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Lisa Kudrow has been spilling some incredible tea about her Friends days this week.
Some of it is nauseating, like Kudrow’s claim that some of the show’s writers sexually fantasized about Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston.
But some of the remarks Lisa has made during her current press tour have fans applauding the beloved actress for securing the bag.
Yes, more than two decades after Friends signed off, the paychecks are still rolling in. And, according to Kudrow, they are nothing short of staggering.
In a new interview the Times of London, Kudrow revealed that she and the surviving five members of the iconic sitcom’s cast still earn about $20 million a year in residuals from the show’s syndication and streaming success.
Yes, you read that correctly: $20 million per year.
Kudrow, who played the eccentric masseuse and folk singer Phoebe Buffay, even joked about the jaw-dropping number when asked why the checks remain so large.
“Because Phoebe Buffay was so great?” she replied when asked why still earns so much from the character.
Of course, the truth is that the long-term financial windfall is rooted in Friends‘ historic popularity, as well as the groundbreaking deal that the cast negotiated during the show’s final seasons.
By the end of the series, the six stars had secured $1 million per episode along with a 2 percent share of syndication profits, a move that continues to pay off 22 years after the finale aired.
Kudrow revealed that she only started rewatching the series following the 2023 death of Matthew Perry.
And she says that rewatching it gave her a renewed appreciation for what the cast created.
“Before, I only saw what I did wrong or could have done better. But for the first time, I truly appreciated just how great it was,” she poignantly revealed.
“I felt I did OK, but Jennifer and Courteney? Amazing. David and Matt? They had me laughing so hard. And then Matthew — he was just beyond us all.”
“Before, I only saw what I did wrong or could have done better,” she continued, adding:
“But for the first time, I truly appreciated just how great it was.”
Kudrow went on to praise her fellow cast members individually, singling out Perry in especially heartfelt terms.
“I felt I did OK, but Jennifer and Courteney? Amazing. David and Matt? They had me laughing so hard. And then Matthew — he was just beyond us all,” Kudrow said/
The actress also shared why she believes Friends continues to resonate with younger viewers who were not even born when the show originally aired.
“Friends captured a kind of innocence that maybe a younger generation has never gotten to experience,” she speculated.
The show continues to enjoy a sort of cultural staying power is almost unheard of. And apparently, so is the paycheck.
