It's hard to imagine Friends without Lisa Kudrow's iconic Phoebe but the actress was supposed to star in cult classic Frasier instead.
Speaking on the Howard Stern Show alongside Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, Lisa revealed that she was actually fired from the role of Roz Doyle three days into filming the pilot of the smash-hit sitcom partly because of the director James Burrows.
"I wasn't right for the part [or] for the chemistry of the group. So that wasn't working but I did think, 'Oh, I am not this guy's cup of tea,'" the 57-year-old, said of Frasier's director.
However James or 'Jimmy' as he's known in the acting fraternity would also go on to direct episodes of Friends and auditioned Lisa for the role of Phoebe.
"I was the only one of the six of us who had to go in and audition for Jimmy," who would be directing episodes of Friends, as well," said the actress.
"I had one extra audition just for James Burrows. 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."
Despite bagging the role of the loveable masseuse, Lisa revealed that she didn't immediately gel with the rest of the cast.
"Shooting the pilot that week I was like, 'All right, here we go,' " she recalled. "And Phoebe was not the character that was part of this group really, that easily. There was a struggle."
The Happy Endings star shared the sentiment in a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair saying she felt "terrified" during the first weeks on set filming with the iconic director.
"He would say, 'Why are they friends with her?' Meaning [Phoebe]. We have to figure that out. She doesn't fit,' " she said. "And I was like, 'Oh, my God. Here we go again. Well, if everyone just acts like they like me ....' "
Of her Frasier snub Lisa admitted that Burrows "wasn't wrong" and that she "wasn't right." The role eventually went to actress Peri Gilpin.
The award-winning actress recently revealed a heartwarming moment between Matt LeBlanc and Courteney Cox as the cast members of Friends got together on TV for the first time in 17 years.
Speaking to E! News Lisa told how Courteney - who isn't known for shedding tears - had a little weep and described the touching moment that followed.
"Well, Courteney comes in and burst into tears," Lisa said before describing what David pointed out to her while they watched the show back.
"And I grab a napkin or a tissue. LeBlanc takes it because he is telling us a story and doesn't want to skip a beat and starts dabbing her eyes, just on automatic."
And describing the bond the group had, she proudly continued: "That's who we were!"
