This interview is part of Variety and CNN’s Actors on Actors series. Watch the full video interview at CNN.com/Watch (or on the CNN app) and on Variety’s YouTube channel.
Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow — friends since, um, “Friends” premiered more than 30 years ago — are thrilled to see each other, especially because it’s been so long: a year and a half, according to Kudrow. She’s been busy working on “The Comeback,” for which she and co-creator Michael Patrick King wrote all eight episodes of the third and (sob!) final season, bringing sitcom actress Valerie Cherish’s fraught Hollywood journey to a close. “I’m so single-focused,” Kudrow tells Aniston, “and it was a lot of work.”
The fourth season of Apple TV’s “The Morning Show,” starring Aniston as news broadcaster Alex Levy, premiered in the fall, and along with its usual ripped-from-the-headlines topicality, Alex had to reckon with some personal issues: Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons played her estranged father, Martin, a law professor and a rake; happily, by the end of the season, father and daughter found closure and a way forward.
On the subject of closure, the third season of “The Comeback” shot on Stage 24 of the Warner Bros. lot, where “Friends” famously filmed each week before a live audience. The two friends get teary-eyed reminiscing about their Stage 24 memories, as well as thinking about the fact that Kudrow’s son, Julian Stern, with whom she was pregnant during “Friends,” has a supporting role on “The Comeback.” As Aniston puts it, “He grew up hearing laughter all the time.”
Jennifer Aniston: Oh! The cameras are here!
Lisa Kudrow: Oh, duh. All right, so then [like a smooth talk-show host] Hello, Jennifer.
Aniston: [In a similarly smooth English accent] Hello, Lisa. My Floosh.
So the last time we did this —
Kudrow: Was on Zoom!
Aniston: In 2020. Which feels like — boy, we’ve come a long way! And we’re all living amongst each other and back to being in the same rooms.
You’d never watched “Friends.” And I actually remember thinking to myself, “Really? How could she never watch ‘Friends’?” Except for when we would gather in the very, very beginning, back in the 1900s. We would watch the show at one of our homes.
Kudrow: It was really fun. And then we got busy. There were whole episodes that I hadn’t seen. I just couldn’t sit there at home and have anybody walk by seeing me watching a show that I’m in. Because it felt embarrassing to me.
Aniston: Just like, “Oh, here I am, watching my own self be brilliant and funny”? Because you were.
Kudrow: Well, I wouldn’t feel that way. Watching it, sometimes I would just be like [she affects a loud, reedy voice], “He’s her lobster!” Why that voice?
Aniston: Because it was funny. Boy, that was really fun. That all still feels like yesterday, doesn’t it?
Kudrow: No, it doesn’t to me. So I have watched it now.
Aniston: Did you love it?
Kudrow: Loved it with all my heart. I’d end up sitting there for three hours, and then it’s like two in the morning: “I need to go to bed! This is bad!” But, oh, it made me so happy to watch it. And, man, you’re all good. Holy cow! You were really good, Jennifer. It’s such a ridiculous thing to say to people! Like, of course.
Aniston: That was such lightning in a bottle, the chemistry of all of us. And the writers played off of us and our relationships, which were truly genuine. Do you miss multi-cam?
Kudrow: When I’m sitting on a set waiting and it’s been a long time? Yes, I do.
Aniston: I really loved that medium. I loved the audience.
Kudrow: I didn’t love the audience, but I would now. [She looks into the camera and uses Valerie Cherish’s voice.] “I would love you, if you would want me on a sitcom.”
Aniston: It was so great. We had a life at the same time.
Kudrow: I would love to do another one, if anyone wrote a good one. Let’s do it. You heard it here!
Aniston: Oh, wow. What’s it going to be?
Kudrow: Can we do you, me and Courteney? What would that be?
Aniston: Girlfriends. Let’s pitch it. Let’s workshop it in front of all of these wonderful people.
Kudrow: And then you did “The Morning Show”! Which you know I’ve been a fan of since Season 1.
Aniston: You’re so supportive.
Kudrow: Supportive? I just love it. And you’re phenomenally good.
Aniston: You’re very kind. We have awesome, incredible writers. And I am in awe of them and what they have to do, because there’s so many characters — and weaving these stories all together and having it make sense.
Kudrow: Alex and her father, played by Jeremy Irons, no less. Oh my God! How was that, first of all?
