Lisa Kudrow recently spoke with Sean Hayes on the SmartLess podcast, also co-hosted by Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, and shared that she was fired from ‘Frasier’ before the pilot was filmed. She was initially cast as Roz Doyle, but Peri Gilpin took over the role:
“I didn’t film it. I got fired from ‘Frasier.'”
The actress revealed that getting fired from ‘Frasier’ was ‘devastating.’ Director James Burrows told her:
“This isn’t working.”
Kudrow added:
“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.”
After being fired from ‘Frasier,’ Lisa got a role in ‘Mad About You.’ She impressed producers and was asked to audition for ‘Friends.’ She was the only cast member who had to audition because of her recent firing.
What Did The Show’s Director Say About Kudrow?
In an earlier conversation with WBUR, ‘Frasier’ director James Burrows revealed which scene got Kudrow fired. Burrows said a specific scene in the pilot made NBC realize Kudrow wasn’t right for the role. He explained:
“The speech before Frasier goes in a confronts his dad, the Lupe Velez speech, which is the Lupe Velez story, which is she wanted to commit suicide, so she dressed in a very nice robe and walked into the bathroom to get her pills and she slipped, hit her head on the tub and died. Her speech he had to give, but Kelsey is such a strong personality and Lisa’s, what she does great is ethereal and it just didn’t work in that moment.”
Kudrow played Phoebe in ‘Friends’ for 10 seasons and won an Emmy in 2008. On the other hand, Gilpin played Roz for all 11 seasons of ‘Frasier’ and returned for the reboot last year. Season 2 of ‘Fraiser’ will air via Paramount+ on September 19.
