Friends star Lisa Kudrow explains why her character, Phoebe Buffay, ended up having a twin sister. The iconic NBC series focused on six New Yorkers, devoting much of its time to the various romantic entanglements of Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey, and Phoebe. Friends would occasionally divert, however, to show the family lives of its core ensemble. Phoebe’s family life was the most tragic (but also sometimes the strangest and funniest), ebbing and flowing over the course of ten seasons.
Phoebe's father, Frank, abandoned her as a child. The woman she believed was her mother, who died by suicide, lied to her, and it was later revealed that Phoebe’s birth mother had given her up for adoption. And though Phoebe has a half-brother that she loves in Frank Jr., viewers never got to see their relationship evolve, since the character stopped making regular appearances after a recurring role in Friends season 4. Phoebe did have one relative in New York, however, in her twin sister Ursula. The two memorably did not get along whenever they had to share a scene. Oddly, Kudrow also played the waitress Ursula on the NBC sitcom Mad About You before landing a leading role on Friends.
During an interview on the Podcrushed podcast, Kudrow was asked about the reasoning behind bringing Ursula into the Friends universe as Phoebe's twin. The actress explained that her recurring role on Mad About You freed her up to audition for other parts, and she soon landed the role of Phoebe on Friends. Given the two shows held back-to-back time slots, Friends "needed to address" Ursula's presence on another TV show, ultimately leading to her character's crossover. Read Kudrow's full quote below.
“I auditioned for Friends, because I was available. I was only a recurring role on Mad About You. And I got it both on NBC. And that’s why I liked Friends. I also was going to go to the network for a show that was on Fox, and I went ’no, no, definitely the NBC show.’ And everyone seems to love it. So, that’s great. And you know, the script, and then I can still do Mad About You. Because that was my goal–was protecting Mad About You.
So, I’ve been already a recurring character on Mad About You. Then they named Ursula and I do Friends and it gets picked up and after it got picked up and they also put us on right after Mad About You. And I don’t know who spoke with who, because they were different studios, but it was decided that I still get to be a recurring character on Mad About You. And then Friends needs to address the fact that the exact same human being is on a half hour later sometimes. So I think that’s how it happened. I don’t know what the discussions were with Marta, David, and the Mad About You people.”
Kudrow's response reveals that Ursula's Friends appearance really came down to a scheduling oddity. The co-creators of Friends, who the actor mentions in her comments, liked Kudrow’s portrayal of Ursula. As Kudrow explains, the creators asked the decision-makers of Mad About You if their ditzy waitress could sometimes be folded into Friends and an agreement was reached, leading to memorable storylines that usually involved Phoebe cleaning up Ursula’s reckless messes. The twins have a cold dynamic overall, with some Mad About You viewers even arguing that Ursula seemed meaner whenever she appeared on Friends.
Ultimately, Kudrow’s recollections point to the importance of flexibility and chance when it comes to television productions. For many long-running shows, a lot of attention is paid to long-term plans and intricate build-up. But as Kudrow's Mad About You story demonstrates, some of the most memorable moments in Friends came about partially because two creative teams simply leaned into the fact that they aired on the same network and in a similar time slot. They decided to add a little something extra with Phoebe and Ursula, even if it wasn’t what they originally envisioned, and Friends became all the more memorable for it.
Source: Podcrushed podcast