Smart, creative writing led to Lisa Kudrows dual roles in Friends and Mad About You being acknowledged and Phoebe and Ursula becoming twins. However, that could easily have never been necessary because Lisa Kudrow very nearly wasnt Phoebe at all. The year before Friends was put together, NBCs Frasier started life as a spin-off from their mega-hit Cheers, which was just finishing its historic eleven year run. Kudrow, who had appeared in an episode of Cheers a few years earlier, had auditioned for the regular part of Roz, Frasiers producer and close friend and been cast in the role. As everyone and their monkey knows, Frasier became a success as well, although not as massive a hit as Cheers before it and Friends after. Had Kudrow stayed in the role of Roz, she would never have auditioned for Friends: fortunately for both the television audience and Kudrow in particular, things didnt work out on Frasier. In rehearsals for the pilot, something wasnt clicking and the casting director eventually had to tell her that they were going to recast Roz. Kudrow already had an inkling, however:
"I knew it wasn't working. I could feel it all slipping away, and I was panicking, which only made things worse.
Of course, the role of Phoebe Buffay made Kudrow phenomenally successful, not to mention rich, so since then shes agreed that being fired from Frasier was one of the best things thats ever happened to her.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