Aniston: Jeremy Irons, who is a gorgeous human being — literally physically breathtaking, and he’s as funny and playful; he’s like a big kid. He was just incredible. And always like, “How was that? Was that good?” Like, same thing as we would say to each other.
Kudrow: Can I ask you, though, about the scene in Alex’s apartment? Alex is learning for the first time that her mother had postpartum depression and then left. There were so many emotional bombs for Alex.
Aniston: It was a lot of bombs, yeah, because we all have such complicated relationships with our own fathers, right? Or I did, at least.
But, first of all,“The Comeback” — I love Valerie Cherish so much.
Kudrow: Good!
Aniston: She makes me laugh and she breaks my heart. I also think the life of “The Comeback” has been fascinating.
Kudrow: Isn’t it crazy?
Aniston: What was the first year that you did it?
Kudrow: 2005.
Aniston: So why did it end the first time?
Kudrow: It was canceled!
Aniston: A show gets canceled, then someone nine years later goes, “Remember that show ‘The Comeback’? Damn, that was good.”
Kudrow: There were different people in charge who had been fans of it. And it did have this very strong niche audience — maybe more than niche. It made lists of good shows. It only had one season. And then HBO said, “Yeah, we think that would be an event for the people who love the show to do another.”
Aniston: How did this season come about? The third?
Kudrow: Michael Patrick King, whenever he and I would get together, we would always end it with “What do you think Valerie would be doing?” Or he would say, “She’s on Broadway.” The last time, he said, “What if Valerie’s offered the lead in a multi-cam, but it’s written by AI?” I went, “Yes, of course. Yes! Of course! She would sign up for that nightmare of scrutiny.”
Aniston: What do you feel about AI?
Kudrow: I feel like we’re going to learn a lot about what doesn’t work, and that there will be some aspects of it that will be really helpful. And I think an audience will always let you know what works for them and what doesn’t work for them.And I think right now, just as actors, I think we’re safe, because young people can tell so much better than I can tell, what’s an AI generated human.
Aniston: Isn’t it crazy?
Kudrow: I can’t tell that well.
Aniston: The amount of things that I get sent from people think that it’s actually me —and it’s so clearly not. But yeah, it’s such unchartered territory, and I think we have to learn about it. It feels like it’s already just grown into this 900-headed monster. We don’t understand enough about it.
Kudrow: I mean, I know you. You’ve probably looked, and tried to learn about it.
Aniston: I want to learn more. I want to understand what this is, because there’s just so many questions.
Kudrow: Yeah. And we talked to people in preparation for doing “The Comeback.” We wanted to sound a little bit like we knew what was going on.
Aniston: Andrew Scott is so genius on the show.
Kudrow: Tears came out of my eyes when I heard he would want to be in the show, honestly. Michael Patrick King, in fact, had said, “No, no, we can’t have someone known. Because we need for the audience to believe this world is real.” And I just said, “Michael, 20 years ago, Phoebe put on a red wig and said her name was Valerie and people bought it.” So I don’t think that’s an issue. And it’s our last season. It’s the last time we’re doing this.
Aniston: Well, you say that.
Kudrow: I say it and I mean it.
Aniston: Do you really mean it?
Kudrow: Yeah, because now it’s a piece. It’s a trilogy. And we went from the first extinction event, we thought — reality TV — to this extinction event [artificial intelligence]. It’s full circle in that way.
Aniston: Jimmy Burrows, who plays the director on “The Comeback,” was our first director on the “Friends” sitcom show. Remember when you sent me and Courteney a picture of you and Jimmy —
Kudrow: On Stage 24! We were looking at stages, and Warner Bros. offered Stage 24.
Aniston: Stop it! Just coincidence?
Kudrow: Well, maybe. Or they intentionally offered Stage 24, which was really nice. And I can’t tell you how many ways that moved me. [Her voice catches.] Oops.
Aniston: I know.
Kudrow: Because knowing this is the end of Valerie Cherish and “The Comeback,” and that was where it was the end of “Friends” …
Aniston: [Reaches for tissue] Shit!
Kudrow: And next to “Friends,” this is — give me one!
Aniston: Sorry! [She passes Kudrow a tissue.] Goddamn! I did this last time. Shoot.
[Kudrow and Aniston are laughing and crying and dabbing their eyes.]
Kudrow: Next to “Friends,” “The Comeback” means the most to me, right?
