The stars of Friends pictured during the show's first seasonLisa Kudrow has revealed her first impressions to the Friends characters after reading the early scripts.
The Emmy winner, who played Phoebe Buffay on the iconic sitcom, was speaking during the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend when she spoke about the late Matthew Perry, who died as a result of the “acute effects of ketamine” in October 2023.
Recounting her first reactions to his character, the Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion star recalled:. “The Chandler character, when I read it, I went, ‘Oh, they have a gay character, that’s good’.
“And so, at the table read, I just did a double take at him, ‘Oh my God’. I never even in a million years could have envisioned anyone playing the character like that – and with his own rhythm and everything. It’s his own.”
Conan agreed that Matthew had “impeccable timing”.
The late night talk show host, who dated Lisa from 1988 to 1993, also remembered feeling a tad “jealous” over hearing Lisa gushing at just how funny Matthew was, before he eventually found out for himself.
The Friends actor went on to note just how “phenomenally hilarious” co-stars David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc and Courteney Cox all were.
The Friends cast at the 2002 EmmysDuring the conversation, Lisa explained how she previously struggle to watch herself in Friends when it was on TV, but was able to start watching again after her co-star’s death “because it wasn’t about me”.
“It had to do with him for some reason. And so, I have started watching Friends,” she said. “There are marathons on, and I have spent, at times, since he died, all day long watching the show.”
Lisa recently reflected on how she and her co-stars “were always laughing so hard, tears were flying out of our faces” thanks to Matthew’s antics.
Elsewhere in their conversation, Lisa doubled down on one of her biggest bug-bears from her time during filming for the show, confessing that she was “irritated” by audience laughter during filming.
