How Lisa Kudrow balanced two NBC sitcoms before 'Friends' became a hit

Before Phoebe Buffay became one of television’s most beloved eccentrics, Lisa Kudrow was already making a mark as Ursula Buffay on another hit NBC sitcom.

In a candid interview with Vanity Fair on March 25, 2026, the 62-year-old actress revealed that when she shot the pilot for Friends in the early ’90s, she approached the new show cautiously, not knowing if it would succeed.

“I was really proud to be able to have a role on Mad About You,” Kudrow said. 

“Honestly, when I shot the pilot of Friends, I thought, ‘Yeah, I mean, this is a good show. But good shows don’t get picked up all the time.’”

At the time, Mad About You, starring Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser, was already a well-established NBC comedy, and Kudrow’s recurring role as the sarcastic, often indifferent waitress Ursula provided her with stability. 

She admitted that her initial instinct was to safeguard that role in case Friends didn’t pan out.

“If there’s any hope of me being able to stay on Mad About You, after the [Friends] pilot doesn’t get picked up or they pick it up for, you know, 12 more episodes, and then that’s it… I was preserving Mad About You for myself,” she said.

Kudrow’s hesitation was understandable. Television success is never guaranteed, and many promising pilots fail despite strong casts or scripts.

Once Friends was picked up in 1994, however, NBC faced a unique challenge: Kudrow was appearing in two primetime shows as two characters who looked identical. 

Rather than ignore the overlap, the network incorporated it creatively, turning Ursula into Phoebe Buffay’s estranged twin.

“Friends found that they had to justify why this same face and voice is gonna be on at 8:00 p.m. on Mad About You once in a while, and then there she is at 8:30 p.m. on Friends,” Kudrow explained. “They had to cope with that. And incorporate Ursula into Friends.”

She could preserve her original role while also fully committing to Phoebe, ultimately creating two unforgettable characters that became staples of ’90s television.

“I was thrilled, you know, that I could still be Ursula,” she said. In hindsight, Kudrow’s careful navigation between the two shows helped solidify her place in TV history, proving that sometimes uncertainty can lead to something iconic."