read what people are saying and how they're criticizing. Well, two of the three girls are cute, you know, like a lot of that stuff too. And went, oh, okay, this won't help me be good on the show. So I just immediately stopped. You were smart enough to know I'm not looking at that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Because there were some good things, too, that I didn't necessarily agree with. Right. Just rationally thought none of this needs to be taken to heart or too seriously. Very nice when people appreciate what I do. Not everyone will. OK, that was pretty intact.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's such a great saying. It is none of my business. But what I have found is it depends on mood isn't even the right word. It's like a frame of mind. And I couldn't even define what that frame of mind is. But I can watch the same thing and think that was funny. Oh, good. And then another day, the same thing and say, why did I think that was good? How have you been getting away? Oh, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, also, if I'm doing a character and I see a glimpse of me, and mostly there's a lot of me in everything I do. Yeah. I can tell the difference. If I watch The Comeback, I have no problem watching that. That's a different human being from me. I'm proud of it. It's all good. Friends, sometimes like, uh-oh, you just did a voice, basically. That wasn't acting. That wasn't anything.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It was just like, I don't know, what? And then I don't want to shit on it because people like it. And I'm not saying you're an idiot for liking it or anything. It's just for me, what I try to do is out of respect, not even just for me, but for people who do like that. Honoring the whole thing. So can you forgive yourself? You didn't think you were so great at the acting.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It was good enough for a lot of people. And can you just do that?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
But don't you forgive everyone? I mean, performance wise, someone will have just a moment in a performance and I'll go, oh, well, I forgive it because the rest of it is so great. Oh my God. Yep.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
The big thing for me now is, I don't even know if I should say it out loud. Of course you should. Can I forgive myself for not having some work done on that face? Can I forgive myself for getting older? and not doing something about it. Because I watch and I'm like, they've got a jawline. Am I supposed to have a jawline?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Like even into my 60s, that thing that comes up is, wait, should I? Am I supposed to? Are you allowed?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Everyone but me seems to be doing this. So should I? Am I allowed not to? Or is it going to be so off-putting it's going to affect people's experience? Interesting. Watching me. I'm trying to be practical about it because clearly I haven't.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
About my huge stand-up career before. No, and I did not have a stand-up career ever. But you're a groundling. Well, some people know they don't care because it's not stand-up. By the way, have you noticed, to me, stand-up comedians are so much more serious than comedic actors. They want to analyze comedy and pick it apart and talk really seriously about what they do.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, I did get Botox at age 60. At 60 for the first time. I went to the doctor and he's like, wait a minute, I've never checked the box for a first time in LA. You're unique. And then I hear unique is a euphemism for idiot?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, another part of me wants people to then just get used to me older. Of course.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It's not pride. I'm walking through this. Because I don't judge anyone for doing it. I get it. And a lot of people look fantastic. Sure. But... I also am afraid that if it doesn't heal right. Yeah, it's scary. I look older and not like you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Why is that owed? It's not young. It's maintained. Interesting. Because once there's work that is not trying to make you look 20, AI can do that for me. But it's just making you look looked after, cared for. Kept up. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
He's like, what's going on with your jaw? It felt like it was okay for some reason.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
family and friends no i think it was always if you're gonna be an actor the hope is that you make enough to not do another job this was like the show's really good and you're good but this is winning a lottery that's how it was sort of looked at but you mean like asking for money and doing stuff if it did i'm not remembering yeah that's what's not registering to me
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't remember what I was even going to say, because I thought of one thing and then another thing knocked it out. But there was something.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Okay. I know what it was. Okay. The thing is, I think for all of us, and especially at that time, right? It's like 20 years ago. That's when it was money being- The last two years. Yeah. That it's, I don't want people to know that. And for me, the biggest impact was at my son's schools. As he was getting older, our society was moving into what's privilege class, where we're
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
The other people in his school had assumptions about his family based on what's been known. Public knowledge, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Not once, but right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, what they didn't know was that some of their other classmates' families...
