Lisa Kudrow is happy to fulfill most Friends fans’ requests when they meet her — but she draws the line at one thing.
Kudrow, 63, starred as the ever-quirky Phoebe Buffay opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and the late Matthew Perry on the beloved sitcom from 1994 to 2004.
There is one song on the show that Kudrow’s character was particularly known for, which appeared in the sixth episode of the second season, “The One with the Baby on the Bus.”
“Sometimes people will stop me and say, ‘Oh, sing Smelly Cat,’” Kudrow shared on a recent episode of NPR’s Fresh Air radio show. “I don’t want to do that. I really don’t want to do that.”
Musician Chrissie Hynde guest stars in the episode as Stephanie Schiffer, a singer hired to replace Phoebe as Central Perk’s in-house musician, to whom Phoebe eventually teaches “Smelly Cat” — a song about a stray cat.
The tune evolved into a running gag and became an integral component of Phoebe’s character.
Despite admitting she refuses to sing for fans, Kudrow made clear she has “zero complaints about Friends or anything to do with it,” even when fans ask her to say famous lines or call her Phoebe.
“Just the relationship with the other actors; we had fun,” Kudrow said of her co-stars. “That is so rare. And real honest respect, mutual respect.”
“It was a really good relationship that took some work, and we did the work,” she continued. “It was great.”
In a recent interview, Kudrow revealed she attempted to go for the role of Rachel after being cast as Phoebe.
“I told my agents, ‘I can do Jewish American Princess and make that really funny.’ And so they said, ‘Uh-huh. All right. Well, we’ll tell them,’” she said.
At the time, Kudrow didn’t “clock that” Rachel was supposed to be the romantic lead opposite David Schwimmer’s Ross.
“They went, ‘No, no. It’s so hard for them to find Phoebe. They’re not messing with that.’ So that was the sweet way of saying, ‘Yeah, you are not the romantic interest.’” The role eventually went to Aniston.
Earlier this year, Kudrow told The Independent that “nobody cared” about her character.
“There was no vision for me, and no expectations about the kind of career I could have,” she commented. “There was just, like, ‘Boy is she lucky she got on that show.’”
It wasn’t until a few years later, when she made the Robert De Niro comedy Analyze This, about a mob boss in therapy, that “agents and business people started circling, wanting to put me in romantic comedies and things,” she said.
“I knew that wasn’t gonna work. I’m just not adorable!”
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