Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - Lisa Kudrow

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

This week we were joined by the brilliant Lisa Kudrow, who came by to chat about the new season of The Comeback. Over lunch we talked about everything from acting opposite her son Julian in the new series, the inspiration behind Valerie Cherish, filming Friends in front of a live audience, to growing up in Tarzana and her mum’s roast chicken with parmesan, garlic and paprika. We also discovered her sweet tooth, her love of KFC, the famous Jennifer Aniston salad, the reason she gave up cooking and the comfort foods she craved while pregnant. Thank you Lisa for coming over! The Comeback is available now on Sky and HBO Max.Listen & watch Table Manners here - https://tablemanners.komi.io/Follow Table Manners on:Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tablemannerspodcast/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@tablemannerspodcastFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/tablemannerspodcastYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TableMannersPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jessie's new album, Superbloom, is available to pre-order now. There's a 10% discount if you go to her store, jessieware.com, and put in Tablemanners. James Norton's not included. Teas and C's applies. Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and we are in spring. Here we are. Daffodils all around, sun shining.

Very exciting. I love it. I'm quite tired and my eye is twitching a lot. Why are you tired, darling? Anything on with you? No, no. I haven't got a record coming out on anything. Nothing.

But no, my eye is twitching, so sorry for the people on YouTube because I'm going to look like I'm winking to this guest. We are so excited. Forget the intro. Let's just launch straight into the guest. Just wonder who she loves more, Phoebe or Valerie. I have to say, I think I love Valerie each of her. Do you?

Lisa Kudrow is coming on. Table Manners to talk about the third season of the comeback. It's on HBO Max and I've binged it. Yeah. And I'm completely mad about it. This is a series that started in, I think, 2005.

It's had stops and stops. It's kind of been every decade. So the next season was in 2015 I think and the new season 2006. Yeah, we're there. And it's really fascinating to watch. It's about, a sitcom actress that has this kind of fly-on-the-wall documentary crew following her

whilst she was also making a comeback into sitcom TV. And it's really, really brilliant and she's amazing. Just go and get your guitar out. Smelly cat. I mean, not just Smelly Cat, you know. I also watch like a YouTube of 50 minutes of Phoebe guitar songs. I have to say quite a lot of the chords are the same. and I want to ask her about actually playing the guitar.

Get the guitar. Where is your guitar? I don't know, Mum. Go and get it, darling. Anyway. Just one round of smelly cap we can all see. I have been on the cooking. I haven't made this recipe, so I'm slightly worried because apparently,

Lisa Kudra is quite a good chef. So, however, I do trust this chef. Ed. Ed Smith. Peckish. Rocket and Squash on Instagram. He's got a new cookbook called Peckish out. And it's just all about chicken.

And I've gone for satar chicken thighs with butter bean puree and chopped salad. Right. Then on pudding, we've both done something. We thought maybe she should try banana bread from the Weirs after the disparaging remarks from her... David Schwimmer. Her co-star. Alex, the doctor didn't make this banana bread. No.

So hopefully... Mummy. Mummy. Is that what we're calling on? Mother. Mother. Mother. Mother made this one.

Okay. You're also talking about yourself on the third? Wow, you've changed, Lenny. Yeah. Okay, and then I got given this at a drag bar in New York last week by a lovely person. Why did they give it to you, darling? Because he made the book. Oh, right, okay.

And he thought I needed a cookie cookbook. Well, Vaughan, Vaughan Freeland. Thank you. Yeah, I've done three cookies out of it so far. So today, we heard that Lisa. really likes a chocolate cookie. So we've done a kind of Nutella chocolate cookie. You can't go wrong.

But then we were like, yeah, but maybe we can just try something else. And I say we because my sweet Rosie helped me with them. We've done this gotcha chang. Is it gotcha chang? Yeah. I thought it was guichang. I think it's gotcha chan. Is it gotcha chang?

We could both be wrong and I'm sorry about that. I have no idea. A gotcha chang. I think it's. Scotch charm. John Chirod uses a lot of them. John Chorotro uses gotchchum. Anyway, we've got a chewy cookies.

We've got a couple. We've got a lot of sweet stuff. Lisa Cudrow coming up on Tadammer's. Lisa Cudra, thank you for being here. Hi, thanks for having me. Oh, really? Yeah. Well, that's good.

Absolutely thrilled. Oh, thanks. One of those guests, when we've said who's coming on the podcast, everyone's gone. Lisa Cudrow. Yeah. You're a big deal. You're a very big deal. We have to just acknowledge the, well, actually, it was an accidental elephant in the room,

but the fact that you just asked you used the bathroom and I took you to the, you know, the family bathroom. Which is nice. Thank you. So welcome. Because that's private. Stop. No, you're very welcome.

But I didn't hide something that you just pointed out. I know, but why? Why would you need to hide? I don't know. Because it looks like I'm going to like. Has it like going to misery you or something and like lock you here forever. Can I tell you the whole time I've been here, everyone has been. And I'm so sorry, but can we talk about friends?

Is that an okay subject to talk about? Yes. What do people put you through? You know, like you may not ask me about my... No, professional life. And that's why everyone's here. No one told us not speak about friends, but I did get for my...