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Billionaires. Yeah, right, right. Yeah. But it's not known. My son's getting a lot of shit for being privileged. And then it was, hey, cool. I thought you'd get a new car. You got the old soccer mom car.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Sure. And I mean, I don't need anyone feeling bad for me. Let's say that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
You're still a person. Yes. Oh, I know what you're saying. Sometimes there's been hints of, you know, if there's a stressful time around something personal, sometimes I feel a whisper of, well...
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then it's just, of course, that's what's plaguing you right now. Maybe I need to have a little more empathy about that. But the only time ever I did a Who Do You Think You Are? Because I produced the show and I was the first one to shoot it. And I'm in Belarus and learning about how my family was killed by death squads during the Holocaust.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Great-grandmother. And kids and family and the whole town. And so I'm learning about that. And I'm talking to this old woman who had been there. She's not Jewish. That's why she survived. And I'm just surrounded by this whole darkness of it and getting slightly angry. So this woman in between shooting in Russian and she just said, you're from America? Yeah. You have nice teeth. And I went, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
She didn't have any teeth at all in her head. I said, yeah. And she said, you're rich?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And I said, yes. Yes, I am. Yeah. It's kind of undeniable. Yes, I am. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I'm so proud of that at this moment. Yes. Because all these people were murdered and then my grandmother, they came over, they had nothing. And you're still here. Here you are and you're rich. And that. Yes. It was the only time in my life that I felt like, yes. Yeah. I'm rich.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I've never been, I don't know if I can handle it. And I could barely handle that. But I was really surprised by my reaction to being around someone who survived it, then later came back and placed a monument where the mass grave was. I was standing there and thinking, God, all these people were killed.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And then there were the people who were shooting who have to have had moments later on where they went, what did I do? I'm sure a lot of them just went, Jews, they had a coming. But how many lives were ruined? On all sides.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I was never a crowd pleaser. I don't even know how I got into the main company because I didn't do the kind of stuff audiences liked.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Even if for like five minutes when that veil is lifted, it's torture. And then they can go back and tell themselves the same story to get through it. And these weren't Nazis either, necessarily. A lot of times it was local police who were happy to help. Anyway, sorry. We just got there. My last friend's question. You see? Made a dinner party.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Isn't it funny? We like this part. That's what we'd like to do. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, there's that too. Yeah, that's a good element of it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I didn't. First couple of seasons, we'd go to Courtney's and watch it every Wednesday, every Thursday night. I almost said the wrong night. Yeah, must see. I was just making up a word. It's like, it's every week, every, I don't know. Just make up a word. Every Saturday morning we get together. Wednesday is a day.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
For example, every Wednesday, whatever it was on. I don't know. Whatever. Thursday night. We'd watch it every week and then too busy. And I was pregnant. I don't know. I just stopped watching. And there are episodes I've never seen. Wow.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, when Matthew passed away, I started watching. I mean, there were marathons and was part of the process for me. And boy, I really appreciated it and how fun. Well, I knew he was funny always anyway.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
For no other reason than to torture Cullen. But he just was so funny. And I'm like, God, LeBlanc is hilarious. Oh, Jennifer, my God, that's so good.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Come on, Courtney. How are you never nominated for an Emmy? That's insane. And Schwimmer. Yes. Oh, my God. Come on. It was just this whole appreciation. I went, I've got to watch all of them. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I cried when there was a marathon on and I caught, I mean, I'm not watching it like on max from season one. I tried. I don't know if I can do season one, but maybe season two or three. Can we watch and watch? Okay. And then something about me was like, I can't.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, but I feel like I need to watch all of them. So anyway, the episode where Phoebe got married is on and I'm watching it and I got so caught up that I cried watching her because she looked so happy. Yeah, she was so happy. She had such a real smile. She was just, I've never seen Phoebe that happy. You could remove yourself. It's she. Yeah. It's for sure she. It's for sure she. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Who wouldn't be happy marrying Paul Rudd? Well, and then there's that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Right. I, this will sound odd, am more comforted that he was happy the day he died. He got to die happy. And to me, that was a gift. It could have gone a much different way.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know if I fit that category either. Who were you there? What kind of things were you doing? I did your favorite actress on a talk show. It became a character I did in The Comeback, this HBO show. But I loved that character monologue. I loved doing those.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, it is complicated, you know, but I loved that Matthew I first met and the one at the end because God love him. This is you and I love you. Yeah, I accept that this is you. Yeah, I understand. And so did he.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yes. I thought the sentence was going to finish a different way.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I've spent so much of my life making everybody around me like me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
