Matthew Perry - Could I BE any more drowned at the age of 54?

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

The Matthew Perry thing that stands out to me is that he was a huge fan of Fallout 3, even gifting a copy of it to Ellen DeGeneres on her chat show. His fan status got him cast as a major character in Fallout New Vegas. He was absolutely atrocious. Flat delivery, felt like he was reading the words straight from the script for the first time. It just struck me as bizarre as he was obviously a fan of the games, and it must have felt good to be part of a sequel, then he just does a shit job. Not sure if he was on drugs at the time.

Maybe it was also the fact that Benny was a character specifically written for Perry to be comic relief, but the problem was that Benny was shit, unfunny and one dimensional? I think Perry wanted something with a bit more substance, then he reads the script and it's stuff like "That was a nice bit of hey-hey, girlie. You're a real ring-a-ding broad!". I don't blame him for sounding a bit bored. They should have given him a role as one of your companions so the character got a bit more depth to it.

I watched a behind the scenes video of him recording the voice lines and he looked pretty pissed off doing it.

[Barry Admin]

The One About This place getting into proper DSMO cuntitude.

Yeah, I don't want to keep moaning about this kind of thing, but such content could at least be confined to GB, so that people who actually respected the performer's art can express their sadness without being made to feel even more miserable.

CC is about showing respect for comedy as an artform, it's not for unfunny Sickipedia edginess. It just isn't.

[Blue Jam]

Chandler was the one role they couldn't fill. I think they saw *everyone* for it, and were going to give it to one his his best mates, but the actor in question asked Perry what he should do, go for Friends where he'd be part of an ensemble, or lead another. IIRC he considered sabotaging him, but the guy chose his own sitcom.

Yes, that's mentioned in the podcast as well!

I found it interesting that Brian Cox (the Dundonian actor, not the shiny Manc physicist) wrote the opposite thing in his memoir: that he had to choose between being a leading man on the West End stage or a character actor in Hollywood, and he decided that the latter would be the wiser and more lucrative choice. He jokes about how he could never have been a leading man in Hollywood ("...and besides, I'm not tall enough") but seems entirely comfortable and accepting of this. By contrast it looks like Matthew Perry really struggled to accept that he wasn't leading man material and it seems a career in supporting roles, no matter how successful, would always have felt like a consolation prize to him.

[checkoutgirl]

Tributes pouring in from his "Friends"co-stars.

Matt le blanc (Joey) said "how YOU dyin?"

David said he in the end he obviously wasn't a good Schwimmer.

[Butchers Blind]

would you go so far as to say you are happy with the events as they have transpired?

I won't be happy until every one of them is wiped off the face of the earth.

[bgmnts]

In his book he comes across as someone who really wanted to be a leading man but was frustrated that he didn't quite have the looks for it. It seems he was jealous of Matt LeBlanc, and of course Keanu Reeves. He may have had more success as a character actor but it sounds like he would never have been truly satisfied with a career in supporting roles.

What's mental is that in his day Matthew Perry was obviously very handsome, possibly more so than LeBlanc.

[checkoutgirl]

By contrast it looks like Matthew Perry really struggled to accept that he wasn't leading man material and it seems a career in supporting roles, no matter how successful, would always have felt like a consolation prize to him.

I'm no expert on men's looks but is it because Perry was almost leading man looking but not quite there? Brian Cox is more like Brian Dennehy or Robbie Coltrane. They know immediately they're not Harrison Ford.

Although Tom Hanks had the big career without the Brad Pitt aesthetic.

[mr. logic]

What's mental is that in his day Matthew Perry was obviously very handsome, possibly more so than LeBlanc.

Yeah, they even have an episode with a woman picking him over Joey.

[Blue Jam]

I'm no expert on men's looks but is it because Perry was almost leading man looking but not quite there? Brian Cox is more like Brian Dennehy or Robbie Coltrane. They know immediately they're not Harrison Ford.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. He was aware he was above average-looking but not quite good-looking enough to have a realistic shot at the Hollywood A-list. Also unlike the Brian Cox and Robbie Coltrane types Perry didn't really have a characterful face, he was just kind of blandly handsome, not someone who would have done well as a quirky character actor.

