Lisa Kudrow Recalls Jerry Seinfeld Telling Her ‘You’re Welcome’ for ‘Friends’ Success Amid ‘Seinfeld’ Hype

usmagazine.com:

Stealing the limelight? Lisa Kudrow opened up about running into Jerry Seinfeld at a party in the ‘90s — and being taken aback when the Seinfeld star took partial credit for Friends’ massive success.“I remember going to some party and Jerry Seinfeld was there, and I said, ‘Hi,’ and he said, ‘You’re welcome,'” Kudrow, 59, told The Daily Beast in an article that was published on Wednesday, August 10. “I said, ‘Why, thank you … what?'”According to the California native, Seinfeld, now 68, then told her, “You’re on after us in the summer, and you’re welcome.”While Friends — which premiered in 1994 and ran until 2004 — initially followed Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser’s sitcom Mad About You, Kudrow explained that the NBC comedy didn’t “explode” until the following summer when it was placed after reruns of Seinfeld.“Not to take anything away from the writing on Friends, or the cast, or how good Friends really was,” Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay during all 10 seasons of the series, said. “But the first season our ratings were just fine.”Friends may have gotten a boost in the ’90s from the fellow NBC sitcoms that came before it, but it continues to live on today.

In January, the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion star revealed that her son, Julian, 24, was surprised by how good the show was after finally watching it himself.“He called me up and said, ‘So I just watched the first two episodes.

It’s really good, Mom,'” she recounted of the conversation during an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, which took place when the USC graduate was sick with COVID-19. “I said, ‘Thanks.’ He said, ‘Can I ask you some questions about that?’ I’m like, ‘Yes!’ I almost started crying.