(This story was first published in 2022.)
Lisa Kudrow came close to telling her son “Fuck you!” after he watched Friends for the first time.
The Phoebe Buffay actor joked she took offence to Julian Stern’s “demeaning” reaction to the hit sitcom, which he first watched when he was at school.
While he found the show “really funny”, there was one element of his review Lisa wasn’t too happy about.
During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers in 2022, Lisa revealed he said: “It’s actually really funny and the guys are so funny.”
Lisa, whose character was arguably one of the show’s funniest, was left wounded by the backhanded compliment.
“He’s like, ’No, I mean, you’re funny too,” she continued. “And never in my life have I wanted to tell my own kid, ‘F**k you.’”
Insisting she did not actually say that to Julian, Lisa added: “I mean, listen, it’s not required that you’re a fan. You don’t have to like what I do. But don’t be so demeaning! Wow!”
Lisa was much more impressed with his reaction to another of her series, The Comeback, which he watched for the first time while isolating with Covid.
She recalled: “He called me up and said, ‘So I just watched the first two episodes. It’s really good, Mom.’
“I said, ‘Thanks.’ He said, ‘Can I ask you some questions about that?’ I’m like, ‘Yes!’ I almost started crying. I didn’t think that anyone in my family liked that show.”
Lisa previously revealed how Julian would get rather confused after visits to the Friends set as a young child.
During an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s US chat show in 2021, she said her son would often mistake her co-star Jennifer Aniston for his mother after growing attached to her behind the scenes of the hit sitcom.
Watch the full interview with Lisa below...