During a recent interview with Quinta Brunson for Variety's "Actors on Actors" series, Aniston reflects on filming in front of a live studio audience, which evidently came with some drawbacks.
Aniston, who played Rachel, jokes that Phoebe's Kudrow would sometimes become frustrated with the audience's constant laughing as she was trying to get her lines out. Check out Aniston's comment below:
“Lisa Kudrow, by the way, hated when the audience laughed. She’d be like, ‘I’m not done! It’s not that funny!’”
Are Any Shows Still Filmed In Front Of A Live Studio Audience?
Friends' Filming Style Is Less Common Than It Used To Be
These days, however, it's far more rare for shows to be filmed in front of real audiences. Game shows continue to keep the practice alive, but there has been a move away from live audiences for scripted programming. Saturday Night Live continues to be filmed in front of a studio audience, as it has been for nearly 50 years, but there has been a larger trend away from laugh tracks in comedies.
Shows like The Big Bang Theory, The Connors, and the Frasier revival were all filmed in front of studio audiences, but the success of The Office in the mid-2000s gave rise to a new type of sitcom and, arguably, a new style of sitcom humor. Eschewing a live audience allowed shows to shoot in new and varied locations, and it has allowed for shows to succeed with more off-beat, unconventional jokes. Friends remains one of the most important sitcoms of all time, but it's clear that even Kudrow sometimes felt the limitations of live studio audience.
Source: Variety
