Lisa Kudrow has said she had no idea the US Space Force was a real initiative announced by Donald Trump when she signed up for a new Netflix comedy of the same name.
The workplace comedy is inspired by the new the branch of the US armed forces and is about the men and women responsible for setting it up.
The Friends star told the PA news agency: “What can I say? I think it was a function of that – there’s so much stuff and information to tease out all the time that I just sort of threw my hands up in the air.
“And so I saw the president’s State of the Union and he mentioned ‘Space Force’ and I was like, ‘Oh well it’s real!’.”
Space is… hard. Space Force is… launching May 29th. pic.twitter.com/Jv2Zsr3ehb
— Space Force (@realspaceforce) May 19, 2020
She added that she felt it was important to seek out humour in politics, saying: “It’s also making fun of things. We understand there’s always going to be tension between science and government, what the scientists say and what the military would like to accomplish, and then the quirks of the current administration… that’s thrown in there too.
“But it’s mostly, I think, big picture about that tension. To me it’s catch-22 or sometimes the absurdities of the military and expectations, but this has a real human being in there with a family – he’s a real human.”
The show reunites Kudrow with Steve Carell, and gives her the first opportunity to work with the creator of the American version of The Office, Greg Daniels.
She said: “I’ve worked with Steve a couple of times and you know, it’s heaven. And I’ve known Greg – actually I met him, I think, in 1986, but this is the first time I’ve worked with him ever. So it feels exciting; it’s been a long time coming.”
Space Force launches on Netflix on May 29.