FRIENDS ran for a complete decade, bringing new stories every year from 1994 to 2004. And while some shows lose their spark when stretched so long, FRIENDS remained as charming as ever. After its end, the main actors went their separate ways, but things didn’t work out too well for Matthew Perry, who was facing a bit of bad luck in the industry.
One failed movie after the other caused studios to stop offering him roles and while his time on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and other television shows was “fun,” there was a time when he wished that FRIENDS had never come to an end.
Matthew Perry on his Career After FRIENDS
Buzzfeed sat down with the late actor back in 2015 where he expressed how he wanted to try something different in his career after playing Chandler Bing for ten years. He wanted to shake things up a bit, but unfortunately, that didn’t work out for him.
Matthew Perry worked in three films after FRIENDS, all of which ended up failing. According to the actor, this led to him no longer being offered roles in the film industry.
He told Buzzfeed,
I didn’t want to play Chandler anymore. I wanted to do some things that changed it up a little bit. I did about three movies that failed in a row and then they stopped offering me movies.
After FRIENDS, Perry was in three movies – Numb, Birds of America, and 17 Again. He also played himself in Misery Loves Comedy which marks his final film appearance.
However, Perry had better luck in the television industry. He even went on record to state that his show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was “definitely the best work” he has done. On the other hand, since the actor was so used to contributing to the scripts, he was left feeling bummed out when his ideas for the show were shut down.
Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue was the best writing I’ll ever have. But there were times when I had ideas, and they were sort of shut down.
In fact, when Studio 60 got canceled just after a year, Perry actually contemplated retiring from work. However, he knew that he wasn’t someone who could just step away from work.
At the time, I thought, I’ll just retire! I’ve won the lottery. I’ll just hang out and do whatever I want. But I have to work. I have to be a person that’s working.
He went on to star in shows like Mr. Sunshine, Go On, and The Odd Couple, all of which he describes as “fun.”
Matthew Perry Wished FRIENDS Didn’t End
It’s like the actor echoed our exact thoughts! We would do anything for a few more seasons of FRIENDS.
During an appearance on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight (via PEOPLE), Perry opened up about the show stating that there were times when he would sit down and look back at his time on FRIENDS and just how fun it was.
He even added that if he had a time machine, he would simply go back to 2004 and stop the studio from ending the show.
I find myself sort of reminiscing about how much fun the show was, and the hours that we worked. You know, you can see how much we laughed and everything. I was asked about it recently and I found myself saying, ‘If I had a time machine, I would like to go back to 2004 and not have stopped.’
He then added, “’Friends’ was the greatest job in the world.”
Well, if we had a time machine that worked, we probably might have made a pitstop in 2004, as well.
FRIENDS is currently available to watch on Max.