I guess he could have had a decent career playing everyman characters but he would probably have been quite bitter about it.

[dissolute ocelot]

While Friends was a bit of a curse at times to all the cast, it seems Perry's problems started long before he first walked into Central Perk and ordered a decaf pumpkin spice. Maybe he should have tried scientology, or sailing a battleship into Edo Bay, or watching a funnier program to cheer himself up. The Guardian summarised his early life in their review of his book:

His problems started well before he became a household name. A child of divorced parents, he had long felt like an outsider in his own family. From the age of five, he would travel alone by plane from Montreal to visit his father in Los Angeles wearing a sign that read "Unaccompanied minor". At 14, he was delighted to discover that drinking quelled the negative thoughts and made him more charming too. Later on, a painkiller prescription brought fresh serenity and soon he was knocking back 55 pills a day.

Perry's addictive personality was also evident in his relentless quest for fame, which he believed would solve his problems: "I think you actually have to have all of your dreams come true to realise they are the wrong dreams," he writes. The actor makes no bones about his atrocious behaviour, delivering scattergun apologies to family, colleagues and ex-girlfriends including Julia Roberts, whom he dumped purely out of fear that she would dump him first.

Reviews of the book seem to depend on your toleration of addiction memoirs, which generally involve reading about some guy making the same mistake hundreds of times.

Friends meant a lot to me at a certain time of my life, and was even one of the shows that got me into thinking more seriously about comedy. Despite that, I have to admit that I'm not particularly affected about this, maybe because the Friends characters seemed more like real people than the actors. And as others have said, it definitely seemed something that was fated to happen.

To change the subject, has anybody ever watched Studio 60? It seems to have got widely differing reactions, with some people even liking it - I assume if you have no interest in US TV it would be pointless, but no idea if it's a good portrayal of that world.

[madhair60]

goodbye matthew perry you have lost your battle with vice. RIP and, of course, MORTIS

[Brundle-Fly]

Yeah, I don't want to keep moaning about this kind of thing, but such content could at least be confided to GB, so that people who actually respected the performer's art can express their sadness without being made to feel even more miserable.

CC is about showing respect for comedy as an artform, it's not for unfunny Sickipedia edginess. It just isn't.

...and I brought up that crappy old hate site which I shouldn't have. It was not really comparable with CaB, (except with some of our occasional gallows humour  or just mean spirited bollocks). Sorry. It was late, wine had been taken, and I was genuinely sad to hear Perry had died, so jokes about him drowning didn't really fly with me last night.

The actor could've just retired after Friends ended (let's face it with the money he was on, he could've retired after Season One), and but Perry didn't, he wasn't perfect, but he got on the stage again, (most mega successful screen actors take a wide berth of theatre) he put on plays and above all tried to help people with addiction issues. He also stood up to Peter Hitchens' icy indignence.

[Pink Gregory]

If anything it's probably good to see someone speak openly about their addictions without necessarily having solved them.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I like to think that Matthew is looking down approvingly at us from heaven right now, a wry smile playing across his lips as we type in our shit death puns.

[Vodkafone]

Maybe I'm just noticing it more now, but there seems to have been a spate of people in the public eye around my age checking out. It's genuinely made me think less about how I'm going to get by in old age and more focused on having a good life now - so there's that.

[Blue Jam]

While Friends was a bit of a curse at times to all the cast, it seems Perry's problems started long before he first walked into Central Perk and ordered a decaf pumpkin spice.

He did have a seriously fucked-up childhood, that's true. I've also just remembered that he had a career as a tennis player and had some success as a junior, but never quite made it to the big league. He was under pressure to succeed from an early age, I did wonder if he really struggled to accept not quite being good enough to get to the top of his two careers.

Reviews of the book seem to depend on your toleration of addiction memoirs, which generally involve reading about some guy making the same mistake hundreds of times.

