Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry were both unforgettable on “Friends,” in their roles as Phoebe Buffay and Chandler Bing.
However, after Perry tragically passed away, she gained a new appreciation for his role.
Lisa Kudrow: ‘He Was Above Us All’
GettyKudrow rewatched the popular series after Perry’s passing.
“After Matthew died I watched the show again,” she said in an interview with The Times.
“Before, I only saw what I did wrong or could have done better. But for the first time I truly appreciated just how great it was. I felt I did OK, but Jennifer and Courteney? Amazing. David and Matt? They had me laughing so hard. And then Matthew – he was just beyond us all.”
However, she couldn’t watch “Friends” until she had dealt with his death.
“Because there was a genius at work,” she explained. “And whatever any of us do in the future, we will never experience something like that again.”
“During COVID, I found I needed to watch multi-camera comedies with jokes that make you laugh,” she told Capital FM.
“I went, okay, now I think now you can watch ‘Friends.'”
“After Matthew passed away, there were marathons. And that was really comforting, watching the show. Also, just [because] it makes me laugh.”
“And there he was, and he was so funny,” she continued. “I mean, the funniest. Sorry, everybody else.”
Perry Left Kudrow a Special Gift After Filming
On “The Drew Barrymore Show,” Kudrow recalled a particularly poignant gift from Perry.
Inside a cookie jar prop from the show, he left a sweet note.
“Matthew gave that to me at the end of our last episode,” she recalled, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“I had recently found the note that he had in it for me. 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.”
While she didn’t disclose the exact details, she did say, “Timing is everything.”
Kudrow Will Always Defend ‘Friends’
GettyKudrow, who is currently starring in the third season of “The Comeback,” has nothing but kind words for the series that gave her her big break.
“I will never say anything bad about ‘Friends’ because it’s still incredible work. There are plenty of shows with big-name comedians from that time and they are not funny, but ‘Friends’ is,” she said.
When posed a question by The Times about whether she’d “accept, say, $200 million for the digital rights to her face if a tech bro wanted to make more episodes of ‘Friends'” using AI, Kudrow didn’t seem persuaded.
“Well, it wouldn’t be my decision,” she told the outlet.
“All the cast would have to agree. Bright/Kauffman/Crane [the show’s creators and producers] would have to agree too. Some people feel they have enough money and they wouldn’t want that.”
