Lisa Kudrow.

"The hardest thing in the world after you've been on a successful sitcom is to go back and do another one," notes Lisa Kudrow, but if the first few episodes of HBO's The Comeback are any indication, the Friends star is doing just fine. A reality-show-with-in-a-sitcom about past-her-prime TV actress Valerie Cherish (Kudrow), the show marks just the latest team-up between Kudrow and a talented gay writer (Comeback exec producer Michael Patrick King, formerly of Sex and the City). She stars in writer-director Don Roos's upcoming Happy Endings and is partners with All Over the Guy scribe Dan Bucatinsky for their Is or Isn't Entertainment production company.

It's something of a cliche that gay men and strong women gravitate toward each other, but I think it's also true.

I guess for me it's hue, because I've worked on two movies with Don Roos [including 1998's The Opposite of Sex], and those are my favorite movie experiences Michael Patrick King and Dan Bucatinsky are the most talented people I've ever worked with. And to throw a name in the mix, [Friends cocreator] David Crane. These are guys that seem to ... I don't know whether it's because they're gay or not they just have a pinpoint awareness of emotional pain and the emotional pain that causes humor. And then on top of that the ability to express it in writing--and with Michael and Don writing and directing. They can translate it to camera moves and editing to tell the right emotional story. I don't know who writes women better than Don Roos. And Michael Patrick King hasn't done too bad either. [Laughs]

Are your gay fans more likely to bring up The Opposite of Sex or Romy and Michele's High School Reunion? Romy and Michele is definitely a favorite I've had guys come up and ten me that they were dressing like one of us for Halloween

Comeback gets in some fun digs at reality TV. Do you think real is the new fake?

There's something very fake about reality shows, the way they cut them and the music they score them with. That's why this show is painful, because it's those moments where nothing is happening and the subjects-lash-victim is vow aware [that she's] no coming off so well

Has reality TV gotten so ridiculous that it's hard to satirize it?

We're not actually making fun of it as much as we're just using it as one of our environments, [one] that we feel. for this particular character, is a mine-field. Because she thinks she's so in control and there s no such thing

What do you think is "over the hill" in Hollywood now?

Before Desperate Housewives, beyond 37, But thank God those ladies are a huge success

Why is your company called Is or Isn't Entertainment?

Because it is or isn't entertainment you can't do much about it. [Laughs]