The Iconic Sitcom Lisa Kudrow Got Fired From Before Her Friends Fame

In 1993, Lisa Kudrow was cast as Roz Doyle on the upcoming sitcom "Frasier." Career-driven and tough, Roz was the producer of  Dr. Frasier Crane's (Kelsey Grammer) KACL radio talk show. However, fans never saw Kudrow in the role, because she was cut from the show three days into production for the pilot episode, "The Good Son." 

In a 2021 interview on "The Howard Stern Show," Kudrow revealed why producer James Burrows let her go from "Frasier" early in her career. "I wasn't right for the part [or] for the chemistry of the group," she explained. "So that wasn't working, but I did think, "Oh, I am not this guy's cup of tea."'

After being fired from "Frasier," Kudrow faced Burrows for a one-on-one audition for "Friends." She noted that she was the only member of the six-person cast who had to audition for Burrows separately. "I had one extra audition just for James Burrows," she told Stern. "I did it and he went, 'No notes.' I left going, 'That either means she's beyond help and helpless, just like I always knew,' or 'Yeah, it's perfect. I have no notes."' 

Kudrow added that Burrows was right to fire her from "Frasier," which ran one season longer than "Friends" on NBC and scored a 2023 reboot. "He wasn't wrong about 'Frasier,' he wasn't," she said. "I wasn't right." But Kudrow did admit that while filming the "Friends" pilot, she got nervous that history would repeat itself. Luckily for fans, it didn't.

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