Friends star David Schwimmer has reflected on his relationship with the late Matthew Perry.
David Schwimmer has claimed Matthew Perry was “reserved” around him.
The 57-year-old actor was “surprised” to learn his late Friends co-star - who died in October 2023 aged 54 - was a fan of his approach to comedy and admitted he didn’t think his pal would have ever told him himself.
Schwimmer was a guest on Cush Jumbo’s Origins podcast and the host recalled how she discussed him with Perry when they worked on The Good Fight together.
She said: “I’m recalling talking to him about how I knew you a little bit, but not very much at that stage - and I was talking to him about commedia [dell’arte] and about physical comedy and all this stuff.
“[I asked] is David just someone who just does it? It just comes off of him?
“Or, and he talks about how it’s not out of control at all, that you’re a linchpin person in a scene - that mostly people were always looking to you to know physically what direction things should go in, that without you being the pin, the other things don’t work - which I thought was very, very complimentary and probably very true.”
Schwimmer was “surprised” by her comments.
He said: “That’s interesting for many reasons, to hear that, because ... that’s a huge compliment and I’m surprised to hear it because Matthew was reserved with me, he would not say that to me but I appreciate that a lot.”
The Little Death actor explained he has always taken a “meticulous” approach to physical comedy.
He said: “Yeah, I am one of the few in the cast who had a rigorous theatre training and so and in this way, in film or in anything that’s involving a stunt or anything physical.
“I think it’s gotta be finely, carefully, choreographed and I would work and work and work on any physical comedy in a scene.
“I would meticulously structure and choreograph it, not only so that I never hurt myself or hurt anyone else but that I could repeat it many, many, many times so I think that’s what maybe he’s referring to.”
Amid the 30th anniversary of Friends, the show’s creators say Perry’s death has made the milestone “a little fraught”.
The 54-year-old actor - who played Chandler Bing in the beloved sitcom - died in October 2023 from the “acute effects” of ketamine in the pool of his Los Angeles home.
Executive producer Kevin Bright told the Today show, “He’d been fighting the good fight for so long, and it really did feel like, from the [2021] reunion, that he had finally found some peace.”
Creator Marta Kauffman added: “It’s a huge loss, and it does make the 30th a little fraught.”
Her co-creator David Crane added: “He made us laugh every day,” while Bright said: “David always said [Matthew] was the funniest man in a room.”
Speaking previously about how fans could celebrate Perry for the show’s 30th reunion, Kauffman told the Times: “Two things come to mind: one of them is to donate to drug treatment centres - let’s fight the disease.
“And the second way is to watch Friends and remember him not as a man who died like that but as a man who was hilariously funny and brought joy to everybody.”
- Additional reporting, NZ Herald