‘The Comeback’s Julian Stern Reveals What He Remembers From ‘Friends’ Set With Mom Lisa Kudrow

Lisa Kudrow‘s son, Julian Stern, made his acting debut in The Comeback Season 3 on April 12, but it was far from his first time on that Warner Bros. lot. The Comeback was filmed on the same stage as Friends. Stern, 27, spent some time on the set of the iconic sitcom when he was a kid, when his mom would bring him to work (Kudrow’s pregnancy was also written into Phoebe’s plot). Stern tells TV Insider that while he doesn’t have many memories from that time (he was only a toddler back then), he does have one memory that he credits with giving him the performance bug.

Stern is the only child of Kudrow and her husband of over 30 years, Michel Stern. Stern’s onscreen acting debut was a scene with his mom in The Comeback Season 3 Episode 4. His character, Evan, is the tech guy for the controversial Al Assist writing tool. Valerie Cherish’s new sitcom, How’s That?!, is the first TV sitcom written by AI, but the AI of it all is a big secret (not a very well-kept one, as Valerie tells just about anyone who asks on set). In his first scene, Evan explained how the AI tool “hallucinated” a bad, nonsensical script for How’s That?! Episode 2.

After filming The Comeback on the Warner Bros. lot, Stern recalls being on the same soundstage for Friends when he was a kid.

“I was brought on a set when I was 3, I believe,” Stern tells us. “Mostly, I just remember it was very dark. It was very comforting because you always hear laughter and people having a good time. But I think for the most part, I stayed in my mom’s dressing room, and I was watching Dumbo or something.”

Stern remembers ruining a take of Friends because he was laughing too loudly at the scene.

Julian Stern as Evan in The Comeback Season 3 Episode 4 (HBO)

“I was brought down a set once, and I actually ruined a take because something happened, and I thought it was so funny. The audience stopped laughing, but you just hear this 3-year-old cackling, and they’re like, ‘OK, cut, get the f***ing kid out of here. He ruined the take,'” he says. “I think they were still shooting on film then, so it’s like he ruined a take. We just lost $10,000 because this kid is still laughing.”

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The live audiences at Friends would react to him kindly when seeing him on set, Stern recalls. That, he theorizes, made him interested in acting.

“I remember it was a very interesting environment because as a kid, all these people are watching my mom, and they’re also watching me, and they’re clapping and laughing and applauding. And it’s like, ‘Ooh, this is kind of fun. I kind of like this attention,'” Stern shares. “Maybe that’s how it all began, and my journey as an actor. It was just because, ‘Hey, people are applauding and I’ve done nothing. This is awesome!'”

Stern’s Comeback role was offered to him by Kudrow and her series co-creator Michael Patrick King. Stern says he wanted to audition, but that his mom and King felt it was unnecessary.

“Basically, my mom said, ‘Hey, we’re writing Comeback Season 3, and we have a character that we think is going to really fit well for you. He’s an introverted, nerdy, really awkward, geeky guy. And we really think, Julian, you can play this guy.’ And I’m like, OK, thank you. Thanks, Mom,” he says, laughing.

“‘We wrote this for you in mind. Do it,'” he recalls his mother saying. “And I’m like, ‘OK, but only if I’m right for it.’ And it’s like, ‘Yes, Julian, we know you’re right for it. We know you can do this. Just do it.’ And I’m like, ‘Fine, I’ll do it.’ I don’t want to sound like I was trying to reject the offer or anything. I was very happy.”

Julian Stern as Evan in The Comeback Season 3 Episode 4 (HBO)

Evan was very anxious on the set of How’s That?! because of the icy treatment he got on previous sets due to his controversial job. Stern was also anxious about sharing his first scene with his mom. They do skits together at home, he shares, but this was a first.

“I was nervous going into it. I’ve never worked with my mom professionally on camera. I didn’t even think it was going to be possible for me, because my mom, the advice she’s always given me is be in the moment,” he says. He remembers his mom saying, “‘Julian, on The Comeback, when Michael calls action, and the cameras start rolling, you don’t stop acting. You don’t get to stop acting until you either have to walk off the location of where we’re filming or someone says cut.’ And I’m like, “OK, great. I’m going to do that.”

Stern worried that he wouldn’t be able to differentiate between his mom and her character.

“Every scene I’m in, I’m basically in a scene with my mom. And on the first day, I have to give this techie monologue to her about why something isn’t working. And I’m like, OK, now I actually have to do this and I have to look at Valerie Cherish and understand that that’s a stranger. I don’t know this person. This is the first time I’m meeting this person. This is not my mom,” he says. Ultimately, he admits, “it was really easy because she is so good.”

The Comeback, Sundays, 10:30/9:30c, HBO

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