Friends star Lisa Kudrow on the ‘devastating’ moment she was fired from Frasier

Kudrow admits getting fired from Frasier was a huge setback. Photo / Getty Images

Lisa Kudrow has confessed being fired from Frasier was “devastating”.

The 61-year-old actress was hired to play producer Roz Doyle in the sitcom opposite Kelsey Grammer in the title role, but she was given the boot before the pilot episode was filmed and replaced by Peri Gilpin and Kudrow has now admitted losing such an important job was a huge setback.

During an appearance on the Smartless podcast, Kudrow called her exit “devastating”, adding: “I didn’t film it [the pilot]. I got fired from Frasier.”

She explained director James Burrows stopped the action during a run-through for the pilot episode, saying: “This isn’t working”.

Kudrow went on: “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. I think they were just correcting a mistake. Cause Perri should have always been Roz.”

The firing led Kudrow down a new path with a role in Friends. Photo / Getty Images

However, the firing led Kudrow down a new path and helped her land her life-changing role on Friends after taking a bit-part on another show called Mad About You.

She explained: “I did a guest star on Mad About You, they had me back, I’d already done a guest star the first season. So now I’m there for a different character [just called ‘waitress’] and my agent said, ‘You’re not doing this’ ... [I was] not in a position to say no. It’s to me the best show and I’m doing it.”

Afterwards, she was invited back for five more episodes declaring: “There’s my rent for the year” and luck was on her side because the show’s writer/ producer Jeffrey Klarik later suggested Kudrow for the role of Phoebe Buffay when his partner David Crane was putting together the cast of Friends.

Kudrow ended up encountering her former Frasier director James Burrows again when she had to audition in front of him for her Friends role and she came away from the try-up worrying it was “hopeless” but she went on to be cast anyway and the part completely changed her life.