Remembering Matthew Perry, Part 1: The 'Friend' who made us laugh

I'm Chandler, I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable. Well, I loved Chandler, I loved the show and I also knew, remember this because it's going to be the best time of your life and I knew it. One look at the hit TV series, Friends, and it's impossible to imagine anyone in the role of Chandler Bing. Okay, who wants light cheese and who wants dark cheese? Other than the handsome, hilarious and quick-witted Matthew Perry, cast when he was just 24. No one at work ate my sandwich. Well, what did the police say? Sarcastic, charming, and oh, that comic timing. For 10 seasons on Friends, for multiple generations of viewers, Perry could make it all look so easy, but for him, for decades, nothing was easy. How will we know when you're in trouble, when you're not okay? If I say I'm just going to chill alone at home tonight, and part two, the other thing is if I ever say I'm cured. Saturday afternoon, Perry was found dead at his home in Pacific Palisades, California. Law enforcement sources say his assistant discovered the 54-year-old unresponsive in his jacuzzi. Requesting two additional units and a supervisor respond to Blue Sail Drive. The official cause of death is still under investigation. ABC News confirms an autopsy has been completed by the L.A. County Medical Examiner's Office, but results on a subsequent toxicology report could take weeks. Police say there was no obvious signs of trauma or foul play suspected. Just days ago, Perry posting this photo of himself in his hot tub, wearing headphones. TMZ reported witnesses saw Perry in good spirits Saturday while playing pickleball for two hours at a nearby club. Matthew Perry's family telling People Magazine in a statement, We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother. Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend. And today, the cast of Friends, joining together to release a statement, We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just castmates. We are a family. Our thoughts and our love are with Matty's family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world. Since the tragic loss, heartbroken fans have flocked to the street corner in New York City's West Village, where the exterior was used for the Friends' apartment in the show. He deserves each and every tribute from everyone. Friends meant a lot to everybody. It's still very iconic now. His character is unlike any other TV character ever, especially his sense of humor, and I'm really going to miss him. Friends knew him well and worked alongside him, posting on social media, remembering the actor, familiar face on the hit show, Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice as Chandler's on-and-off girlfriend on the show, posting, What a loss. The world will miss you, Matthew Perry. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared. He was so funny and so sweet and so much fun to be with, said Gwyneth Paltrow. The two met in their early 20s. We drove out to swim in creeks, had beers in the local college bar, kissed in a field of long grass. It was a magical summer. I hope Matthew is at peace at long last. I really do. Adele pausing her Vegas concert to pay tribute. And, yeah, just want to say how much I love what he did for us, especially for what he did for me. And Charlie Puth playing the Friends' theme song, I'll Be There For You. After moving to Los Angeles from Canada, he'd find roles as a young actor on such hit shows as Growing Pains. Sandy, I am so sorry this happened to you. Carol, don't worry. I'm going to be OK. And Beverly Hills 90210. Just make sure I spell my name right. Before his big break on Friends in 1994. Is your name Chandler? Yes. Yes, it is. Chandler Vang. Do you know me, or are you just really good at this game? It would turn out to be the role of a lifetime, one that he almost wasn't able to take. He was committed to another TV project at the time, called LAX 2194, about baggage handlers at Los Angeles' airport set in the future. Enjoy Los Angeles. By the way, Griffith Park has the best picnic areas. He'd find success on the big screen with The Whole Nine Yards. But as Perry knew, it's his Emmy-nominated performance in Friends that would leave the most memorable mark. How is that me? I'm Chandler. In the 90s and early aughts, Friends dominated primetime TV, a top-ten show on NBC every year for its 10-year run, averaging 25 million viewers a week. When have I ever done that? The cast would view themselves as an ensemble and negotiate as a unit, giving them the leverage to set a new standard. I think bigger than the entertainment value, this cast really taught the rest of the industry a colossal lesson. They knew their worth. They did an unprecedented deal for the last three seasons of Friends. They each collected a million-dollar salary per episode, which at that point had been completely unheard of in this industry. Years later, its enduring appeal made it a major force in the streaming wars. During the pandemic, a surge of comfort food binging the hit show. 97 billion minutes of it watched in 2020 alone. The beauty of Friends is that it still works. And then there are the people who have just recently discovered it, and it still is going. The cast reuniting onscreen for a 2021 special, reminiscing about their days in the spotlight, things they alone had shared and understood. The best way that I can describe it is after the show was over, at a party or any kind of social gathering, if one of us bumped into each other, that was it, that was the end of the night. You just sat with the person all night long. But behind the scenes, addiction to alcohol and later prescription painkillers would fling Perry into a decades-long hellscape, leading to extreme fluctuations in his weight and countless months in rehab. He said he went through detox roughly 65 times. I should have been the toast of the town. I was in a dark room meeting with nothing but drug dealers and completely alone for months. Perry sat down with Diane Sawyer last year, opening up about its addiction in his best-selling memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. Like, it's not fun to talk about this stuff. I don't like talking about it, but I know it's going to help people to talk about it. I know the book is going to help people. Castmates coming to his aid during dark times, like Jennifer Aniston. Jenny, yeah. And she says, we know you were drinking. Yeah, imagine how scary a moment that was. And I said, how? I thought I was hiding it so well, and she said, we can smell it, we can smell it. But I wasn't in a position to stop, you know? And that's what addiction is.