Lisa Kudrow shares jaw-dropping amount Friends cast makes on residuals

62-year-old who played lovable oddball Phoebe Buffay across all 10 seasons, says she and her co-stars still pull in about $20M a year

Published Apr 28, 2026  •  2 minute read

Lisa Kudrow attends the "HBO Max UK and Ireland" launch party at Queen Elizabeth Hall on March 25, 2026 in London, England. Photo by Gareth Cattermole /Getty Images

More than 20 years after Friends wrapped, Lisa Kudrow says she and her co-stars are still pulling in about $20 million a year in residuals. The Emmy winner shared that jaw-dropping figure while looking back on the show in an interview with the Times of London, as cited by Page Six.

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Kudrow, now 62, played the lovable oddball Phoebe Buffay across all 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004. She said she recently revisited the show after the death of Matthew Perry in 2023 at age 54 — and it completely changed how she sees it.

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(Counter-clockwise, from bottom left) Friends stars Courtney Cox as Monica, Matthew Perry as Chandler, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel, David Schwimmer as Ross, Matt LeBlanc as Joey, and Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe. Photo by NBC

‘Appreciated just how great it was’

“After Matthew died, I watched the show again,” she said. “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.”

That shift in perspective hit hard.

“Because there was a genius at work,” she added. “And whatever any of us do in the future, we will never experience something like that again.”

Kudrow gave herself a modest nod, saying she “felt (she) did OK” as Phoebe, but she was much more enthusiastic when talking about her castmates. She called Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox “amazing,” praised David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc for their comedic timing, and said Perry “was just beyond (them) all” as Chandler Bing.

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Still, it wasn’t all warm memories

Kudrow acknowledged that while Friends captured a kind of “innocence” that might feel rare today, things behind the scenes could get tense, per Page Six.

Even though the six leads famously stuck together — negotiating their salaries from $22,500 an episode in Season 1 to $1 million by Seasons 9 and 10 — they didn’t always see eye to eye with the writers.

Modern TV comedy fearful of creating ‘uncomfortable’ jokes

Beyond Friends, Kudrow is also thinking about where comedy is headed now — and she’s not totally impressed.

In a recent Interview Magazine chat with Lily Tomlin, she questioned whether sitcoms are evolving or just playing it safe. She pointed to shows like 30 Rock, Seinfeld, and Friends as examples of sharp, well-written comedy, adding that today’s multi-camera sitcoms don’t quite land the same way for her.

“I think we need to get back to being able to tell jokes,” she said. “I feel like we’ve been too afraid to make jokes that might make people uncomfortable.”

‘Comedy is about surprise’

For Kudrow, the best comedy is the kind that catches you off guard. “The really good ones … they’re not tame jokes. They’re jokes that are kind of, ‘I can’t believe you just said that,’ ” she explained. “Comedy is about surprise. You need things you didn’t see coming.”

These days, she’s found a new way to enjoy Friends— without over-analyzing her own performance. “Now I’m comfortable watching Friends without punishing myself,” she said. “I’m trying to have that be my nighttime show, so I have a laugh or two before I go to sleep. There are still episodes I’ve never seen.”

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