But it's not like, what do you like about yourself? It's accept yourself, love yourself. That was, to me, the whole thing about fame isn't going to give you that. Just because everyone else is loving you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It exacerbates it. But the answer is simply, you're not only allowed to love yourself, you've got to. You're all you've got. Ultimately, it's so nice that people love you, but it doesn't work if you don't love you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, my God. It all goes back to the groundlings every time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No. I was just told, so we have an offer for you to do this Netflix show. Interesting. Tell me more. It's limited series, which you can do, because I was committed to something else at the time. I went, okay. It's Liz Feldman, who did, I said, Dead to Me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I know. Well, this sounds like a yes. Well, let's tell you a little more. You'll be married to Ray Romano. Well, of course, yes. Yeah. He's such a good actor.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah, but not game improv. I liked, I did this thing, Transformers, where it's sort of longer form and you do a scene and then it gets silent, whatever. I guess it's called miming to people listening who might not know. But whatever space work you're doing, it starts transforming as a group. You're all in sync and you turn it from baling hay to a rodeo lasso or something.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
You were keeping that very tight. I should have said that before. No, it's probably best. There wasn't a moment.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I was going to and then I forgot. Remember how I kept saying there's something I want to say and I can't remember what it is?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yes. Did you see that Netflix movie, him and Mark Duplass? I can't remember what it was called because the name of it has nothing to do with what it was about. Thank you. Paddleton. Paddleton. Oh, maybe that was someone's name. But to me, that has nothing to do with what it was about. And that was just world changing to me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Me too. It's perfectly beautiful. That was a set on two stages. The first floor is on one stage. Second floor is on another stage.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Is that all we can say? And there's some secrets. There's a lot of secrets going on.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
To me, the woman I'm playing has got to be unstable because that's nothing like me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, home are the people you're with. That's true. And you claim a space. So wherever we live next, I'll claim it. It'll be ours. It's fine. Here's the weird thing that caught me by surprise. My brother and sister and I found out that our house that we grew up in, in Tarzana, was for sale and there was an open house. Oh. And let's just go. And the three of us went to the house.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And I thought, I can afford to buy it, I think. Should I just buy it? Yeah. I should just buy it. I want it back. I think I should buy it. Yeah, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Do you buy it? No. Oh. Because at first, it was like, I want it back. We were having so much fun. It's like, yes. Oh, my God. And that's the same. And remember, we blank. And we did that. And oh, remember the time I got thrown across the room? And yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
This is where dad used to hang his belt. We were having the best time. But by the time we were sort of done touring it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Yeah. And then your new characters, they were really good improvisers in that. I was really happy. I was the only girl.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It's what you cared about while you were playing that game.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That's great. I don't have objectivity. I watched the first one and immediately forgot I was in it. And when I can't wait to see the next one. So that to me was a great sign. That's a huge sign.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
By the way, blew through your wife's show. Who didn't? Everyone did.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
That is the best news I've ever heard. I mean, truly, right? My husband loved it. Well, there you go. He said, can we watch more of that? I was like, yeah. That's not what he sounds like. I don't know who I just did.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, I wouldn't mind watching more of that one. It's okay. He's foreign.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
French women probably instruct. Oh, okay. That's you going.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
It's my publicist. Of course. How'd that go? Why haven't you left yet?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Oh, I can't wait for you to meet everybody. But this was such a treat.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Maybe back in the day, they would say they went to Vosser.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I was thrilled to go to Vassar. I thought, yes, I'm going to be a lady. Only ladies go to Vassar. And I get there and I find out, oh, these were like the wild ones. Really? Really?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Very artistic and sort of rebellious and went their own way. You know, we're not mainstream. It opened in 1861, which is the start of the Civil War.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
So you already are going to have a lot of people who are sending their daughters there who are not in the mainstream.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I think the first year of graduating class of men was like 72, three, four.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