Basically, for people that don't know what just happened in the loo, you were having a wee and you looked to your right. Jessica? Yeah, no, I told her. Okay. Yeah, you don't have to go into you. You know. You're going out, actually.

Well, because, yeah, I was sitting there and, you know, it takes a minute to get comfortable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so I'm just sort of, all right, I'm looking around. Sorry. Oh.

Oh, don't worry. Life happens. The police. And I'm looking around and there's, it's something it looks, it says, oh, it's a smelly cat. And it has the friend's lettering. Yeah. I'm like, what is that? I wonder.

And then it's cat-shaped bath beads. Yeah. That's so unerable. They smell good or not, actually. I don't they do. We should knock one open in a minute, but I mean, it's like knock off merch, basically. Right. So I feel like you are very welcome to have a bath with your smelly cat and bathers later if you want.

Thanks. My first question looking at him was, I wonder if they give you a rash. You know, like some, like really cheap bath beads. Yes. You know. No, they were. Irritate your skin. They were a stocking full of my daughter and who loves cats.

Who loves cats. And doesn't yet know about friends. I feel like when do you think it's the right age to. start 20. No, I don't know. How old is she? She's nine. Yeah. I don't know. You know, when did you, has your son watched it? He watched it in junior high because the other kids were talking about it. And he didn't see, wasn't that interested. He watched it just like, okay, so he knows what they're talking about. But he hasn't seen all of it. I mean, yeah, I mean, the majority of the world has. But yeah, I guess why would he want to watch his mom every day when he can

just well he genuinely wasn't interested right he really wasn't and um he has a girlfriend now who's fantastic oh great yeah yeah they're in love they've actually been together a couple years um she had no idea who i was because she never watched friends she didn't like 90s sitcoms well that's quite a strong opinion yeah no but and did you love her for this he did he was so relieved you know Of course. Yeah. Yeah. He was at your premiere for the comeback, wasn't he?

He was because he's in the comeback. Which episode is he in? Four. He starts in four. Oh, okay. He starts in four yet. Okay. Four in season three.

Yes. Yeah. Okay. So I've only seen one episode of season three. He's the grown man, young man. Who's, yeah, turns out to be the AI guy, Evan. How was it acting opposite your son? It was great.

Okay. That's good. I mean, and we were both after the first take, you know, that we did together. We went, oh, my God. He said, oh, my God, you were Valerie and I was Evan. And it was not even weird. I said, I know, me too. Oh, that's great.

But later on in a take for that same scene, like Lisa crept in and went, but he looks like Julian, don't you think? Oh, it is. It is, you know. And then I had to send myself away and get back into the scene. Did you like give him any tips? Because I mean, you're like an exec on it. You write it. You like, so this is how I'd like you to play, Evan.

No, I mean, Michael and I wrote it for him. Right. Because we wanted that character to be just like a sweetness coming out of him, like a goodness. And I was like, maybe that feels like Julian. And Michael went, yes, Julian, yes. You know. And yeah, so. all I did was tell him we're writing something for you.

And when I told him what it was, he's like, sweet nerd, you know, and he went, oh, that's like ground zero for me. Great. That's, you know, that's exciting. Is he an actor? Yeah, he really is, I mean, he always wanted to be a director and writer. And then it turned out he could act. And, you know, we just went, okay, you go for all of it. Let's see which door opens first.

How old did he know? 27. 27. And when did you all discover that he could act? What was the show or the scene that really got you? He was in a play in high school and he was, it's a really intense play, The Laramie Project. Okay.

Uh-huh. About someone in America, Matthew Shepard was killed by other kids because he was gay. And in this production, all the kids in his high school, and by the way, there were a lot of, like, actors' kids and directors' kids in this presentation. production too. Do you live in Los Angeles? Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah. And they all had multiple parts and sort of there was like a, not competition, but well, how come he has 11 parts and I only have 10 parts sort of thing. And Julian had one part. He was one of the, he was the driver of the car. So he didn't actually kill Matthew Shepard. It's based on a real thing. But he was the driver of the car and really

felt terrible. So he's on stage the entire time in an orange jumpsuit and cuffs, you know, at the trial. And everyone, you know, was sort of like, you know, but I should have 11 rolls and I should have 10 rolls. And so one role is that bad? You only have one role and I'm thinking,

it's actually much better because you're on stage the whole time listening. And then at the end there's a monologue. he is doing such a great listening he's really listening and he's well you know what's going on in his head and he delivers this monologue my husband and I start boo-hooing so loud because that's our son and it was it made us so sad yeah that's not my alarm that's that's just me It's like annoying. That's, yeah, because I guess like, look, you're his parents and you'd be thrilled to see him do whatever he wanted, but was there.

But he was good. Yeah, but were you a bit like, there's a bit of me and that? Yeah. Kind of better than me. Oh. And then in college he had to do something because he was in a program, you know, at US Film School, you know, at USC. And a directing class. And then it was COVID.

So they had to be the actor to and self. tape and do stuff. And he did a monologue from the normal heart, which is a phenomenal play. Do you know it? You do you know it. Yeah. And he was really good. And a lot of good actors have played that part, and he really made it his own.

