"Friends" actress slams modern sitcoms for being 'too afraid' to tell jokes that make people uncomfortable

"Friends" star Lisa Kudrow said in an interview in late March that sitcoms are "too afraid" of jokes that make people uncomfortable, and that she wasn't drawn to new sitcoms.

During an interview with actress Lily Tomlin for Interview Magazine, Kudrow was asked if sitcoms are evolving or dying.

"I wish they were evolving. ‘30 Rock’ and 'Seinfeld' and 'Friends' were really funny and really well written. But I’m not drawn to new sitcoms that are multi-camera in front of an audience because I’m not buying it. I don’t know if that’s just because I’ve seen too many single-camera sitcoms — I think we need to get back to being able to tell jokes. I feel like we’ve been too afraid to make jokes that might make people uncomfortable," she said in the interview published on March 30.

Kudrow said the "really good" jokes weren't tame ones, and said they needed to catch audiences off guard.

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"But the really good ones, they’re not tame jokes. They’re jokes that are kind of, ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’ Comedy is about surprise. You need things you didn’t see coming," she said.

Kudrow was also asked if she ever watches herself in shows or movies.

"I can watch 'The Comeback,' no problem. Now I’m comfortable watching 'Friends' without punishing myself. I’m trying to have that be my nighttime show, so I have a laugh or two before I go to sleep. There are still episodes I’ve never seen," she responded.

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Kudrow said in 2024 that she couldn't watch herself on "Friends" because she couldn't bear it, but that it changed after her former co-star, Matthew Perry, died.

"Well, I used to not be able to watch it at all. I mean, I'd see it on and be, like, mildly interested, and then I'd see me and say, 'That's enough of that, I can't bear it,'" she said during a 2024 interview. "Listen, after Matthew died I could start watching the show again because it wasn't about me, it had to do with him for some reason."

"And, so I have started watching ‘Friends.’ Not started like season one, you know, but there are marathons on, and I have spent at times, since he died, all day long watching the show," she added. 

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"Friends" actress Jennifer Aniston said there was a whole generation of people who likely think the show is problematic during a 2023 interview.

She admitted that things have "evolved" since she began her career but lamented an added layer of "sensitivity" since her days on "Friends," which ran from 1994 until 2004.