Lisa Kudrow has a talent for making people laugh.
In 1994, she rose to fame playing the hilarious Phoebe Buffay on "Friends," and from there, she went on to act in more comedic roles such as Michele in "Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion" and Valerie Cherish in "The Comeback."
With a Primetime Emmy sitting at home, Kudrow tells TODAY that it was her father, Lee N. Kudrow, who initially got her interested in comedy and carved her sense of humor.
"I thought my dad was really funny and my brother and sister were really funny. I'm the youngest so I was, like, the least apt of all of them at it," she said. "But, it started there. I thought, well, we're not good-looking people, but we're funny."
Kudrow says her father was the "funniest person" that she knew growing up and he still makes her laugh today.
She recalled a time when they took a trip to Europe and he started complaining about the electricity there.
"He was just so angry. He was like, 'Jesus, they don't have a light bulb in this whole continent that's brighter than 40 watts. Goddamn it, what's happening here?'" Kudrow said with a laugh.
Kudrow noted that she genuinely finds it funny when someone is "utterly surprised" by something and they can't even clock what's happening around them.
That's why she loves Tina Fey's humor and the "Friends" cast's.
"Honestly, they made me laugh so hard every day," Kudrow said of her former co-stars.
From 1994 to 2004, Kudrow starred on the hit NBC sitcom with Matthew Perry (Chandler), David Schwimmer (Ross), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) and Courteney Cox (Monica).
Out of all the members of the main cast, Kudrow had to audition for her place in the show and she didn't realize it until much later.
Kudrow's son, Julian, 24, ended up watching "Friends" when he was in grade school, and after he saw the series, he told his mom that he liked the male leads the best and he didn't think that she was the funniest person in the show.
On “Late Night with Seth Meyers, Kudrow said that Julian's comment was completely uncalled for.
“Never in my life have I wanted to tell my own kid, like, f--- you,” she joked on Meyers' show on Wednesday. “I mean, I thought it. I didn’t say it.”
Julian did pay attention to his mom when she reunited with her former co-stars for the "Friends" reunion in 2021.
Once the special aired, Julian had a few sweet words to tell his mom.
"After the reunion, he said, 'I'm really proud of you. Sorry, if that's weird like, who am I? But I'm really just proud that you're a part of this thing," Kudrow recalled on Wednesday’s episode of TODAY With Hoda & Jenna.
"You raised a great kid," Hoda Kotb said.
"Yes," Kudrow replied. "He's a great kid."