And my husband and I saw that and went, okay, yeah. Yeah. He should probably pursue this too. Right. So he did for four years. Do you? Acting classes and stuff. Do you?

get to, where do you go for your theatre? Do you go to New York for like trips to the theatre? Do you like going to the theatre? I don't. You don't. Oh, I guess because we were talking about plays, I thought maybe you went. I know. Is that just because you don't like it?

I didn't. Do you live in New York? I live in L.A. So there's not a lot of, no. It's not that much theater there. But here, I don't know how this is going to come off, but it's the truth. You know, if you're bored in a play and you can leave. Yeah.

I can't. Okay, yeah, fair enough. I can't. Are you the type of person that walks out of a cinema then? You can kind of get away with it in the cinema? You sit at the back? Mm-hmm, I could. I don't.

I haven't been in a long time. Because of this anxiety that you would get judged if you left. Yeah. We're slightly obsessed with theatre, aren't we? Yeah, and I, yeah, but I... We've always gone a lot. I can't imagine that... Well, I can.

now, but I guess I, we're very British and we just suffer and stay. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I could do that. You could have a little nod off. Alice loves to nod off. I nod off. She just constantly. Oh, no, I would. My husband does. And also, I can't, if I have to go with him, I'm definitely not going. Why? Because he's a rude, theater. So then you have to be extra audience member. Well-behaved. Yes. Yeah. And then I can barely pay attention because I'm so aware of him, You know, doing like, ugh. Oof. Falling asleep.

I just so aware. Is he not? No. Well, I was thinking that your son was in your tummy when he first had, you had a big part and he was written in. A pregnancy was written in. So he's been acting in utero. Yeah, kind of. He was really, he was.

He acted very nicely. He was really a nice fetus. He was. He was. Did he jump about it? No. He just was very... He moved.

Yeah. Very smoothly. And like if he ever like stuck his elbow out, I would just gently rub it and it just came right back in. It was so nice. Isn't that nice? Yeah, lovely. Yeah. Can I just ask about...

Because Friends is kind of the, was kind of like the end of the live, it was like a live audience. In front of a live audience. So I guess you were. Kind of doing theater every night, kind of. Kind of. Yeah. But you know what? I think it goes back to the early days.

And in L.A., you know, it wasn't like great shows were coming maybe to the bigger theaters, but I couldn't afford to go to those. But there were a lot of plays that weren't great that, you know, friends wrote. You got to come see it. Okay. And, yeah, it was a little painful. Yeah. So I think it's that and just feeling trapped.

what I want to know, basically, I, in anticipation for you coming on, I hadn't watched the comeback and I have missed out for two decades because it's amazing. Thank you. Valerie cherished and I don't know what this says about me, whether I'm a narcissist, but I saw a bit of me and Valerie in some of those awkward situations, like the red carpets where like the publicist is trying to get the shot with Juner and it's just, and she's got the dress on back to front. I wore a dress back to front on Graham Norton.

I didn't know it was the wrong way? Right. Yeah, that's why we did that. It's so good. Because people do that. Yeah. But like, yeah. No, but everybody, everybody thought, oh, God, I think that's me.

And some people thought I was actually making fun of them. Okay. Like, really great actresses would come up to me somewhere. It's like, your show makes me really uncomfortable because is, is that me? Like, no, of course that's not you. I don't know. you. No. It's a composite of, no. Is it because we're all narcissists? I, it's not, I don't, I object to the word narcissist in this case. I don't think that's it. I think we're all

terrified that what we think we're covering, which we do every day, sort of little like, uh-oh, did I just, or I really want to go over, you know, and then you hide it, you cover, and Valerie doesn't. She doesn't know that. You don't just go over to that, you know, showrunner and tell them what to do, especially back then, you know. Right. And back then, 2004, it was different. But I have to say, I think Valerie Cherish was always very polite on set.

I know, but... She kind of led the way with the... In season one, you know, she tells those kids how to behave. Yeah. In a kind of, I think, in a respectable way, right? Yeah. Even though she's getting treated like shit. Like they're awful to her.

Yeah, Polly G. I think we could have told his story a little more. Because a lot of people would and still say, but why is he so punishing to her? And because she's got reality TV cameras there. And he is required to adjust his show to her. He's already been required by the network to adjust his show. It was a different show.

You know, just and he knew who she was. was when she was younger and now she's older and he's pissed off that she got old. There's a kind of ingenue quality about Valerie. Well, there is now, but at the, looking back. Yeah. But there's just this vulnerability, her vulnerability, that she allows herself to be filmed even when she doesn't even look great, but she thinks that's what she needs to do.

And there's just a kind of, she's a very sympathetic character. but because she's making mistakes all the time. Right. She just doesn't, she doesn't protect herself in a way. That's what it looks like. That, I think, is the frustration. Why isn't she protecting herself more? I don't think she knows she needs to.

But I think, yeah, but also, you. Maybe she doesn't need to. Maybe she doesn't. But this has been talked to. Watch the third season. Okay, right, okay. But go on. But no, I was going to say, because, like, you know,

you were ahead of your time with the character of Valerie. and also the comeback. And, you know, it got cancelled. And did it get cancelled? Is that what we say? Yes. Oh, yeah. Okay.

So, you know, you were ahead of when the Kardashians was coming out. Yeah, the office had come out, I think, a couple of years before. And I definitely felt like the UK office. Yeah, yeah. I saw that. I thought it was fantastic. And so were you inspired by that kind of mockumentary thing? Yes, I think so.

