AceShowbiz - Jerry Seinfeld said he helped pave the way for "Friends" as it aired after "Seinfeld" re-runs, according to Lisa Kudrow. The actress, 59, who played Phoebe Buffay on the sitcom, said the comedian made the boast at a party in the 1990s at the height of their TV fame.

"I remember going to some party and Jerry Seinfeld was there, and I said, 'Hi', and he said, 'You're welcome. I said, 'Why, thank you… what?' " the actress told The Daily Beast.

Lisa added Jerry, now 68, explained to her, "You're on after us in the summer, and you're welcome." Lisa said she answered gratefully, "That's exactly right. Thank you."

She admitted even although "Friends" had made its initial debut in 1994, the sitcom didn't “explode” until the summer of 1995 - when it was placed after re-runs of "Seinfeld".

While her "Friends" co-stars from the show, which ran from 1994 to 2004, came together for the HBO Max reunion last year, the actress can't see anything beyond that.

Lisa told the Daily Beast she was "never" approached for a "Friends" film. She said co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane wouldn't have wanted to do one and "none" of the cast "would think of moving without them."

Lisa added, "I think if there would ever be anything like that, if Marta and David ever signed off on anything like that, it would have to be a different cast at that age. I think it would need to be more current - and more diverse representation is not a bad idea, you know?"

She also weighed in on the long-running diversity debate surrounding how the NBC sitcom had an all white main cast - Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry - along with almost exclusively caucasian peripheral characters, despite being set in New York.

In June, Kauffman pledged $4 million (£3.3million) to her alma mater, Brandeis University, to establish an endowed professorship in the school’s African and African American studies department, explaining she was "embarrassed that I didn't know better 25 years ago."

Mum-of-one Lisa, who shares a son with advertising executive Michael Stern, added, "Well, I feel like it was a show created by two people who went to Brandeis and wrote about their lives after college."

"And for shows especially, when it's going to be a comedy that's character-driven, you write what you know. They have no business writing stories about the experiences of being a person of colour."