Lisa Kudrow rounds out the Friends cast with her own Matthew Perry tribute
"Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have," Lisa Kudrow wrote about Matthew Perry
Aux News Friends
Over the past few days, the main cast of Friends have all posted individual tributes to late actor Matthew Perry, which have ranged from hilarious to heartbreaking and everything in between. These heartfelt messages come after a short silence while the cast “[took] a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss,” as they wrote in a statement immediately following the announcement.
In her post, Lisa Kudrow took some time to thank Matthew Perry for everything he did for her and for the rest of the group. “Shot the pilot, Friends Like Us, got picked up then immediately, we were at the NBC Upfronts. Then… You suggested we play poker AND made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that,” she wrote, shouting out the initial name of the well-loved series.
Kudrow’ post continues:
Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY. Thank you for your open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise. And a lot of “talking.” Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant. Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for all I learned about GRACE and LOVE through knowing you. Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.
Both Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer also referenced the joy Perry brought to their “family [created] of six strangers,” to use Schwimmer’s words. “He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the 6 of us,” Aniston wrote. “This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.
In her post, Kudrow also references Perry’s struggle with addiction especially during his time on Friends. Perry was very open about this part of his journey as well as the process of getting clean before his death, especially in his memoir Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing. In recent years, Perry was very active in helping others struggling with substance abuse and had planned to launch a foundation to further this work. Earlier this month, a new foundation called the Matthew Perry Foundation was launched in his honor to do just that.
29 Comments
This still makes me weepy. If it is now considered “unfashionable” to have loved Friends, I really don’t give a shit. It will always make me laugh.Lisa Kudrow’s eloquent Forward in Matthew Perry’s book is so poignant. It ends with “I’m glad you’re here, Matty. Good for you. I love you.”I’ll always be a huge fan.
The fact that the next generation now loves this show belies the whole “Friends actually sucked” posturing (seen it firsthand with my teenaged girls). It was consistently funny, pretty forthright about sex, and captured the maturation process of early 20s into real adulthood pretty damn well. It had plenty of hallmarks of 90s fashion, etc. but the themes are universal. Watch a random syndicated episode now if you need proof.The final episode with everyone leaving the fully emptied apartment for the last time hit anyone who had that experience right in the heart.
I always loved the show and thought it was funny. Most of my generation does tooThey just take issue with two primary issues (as do I): 1. in a show set in NYC, every single character is white and 2. it ripped off the premise of Living Single, became more popular and got the show cancelled
The whiteness of their NYC was indeed laughable, but I don’t think that Friends took too much audience away from Living Single. But there’s no denying the show was funny, which seems to be the more common claim.
I don’t buy that Friends stole the Living Single audience. During the first year of Living Single their audience draw was 9.3 Mil and the second year (Friends first season) it only dropped to 8.7 Mil. While Friends first year the audience was 24.8 Mil. Plus Living Single got 5 season. A respectable number that most series wish they could get. And it was on Fox and very early Fox at that. I don’t think they were as concerned with matching the ratings that the big 3 networks were getting at the time. Hell, even on a good year The Simpsons couldn’t get the numbers Friends did.
Yeah I am pretty sure Friends and Living Single had totally different audiences, FWIW I really enjoyed Living Single and never ever really watched Friends, and I was a white teen kid LOL
I’m also not sure Friends ‘ripped off’ Living Single. LS premiered in Aug of ‘93, and Friends was already being pitched as early as Oct ‘93, which wouldn’t make ripping it off impossible, but unlikely. Marta Kauffman’s talked about how much of the early eps were based on her own experiences, and Crane and Kauffman had already worked on Dream On, another NYC show about a divorced guy with a young kid trying to date (Ross?). Seinfeld and Mad About You were also already on, shows about young people trying to negotiate early ‘90s NYC (albeit married in MaY).I get the annoyance that fans of LS might feel about Friends getting a bigger audience and more credit for inventing the form, but NYC’s “comeback” in the early ‘90s probably had as much to do with setting ‘hip’ shows there as any one sitcom itself did.
Never a bad time to break this out:
OK, I believe it’s traditional to post this…
Eh, some might point out the quality of the cast was much higher. Not as a person or actor, but just how many became stars. Friends basically went 6/6 as far as at least a few film/show hits carried by each cast member.
“The final episode with everyone leaving the fully emptied apartment for the last time hit anyone who had that experience right in the heart.Well to be fair a shot like that, or turning off the lights, has been a hallmark series finale for sitcoms for years.
For sure. It’s shorthand for “the end.” But so much of the show took place in that apartment seeing it stripped bare was hard to see. Especially after them going to the coffee shop and a bunch of early 20-somethings are in their spot.
I can only count two off the top of my head: Friends and Fresh Prince.What are some others?
The privilege and casual homophobia are really the big issues in today’s world, neither of which were intentional but instead products of the time. It’s not an excuse, it’s just a reality that is worth recognizing. It is still funny on the whole, and it’s part of our comfort show rotation.That being said, I can completely understand why those two issues can be deal-breakers for some and that’s ok too. Conversely, I don’t think it’s right to say it got Living Single canceled. Part of recognizing the failures of Friends in hindsight is also recognizing there was sadly never going to be the same market for Living Single at that time regardless of how good it was.
Let the OP think they’re a put-upon victim for loving a show that… checks notes… continuously sets records for streaming rights.It’s clearly what they want.
Dude, I love the earthy-year-postmodern 90s decor of the apartment – especially the purple-and-green walls, the gerberas, the shabby-chic furniture – it’s honestly between that and the Frasier pad for ultimate 90s apartments.
I definitely got teary reading the rest of the casts’ tributes to Perry. Look, I can criticize Friends with the best of them – too white, Ross is the worst, weird gay and transphobic jokes, etc – but it could also be very, very funny and heartfelt with the best of them. One of my all-time favorite Chandler & Phoebe moments is when they’re trying to psych each other out over Chandler and Monica’s relationship. “I’m very bendy.”
“Well, come here. I’m very happy we’re going to have all the sex.”
That entire scene is one of the funniest pieces of physical comedy I’ve ever seen. Both Perry and Kudrow are absolutely brilliant.
My favourite line is when they have the flashback to how Chandler got his room mate and he’s choosing between two guys:“Well, one guy’s sister is a porn star who has a beach house he said we can use on weekends, and the other, when I answered the phone and said ‘Hi, this is Chandler Bing’ he went ‘Whoa. Short message.’”
Oh, I love that and I’ve never heard that one. That’s hilarious!
Of course, I’m sure you can guess who the other guy was…
Of course! BTW, Lisa Kudrow won an Emmy for the Chandler “seduction” episode.
My friends and I still say that all the time. SO many great one-liners.“It’s a moo point.”
Ah, Phoebe:
“New York has no power/And the milk is getting sour/But for me it is not scary/For I stay away from dairy…”
There are so many good, funny and emotional beats in that show. As a whole, it’s still a pretty good sitcom, it’s just that some things, like the overt whiteness and the homophobic jokes, don’t stand the test of time.
Kudrow’s photo up there hit me the hardest out of the five.
Me too. Matthew Perry praises Kudrow to the skies in his memoir. They were the two most naturally gifted comedic actors on the show and they had a unique bond rooted in a deep trust and love.I give a lot of credit to Matt LeBlanc for taking what could have been a stock (and kinda sleazy) character and elevating him into the sweet and doofy “heart” of the show, but Kudrow and Perry were on a whole other level.
Yeah but what does the monkey think?