Kory Grow
Contact Kory Grow on X View all posts by Kory Grow June 17, 2026
Ben Plattat the 2026 'Las Culturistas' Culture Awards. Griffin Nagel/NBCUniversal To celebrate Lisa Kudrow‘s win of the Lifetime of Culture award at Las Culturistas Culture Awards, Ben Platt sang a popular song from Friends, and since it was Kudrow’s day, month, and even her year, it fortuitously was not the theme song. Instead, it was Taylor Swift fave, “Smelly Cat.” Plus, he got a little help from Bob Baker Marionettes. Malin Akerman, who appears on The Comeback with Kudrow, introduced the performance at the event, which was filmed in Los Angeles on May 30 but aired on Bravo and Peacock Wednesday night.
Performing in front of dumpsters, Platt first intonated his voice in an operatic fashion. He then leaned into his mic for a melodramatic rendition of, “Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you?” Kudrow looked on, beaming with pride, as he said, “It’s not your fault.” Then the marionette cats came out, emerging from trash cans like the elderly parents in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, to sing the gospel backup vocals in the super slick version of “Smelly Cat” that wowed Kudrow’s character, Phoebe, on an episode of Friends. One of the cats even came down the aisle to poke Kudrow.