But using reality shit, because I was really hit hard. by reality shows because there weren't housewives of anywhere in 2004. When did housewives start? Because Andy Cohen then is in season two, which is the greatest play within a play bit when you go, Fally goes, I get it now. And it's like the whole world has cottoned on to what this is.

Right. I get it now. It's so brilliant. I know what I need to, yeah. It was so good. But yeah, when did the housewife start? 2005 or six. There was housewives of Orange County.

So then like the comeback's just kind of. not been understood fully and then Housewives comes on and then I mean yeah but I think there were people that got it anyway yes yes you know yes it's cult they got it anyway they knew yeah reality TV there was already survivor there was already amazing race there was the Osbournes for the biographical ones and Anna Nicole Smith okay that was brutal did you did you watch were you watching those shows yes you couldn't really avoid them. Right, I wanted to see. And, you know, the fact that season one of Survivor, that Richard Hatch, that this guy won who was despicable, and it was between him and this woman,

and she was great at all the challenges, and she was a really decent human and helping the other contestants along the way and still coming out ahead. And then the other contestants on Survivor, of course, vote on who should win. And they, all voted for the despicable guy that he played a better game, that that was the game. And that blew my mind and made me scared, a little bit scared, just like, why doesn't decency? We don't value decency? What's happening? This is bad. I mean, Trump's your president, so it's like, it's not even more insane, hasn't it? It's gone. Well, he had a reality show, too. Yeah, exactly.

He was celebrated, wasn't he? As this kind of... Well, people liked the show. Yeah, right. For sure. He was entertaining. Yeah. But he also...

Yeah, I won't get it. We only the country in the same way. He saw an opening. Yeah, open the window, the door. I'm going to put the chicken on. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about who was around your dinner table when you were younger.

Where were you growing up and what were you eating? Okay. I grew up in Tarzana, which is a suburb and... L.A. Yeah. In the Valley. And my mom made dinner every single night. And my brother and sister, my sister's eight years older, my brother's six years older.

Yeah. And yeah. So we would all have dinner together every night. You went to school in L.A. Yeah. Yeah. But you're clever. I wanted to do well.

I'm saying it. I don't know if that is anything to do with being clever. No, you're clever. How's that? Well, but okay. Thank you. Yes. Yeah, I wanted to do well.

Okay. I wanted to win. Sorry, are you the first born or? Third. And you're competitive? Yeah. Yeah. Are you all quite academic?

No. Oh, okay. No. I mean, I think my, well, my brother is a neurologist, so ultimately he did pretty well in school. But I think when he was in grade school, he thinks he probably had some kind of like attention deficit, executive function. issue. So school didn't come easily to him. Yeah, and it took him a while. So your brother and sister,

what were you all eating around the dinner table? Did I miss that? No, you didn't. I didn't get to it. Okay, sorry. So chicken dishes, roast chicken. I always liked that. Yeah. Yeah. I like the way my mom made it. How did she make it? Um, parmesan cheese, garlic salt, and paprika. On top. Or in under the skin? On top. Just on top. Oh, that's nice. Hispy.

I know. I feel like it might have been a Hungarian thing because her. Is she Hungarian? Well, her father was Hungarian. Oh, wow. And his family. Is this your Jewish side? Yeah.

Yeah. Well, they both are. Oh, you've got my dad too. Oh, okay. Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you still observant? I'm not.

No. So you won't be celebrating Passover next week. Oh, yeah. No. We usually don't get to because my father and I, end up, you know, being a problem. My father, when they start talking about Passover and Moses, you know, and did this and my father, like, you know, they haven't proven that there was a Moses. I'm just saying biblical archaeology still hasn't. There's still, yeah, there's no evidence that there

was a, yeah, gets into that. And then, yeah, we just start picking apart. Okay. Thanks. So the roast chicken with parmesan and paprika, that sounds delicious. Did she make chicken? soup as well. Yeah, she ultimately did. Yeah. My dad's mom made chicken soup. It wasn't very good. Oh, okay. And she wasn't a good cook. Okay. But you're, you're quite a good cook. I'm not. I mean, I used to. I used to. Oh. Well, I mean, I used to cook and then no one liked it. Oh. I know. But hold on. I read something about you that you said that basically you have an opinion on everything where you'll be like, I think I could just add something to this to improve it. Right. Do you not improve it? when you have that thing.

I don't do that. I don't do that anymore, ever. What happened to make you stop? It didn't matter. Okay. It wasn't important. Okay. Anymore. That I honestly, I mean, I don't know how this will sound, but I honestly became more

grateful that someone went to the trouble to cook something for me. Yeah, I agree with that. Do you know what I mean? Do you cook? No. I don't anymore. So how do you eat every day? Well, someone cooks for her, I think.

We have a housekeeper who would run. Would rather be cooking than doing anything else. Okay. So, yeah, she cooks. So what's on the list when you get home from all this promo, you'll be like, to your housekeeper, please can you make that? Beef with broccoli. Like I'm stir-fried? Yeah.

Noodles rice? No. Well, maybe some rice, but just the beef with broccoli. Oh, my God. And there's a real ginger in it. Ginger. There's real ginger and. You were so decisive of that answer, by the way.

