In the 1990s, the two biggest sitcoms in the world were Friends and Seinfeld. One was a clean-cut look at falling in and out love in your 20’s; the other was a comically caustic look at the minutiae of city life.
Both focused on a group of tight-knit friends, but that’s really where their similarity started and ended. According to Jerry Seinfeld, however, Friends owed a lot to him and his show.
In a new interview with The Daily Beast, Lisa Kudrow, the wonderful actress who brought the quirky Phoebe Buffay to life in Friends, recalled meeting Seinfeld at a party in the early days of Friends.
“Not to take anything away from the writing on Friends, or the cast, or how good Friends really was, but the first season our ratings were just fine. We held onto enough of Mad About You and starting building, but it was in the summer when we were in reruns after Seinfeld, where Seinfeld was our lead-in, where we exploded,” Kudrow explained.
“I remember going to some party and Jerry Seinfeld was there, and I said, “Hi,” and he said, “You’re welcome.” I said, “Why, thank you… what?” And he said, “You’re on after us in the summer, and you’re welcome.” And I said, “That’s exactly right. Thank you.”
Anyone who’s witnessed Seinfeld’s cringeworthy red carpet interaction with Kesha – when he swerved her attempt at a quick hug – will not be surprised by his abrasive dealing with Kudrow.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kudrow discussed the infamous lack of racial diversity on Friends. “Well, I feel like it was a show created by two people who went to Brandeis and wrote about their lives after college,” she considered.
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“And for shows especially, when it’s going to be a comedy that’s character-driven, you write what you know. They have no business writing stories about the experiences of being a person of colour.”
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