JENNIFER ANISTON, COURTENEY COX, AND LISA KUDROW ALL SIT DOWN FOR A FRIENDLY STERN SHOW INTERVIEW

Three of television’s most enduring stars connected with the Stern Show from across the globe on Wednesday as Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow sat with Howard for a group interview covering their upbringings, successful show business careers, and recent “Friends” reunion special. They also opened up about the unique bond they forged on set back in 1994 which has only grown stronger since.

“It was the greatest job, experience, [and] 10 years of my life,” Jennifer said of starring on “Friends.” “That is something that will stand alone in and of itself for the rest of my life because it was more than a job, it was more than a TV show. It was family.”

Considering the show ran for 10 seasons, Howard was amazed his guests never grew tired of each other (or their male counterparts, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry).

“We’re so lucky,” Aniston agreed. “We felt that during the pilot.”

As lucky as the six-member cast of “Friends” felt while filming the pilot, Kudrow revealed on Wednesday why she was perhaps a bit more nervous than her co-stars. Directing that first episode was James Burrows, a much-respected name in television who had also directed the pilot episode for “Frasier” one year earlier. Lisa was initially cast on that show as Roz Doyle, Frasier Crane’s witty radio producer, but she was let go and replaced by actress Peri Gilpin.

“I did think, ‘Oh, I am not this guy’s cup of tea,’” she said of Burrows. “In auditioning for ‘Friends,’ I was the only one of the six of us who had to go in and audition for him,” Kudrow continued, adding Burrows gave her zero feedback after the tryout. “I left going, well, that either means, ‘She’s beyond help and hopeless, just like I always knew,’ or ‘It’s perfect and I have no notes.’”

Nervous or not, Lisa never doubted herself. “I was trained to cope,” she said. “And he wasn’t wrong about ‘Frasier.’ I wasn’t right [for the part].”

Lisa never got fired from “Friends,” of course, and her quirky character Phoebe Buffay became an integral part of the show. But Kudrow and the writers worked hard at making Phoebe fit in with the other characters. “She was her own thing,” Lisa recalled. “They had to figure out how to convey, ‘No, these other people like her.’”

Courteney was the best-known cast member when “Friends” kicked off in 1994. As she told Howard on Wednesday, she was also the highest paid. All that changed in 1996, however, when the cast did something unprecedented. They banded together and demanded equal pay and a salary increase to $100,000 per episode.

“We’re all doing the exact same amount of work,” Aniston explained on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t have felt comfortable knowing I was making more.”
“We all felt that way. I thought it was the most important thing—as we all did—that we all were equal in every single way,” Cox said, adding, “That was the first time that people had all stuck together in a cast. I think it was scary, probably, for productions after that.”

Lisa marveled at how supportive all six cast members were of one another. “It just got rid of bitterness,” she said. “It was such a great relationship that is really rare and really lucky.”

“I think Courteney had a lot to do with it, too, because she was the most well-known,” Lisa continued. “When we got there she was like, ‘Let’s help each other if you think something’s funny, let’s give each other notes.’”

“It was healing,” Jennifer said. “We actually kind of parented and healed and loved each other.