“Impressively Smooth Operation: E.G. Daily Reminisces About Joining the ‘Legendary’ Cast of Friends”
E.G. Daily has famously voiced the character Tommy Pickles from Rugrats, but she’s also made a memorable appearance in Friends as Phoebe’s (Lisa Kudrow) former singing buddy and frenemy Leslie in the episode titled The One with Phoebe’s Ex-Partner.
In the episode, Leslie, a failed jingle writer, plays at Central Perk—a classic Friends hangout spot—and identifies her former partner Phoebe in the crowd. Despite Phoebe’s resistance, Leslie convinces her they’d make a great singing duo.
However, their stint ends before it starts! When Phoebe teaches her the iconic Smelly Cat song, Leslie suggests pitching it as a jingle; despite the former’s reluctance, she sells their song and ruins their friendship all over again.
In an interview with People, Daily recalled it as a lighthearted episode but a rollercoaster experience for her from audition to the shoot. The actress, 62, recalled having just had a baby when she got the audition call.
“I get a call from my agents saying, ‘Can you run over to Warner Brothers and do this late audition?’ It was like eight o’clock,” Daily said. Since the call was on short notice, she didn’t have time to hire a babysitter, so she did exactly what a hustling mama would do.
“I brought the baby in a little bassinet thingy in a car seat, and I brought the guitar in the other hand, and I went to the lot,” she recalled. Daily had put the baby in the car seat, played her guitar, and sang a few songs, and they said, “You got it.”
When she came for the shoot the next day, she was thrown into this massive operation that Friends was. “It was such a well-oiled machine on Friends, so you just are dropped in suddenly. The actress who voiced Buttercup from Powerpuff Girls revealed that she had to pull herself together and focus because there were so many things to remember, including her lines, blocking, singing, and playing the songs.
“There were so many pieces that I really didn’t [have time]. I had to just focus,” she added. Daily also admitted that she was proud of the work she did on the show. The actress has continued doing voice work and even earned a large following on TikTok. She’s mother to two daughters, Hunter Daily, 28, and Tyson Daily Salomon, 25.