This is a photo of Matthew Perry encountering millennials on the street in January. They’re all excited to meet Chanandler Bing, and he was gracious in response. The cigarette, ugh. But I will always have a soft spot for Perry. He’ll always be my favorite Friend, and I keep rooting for him to find the right mix on another television show.
With that said, I caught The Odd Couple last night, and the inner Chandler Bing voice spilled right out: “Could this BE any more awkward?” Perry was fine as Oscar, he’s a trooper. Thomas Lennon seems tailor made for the role of uptight Felix. Yvette Nicole Brown worked her lines too, but the show is a stinker. The writing isn’t funny, and the laugh track is one of the most obnoxious I’ve heard. Perry’s pushing through the publicity. He has a charming new interview that’s much better than his show:
On being recognized: “Friends definitely had that magic attached to it. It had great casting, great directing, great writing. It hasn’t been off the air since we finished shooting it, and now, with Netflix, it’s getting a new audience and I am getting recognised in the street by people who weren’t even alive when we actually shot the show … who are very confused … by how old I look.”
He’s addicted to humor to a fault: “I come from a funny family, and I’ve always been more comfortable in an atmosphere that was lighthearted. But I got to a point where I was kind of addicted to it. I always wanted to fill the silence with a joke — and that’s not an especially healthy way to be. It was like that going out with girls. If you made a joke on the first and second date she would love it. But if you were still making jokes on the seventh date, she’d be saying: ‘One more joke and I’m going to kill you!'”
Still looking for love? “I love children. I have a lot of much younger brothers and sisters so I was always babysitting as a kid. I have godchildren, whom I love, and I look forward to being a father. I think I’ll be wonderful at it. There’s just one important step to be taken first. Like being able to go on a second date …”
Overcoming his struggles: “I’m a little older, a little wiser. I have spent a lot of time trying to get centered in my life and to be a little less anxious and nervous, and I think I’m succeeding. Yes, it’s been well-documented that I’ve had my own troubles in life, and you can’t help but use those as a springboard to try to become better or you sort of get lost in the darkness of it all. My life is a lot less about myself now. I get much more of a kick out of helping people than out of anything else I do, including acting. So out of darkness comes light.”
[From Daily Mail]
Perry also talks about his struggles with sudden fame and how he coped with drugs. We’ve covered that before. He seems healthier now, and hopefully it will stick. I completely empathize with his addiction to humor to lighten an uncomfortable silence. That can wreak havoc on a budding relationship. Perry dated Lizzy Caplan for a few years, but they’ve been over for awhile. He says he can’t find a woman who will go out with him on a second date. Assuming he no longer goes three months without changing bedsheets, he’ll get there eventually.
Vintage Friends cast photos! I couldn’t resist.
Photos courtesy of WENN & NBC
This made me feel SO old.
I always find myself rooting for Chandler Bing!
This is kind of related to my comment below. After over 10 years.. people still refer to them all as their TV characters; as if they are one in the same. Perhaps they too have a hard time moving on.
I’ll always have a soft spot for him too.
Gosh, I want him to do well. He’s an awesome guy with some demons. He deserves some peace.
Awwh.. yes! I think he’s cool, really like this guy.
Me. I’ve tried and liked all of his shows since Friends, except for this one, I have no interest in it. But for his sake, I hope it succeeds and he does well. He’s such a funny guy, and I think after all his difficulties had really tried to help others.
I do wish he’d be able to kick the smoking habit though, his voice has sounded strained in recent years, and I always wonder if that’s affecting it.
I think Matt LeBlank is the one who has changed the most as he aged.
He’s also said how shocked young people are at when they see how old he looks (compared to what he used to look like). He’s made the joke on a couple of talk shows.
Matt LeBlanc is a stone cold FOX these days. I didn’t find him that attractive when he was younger, but he seems to be one of those guys who gets better with age.
I also think Perry isn’t as dorky looking now. He’s grown into his looks.
Agree about LeBlanc. Looks amazing now.
They all made the mistake that so many TV stars make. They stayed on their show for far too long. They all should have left about 4 years earlier. I know the money was the big thing.. but you can’t really see any of them without seeing the characters they played.
I think the same will be the end run for the Mad Men cast and a few other shows. You can leave too early.. but staying too too long is far worse to me.
