Lisa Kudrow Says She Will Not Switch Into Phoebe Buffay’s Voice on Demand

Lisa Kudrow may have played Phoebe Buffay for all 10 seasons of Friends, but she does not treat the character’s voice as a switch she can flip for fans.

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I can’t just turn it on.

Speaking on Conan O’Brien’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Kudrow said people often ask her to speak like Phoebe. She turns them down because her everyday voice is different and she cannot transform into the character on the spot.

"I can’t just turn it on," Kudrow said. She added, "I don’t do it. People ask me, but I’m afraid I’ll disappoint them." To perform the voice properly, she said, she would need to become immersed in the role, something she cannot do casually in the street.

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I don’t do it. People ask me, but I’m afraid I’ll disappoint them.

Kudrow also said she received the part partly because she resembled Phoebe’s personality during the audition period. Over time, she changed and no longer feels she has the same "Phoebe energy." She said she sometimes feels she "fooled" Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane because her personality at the time was almost identical to the character’s.

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I fooled them.

O’Brien supported her view, comparing the request to asking a musician to sing a famous song immediately. Kudrow played Phoebe from 1994 to 2004 and won an Emmy for the role in 1998.

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Hey, sing that song! Just sing it now!