Because, yeah. I think we need to get her a beef and broccoli tonight, team. I don't know. It's so good. The way she makes it, it's so good. What's her name? Zoyla. Zoyla.

Yeah. You know, you feel when someone's cooking with love. She has. Right? Yeah. And she is. And she's just like magic about flavors. She's look at a recipe, but somehow she's altering it a little bit and it's that much better. Yeah.

Where does she come from? Nicaragua. So is it a Nicaragua style or more Asian? No, it's very Asian the beef with broccoli. Yeah. Yeah. No. Now, when you're on Friends, I read that Jennifer used to make a salad for you and your co-stars.

Is this folklore? She used to order a salad that we all would order. Oh, she didn't make it. Courtney and I. Kinoa? No. No, it was a chopped salad from the commissary, but with shaved parmesan, and I can't remember a specific parmesan. Yeah.

I love a good chopped salad. Right. It's delicious. Yeah. Yeah. So she ordered, she didn't make it. She would just say, oh, could I get that set? Because at a certain point, we weren't leaving our stage.

You would just, uh, we wouldn't, we couldn't really go to the commissary. We would just stay on our stage. How long did it take to make one episode of French? A week. A week. But you rehearse for a week, like a play. And then the audience comes on the fifth day. Yeah.

Or fourth day. Yeah. And you shoot it in front of the audience. Okay. Can you do retakes? Yeah. Okay. So they did retakes.

Oh, yeah. And rewrites. And rewrites. So if they didn't laugh as loud as they should have done, you might take that joke out. It might not be funny enough. Right. Okay. Or let's see if we can improve on it.

Not us. The writers. Our shows took, you know, normally, a half-hour show took about two, two and a half hours, maybe three to shoot. Yeah. Ours was six or more hours. Wow. Yeah. God, you had a patient audience.

We had two audiences. We had an audience that was waiting outside to come in. So did they, did you exclude once after the first bit? You'd say we're bringing the fresh audience in now. They were happy to leave. Yeah. Oh, they probably needed to go to the loo. It had been three hours.

Yeah. I think if someone, if they wanted to stay, they could. I don't know. Yeah. Actually, I don't know how that went. But I know at some point they'd bring in pizza. Yeah. We'd be going for so long.

They'd bring food in for them. It must have been exhausted. Yeah. How old were you when you were doing it then? I was 30, 31 when we started. Yeah. And, yeah, and I was pregnant during that. Yeah.

And I was tired. and we're shooting till two in the morning. Cricy. Right. Oh my God. Yeah. How does that work with like unions and stuff? Well, oh.

Well, that's an excellent question. What? How did that happen? How did that be allowed? Wait a minute. It didn't even think about that. You're a pilot. Because it was a multi-camera show.

So we were just rehearse. Hey. But what about the crew and everything? Because they wouldn't work. they must have They must have swamined. No, they were there at 10 in the morning. Yeah.

Did they have a new set of crew? No. I guess everyone got overtime. Okay. The show was doing well. Yeah. They didn't mind. Maybe, you know, they could afford it at the studio.

Did you love being Phoebe? Yes. I did. What was the best thing about Phoebe? She lightened me up. Yeah. For me? What was the best thing?

Yeah. She lightened me up. Yeah. Yeah. Just, and her worldview and she was so bonkers. She was, but now when I watch, because I only honestly just started, like, committing to watching every season. Oh, I think it's wonderful. Yeah, it is. But as I'm watching Phoebe, now I'm saying, oh, that's actually not crazy anymore. No, she's not. Like, okay. She was quite insightful. old Phoebe, wasn't she? Yeah. She had a real strong values. Yes. She was always worried about,

you know, whether they were doing the right thing. Right. And she voiced that and I thought that was very healthy. Yeah, I know. She was admirable. Yeah. You like yourself as Phoebe. Yeah, I forgive certain things. Okay. You know, as an actor going, why do you have to make it such a thing? Can't you just say it? Why can't you just say it? Were you all good friends? Or did you have a best friend on set? No, the girls had lunch every single day together. And sometimes, you know, the guys would join, but, you know. Yeah.

But we were all close. And especially in the beginning, we were like puppies just climbing all over each other and playing, you know. Was anyone well established when they first got the roles? Courtney Cox. She was. Has she been in Ace Ventura by that point? Yeah. Her.

Right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And the video, the music video for Bruce Springsteen. Yeah. And also she was on a show called Family Ties, which was Michael J. Fox. She played his girlfriend. So, yeah, she was known. She was the only one of us that was known. But it changed your lives. Yeah. It did. Yeah. I mean, it's...

A lot. We were lucky to have each other for that. And you probably needed the support of each other because it was such a... But it became so big. I can remember the very last episode. People just didn't go out. because they wanted to watch it and celebrate it and have a bit of a party. Yeah. And it was so sad that it was finishing. I know. We couldn't stop crying.

What did you cry? Yeah. Didn't you see us crying? Yeah, I did. But I wasn't sure whether you were relieved or just... No. You were just sad. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, we weren't relieved. No. Are you still good friends with all of them? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. We had David Trimmer on this years ago. Yeah. And we had this guy. The poor bloat, it was a press junket that, like, we've gone to this hotel. It was kind of the first time we'd done it. It was just poor COVID, wasn't it? Yeah.

