During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show this week, Lisa Kudrow revealed the bittersweet note Matthew Perry wrote for her 20 years ago, which she only discovered after his death.
The revelation came after Barrymore asked Kudrow whether or not she’d ever stolen a significant prop from one of her sets. Kudrow admitted she had filched a few things here and there but declined to say which items from which projects. Barrymore then asked about the iconic “Cookie Time” cookie jar from Friends, which sat atop Monica and Rachel’s fridge throughout the show’s 10 seasons.
"Matthew gave that to me at the end of our last episode," Kudrow shared. Although she lost track of it for a few years, the No Good Deed star recently rediscovered the jar. Inside, she discovered a note written by Perry which she never knew was there. "I had recently found the note that he had in it for me," Kudrow said. "I hadn't opened it up or looked inside of it. But yeah, he did. He had a note in there and I forgot about it."
“Timing is everything,” Barrymore replied, and Kudrow repeated the sentiment.
Perry, who struggled with addiction throughout his life, died in October 2023 due to “acute effects of ketamine” amongst other contributing factors. Five people have been charged in connection with Perry’s death, including the actor’s former longtime assistant.
On a 2020 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kudrow shared that the cookie jar had been a wrap gift from Perry. It was an ode to an inside joke on the set that began during an early episode. Kudrow realized while filming that she had forgotten to put on the prop watch her character, Phoebe, needed to refer to in the scene. Instead of stopping the show, she improvised and referred to the cookie jar as a clock. The inadvertent bit helped develop Phoebe’s adorably ditzy demeanor that cemented her role in the ensemble.
"The first thing I asked was, 'This is so nice. Did you get permission?'" Kudrow told Kimmel, admitting her skepticism. "I mean, my car used to get searched every night [for props] when I left,” she said.