In junior high, I did because I liked going to summer school. I liked having something to do. And I took a play production thing and we wrote sketches and it was so fun and I could do it well.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
No, that is not something that if you're going to be an adult, you do. I decided.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I don't know about myself. You're going to enjoy this. I also don't know who that is. You don't know who EZE is?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Out in Woodland Hills, yeah. Maybe he got bussed there or something?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Okay. No help. By the way, no, I had three friends in high school.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Your first year in high school was sophomore year. And for five minutes, I thought, OK, I'm going to try to be a cheerleader. I'm going to try to be part of everything. The scene. So I went to all the rehearsals and I learned the thing for cheerleading squad. And then I didn't realize to try out that's in front of whoever shows up and wants to watch. And I just went, oh, no.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Well, now, no, I do not want to be a cheerleader. And then you have to run and be elected and you have to campaign. I'm out. Not for me. No, because you're shy. It was too embarrassing. Nothing good is going to come of that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
How tall are you? How tall are you? Like 5'8", 5'7 1⁄2". That's tall.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Or you're an actress and you're the only tall actor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dax.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I know. He just worked with Ray Romano. And I didn't know he was that tall because of Brad Garrett. But he's like 6'2 or 6'3.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
But he's next to Conan. His whole career. Yes. Oh, my God.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
Okay, so in high school, you had three friends. Four. Four.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
I felt bad that I left out one of them. No, I'm thinking of the girls. There were four of us. So I had three friends. Wait, one, two, three, no, four. There were five of us. I am fun at a dinner party.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Lisa Kudrow
And somebody showed up a little late with a woman. I don't know if you'll clock this too. Maybe you won't. But this woman who I just went, what the hell? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. What version? Why is this happening right now? Like, how does that exist? Like, did it look like a sex worker? This person that was just sort of.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
I know, but let me ask you something. Of all the stand-ups you know, who is more serious than a stand-up?
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
It was nuts. Well, I couldn't take Groundling classes because they wouldn't let me because I hadn't had enough experience with anything. So they sent me to Cynthia Seghetti, an improv teacher at the Coronet, which is now, God damn it. Largo. Thank you. And I went to the first class and thought, oh, no, these are not my people and I can't do this. I commit. I don't know what that means.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
And they're all embarrassing me. With their, like, you know, space ball. Like, with an emotional adjustment. Like, grrr. And I went, I can't do it. You're right. I think I'm out. It's too serious. Of acting forever. Yes. And then the next week, I said, all right, just go. You committed to this. Just go. And I was a little late. And everyone was up there. It's like, no, no, I don't want to.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Break the flow, I'll just sit here and watch and die. And they were lifting a disc or something.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Right, space work, mime, actually. And so one of them was doing it And it was Conan, this tall, really tall redhead guy, is lifting the disc. And when he's angry, he's just kind of angry. And he's just really lifting a disc or throwing the space ball without too much. And the teacher, Cynthia, was saying, good commitment. I went, oh, that's commitment. It's not embarrassing.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
And I thought, okay, that guy. Yeah. I made sure I made a beeline to him, said, hi, I'm Lisa. That was really good. And he said, I'm Conan. And we became best friends.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Kind of. I mean, because he was asked to produce that show. Lorne Michaels asked Conan to be the producer. So they were looking for someone to be the host. And Conan would say, I want someone smart but funny, but who can have a conversation with writers, you know, authors and politicians. And I said, well, that's you. So you should do it because nobody replaces David Letterman. You're nobody.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
No, while you're at the Groundlings, you can teach. And I taught Cheryl Hines was in my class. Some other people, too, and I don't remember. I voted Will Ferrell into the Groundlings.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
No, but it's not just the monologues because then you have to interview people, which you three know how to do.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Well, not next after I did other guest star. Apparently I was on coach like three times.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
That's right. Wow. Recently I worked with Linda Lavin and she said, you were on a pilot that I did. The casting director reminded me.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
It's like the Uber Eats commercials where you purge stuff so that you have room for other things.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
No. David Crane's boyfriend, partner, is Jeffrey Cleric. And Jeffrey was a writer for Mad About You at the time. So when they were casting friends, Jeffrey said, what about Lisa, who's playing Ursula? That might be a good Phoebe.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Well, he was familiar enough that, you know, I got fired from the last thing. Yeah. By the way, do you know when we shot the reunion for Friends or was it there or something else like a Jim Burroughs celebration?
