Ask any FRIENDS who their favorite character is in the show and we are almost a hundred percent sure that Matthew Perry’s Chandler and Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe will be on the top of the list. From Phoebe’s Smelly Cat to the mystery behind Chandler’s job, could there BE any more love for them in our hearts? We don’t think so.
After Matthew Perry’s heartbreaking demise last year, his co-stars were obviously shaken at their core, as were the fans. His death brought a change in Lisa Kudrow’s life as it allowed her to finally sit down and watch the show, something she wasn’t really interested in before.
How Matthew Perry’s Death Changed FRIENDS for Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow joined popular late-night TV host Conan O’Brien for his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, where the two discussed everything from FRIENDS to her new show, Time Bandits.
It has been over two decades since the last episode of FRIENDS was dropped. O’Brien asked Kudrow if she could bring herself to watch the episodes and if they ever affect her in any way stating, “Do you have distance on that now? Like, when you see—’cos it’s ubiquitous—when you see a Friends [episode] on, does that affect you in any way or is it just—”
Little did O’Brien know that his guest would have an answer that would send all of us FRIENDS fans bawling and reaching out for tissues.
According to Kudrow, she could not bring herself to watch the show “at all” as she would be unable to “bear it.” This is not unheard of as many celebrities usually prefer distancing themselves from their own work.
However, everything changed after Matthew Perry passed away. Kudrow was finally able to bring herself to watch the show. How? Well, because it’s no longer about her, it’s about Perry now.
The Easy A actress stated,
Well, I used to not be able to watch it at all. I mean, I’d see it on and be, like, mildly interested and then I’d see me and say ‘That’s enough of that, I can’t bear it,’ and then—well, listen, after Matthew died I could start watching the show again because it wasn’t about me, it had to do with him for some reason.
She admitted that while she didn’t sit down and start the show right from season one, she sure spends a lot of time watching its marathons on TV. In fact, she sometimes spends the entire day bingeing on FRIENDS.
How Matthew Perry Made Conan O’Brien Jealous
Kudrow and O’Brien were in a relationship for five years and broke up just a year before FRIENDS began filming. Clearly, the two have remained on good terms with each other.
However, when Kudrow called him up praising Perry and his hilarious personality, O’Brien couldn’t help but feel pangs of jealousy. He recalled how the actress called him up one fine day “raving” on about Perry and how funny he was.
O’Brien stated,
You called me up, and you were raving about Matthew. Yes. And you were saying, he’s so funny … There was part of me that was jealous. Like, I was okay. I make you laugh pretty hard, and you were like, ‘No, you don’t understand. This guy’s really [funny].’
Kudrow replied that while there’s no doubt to the fact that O’Brien is one of the funniest people she knows, Perry was just on a whole new level in her eyes.
You are the funniest person I know, one of the funniest people I know … that’s just a fact. But he was such a huge—I thought that Chandler character, when I read it, I thought ‘Oh, they have a gay character. That’s good. I thought—that’s all I heard, that’s all I heard, you know?
And so, at the table read, I just did a double take at him, ‘oh my God.’ I never in a million years could have envisioned anyone playing the character like that and with his own rhythm and everything, it’s his own.
Despite his initial jealousy, O’Brien, too, agrees with Kudrow and acknowledges Perry’s impeccable comic timing.
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