New 'Friends' book reveals the origins of Phoebe's iconic 'Smelly Cat' song

The 25 year anniversary of Friends is coming up this year and a new book details exactly what went on in the writer’s room to create the iconic sitcom.

Saul Austerlitz’s Generation Friends goes behind-the-scenes of the NBC comedy series, explaining the writing process spearheaded by showrunners Marta Kauffman and David Crane, as well as tidbits about how certain jokes, characters and scenarios came to be.

One in particular, as detailed in a book excerpt published on Vulture, tells the story of the making of Phoebe’s famous song “Smelly Cat.”

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“During the second season, conversation turned to Phoebe while they were writing the episode ‘The One with the Baby on the Bus.’ [Adam] Chase suggested Phoebe play a song called ‘Smelly Cat’,” Austerlitz writes.

“David Crane began to sing the title, and Jeff Astrof chimed in with the line ‘What are they feeding you?’ Someone else contributed the kicker ‘It’s not your fault,’ and the pillars of ‘Smelly Cat,’ which would be Phoebe’s most fondly remembered song, had been rapidly assembled.”

Though it wasn’t over there as during the shoot Chase felt so strongly about the way Lisa Kudrow performed the song that he had to step in.

“Chase was watching Lisa Kudrow perform ‘Smelly Cat’ and growing increasingly distressed,” Austerlitz said.

“Kudrow was as funny as ever, but when she reached the chorus, Kudrow was hitting the second word: ‘Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you?’ Chase was insistent that emphasising smelly would be notably funnier and pulled David Crane aside to share his concerns:

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“Chase panicked — what happened to no-name writers who gave acting notes to the stars of their shows? - but held firm,” he continued. “Crane was always willing to go out on a ledge for his writers and gamely stepped onstage to share Chase’s suggestion with Kudrow.

Luckily it worked but not without a warning from Crane.

“Look, you’ve got to pick your moments,” the book says Crane said. “Because sometimes you’re right, but a lot of the time, it’s not worth it. If it’s three percent funnier, it’s not worth it. This time, I’ll give it to you.”