Lady Gaga will play ‘Smelly Cat’ with Lisa Kudrow on Friends: The Reunion special… as it’s revealed the pop star ‘jumped at the chance to do it’
Lady Gaga will perform a rendition of the classic Phoebe Buffay song ‘Smelly Cat’ with actress Lisa Kudrow, for the much-anticipated Friends: The Reunion airing on HBO Max tomorrow.
The Born This Way star was apparently the top choice as the musical guest, according to director Ben Winston, speaking to Variety.
‘I said to Lisa, “Would you be prepared to sing it?” And she was like, “Yeah, that would be fun,”‘ Winston explained, about the idea for a collaboration of the classic song.
Feline fine: Lady Gaga will play ‘Smelly Cat’ with Lisa Kudrow on Friends: The Reunion special… as it’s revealed the pop star ‘jumped at the chance to do it’
‘We went through a few names, and we both agreed that Gaga, if we could get her, would be the ultimate one because she associates with and feels close to Phoebe in so many ways, as Gaga says on the show.’
He added: ‘That was a really beautiful moment. And Lady Gaga jumped at the chance to do it.’
Kudrow’s character Phoebe is known for singing the catchy song while playing her acoustic guitar in numerous episodes from the series.
While it’s a memorable song for Kudrow, Winston added that she and Gaga – real name Stefani Germanotta – had barely any rehearsal time when doing the duet.
Classic tune: The song is said to have been conceived in 1995 by Betsy Borns, a Friends writer who originally intended for its lyrics to be about a pungent dog entitled “Smelly Dog”
‘We sat there with the two guitars with Lisa and her and worked it out there and then,’ he explained.
It’s not the first time that Kudrow has performed Smelly Cat with another celebrity of course – having joined Taylor Swift onstage in 2015 for a rendition on her world tour.
Smelly Cat was written for the character by Kudrow with Adam Chase, Betsy Borns and Chrissie Hynde.
The song is said to have been conceived in 1995 by Friends writer Borns, who originally intended for the lyrics to be about a foul-smelling dog entitled ‘Smelly Dog’.
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It was also revealed Wednesday that the following guests stars would be returning for the show, Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles (Ross and Monica’s parents, Jack and Judy) Tom Selleck (Monica’s former boyfriend Dr. Richard Burke) Maggie Wheeler (Chandler Bing’s ex-girlfriend, Janice).
Also, James Michael Tyler (Rachel’s Central Perk manager Gunther) Reese Witherspoon (Jill Green, Rachel’s younger sister) Larry Hankin (Mr. Heckles, the neighbor living in the apartment under Monica) Thomas Lennon (Joey’s identical hand twin).
As previously reported, the following celebrity guests will also appear: Justin Bieber, David Beckham, BTS, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Kit Harington, Mindy Kaling, and Malala Yousafzai.