Friends star Lisa Kudrow has further reflected on being fired from another iconic show.
Speaking on the SmartLess podcast, Kudrow told hosts Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett that she was cast as Roz Doyle in the pilot episode of Frasier before being fired.
"I didn't film it. I got fired from Frasier," Kudrow said of the role that ultimately went to Peri Gilpin, who starred in all 11 seasons of the NBC sitcom.
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Describing the pilot episode's run-through as "devastating", Kudrow said that director James Burrows told her: "This isn't working."
"I was trying to like [ask], 'What can I do?' But I think they did make a casting mistake because I went to the network with Peri Gilpin," Kudrow said. "I think they were just correcting a mistake. Cause Peri should have always been Roz."
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Despite the setback, Kudrow then landed a guest spot on Mad About You. This led to her landing a starring role in Friends as Phoebe Buffay after Mad About You writer and producer Jeffrey Klarik, partner of Friends creator David Crane, suggested her for the role.
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During a reading for Friends, Kudrow was asked to audition for Burrows, who also worked as a director on the sitcom. It was years later, during a special celebrating Burrows' career, the actor learnt that she "was the only cast member for Friends that had to audition for Jimmy Burrows".
Asked why, Kudrow said: "Because I had just gotten fired from Frasier."
"When I had my audition, I did it… it was just this small room," Kudrow explained. "[Burrows] is sitting at a desk. I'm in a chair, and the audition was like a little monologue. And when I'm done, he just went, 'No notes'. And I thought, 'Alright. I don't know what that means. It's hopeless.'"
Friends streams on Netflix in the UK, where it also airs daily on Comedy Central. In the US, you can stream the show on Max.
Read more Friends news on our dedicated homepage
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
