Lisa Kudrow Says Male Friends Writers Were ‘Brutal’ – & It’s Hardly Surprising

via Netflix

Friends star and comedy legend Lisa Kudrow has spoken out about the sometimes toxic work environment on the Friends set.

Kudrow, who is currently starring in HBO’s The Comeback, is probably known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the wildly popular 90s sitcom.

She has since said that the predominantly male writing team often “fantasised” about the show’s female stars in writers’ rooms, and were verbally abusive on set.

“There was definitely mean stuff going on behind the scenes,” Kudrow told The Times of London. 

“Don’t forget we were recording in front of a live audience of 400, and if you messed up one of these writers’ lines or it didn’t get the perfect response they could be like, ‘Can’t the bitch fucking read? She’s not even trying. She fucked up my line.’”

via HBO

Kudrow went on: “The guys would be up late discussing their sexual fantasies about Jennifer [Aniston] and Courteney [Cox]. It was intense.

“Oh, it could be brutal, but these guys — and it was mostly men in there — were sitting up until 3 a.m. trying to write the show so my attitude was, ‘Say what you like about me behind my back because then it doesn’t matter.'”

Friends ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004. A time when TV was still dominated by male writers and producers, it’s no surprise that its female stars were sexualised, its sets oftentimes toxic.

via Warner Bros.

And Kudrow isn’t the only one who has spoken of the behaviour of those on set.

Back in the 2000s, former Friends writing assistant Amaani Lyle sued Warner Bros. for the experience she had while working in the writers’ room.

Lyle said she witnessed sexist and racist language while working on a show. Her suit was later dismissed after the Supreme Court judged such language acceptable for a sitcom writers’ room.