Phoebe Buffay never made a ton of sense. How did an oddball masseuse with a history of violence, homelessness and probable mental illness – but, like, in a funny way – become simpatico with the sunny, middle-class yuppies of Friends? “It was just a matter of time before someone had to leave the group, I just always assumed Phoebe would be the one to go,” Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel once said, to Phoebe’s immediate horror. “You live far away, you’re not related – you lift right out.”
An often unspoken element of the Friends friendship dynamics was that Phoebe, as played by the inimitable comic genius Lisa Kudrow, never did fit in. You can sense, in the show’s first season, Kudrow’s co-stars figuring out in real time how their characters interacted with her. Some take on an eyeroll-y affect whenever she expresses a nutty non-sequitur. Others are almost too sympathetic, as if Phoebe isn’t their buddy but a really, really nice extraterrestrial they’re too polite to stop inviting round. By the end of Friends, this would shift: Phoebe became sort of mean. She would yell, bully and remember with fondness how she once mugged Ross; it was obvious which of the gang she couldn’t stand. Were the Friends still friends with her because they liked her, or because they were scared of her?
Whatever the answer, this incongruity – that sense that everyone around them is silently asking “why are you here?” – is the key to Kudrow. Over the course of her 30-year career, the actor has been drawn to misfits and kooks. She likes to play women in possession of any number of life’s advantages – be they beauty, fame, money or power, or some combination of the above – but to whom acceptance is a far-flung fantasy.
Esta historia es de la edición July 24, 2024 de The Independent.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición July 24, 2024 de The Independent.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Uefa's voyage of discovery is a mystery tour for fans
It isn’t so much how the new-look Champions League is going to work as will it work at all, writes Miguel Delaney
No same-sex couples leaves routines looking flat-footed
This year’s Strictly’ cast is without any same-sex pairings. Ellie Muir mourns the loss of them and explains why they’ve made for some of the best choreography in recent history
'Everything I ever worked on is coming together now'
Conceptual artist, painter, mentor to the YBAs, overnight success at 55. On the eve of a Royal Academy retrospective show, Mark Hudson interviews Michael Craig-Martin
BACK TO SCHOOL
This season sees designers leaning into the old trades of tailoring and ladies’ occasion wear, as previously outdated modes of dress are revamped. The kids are suiting and scrubbing up, writes Joseph Bobowicz from backstage
Seductress of the century
Femme fatale Pamela Harriman was able to change the course of history by captivating leading political figures from Churchill to Clinton using a legendary kingmaking’ technique to devastating effect, as explained by Sonia Purnell
World news in brief
Billionaire back on Earth after walking in space
Seven dead as 'catastrophic' Storm Boris floods Europe
Month’s worth of rain in 24 hours hits several countries
Here's how Harris wins the swing state of Pennsylvania
Scranton’s first female mayor has lessons for the presidential hopeful, ahead of her visit to the must-win state this week
Navalny ally calls on West to invest in Russia's next generation to beat Putin
‘The vast majority of anti-Putin, anti-war Russians are not changing their minds, Leonid Volkov tells Tom Watling
Home news in brief
Tributes paid to mother and children killed in triple murder