In a new interview, Kudrow revealed that she was cast as Roz Doyle in the Frasier pilot that ultimately Peri Gilpin portrayed during its 11-season run on NBC.
“I didn’t film it. I got fired from Frasier,” Kudrow told Sean Hayes on the SmartLess podcast, also co-hosted by Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.
Kudrow said getting fired from Frasier was “devastating” and that director James Burrows said, “This isn’t working,” during the pilot’s run-through.
“I was trying to like [ask], ‘What can I do?’ But I think they did make a casting mistake because I went to the network with Perri Gilpin,” Kudrow said. “I think they were just correcting a mistake. Cause Perri should have always been Roz.”
Although getting fired from Frasier was a setback for Kudrow, she soon booked a guest-starring role on Mad About You, which “changed a lot” for her.
“I did a guest star on Mad About You, they had me back, I’d already done a guest star the first season,” she said. “So now I’m there for a different character and my agent said, ‘You’re not doing this.'”
Kudrow said the character was only called “Waitress,” and she had no name. Despite her agents advising against booking the role, Kudrow told them she was “not in a position to say no. It’s to me the best show and I’m doing it.”
The comedic actress said that by the end of the week, Mad About You creator and writer Danny Jacobson said, “You’re so funny. Would you be OK doing five more episodes?”
“I just went, ‘Yes!’ There’s my rent for the year. I don’t have to get another job,” Kudrow added.
Guest-starring on Mad About You gave Kudrow the ultimate opportunity to star in Friends in the Emmy-award-winning role of Phoebe Buffay.
Mad About You writer and producer Jeffrey Klarik, the partner of Friends creator David Crane, suggested Kudrow play Phoebe.
While reading for Friends, Kudrow encountered Burrows once again after getting fired from Frasier. Kudrow said that in a special celebrating Burrows’ career, she learned that “I was the only cast member for Friends that had to audition for Jimmy Burrows.”
After the SmartLess co-hosts asked why, Kudrow replied, “Because I had just gotten fired from Frasier.”
Arnett noted that Burrows “could’ve been instrumental in your firing from Frasier,” Kudrow replied, “I don’t know. Probably.”
“When I had my audition, I did it… it was just this small room,” Kudrow recalled. “[Burrows] is sitting at a desk. I’m in a chair, and the audition was like a little monologue. And when I’m done, he just went, ‘No notes.’ And I thought, ‘Alright. I don’t know what that means. It’s hopeless.'”
Kudrow went on to book the role on Friends and played the role throughout its 10-season run. Kudrow was the first cast member to win an Emmy for the show when, in 1998, she took the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.