Lisa Kudrow struggled before landing “Friends”
Here is an interesting read from Vassar’s website. It’s Lisa Kudrow’s commencement from this years graduation ceremony. It’s a great read, It took Lisa 8 years to land “Friends” after her first TV pilot failed.
Another great story Kudrow shares is when she recalls the “Friends” cast telling stories about being fired from other shows. James Burrows who fired her from “Fraiser” does most of the dirty work….
Jim Burrows also directed this pilot and the first ten episodes of Friends. One day the six of us were talking with Jimmy, exchanging The Time I Got Fired Stories and Jimmy told them mine. “Well, she’s got the worst one of all, she got fired from Frasier. ‘You weren’t right for the part darlin’.'” Thanks! And then he said, “Well, it’s a good thing you got fired or you wouldn’t have been on this show.” He was right. And it was a good thing I didn’t get Saturday Night Live and that the Romy and Michelepilot didn’t work out and every other disappointment that happened…they were like guide posts that kept me on my path. Oh and after I got fired from Frasier, I went to a birthday party and, feeling like I had nothing at all to lose, I flirted with a guy who was way out of my league. We dated and on Thursday Michel and I will have been married for 15 years. Yeah, that’s the biggest achievement of all, and we’ll be celebrating with our 12 year-old son. Thank God I got fired! Maybe there is a reason for everything. I think there is.
