Lisa Kudrow recently shared her thoughts on modern sitcoms during an interview. She explained that she is “not drawn” to many of the new multi camera comedy shows being made today. According to her, one of the reasons is that these shows seem to avoid taking risks with humor.
While discussing whether sitcoms are changing or fading away, she compared current shows with older ones like 30 Rock, Seinfeld and Friends. She said these shows were known for strong writing and bold jokes. She added, “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 further explained what she believes makes comedy effective. “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.” Her comments highlight her belief that comedy should take risks and surprise the audience.
Lisa Kudrow is best known for playing Phoebe Buffay in all 10 seasons of Friends. She starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc. Her performance earned her an Emmy Award in 1998.
She also spoke about how audiences once viewed her character. Many people described Phoebe as “such a ditz,” but Kudrow did not fully agree with that idea. She explained, “At the time, it was like, ‘She’s such a ditz. How is it that you only play ditzes?’ And I thought, ‘Is she a ditz?’ To me, she wasn’t.” She added, “In 1994, it was like, “I love her. She’s such a ditz.” And it’s like, yeah, okay, that was what a ditz was to us. Someone who wasn’t toeing the line…. But she wasn’t stupid.”
Her comments reflect how both comedy and character perceptions have changed over time.