I disagree about Mad Men. Sure that shows been a big part of the zeitgeist since its inception but it still has a small audience. Friends was a HUGE cultural icon. Everyone knows about it…the same can’t be said for Mad Men.
I’m not talking about the audience. I’m talking about how when you stay on a show too long you become the characters you play. It is hard to get out of that. Transitioning to movies or other parts is not easy. I think Jon Hamm is an example of someone that is talented, but when he is not the MM character.. something is missing. I think if you want a career in TV doing various roles is best.. but if you want to be in movies then you shouldn’t stay on TV shows that long. Audiences figure why watch this person on a big screen when I can see the character that I love them playing for free. It will be interesting to see what happens to the MM cast after the show ends.
Spock was Spock after only 3 years on the show. It’s the strength of the character that counts.
So you think they should have left a show where they were making millions ( and still making a ton of money for royalties ) for a what if? Just so they wouldn’t always be seen as their character? That’s silly. What if they did that and then never worked again? Would defeat the whole purpose…..
I disagree. They had the adventure of a life time, they were lucky to experience that, I think it was worth it.
The ‘damage’ was done early on. Friends was so huge at the time, there’s been nothing really like it since. These days the stars of big sitcoms aren’t necessarily that famous (see the cast of The Big Bang Theory), but the Friends cast became household names after the first season. I think people forget or don’t realize how successful the show was, how obsessed everyone was with it and the stars. I used to read a lot of gossip magazines back then, and for about 5 years the Friends cast were week in week out probably the most talked about celebrities in them. My mother is a hairdresser and in the mid 90’s she says well over half her female customers came in asking for ‘The Rachel’ haircut.
When the cast started doing movies after the second season, there was already a ton of talk about whether or not they could shake off their roles on Friends and be accepted as film stars, and the general consensus then was no, their roles on Friends were just too well-known. And that was 18 years ago and before Friends even hit peak popularity.
Plus there was just something about Friends. If you search the Friends hashtag you’ll see all these tweens and teenagers just discovering it on Netflix. They weren’t alive when it started airing, some of them were toddlers when it stopped airing, they don’t really know much about the actors and their work beside Aniston, but already the lines between the character and the actor are blurred for them, after watching half a season. They tweet the actors using their character names, they just assume Aniston and Schwimmer got together in real life, they talk about how they couldn’t watch Scream (to give one example) because ‘Monica’ being in it was too distracting. There’s something about those six characters that just really sticks with people and they can’t get past it.
John Hamm’s done a ton of little comedy roles on various shows that couldn’t be more different than his role on MM. If people see Don Draper in any of that, that has zero to do with his acting.
Love what he said in his interview. <3
Ms Chanandler Bong will always hold a soft spot in my heart. #FriendsForLife
Its funny because as a kid watching friends on TV I loved Monica and Rachel. As an adult watching I tend to like the Chandler & Joey story lines followed Phoebe’s. I really liked Matthew in Go On and am still bummed that got canceled. I also like Matt in Episodes, I thought was a great way to pay homage to his most recognizable role as Joey while doing something new.
I’ve really come to loathe that show.
I always disliked it. There are several funny moments (over the course of ten seasons), but for the most part, I found the characters annoying.
*Full disclosure, I am their age and was the same age as their characters when the show was on. I know it was fictional, but I was always bugged by them just hanging out in a coffee shop all the time as 20-somethings.
Ditto for me. I am squarely in the Friends generation (maybe just a few years younger than the characters are supposed to be) and even when I laughed at the jokes on that show, I HATED that all they ever seemed to do was literally sit around in that coffee shop. They made a big deal sometimes out of Ross’s museum job, Chandler’s executive job, Monica’s chef job, but it just bothered me that they never seemed to actually work for a living. Also those huge apartments in NYC. UGH.
And yes I realize that just about every TV show in the world has these issues (characters who don’t ever have to go to work and live lives too luxurious for their supposed income/class). But b/c Friends was supposed to be about my generation, it annoyed me much much more than other shows.
See, I watched Friends all through middle school and high school and I really thought that was what being in your twenties was like. I’m about to be thirty now and it’s been…different…from Rachel’s experiences.
But I still love the show.
