Lisa Kudrow has revealed that Matthew Perry had a big hand in one of Friends’ most iconic scenes.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lisa shared how her co-star’s death last year had changed her attitude towards the much-loved sitcom, prompting her to finally start rewatching it after avoiding seeing the show for years.
During the same interview, Lisa also reflected on one of Friends’ most iconic scenes, in which Phoebe messes with Chandler by trying to seduce him in a bid to get him to confess that he and Monica are secretly in a relationship.
During the sequence, Joey suggests to Phoebe that she show Chandler her bra in a bid to scare the truth out of him (“he’s afraid of bras – can’t work ’em”), which Lisa actually credited Matthew with coming up with.
“It’s like, ‘We’ve got to come up with something to up the stakes’,” she recalled.
“And I think it was [Matthew] that went, ‘What if [Joey] just [makes a swift motion]… and the shirt flies open?’. And they’re like, ‘Are you OK wearing a bra?’ And I went, ‘A bra? There’s more covering than a bathing suit! It’s fine’.”
On the joy she and her co-stars felt on the set of Friends, Lisa added: “You’re just laughing all day long, basically, in between the scenes, because these are funny people. And especially someone like Matthew, whose goal was: How many laughs can I get in real life every day? So we were always laughing so hard, tears were flying out of our faces.”
After being asked how she wanted her late colleague and friend to be remembered, Lisa added: “I think the world is remembering him the way he wanted to be remembered. I think that’s happening.”
Matthew was found dead at his home in California in October 2023, at the age of 54.
Shortly afterwards, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner declared that the Emmy nominee had died from the “acute effects of ketamine”, with contributing factors to Matthew’s accidental death including drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used in the treatment of opioid addiction.
Following his death, an old interview resurfaced in which Matthew said he hoped he would be remembered for helping those struggling with addiction, having been candid about his own substance abuse issues throughout his time in the public eye.
“The best thing about me, bar none, is if someone comes up to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me?’ I can say, ‘yes,’ and follow up and do it. That’s the best thing,” he claimed in 2022.
“And I’ve said this for a long time – when I die, I don’t want Friends to be the first thing that’s mentioned. I want that to be the first thing that’s mentioned, and I’m going to live the rest of my life proving that.”
Days after Matthew’s death, the five core members of the Friends cast issued a group statement, saying they were all “utterly devastated” by the news.
Each of them later shared more personal individual tributes, with Lisa sharing her memories of Matthew making her laugh so hard “that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY”.