At the So hotel. He was so tired. You could just see he'd done a whole day of promo. Yeah. And he looked at these two women and he was like, why are they here? I've got to be with you for an hour and a half. Like, okay.

And then he was so polite and lovely. No, you think that's what he was saying? No. That's what you imagined. Maybe. Maybe. But we did fall in love by the end. No, we loved it.

But he made us laugh so much because my mom, we brought like meals on wheels, which never travels that well. We didn't bring much. No, but we bought, and you proudly gave him this banana bread. Yeah. That your son had made. Who's a doctor? Okay.

Okay. So I was very dark. Yeah. Yeah. So we made, he brought this banana bread. And he had a taste. And mom went well. what do you think? He went, it's dry.

It was. And I loved him for that. And then my mum went, my son has been up all night, saving lives. And he went, well, he just took one. Oh! And it felt like a Ross. Like, it was, oh my God. And then it was got even funnier because Jesse said she was going to have a bat mitzvah. Did I? Yeah. And he said, who's catering if it's your son? I'm not coming.

He was amazing. Anyway, it was very fun. He was brilliant. And he is now a friend of Boggsworth. competitive and sad that I'm not being funny. Oh, shut up. You're very funny. Um, chicken's coming out. Funnier than him. Yeah. No, I'm not.

So, you know, it smells delicious. Okay, good. It does smell great. Okay, good. The chicken, like, it's, it's, I'm going to say we're about five minutes away. Okay. Okay. I really hope it's good.

Yeah. Me too. Five minutes. It's good. I've been very stressed. I thought you were going to like that shit. You did? Well, I don't know.

I read up. But that's a crazy thing. That's a, No, it's not if someone cooks me something. I go to their house and say, all right, you know what you need to do. I don't do that. No, I can't imagine that you would do that. I mean, yeah.

But I would like to have your barn. I know how to behave. Do you go out to eat a lot in LA? Not a ton. No. We don't because Zoyla cooks so well. So do you have dinner parties and she cooks for you? That would be my dream, actually.

I know, we don't so much. What's going on with us? I don't think people do have dinner parties. You do. I don't know. We also used to have Sunday night dinners, mostly at my house with my whole family. Oh, wow. And nephews and then their girlfriends.

And it grew to like 16 people that don't fit around my table. So then it's two tables. And then some people are like, oh, I liked it better when it was one table. It's like, all right, well, who do not want to invite? And by the way, it's my house. And so, like, I don't know what to do. And then we had to stop doing it just because I got tired. Fair enough.

Hosting. And it's not even then I'm cooking because I started just bringing in food. Here's what happened. Here's why I stopped cooking. We would do Thanksgiving and I would always make the turkey because I made it exactly like my mother made it. And that was good? It was good. It's the Parmesan, that thing.

Oh, the Parmesan. On the turkey as well. Yes. And I based like. crazy. Okay. And also add chicken stock, you know, and just baste. It's so moist. And one year, I think it was my brother who I love beyond. And he said, hey, what if I make a turkey this year? And I went, oh, okay. Well, there's a lot of people. Should I make one and you can make one? Oh, okay. And then it just sort of kept growing from there where another.

person after that would say, yeah, you know what, I'm going to make the potatoes. But that's helpful, Lisa. Well, it was just that because one, yes, then one year, no one was offering anything. Oh. And I had my, so I was, that's fine. I can do it all. And I, you weren't used to. Oh, the way to do it is everything's pureed, not the turkey, but, you know, like the sweet potatoes.

Dude, I've done that before from Christmas. The mashed potatoes. you know but green beans I actually made you know but there was so much pureed stuff that it was like turkey and baby food basically is what I was serving and everyone after that went I think next you know what I can have it next year they went tough and no one ate much oh I'm sorry and so I just went your confidence yeah totally and I lost it so much that I was even just going to make Courtney Costa is a phenomenal cook. She really is. Yeah. And she made a roast chicken once that was so delicious and it was

simple just like what people do. Salt pepper, some rosemary. That's it. And I thought, oh, I think I'm going to try that. And for my husband and my son. And I oversaulted it so much that it was inedible. It was, it was toxic tasting. Oh, God. And that's when I stopped. How many years ago was five Lisa I think you need to get back on that horse I can help you with the chicken I'm worried my chicken's gonna be to you salt

I love salt I'm telling you you couldn't it was a salt lick it's not an exaggeration no one could put another bite in their mouth and they were sweet about it it's like no no I mean yeah it's salty but we love you

and you made an effort couldn't they just take the skin off and then eat the underneath it wasn't on this it was in it was everywhere What? What's, that's beautiful? Ooh, that salad looks so good.

We have Zatar chicken with a butter bean puree. Okay. A chopped salad of sorts. And then Taboulet with celery and green beans and then a garlic yogurt. And it's all from my friend's new cookbook called Peckish. But what's it called? You said? It's called Peckish. No, the, um, oh, Zatar chicken thighs.

Oh, it's thighs. Yeah. So it's kind of juicy. Yeah, all right. And I was going to put the bar. Should I take two pieces or start with one little one? I just take five pieces. Take a whole thigh.