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Where I learned I was the only cast member for Friends that had to audition for Jimmy Burroughs.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
No, he's not like that. You know what? He's smarter than that. No, but when I had my audition, I did it.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
When I auditioned, it's just this small room. He's sitting at a desk. I'm in a chair. And the audition was like a little monologue thing.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
And I thought, all right. But that's a good... I don't know what that means.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
No. It wasn't like that. It was mad about you that changed a lot for me because I had been fired from Frasier and then... I did a guest star on Mad About You. They had me back. I'd already done a guest star the first season. So now I'm there for a different character. And my agents had said, you're not doing this. They called like in the morning. Can she just come in an hour?
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
The character is called Waitress. There's no name. And my agents at the time were saying, no, no, you can't. It doesn't even have a name. Don't do this. I said, I'm not in a position to say no. And it's to me the best show and I'm doing it. And by the end of the week, Danny Jacobson said, you're so funny. Would you be okay doing five more episodes? Just went, yes.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
But during the run-throughs, because Jimmy was saying like, this isn't working, so just don't even... Right. They have to fix it.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Right. Because I was trying to, like, what's not working? What can I do? But I think they did make... a casting mistake with me because I went to the network with Perry Gilpin. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
I mean, I know for me, there's that moment of, wow, maybe this just isn't supposed to work out, this career choice.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Yeah. Yeah, that's right. I mean, but that's what's important to me, like for younger artists who definitely have talent. And yes, you can be discouraged, but then you've got to pull yourself back up. Like, you know, that can't be your mindset for too long. Otherwise it won't work out. It's just not going to work.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Well, isn't that different in a... I think it's different in a good way, though. Do you? Because what I had always said was... Say yes to everything except porn. That was always my advice.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Keep going. But it worked out anyway for you. And that's a joke, everybody listening. No, still say no to porn, I think. I mean, I guess it depends on your level of comfort. Yeah, and what you think porn is. Everything's okay now. That's another issue. But that was it. It was just say yes to everything. You have no idea who's going to see it.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
You have no idea what it's going to lead to, what you're going to learn from doing it. And now everyone has a camera and can post it on something.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Right. That's hard to do, period. I mean, that's sort of like the whole lifelong commitment.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Well, I mean, it's a composite of people, honestly. I'm not trying to, you know, be coy. But it just was a composite of... Of a lot of different people that, you know, you'd see on talk shows. I had a character at the Groundlings called, you know, your favorite actress on a talk show. That's funny.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
She says everything like it's a sitcom. Right. Yeah. Like a tag. Everything she says is a tag or a button. Wait, what?
