Lisa Kudrow Reflects on Friends 30th Anniversary: Learning Respectful Communication

As Friends celebrates its 30th anniversary, cast member Lisa Kudrow has been opening up about her experience on the culture-changing hit sitcom, which ran from 1994–2004. The 61-year-old recently sat down with Dax Shepard for his Armchair Expert podcast, sharing how working as part of a six-person ensemble — with costars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and the late Matthew Perry — helped her learn how to speak up for herself.

“The six-way relationship took some work,” she told the host, adding that the cast “worked hard at being friends.” For Lisa, that meant learning how to talk problems through, which she admitted she wasn’t really good at. But watching her costars hash out their issues was a real education.

“If someone said something or did something, it didn’t get too big, because it was, ‘Can I talk to you?’” she explained, adding that she learned about “respectful communication” from her costars.

The benefits weren’t just emotional: That “all for one, one for all” strategy also paid off at the negotiating table, where the cast arrived as a bloc and each snagged a $1 million-per-ep payday!