All right. We can be looking around. What am I looking around for? Come on, don't be polite. Okay. And you're hungry. And what did you have for breakfast this morning? Hotel breakfast?

Yeah, but I didn't eat all of it. It was eggs and cheese. That was good. Okay. There. Smells really good. And it was just okay. Okay, fine.

So you haven't eaten since the morning? I mean, someone gave me a cookie, but I didn't eat it. I didn't eat it. I didn't eat it. because I knew I was coming here. That's very sweet, to be honest. Yeah, I read, because I have made cookies for dessert. You do like a cookie.

You've said this somewhere. I do like a cookie. And I used to bake a lot. More than cooking, I baked a lot. Okay. Brownies from scratch, it's so easy, right? And chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookie bars. Where is the comeback filmed?

L.A., right? L.A., we, well, this last season we shot up. Warner Brothers on the Friends State. Oh wow. Yeah. Just the most intrusive door bell, sorry. How did that feel to be back? Did you do that on purpose?

We didn't, but Warner Brothers felt like we needed a big stage. And it was going to be available and they offered it. Did you nearly say, thank you so much, but can we have a different one? No. No. You were like, this is good. It became very emotional, but at first I thought, finally, Valerie and friends are going to collide.

And I was dying for her to say something about, you know, how fantastic that, like, you know, Rachel and Monica, great characters and the other one. I can't remember her name, you know, but we didn't do that. Instead, just have her in front of stage 24, all the great movies that shot here, you know, and now, and didn't even look at the, only saw the movies, didn't even look at the TV shows. The movies talk about that and said, I think our show will be the first hit for stage 24. She walks off and the camera just shows you friends.

Mike and Molly, friends are you? Yeah. You've had some amazing cameos. Oh, my God. Everyone from Andy Cohen to RuPaul to Seth Rogan. Yeah. I mean, who else, let's think. Have you on?

Malin Ackerman is. Marlon Ackerman, who is so wonderful. And that relationship is so beautiful between you two. Right, because it feels true. True. Yeah. You know, the actors aren't the enemies. No, of the actors. Have you started filming season four? No, we're done. That's it. Mm-hmm. Are you sure? This is the third and final. You're sure? Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I'm not being coy. This is it, because... Because you have had big gaps to be. Yeah, but like, we have had big gaps. So you might in six years time, think.

But the big gaps make it kind of an event. And it needs to be about something big if we're going to come back. Yeah. And this is pretty big. Okay. So, yeah. And now, you know what? We went from canceled after season one to it becoming an event.

There was season two that was, oh, wow, now they're looking at single camera, edgy, moody, 13 episodes of it. of premium cable and, you know, and now the third season is sort of, oh, another potential extinction event with AI, like the reality shows were in 2004. So it just feels like it's full circle and that's a trilogy. And it went from like, shoot, it was canceled to it's a piece, you know, like a complete piece. And that is really nice.

That feels good. Can we bring it back to food for a second? Please. No. I want to talk more about the comeback and why it's a trilogy. Listen, I can keep on talking about the comeback. I'm kidding. Yes, I don't really want to.

Let's talk about food. Okay. Can I ask you what your last supper would be? You're going to a desert island. You're not going to have your favorites. Right. Starter, Maine, dessert, drink of choice. Oh, my God.

There's so many things. Today. But okay, well, I mean, you know what? I had macaroni and cheese while I was. here. Yum. Where did you have that? At the hotel. Was it good? Yeah, because it's macaroni and cheese. What do I care? So where are you putting that in your last meal? At the beginning of the meal? I should probably have a set. Well, my last meal. Who cares? Yeah. And I like fried chicken. Okay. That's really good. Where do you get good fried chicken? Well, I mean, I like Kentucky fried chicken.

Sorry. That's what I grew up. Mom loves a- You do too? What do you think is wrong with it? What could be What's the spices? When it's what it tastes so good? Should have just got a bucket. Yeah, he should have got a bucket. I know. Wouldn't it happen easier? Yeah.

And then you just throw, get paper plates and stuff. Yeah. I love a paper plate. And what would you have with that? Would you have the coal? How many things can you eat? No, no. No, none of the things.

Just the chicken. Do you like a condiment? Do you need a dip with that? No. No. You're just sucking that bar and dry. And then you have to suck the bones, don't you? I do not suck the bones.

I think that's a European thing. Oh, okay. But just to get the last little bit. Used to suck the bones. Okay. And my grandmother used to suck the bones. And marrow bones they loved. Oh my God.

Do you like maro bones? No, I don't. Me neither. But my dad loved it and my mom used to get it with pot roast and throw it in. Yeah. So we've got KFC. We've got mac and cheese. I know.

I like this. Drink of choice. Do you drink? Water. Okay. Do you another drink wine? No, I don't like wine. Do you like cocktails?

Sometimes I like a vodka tonic Vodka tonic Yeah, that's it Why, what are you? But you don't drink a lot No, I don't I know Look, it's all so disappointing

No, no, no No, no, I... No, gone, I would drink wine I like wine Yeah, most people do But you don't like it I don't at all Would you kindly, Luca, bring over

some dessert please, thanks, doll Oh I forgot I could cry Oh, a cookie It's so exciting Okay, we have an assortment. You do have a banana bread that mum's made.