To be fair to him he did appear to have a major addictive personality, way beyond what you read about in your average addiction memoir. He's someone who kept making the same mistakes despite some huge efforts and spending literally millions of dollars on rehab. It's hard to feel sorry for him over his issues with women, making the same mistakes in relationships and never learning from them, but the addiction thing is different, it sounds like it was absolutely crippling for him, very definitely a disease.

[Icehaven]

If anything it's probably good to see someone speak openly about their addictions without necessarily having solved them.

Yep agree.

[Icehaven]

One of the articles I've read this morning had a quote about how he didn't like it when people approached him and called him Chandler, because he wasn't Chandler, he was Matthew. The problem with that is of the Friends (and of most sitcom characters tbh) he seemed more like he most closely resembled his character than any of them. Apparently he did write some of his lines himself, and as already mentioned they had trouble casting the part until he turned up and just was Chandler. It's easy to see how much it must have bugged him to be unable to get out from the Friends shadow when he was the one everyone had the most trouble differentiating between the show and reality.

[Brundle-Fly]

Maybe I'm just noticing it more now, but there seems to have been a spate of people in the public eye around my age checking out. It's genuinely made me think less about how I'm going to get by in old age and more focused on having a good life now - so there's that.

Indeed. I'm 57, and at the moment I've got friends and acquaintances around the same age (or younger) dropping off the perch like an aviary filling with fluothane. Without sounding trite, but bloody hell, we have to count our blessings and keep on keeping on.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Do you think it hits different when it's somebody who you still see on tv all the time, in their prime?

[Icehaven]

Do you think it hits different when it's somebody who you still see on tv all the time, in their prime?

Definitely. I still watch Friends all the time so whenever I see them looking over 40 it's jarring as hell, never mind dying.

[PaulTMA]

Yeah, I don't want to keep moaning about this kind of thing, but such content could at least be confided to GB, so that people who actually respected the performer's art can express their sadness without being made to feel even more miserable.

CC is about showing respect for comedy as an artform, it's not for unfunny Sickipedia edginess. It just isn't.

HSArt would be a more appropriate place for 'em, I'd say

Lot of octogenarian musicians can look forward to receiving the Colin Hunt treatment any day now

[Phoenix Lazarus]

One of the articles I've read this morning had a quote about how he didn't like it when people approached him and called him Chandler, because he wasn't Chandler, he was Matthew.

Leonard Rossiter said that about people calling him "Rigsby".

[dontpaintyourteeth]

How much of a dogshit thick cunt do you have to be to do that? ALRIGHT VICTOR MELDREW MATE

[Twonty Gostelow]

To change the subject, has anybody ever watched Studio 60? It seems to have got widely differing reactions, with some people even liking it - I assume if you have no interest in US TV it would be pointless, but no idea if it's a good portrayal of that world.

It's really good, although it becomes less compelling in the last few episodes, probably because imminent cancellation was hanging over their heads and Sorkin was under pressure to change things he didn't want to. Perry's fine in it, and he and Bradley Whitford have a likeably laconic dynamic together.
It wouldn't surprise me if it got another positive reappraisal now.

[centristmelt]

Very sad news - is there a general Friends thread btw?

[El Unicornio, mang]

Very sad news - is there a general Friends thread btw?

There's been a few but I think this was the most comprehensive (although it's almost 20 years old, yikes)

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=9663.0

More recent one about the reunion

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=87060.0

[Better Midlands]

Put me down as another one who watched Studio 60 at the time and enjoyed it, I can't recall much of it but do remember being diassapointed it wasn't renewed for a second season.

Having said that I enjoyed 'Joey' back then too, so make of that what you will.

[jamiefairlie]

Maybe I'm just noticing it more now, but there seems to have been a spate of people in the public eye around my age checking out. It's genuinely made me think less about how I'm going to get by in old age and more focused on having a good life now - so there's that.

Yeah it certainly focuses you doesn't it. I used to wonder why my parents were always talking about people who'd died and their ages, now I know, oh yes, now I know.

Anyway, how about "Chandler Bung"?

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Matthew Ferry across the River Styx