Lisa Kudrow Says Today’s Multi-Cams No Longer Take Risks With Jokes

The days of “I can’t believe you just said that” in a multi-cam comedy seem to be over, suggests Lisa Kudrow.

While promoting the return of The Comeback, the former Friends actress admitted in an interview that she doesn’t have much interest in comedies these days — particularly the multi-camera ones that don’t take risks with the yuks.

“I wish they were evolving,” Kudrow told Lily Tomlin in a piece for Interview Magazine after the Grace and Frankie actress asked whether comedies were dying or evolving.

“30 Rock and Seinfeld and Friends were really funny and really well written,” Kudrow continued. “But I’m not drawn to new sitcoms that are multi-camera in front of an audience because I’m not buying it. I don’t know if that’s just because I’ve seen too many single-camera sitcoms—I think we need to get back to being able to tell jokes. I feel like we’ve been too afraid to make jokes that might make people uncomfortable.”

When Tomlin suggested that multi-cams are not “short on jokes,” Kudrow argued they lack teeth.

“The really good ones, they’re not tame jokes,” she says of bon mots found on multi-cams today. “They’re jokes that are kind of, ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’ Comedy is about surprise. You need things you didn’t see coming.”

In the third and final season of The Comeback, Kudrow’s Valerie accepts the lead role on a new sitcom How’s That?, which is secretly being written by an AI program. As reality show cameras follow her around once again for this latest phase of her career, the actress and producer has to navigate the many cultural landmines of Hollywood in 2026.

After premiering in 2005, the mockumentary reality show returned for a long overdue second season in 2014. Season 3 premiered last month on HBO.