Quick Talk With Lisa Kudrow

The actor, writer and producer, 53, stars opposite Anna Kendrick and Craig Robinson in Table 19, a comedy about a group of misfit wedding guests who may not have been all that welcome.

Have you ever sat at the misfit table?

After doing this movie, I realized I’ve always been at Table 19. I just never knew it. I’ve always been far from the band and near the exit and the bathroom, and just thought, Hey, lucky me!

Some of your most famous characters lack self-awareness. Is that fun to play?

That’s the funniest thing. People who have no idea how they’re coming off. They think they’re pulling something off and they’re not at all. And maybe that’s me. Maybe that’s just one of my fears.

A lot of fans would like to see more from your old characters–especially Phoebe from Friends. Are there any you’d revisit?

Valerie Cherish [from The Comeback], always. But Phoebe, I don’t know. The problem with a Friends reunion is that that whole show was about these adults–but not really–and their relationships at that stage. I don’t know how it would be if they’re all in a completely different stage.

Did you ever imagine, when your satirical fake-reality-TV show The Comeback began in 2005, how ubiquitous reality TV would become?

And become a staple of our culture? That’s the part I thought was alarming. It’s not just accepted but embraced as the new normal way to behave. I don’t understand the world. And it makes me feel old. Now I feel like the world is a reality show.

Do you secretly enjoy watching any reality-TV shows?

Not even secretly–I watch a lot of it! I’m just fascinated. On The Bachelor, “I don’t think they’re here for the right reasons” is code for, “They just want to be on TV.” But you all do!