Matthew Perry may have cemented his legacy playing the sarcastic Chandler Bing on “Friends,” but appearing on one of the most popular sitcoms in history didn’t bring him satisfaction, says George Clooney.
“I knew Matt when he was 16 years old,” the Oscar winner told Deadline. “We used to play paddle tennis together. He’s about 10 years younger than me. And he was a great, funny, funny, funny kid.”
Clooney, whose drama “ER” premiered the same year as “Friends” in 1994 and shot on the same lot at Warner Bros. Studios, said Perry would say, “I just want to get on a regular sitcom and I would be the happiest man on earth.”
Clooney, who guest-starred on a Season One episode of “Friends” in 1995, said reality was far different from his hope, though.
“And he got on probably one of the best ever. He wasn’t happy. It didn’t bring him joy or happiness or peace,” he said.
Perry died in October at the age of 54 from an apparent drowning in a hot tub in his home. The cause of death was later revealed as acute effects of ketamine.
Clooney said it was tough to see Perry struggle, noting he didn’t realize Perry was dealing with addiction during his time on “Friends.”
“And watching that go on on the lot — we were at Warner Brothers, we were there right next to each other — it was hard to watch because we didn’t know what was going through him,” he said.
“We just knew that he wasn’t happy and I had no idea he was doing what, 12 Vicodin a day and all the stuff he talked about, all that heartbreaking stuff. And it also just tells you that success and money and all those things, it doesn’t just automatically bring you happiness. You have to be happy with yourself and your life.”
Perry had been open about the internal pressure he felt while shooting “Friends,” saying the need to get a big reaction from the audience was overwhelming.
“At least to me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh,” Perry said during the “Friends” reunion that aired on HBO Max in 2021.
“It’s not healthy, for sure, but I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and just, like, go into convulsions,” he added. “If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get, I would freak out.”
Perry also said he couldn’t bear to watch himself on reruns because it reminded him of dark times.
“I didn’t watch the show and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, ‘Drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine,’” he said in 2022 interview with Toronto radio host Tom Power, gesturing as if pointing himself out in different episodes throughout the years.
“I could tell season by season by how I looked,” he continued. “I don’t think anybody else can, but I certainly could, and that’s why I don’t want to watch it, because that’s what I see, that’s what I notice when I watch it.”
Perry, who said he was on opioids while filming the series finale, did have some positive association with the show, pointing out how his castmates were there for him while he dealt with his addiction issues.
“They were understanding, and they were patient. It could be said that (doing the show) saved me,” he told People in 2022 before the release of his memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing."