In the summer of 1994, six struggling actors, all of whom had bounced around the fringes of TV comedy in the years prior, were flown on a private plane to Las Vegas. The director James Burrows, a sitcom veteran with the comic instincts of a master clown and the wisdom of a prophet, sat them down inside a restaurant and shared something that instilled in them a curious mix of fear and elation. This moment, he insisted, would be the final time they’d ever be able to socialise in public together without anyone noticing them. Because once their new show hit the airwaves? The one initially titled Insomnia Cafe, then Six of One, then finally – and immortally – Friends? Forget it.
“I remember everyone going oooooh,” Lisa Kudrow laughs – 32 years, 236 episodes and roughly a thousand renditions of “Smelly Cat” later. “Everyone but me, anyway. I was the odd one out. I thought… maybe? I mean, it’s a good show, but I don’t know about that.” She scrunches up her nose. “But I’m just that kind of person.”