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Well, yeah, we'll see. Michael Patrick King is busy with And Just Like That.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
That's such a good question. I mean, I've spent the last few years being really interested in not producing and just acting and being cast. Yeah. And so I've done that. It's just none of it has come out yet. Okay. But it will all this year.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
No, it's not that it's boring. I mean, for me, it just felt, yeah, it's a lot of work.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Right. So there's that. But then also it just felt so fraught, you know, also just with like HR issues and things like that. So I just wanted, okay, I'm not producing.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Yeah. No, that's exactly right. I mean, I loved, I produced a show, Who Do You Think You Are? Oh, yeah. Which is not scripted. I was on it. Yes. Oh, my God. So good. That was such a good episode.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Yeah. And I loved doing that. I mean, I loved the research stage, you know. Wow. Yeah. and like how you're going to lay out the story for the person to discover and where the documents are found and, you know, that stuff. I loved doing that show, producing that. That's great. And that's it. But, I mean, everything else is like, wow. And that's it. I don't know. But the comeback, yes.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
And Ian Morris, yes, fantastic. But when I first learned about it, it was just Tyke and Jermaine wrote the pilot. Such a good idea. And I went, well, I don't care, yes. Do I need to read it?
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
I know. I'm trying right now with this system to watch. You know this Pix thing and they send you and you can try to watch things on it? It's really hard.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
It's the stuff that happened backstage that was bad. That's what I'm saying. That's the best part. Oh, yeah. No, I have a lot of those. Because I am always working on my filter.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
with people because I, to me, facts don't hurt, you know? So, you know, like letting someone know like, oh, I don't know about that sketch. It's more of like a ditty than a sketch. I mean, you just sort of, like, it feels like it belongs on a cruise ship.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Well, no, but here- Well, but I know I do that. So sometimes that's my joke too. Do you know what I mean? Then I'm being the person with no filter.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
But that, I guess, was rough. And I didn't think it was rough to say. To me, it's just a song. And we were all being asked, what do you think of this piece?
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
No, he just, he speaks so fast. I couldn't. And I did take it in high school. I took four years.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Yes. I thought this was it. I thought this was an audition, and so... Because you know we're not, like, filming this.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Yeah, it is. I'm actually trying to unblur it so you can see. Oh, there it is.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Yeah. Really? And then they're disappointed they didn't go to Yale. Yeah, it's really beautiful.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
I was a biology major, so there was no choice but to be academic because that's a big commitment.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Yeah, I thought I'll be pre-med. My dad's a doctor. My brother is starting medical school. And I thought, yeah, yeah, I'll be a doctor too.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Well, biology was really interesting to me. I loved it. Biology, I mean, it's such a huge... But what kind of doctor do you think you would have been? I don't know. I wasn't set on that. But halfway through, I went, oh, no, there's no way I'm going to be a practicing physician. There's no way.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Because I realized I wasn't as interested in that as I was in, I liked evolutionary biology. So I was just going to continue and do it.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Well, he got a lot of headaches and he was, you know, like a family practice or internist and then decided he would switch to just treating, researching headache.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
And at the time, there's nine different headache types at that time. Let's have them. So I don't know.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
I mean, a little, but, you know, there's a lot of new medications. My brother's a headache specialist. He's a neurologist who took over when my dad retired.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
I kind of knew a lot about cluster headache. That was this subset of headaches. It's not a migraine. What?
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Oh, well, I just, I'm the youngest in the family. So that's always like the least competent person in the house.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
And they're older and really funny. And my dad is really funny and he's 91 and he still is. Yeah. And so, yeah, I just would repeat what they said, bring it back to school and sometimes get in trouble because it's like six and eight years older than what was appropriate for kindergarten or first grade. Right. Junior high, I did play production where we wrote sketches and performed them.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
No, Groundlings, that was after college. And that really wasn't about, I wasn't, my goal was not Saturday Night Live, but my goal was to avoid a dramatic acting class at all costs.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
because from what I understood, they seemed like cults and it was just people taking everything way too seriously.
SmartLess
"Lisa Kudrow"
Yeah. Well, that was the huge revelation was, ooh, the comedy folk are way off. Like there's something really wrong.