Twenty-two years since the last episode of Friends aired, and the cast is still very much getting paid as if the sitcom never ended. Beloved actress Lisa Kudrow, who made us giggle with her impressive portrayal of the hilarious Phoebe Buffay, spilled some tea on the cast’s never-ending financial rewards.
Kudrow jokes the reason they still earn $20 million a year in residuals
Speaking to The Times of London in an interview published this week, Lisa Kudrow confirmed that she, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc collectively earn around $20 million a year in residuals from the show continuing to air in syndication.
When asked why she thinks the numbers are still that staggering, Kudrow quipped, “Because Phoebe Buffay was so great?” before crediting her castmates in a more serious tone.
“I felt I did OK, but Jennifer and Courteney? Amazing. David and Matt? They had me laughing so hard. And then Matthew—he was just beyond us all,” she said, with the mention of Matthew Perry carrying the kind of weight that no financial figure ever could.
Kudrow also opened up about rewatching the show after Perry’s death in 2023. “After Matthew died, I watched the show again. Before, I only saw what I did wrong or could have done better. But for the first time, I truly appreciated just how great it was.“
She had previously told Capital FM that the marathon reruns that aired following his passing brought her genuine comfort. “There he was,” she said simply.
The $20 million figure lands very differently when you consider that the same cast was earning $22,500 per episode during season one, before a famous collective negotiation eventually brought all six leads to $1 million per episode by seasons nine and ten.
Friends ran from 1994 to 2004 across 236 episodes, averaged tens of millions of viewers per week at its peak, and drew 52.5 million viewers alone for its series finale.
Kudrow also did not spare the behind-the-scenes reality of making the show, recalling the pressure of performing in front of a live studio audience of 400 and the unforgiving environment the writers sometimes created on set.
The money, it seems, came with a price tag of its own. As for where the cast stands now, Kudrow is currently starring in the long-awaited third season of her HBO series The Comeback. Aniston continues on Apple TV’s The Morning Show. Cox has remained a fixture in television. Schwimmer went from Band of Brothers to Madagascar, and LeBlanc stepped back from acting more quietly, only to return to television to star in and executive produce Flint by CBS.
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