I hope it's not dry. We also have... What if I swimmer you? You might swimmer me. Well, you might not. Then we have gotcha chang. Gotcha jang. Do you know what gotcha jang is?

No, I don't even... A Korean chili paste. Oh. It's not very spicy. Oh, okay. But a cookie. And we heard that you liked chocolate cookies. So there's a kind of a Nutella chocolate cookie.

Oh my God. So you can do you can do. just have a little bite of everything if you want okay yeah so can i start here yeah what do you suggest less or more brown i kind of look like that go go go can i just take a piece of it yeah oh yeah it's quite good right yeah it's buttery right yeah it might be a bit dry go oh there's a little oh there's a little yeah i'm on hot ones it's that too spicy for you a little bit oh shit have some water or some dry benarineberg Oh shit, that's a try.

Wait, there's chocolate in it. Yeah. But how can there be a complaint if there's chocolate? Can I break it off? Yeah. I saw you use a knife. I don't want to get in trouble. Have you got a sweet tooth?

Oh, it's too dry. Hmm. I think that's okay. Yeah. I slightly clutched a bit more than I would have done. That's good. It's kind of healthy. Is this all a recipe?

Yeah, it's all recipe from our cookbook. Maybe because I've just had the cookie, it was like... Oh, yeah. I think the chili did something to your taste buds. I like this because it's not too sweet. No. And it's dark chocolate, right? Yeah.

What are you having as your last supper dessert? I think I like the banana bread. I know the world's my oyster. Yeah. I didn't even try that. No. All right. Those too spicy.

I... I'm going to say it. I haven't cut them. He says a pussy. Who? She's a pussy. It's not spicy. You're a pussy.

I wouldn't eat spicy. I don't like spicy. Wasn't that a great comeback? It's really good. It's that whip. Yeah. Yeah. Just put you right in your place.

I don't like spicy. Now I'm embarrassed. Okay. It's not that spicy. You'll be fine, Lenny. That's not spicy. See? Pussy.

Pussy. All right. Yeah, maybe I am a delicate flower. Oh, no, it's hitting. See? Oh, for God's sake. Okay, thank you. Right, it's just hit the back of my throat.

Calm down, have a drink. Now try to taste that. See what it does. It's really one in. It's not the gotcha joke. Woo! Well, you keep doing this. No, it's not because...

Not that hot. Here, let's tell her it's not that hot in here. They're never going to invite us on hot ones. Yes. And you said thank you, but no, thank you. I could not do it. Right. I wouldn't get past the second one.

We have Valerie on hot ones. In this season? Uh-huh. So how much did you do, how hot did Valerie go? Well, just between us. Yeah. Pity. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, Valerie, you have to go far in it. But, and that was acting. But I, at some point, because I got worried, like, I don't know if I can act this well. So put some Tabasco. I can't even handle Tabasco. Not a cano. Thank you. I hate it.

I really shouldn't have done these cookies then. Yeah. Sorry. Why? It has tabasco in it? No, but it has a chili paste in it. All right. It's actually okay. Okay, great. So I put a little tabasco on a thing, and it was really okay.

It wasn't so bad. But it helped me. A nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere happy or sad. Happy. SpaghettiOs with Franks. What's Franks? Frank Furtes. Oh, Frank Furtes.

It's like cut up little. Bioners. thing. Yeah. When was the last time he had a Spaghettio and Frank? When I was pregnant. Oh, really? Because that was from my childhood.

And yeah. And I would have two cans. A two can girl? Just when I was pregnant. And Bifaroni. Do you know what Bifaroni is? No. Oh, God.

It's just, what is it? It's a pasta to be generous. And there's no hole in it, but it's like a full small two. of pasta and with a meat sauce. The tomato taste of it is a lot like the Spaghettios. Also, Chef Boyardy. And I had a lot of that when I was pregnant from my childhood. Have you given your son these meals?

No. It wasn't allowed. Not by me. I would have given him anything. I think you should taste everything. But he had more of a palette for muscles and clams. Isn't that something like six years old and muscles and clams? Thank you.

I love it. Fabulous. Lisa Kudrow, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thank you. You're amazing and we're so lucky to have you. Lisa Kudra. Legend. Legend.

Lovely Lisa, who enjoyed the Puds. Yeah. I can't stop eating these cookies. Why? Oh, it's so chewy. Try that. I think I preferred the chocolate. I like the chew.

It's really nice. The chew is better than the snap. The chew is great. Thank you for your banana bread, mum. It's a hefty loaf, isn't it? It's our recipe. It's massive, isn't it? It's great.

What bananas. I can't wait to eat that for the next week. Thank you to Lisa Kudrow for coming on the podcast. The comeback is out on HBO Max. You can also watch it on Sky. I think Valerie Cherish is one of the most fantastic characters on screen, and I think you're going to love her if you haven't watched it already. And Ed Smith, that cookbook is so good.

I need one. It was a really good recipe, really good for a big meal and the taboulet. You know it's springtime, or nearing summer when the tubule comes out. I like the tabulae had the beans in. It was a green taboole. It was delicious. It was actually a bog a week salad, but yeah. like a tabooling. Anyway, we will see you next week for more guests on Tablemanors.