Aniston: Goddamn! Sorry! Hold on a second! Please don’t put this in there. I beg of you! Anyway. But, yes! I’m seeing shots on the show, backstage, like seeing where craft service was.
Kudrow: And! I have a picture of my Julian at 2 years old standing on a step stool washing his dishes, washing a cup at the sink. And then he’s there on that stage doing his first thing in a big show, not a short or student film. There he is!
Aniston: There’s Julian. I was beside myself, because that was a surprise for me. A really good, really amazing surprise. And he’s so good.That young man was baked on that show.
Kudrow: Literally. Every huddle. Touched my stomach before we’d go out.
Aniston: Always touch the Floosh belly.
Kudrow: Wait, when I was pregnant with Julian [looks into the camera] — they weren’t just touching my stomach. It’s not creepy. It’s a sweet thing. You don’t get it.
Aniston: But imagine growing inside your mother, as a baking child. What’s the word? I keep saying “baking.”
Kudrow: Gestating? Did you want to say gestating?
Aniston: No. That sounds even weirder. It’s like he grew up hearing laughter all the time.
Kudrow: I know. Can you imagine? Just the amount of joy. Because it was the most fun.
Aniston: And he is today one of the most joyful human beings that I get to spend time with. Like, I love him. I would choose him as a person I would like to spend time with as a friend, not just because he’s your son.
Kudrow: Aw! When he could first speak, he’d look at the TV, point to Jennifer and say, “Mommy!” So he had a connection to you.
Aniston: That was weird. He knew, somehow, that that would make me feel good. Have you watched the whole 10 years of it?
Kudrow: Yes. There are things that Phoebe says that at the time are like, “Isn’t that stupid?” And now I’m like, “Oh, yeah, no, I think that’s actually how it works.”
Aniston: Did you like the Thanksgiving episodes? Those were fun.
Kudrow: Yes. Those were great, the Thanksgiving episodes. When Brad was on, that was hilarious.
Aniston: I know. How funny. The movie stars that came on “Friends.” Brad, Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts. Isabella Rossellini. We had so many — Sean Penn. They were always nervous. Remember? I always found it fascinating how nervous they were.
Kudrow: Yes. Nervous. Well, because what’s the tone? It’s not theater; it’s for TV. It’s not a movie. What the hell is this? And it’s a good question. And I remember someone asked one time. I didn’t know how to explain it, so I said, “Oh, just talk louder. Same intention, just —”
Aniston: Just louder! The first couple movies I did during “Friends,” remember?
Kudrow: Screaming?
Aniston: Screaming!
Kudrow: I can’t bear the volume and sound of my voice. It’s too loud.
Aniston: I love it so much though.
Kudrow: But I did love, with all my heart, all of us cracking up, including me, when Ross is playing the bagpipes.
Aniston: Nothing funnier.
Kudrow: And then Phoebe’s like, “OK, sure.” [She imitates a high-pitched, screeching bagpipe sound]. She doesn’t know what song it is! When I watch it, I’m just like, “Oh, I’m fully laughing!”
Aniston: Well, it was funny, man!
Kudrow: But I did crack up in tears, I laughed so hard. The funniest was the Gellers’ anniversary party. Alec Baldwin was in that one. And there was an oyster, and Alec’s like, “Here, eat this.” I’m like, “OK,” and she flicked it on the floor. And then Joey comes over, and she asks, “You having a good time?” He’s like, “No, it’s horrible. I waited forever for the buffet line. I almost slid on a giant booger!” [Kudrow and Aniston are dissolving in laughter.]
Aniston: Why is it so stupid, Lisa? It’s so stupid!
Kudrow: He thought that an oyster-sized booger came out of someone’s nose!
Aniston: Oh, God, LeBlanc was so good! And he played that really not smart guy so well.
Kudrow: It’s so good!
Aniston: “It was a moo point!”
Kudrow: “It’s like a cow.”
Aniston: “It’s a moo point.” Oh, God. Is this too inside baseball? It’s so entertaining for people — just us watching ourselves.
Kudrow: Watching us laugh at our show.
Aniston: I don’t want to ever stop talking to you.
Kudrow: I know.
Aniston: Well, the good thing is we don’t have to. And we can continue our conversations when you come over or I come over and we go have dinner. We’ve got to get Courteney. We’ve got to get that little threesome back together.
Aniston: I love you!
Kudrow: Love you!
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