Lisa Kudrow justifies her comments about ‘Friends’ live studio audience

Lisa Kudrow is doubling down on her long-held disdain for the laughter of live studio audiences while filming Friends.

The 60-year-old actress, who played Phoebe Buffay on the hit ‘90s sitcom, opened up about her frustration during an appearance on the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast. 

"[I was irritated] because they were laughing for too long. It wasn’t that funny," she shared with O’Brien, adding, "That’s why. It wasn’t an honest response, and it irritated me."

The Emmy winner explained that the extended laughter disrupted the show's timing: "It’s like, 'now you’re just ruining the timing of the rest of the show.' Sometimes I would just look out if they’d been laughing too long, and go, 'come on.' Really angry.”

Kudrow emphasised that Friends was crafted for television viewers, not the live audience.

"It’s made for the TV viewers at home. That’s who we’re in service to," she insisted, adding, "If it were a stage play – yeah, laugh as long as you want! But then, it’s being filmed, and now I’m just sort of like standing there."

The laughter, she admitted, even made her do "things that you hate," like nodding along as if to say, "That's right! I said that!"

Kudrow noted that the show's warm-up act would advise the audience against prolonged laughter, but the filming process still took "six to eight hours" for a half-hour episode.