Friends Co-Stars Share New Tributes to Matthew Perry

Following yesterday’s heartfelt post from Matt LeBlanc, a number of Friends cast members took to social media today to share their memories of the late Matthew Perry. Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the long-running series, passed away unexpected in October. The other five series regulars from Friends issued a joint statement at the time, and then stayed more or less under the radar until this week, opting to process their thoughts privately. Last night and today, co-stars Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, and David Schwimmer all shared some photos and some feelings. The last Friends to publicly comment was Lisa Kudrow, who rarely uses social media.

Updated to add Lisa Kudrow’s post.

The Friends cast worked together for a decade, and in addition to making one of the most successful sitcoms in the history of TV, they set a new standard by collectively bargaining together, demanding equal pay for all six stars and making the series an all-or-nothing endeavor.

Cox, whose character would eventually develop a romantic relationship with Chandler on the show, shared a video clip from the episode where that relationship started up: while in London for Ross’s destination wedding, the two hooked up in what should have been a one-off story, but instead transformed into something much more. The studio audience at home got an extra not-safe-for-network joke, courtesy of Perry:

Cox’s close relationship with Perry continued after the series ended; the pair would appear together in episodes of Cox’s Cougar Town and Perry’s Go On, both times having a single-episode “will they or won’t they?” romance.

Schwimmer, who played Monica’s brother Ross Gellar, posted next, and gave the most Friends-specific caption, complete with Chandler’s “could X BE any more Y” catchphrase. 

“I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes,” Schwimmer wrote in part. “And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.” 

You can see his full post below.

The most recent post (as of this writing) is from Aniston, whose post feels the most personal, complete with a screenshot from a text message exchange she had with Perry.

“Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before,” Aniston wrote. “We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep.”

Here’s that one:

Last but not least, Lisa Kudrow chimed in this afternoon, sharing a throwback photo from what appears to be the NBC upfronts the year of the Friends pilot.

“Thank you for your open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise. And a lot of ‘talking,’” Kudrow wrote in part. “Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant.”

Kudrow’s Phoebe is the character who, at face value, had the least in common with Chandler, so it’s easy to assume that she and Perry had to have had a pretty solid creative relationship, or else none of those scenes would have worked. It’s that relationship, filled with humor and trust, that permeates her message, seen below:

In addition to his decade on Friends, Perry appeared in the films Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards, and 17 Again. After Friends, he appeared on the cult-favorite Aaron Sorkin show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a handful of other series that centered on Perry including Go On and Mr. Sunshine, and co-led a revival of The Odd Couple alongside Thomas Lennon for three seasons on CBS.