Lisa Kudrow has reignited one of TV’s longest-running debates.
On Monday’s episode of “The Tonight Show,” host Jimmy Fallon asked Kudrow about what he’d heard was her new take on the enduring “Friends” question of whether Ross and Rachel (played by David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston) were really “on a break” from their relationship when Ross slept with another woman, after becoming jealous of Rachel’s colleague Mark.
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“Yeah, I’m afraid now to bring it up,” joked Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay on the hit NBC sitcom, which ended in 2004.
Fallon pushed her for an answer. “This is scandalous. Get ready for some scandal — some tea. What is your take? Were they on a break?” he asked.
“Well, no,” Kudrow replied, prompting a loud reaction from the audience.
Lisa Kudrow, left, has delivered her take on the debate about “Friends” characters Rachel and Ross, played by Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer, right. NBC via Getty Images
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“It’s beyond that. It’s beyond break or not — he was a bad boyfriend,” she added, drawing cheers, echoing the prevalent opinion of recent years that some of the behavior of Schwimmer’s character was “problematic.”
“Oh, you agree?” Kudrow asked the audience, surprised.
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“Someone finally said it,” Fallon responded. “He was a bad boyfriend.”
Kudrow, who was promoting the final season of “The Comeback,” noted that during the “Friends” reunion a few years ago, the cast largely stuck to the line that Ross and Rachel were on a break.
Then, with heavy sarcasm, she added, “Rachel, that hysterical shrew. You know, not letting him sleep with someone and won’t get back with him.”
She continued: “She shouldn’t have gotten back with him, because he was horrible.”
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“To me, I don’t care if he slept with three other women or no other women,” Kudrow said, before referencing the circumstances that led to Ross’ cheating. “You had a crisis at work, so you weren’t available for a few nights, and he flipped out — and you’re like, ‘Wow.’”
Fallon replied, “Yes! I love this!”
Watch the interview here:
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