Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow's 'Friends' Reunion - Variety

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Photographs by Mary Ellen Matthews

Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow — friends since, um, "Friends" premiered more than 30 years ago — are thrilled to see each other, especially because it's been so long: a year and a half, according to Kudrow. She's been busy working on "The Comeback," for which she and co-creator Michael Patrick King wrote all eight episodes of the third and (sob!) final season, bringing sitcom actress Valerie Cherish's fraught Hollywood journey to a close. "I'm so single-focused," Kudrow tells Aniston, "and it was a lot of work."

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The fourth season of Apple TV’s "The Morning Show," starring Aniston as news broadcaster Alex Levy, premiered in the fall, and along with its usual ripped-from-the-headlines topicality, Alex had to reckon with some personal issues: Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons played her estranged father, Martin, a law professor and a rake; happily, by the end of the season, father and daughter found closure and a way forward.

On the subject of closure, the third season of "The Comeback" shot on Stage 24 of the Warner Bros. lot, where "Friends" famously filmed each week before a live audience. The two friends get teary-eyed reminiscing about their Stage 24 memories, as well as thinking about the fact that Kudrow's son, Julian Stern, with whom she was pregnant during "Friends," has a supporting role on "The Comeback." As Aniston puts it, "He grew up hearing laughter all the time."

Jennifer Aniston: Oh! The cameras are here!

Lisa Kudrow: Oh, duh. All right, so then [ like a smooth talk-show host ] Hello, Jennifer.

Aniston: [ In a similarly smooth English accent ] Hello, Lisa. My Floosh.

So the last time we did this —

Aniston: In 2020. Which feels like — boy, we’ve come a long way! And we're all living amongst each other and back to being in the same rooms.

You'd never watched "Friends." And I actually remember thinking to myself, “Really? How could she never watch 'Friends'?” Except for when we would gather in the very, very beginning, back in the 1900s. We would watch the show at one of our homes.

Kudrow: It was really fun. And then we got busy. There were whole episodes that I hadn’t seen. I just couldn’t sit there at home and have anybody walk by seeing me watching a show that I’m in. Because it felt embarrassing to me.

Aniston: Just like, “Oh, here I am, watching my own self be brilliant and funny"? Because you were.

Kudrow: Well, I wouldn’t feel that way. Watching it, sometimes I would just be like [ she affects a loud, reedy voice ], “He’s her lobster!” Why that voice?

Aniston: Because it was funny. Boy, that was really fun. That all still feels like yesterday, doesn’t it?

Kudrow: No, it doesn’t to me. So I have watched it now.

Aniston: Did you love it?

Kudrow: Loved it with all my heart. I’d end up sitting there for three hours, and then it’s like two in the morning: "I need to go to bed! This is bad!" But, oh, it made me so happy to watch it. And, man, you’re all good. Holy cow! You were really good, Jennifer. It’s such a ridiculous thing to say to people! Like, of course.

Aniston: That was such lightning in a bottle, the chemistry of all of us. And the writers played off of us and our relationships, which were truly genuine. Do you miss multi-cam?

Kudrow: When I’m sitting on a set waiting and it’s been a long time? Yes, I do.

Aniston: I really loved that medium. I loved the audience.

Kudrow: I didn’t love the audience, but I would now. [ She looks into the camera and uses Valerie Cherish's voice. ] "I would love you, if you would want me on a sitcom."

Aniston: It was so great. We had a life at the same time.

Kudrow: I would love to do another one, if anyone wrote a good one. Let’s do it. You heard it here!

Aniston: Oh, wow. What’s it going to be?

Kudrow: Can we do you, me and Courteney? What would that be?

Aniston: Girlfriends. Let’s pitch it. Let’s workshop it in front of all of these wonderful people.

Kudrow: And then you did "The Morning Show"! Which you know I’ve been a fan of since Season 1.

Aniston: You're so supportive.

Kudrow: Supportive? I just love it. And you’re phenomenally good.