--- description: The actress opens up on the new season of "The Comeback" in a TIME video title: Don't Call Lisa Kudrow "Brave" image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2def55a0b6c8b421/69876468524fc02fffdea3d7/lisa_still_1280.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Lisa Kudrow on Her _Comeback_ Comeback: "When I Put the Wig On, It’s Full Valerie"  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2014 12:30 PM CUT  Lisa Kudrow talks to TIME about season 2 of 'Comeback'  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2014 12:30 PM CUT “We thought it was pretty humiliating at the time,” says Lisa Kudrow, about the first season of her series _The Comeback_ (returning for a second season on HBO on Nov. 9). The show depicted Valerie Cherish, an actress marginalized by Hollywood who took to reality TV for attention, even as the camera’s glare exposed all her weaknesses. “But that was early on, so we didn’t even come close to how humiliating it was going to be.” Since _The Comeback_ was first aired and first cancelled, in 2005, the world has seen the rise of Bravo’s _Real Housewives_, a franchise whose myriad degradations made a second season of _The Comeback_ seem well-timed. When _The Comeback_ was first on, it seemed cruel to its protagonist, so vain about her elaborate red hairdo and her dreams of stardom; now, it just seems prophetic. For her part, Kudrow told TIME she’s “fascinated” by Bravo’s stars, though it’s not necessarily a positive viewing habit: “They felt like a lot of Valerie Cherishes who had their own agendas and their own reasons. I don’t know — for me it’s kind of selling a little bit of yourself. I won’t say dignity — dignity. To sell a brand, cookbooks, restaurants they own or some business, or thinking this way they’ll start a career… for Valerie, it was really just to get back in the spotlight.” And Kudrow yearned to bring the spotlight back to Valerie; she said she spent lunch dates with friend and _Comeback_ co-creator Michael Patrick King plotting out what the actress would have been doing in the intervening years. And now that HBO’s provided Kudrow a second chance, she’s — ahem — cherishing every moment. “When I put the wig on, it’s full Valerie,” she said. “It’s fantastic how that happens. It’s great to see how other people start treating me!” As for a potential third season — hard not to wonder about, given how unusual the _Comeback_ comeback was in the first place — Kudrow isn’t making too many plans. “I think it’s worth thinking about, but we are waiting to be invited! That would be embarrassing, to say ‘And the next dinner will be at _my_ house!’ And no one says they wanted it.” Then again, if anyone knows how to make something great out of mortification, it’s Kudrow. 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