Lisa Kudrow: Everything Good
Q: Why?
A: When I'd say, "I saw a house I liked," she would ask, "Who's the architect?" When I'd say the name, she'd laugh hysterically and say, "Well, of course you liked it!"
Q: Did you and Ryan pass the time by consulting a Ouija board?
A: We did, and Diane thought we were nuts. She would just shriek when we suggested she do it with us. And then give me a round of, "You're just so stupid, Lisa" [laughs].
Q: Did she tell you that?
A: A few times!
Q: Did you like Ryan?
A: I fell madly in love with her. We stay in touch, though it's slowed down over the past year or two.
Q: Was Robert De Niro intimidating to work with on the Analyze films?
A: He wasn't intimidating, I was intimidated.
Q: He isn't known for being articulate. Did you get a chance to talk with him?
A: No, I didn't want to impose. I have a theory about Robert De Niro: he's a true artist. He's not a linear thinker. There's a problem when he tries to verbalize something. It's like any neurological pathway that's not functioning at an optimal level.
Q: From what I've read about you, you were a pretty geeky kid who liked to study a lot.
A: Yeah.
Q: Why did your friends all drop you at one point?
A: That was in seventh grade. I wasn't attracting guys, and that's what my girlfriends were interested in. I didn't know as many of the kids as they did, because they all went to Hebrew school together. And during lunch, no one would introduce me. I didn't have the social skills. And one day I got this letter from my two best friends which said, "You're a tagalong, you just stand there, you don't say anything. You need to make your own friends. We're not going to help you do that, we're not going to be your friends anymore." That was awful. The world turned upside down. Everyone was so mean. And it lasted for the rest of the school year.
Q: Did you lose all of your friends?
A: I was able to hold on to another friend, but we didn't have the same lunch period. So my worst fears about eating alone came true. Hopefully that will be the most painful thing that ever happens to me in my life.
Q: You had your nose fixed when you were 16--was that a scary decision?
A: I didn't think twice about it.
Q: And how did your life change afterwards?
A: The nose is a big deal. All of a sudden, I looked better. Senior guys were interested in me.
Q: Your father often had you watch documentaries about the Holocaust. How many did you see?
A: Every one of them. He had a cousin who had escaped from the Polish army and they met in New York and he told my father what had happened to their village--everyone had been rounded up and shot. My grandmother's whole family, except for two sisters and a half brother, was lost in the Holocaust.
Q: Have you ever experienced anti Semitism?
A: Yeah, sure. In Encino. I went into a store and the store owner said something like, "You damn Jews. You want it when you want it, and you can't wait." In college, it was a more innocent kind. My roommate was a Greek girl from Maryland. She had never met a Jew before and had assumed everything she heard about them was true. One time we were studying in the library and she said, "I need 25 cents." I said, "Take a dollar." She said, "Thank you, you know, you're so unlike the typical stereotypical Jew. You're not cheap, you're not stingy, you're warm, you've got a good heart." I said, "But that's the way Jews are."
Q: Let me ask you about your marriage. What are the three best things about it?
A: That's a nice question! Gosh. Everything is good. We're committed. We haven't gotten so comfortable that we don't still make an effort. We're both still very much in love. It's been seven years.
Q: Have you had conflicts with your husband over parenting?
A: Sure. Table manners. It's important to him and not to me. There are certain things I don't feel like fighting over.
Q: Are you going to have another child?
A: We're thinking about it.
Q: How long have you been a smoker?
A: I started when I was 20.1 stopped for three years before and during my pregnancy.
Q: Do you smoke dope?
A: No. I tried it, but it doesn't agree with me.
Q: What do you want to do after you finish "Friends"?
A: Movies.
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Lawrence Grobel
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