Yeah, how the hell did Rachel go from waitress to Ralph Lauren in the space of a few years? Jealous!
Well to be fair they did have her in a fairly dull role at Bloomingdales for a couple of years (which she only got because of Mark), then she got demoted due to cut-backs, and finally she got a low-level job at Ralph Lauren and worked her way up from there. Not the most unrealistic of career paths, maybe only fast-tracked by a couple of years.
I hate all those shows where some pretty young thing decides she wants a career in fashion and the next episode she’s some major designers right hand man, episode after that she’s presenting her own collection etc. Friends wasn’t exactly realistic but it wasn’t completely ridiculous either. The only work related thing that really seemed out of place was Ross getting tenure after a year or two of bad lecturing.
I think he looks great. He was always my favorite.
Chanandler Bong …could he BE more funnier??
I’ll always have fond memories of Chanandler Bong and Princess Consuela Banana Hammock.
Friends was awful, painfully unfunny. Chandler was the only almost tolerable character. If you like wry humor though, you wouldn’t like Friends, so his characterization was somewhat confusing. Seinfeld and Fraiser were far better “group of adults” shows from that era
I like wry humour and I liked Friends. It was nice that the characters all had different styles of humour. Ross was always my favourite.
I love this man. I think he has aged beautifully and if I wasn’t married I’d gladly go on a second date with him.
I love him and Friends and now my kids love Friends. I’ve loved every show Perry has done since Friends except for the Odd Couple. It just looks awful. And it was actually my kids who pointed out that the guy who plays Felix was actually on an episode of Friends! Meanwhile, I’ve gotta say that I’m over Cougartown so my new favorite post Friends show is Episodes. LeBlanc is fantastic (and hot) and that show is so funny!
aw I like this interview. So funny.
This makes me feel old! Oh, I miss the 90s. I think I had a similar dress like what Courtney Cox is wearing in that last photo. I had the long floral skirts & wore my denim vest with them, too. And my college boyfriend had a ridiculous amount of flannels. (That I used to borrow!) Fun times.
I love him. Still disappointed go on was cancelled it was great. He is my favorite friend too. I don’t watch his new show but I’m glad he has one that is working out.
Personally I think he has aged fantastically.
I often wonder if he should curtail his acting and work as a writer and director. I absolutely loved him as Chandler, and they say they used many of his suggestions and ad libs when forming the character. I think he could have an amazing second career behind the scenes.
I’ve been reading this site for several years and this is my first comment.
This just made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I grew up on Friends, and Miss Chanandler Bong was my favorite character on the show. Back then I’d always imagine my ideal man to possess a Chanderesque sense of humor. Friends, like the Harry Potter books, was just one of those things that cannot be recreated. So many memories!
I always found him to be the least funny person on Friends. And I think he’s a better dramatic actor than a funny one – like when he was on West Wing.
He was PERFECT in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The show was awesome, I cannot understand why it ended so quickly. It had SO much more to offer than 30 Rock’s sophomoric humour.
I loved this show ! I always disliked 30 Rock a little because it continued and Studio 60 was cancelled.
I love him. Chandler was the best character on Friends and MP is a really good actor. He’ll hit his stride.
Not a fan of his new show, but it’s the number one new comedy and it’s ratings are holding steady. It had less of a dip than The Big Bang Theory over this Easter period.
I loved Studio 60, Mr Sunshine and Go On, but apparently I’m in the minority and most people love formulaic multi-camera sitcoms (it’s not a laugh track sitcom, that annoying laughter is entirely down to the studio audience). I’m disappointed I can’t enjoy it but I’m glad Matthew and Tom (love Tom) have finally found a network show that might stick around for a while. This cast deserves success, even if it is in a crappy show.
Oh and the woman in the header picture is his ex-girlfriend Laura Valdivia, not a Millennial fan.
Well when the most visible Friends are Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox who look pretty damn amazing, it is a shock when you see the guys and you’re reminded that they are all in their 40s!
The Odd Couple is not bad. This weeks episode was actually the weakest so far. But I love Matthew Perry so I hope the show does well.
And Matt Le Blanc on Episodes is great ! He plays, such an as##hole, self abdorbed version of himself, he’s hilarious.
And yes. Hot as hell.
Both of these guys have aged well.
Courteney Cox used to be so pretty…..