Matthew Perry death – latest: Actor’s family and Friends cast pay tribute as 911 call released

Tributes are pouring in from around the world for the actor Matthew Perry after his death aged 54.

The American-Canadian star, best known for his portrayal of sarcastic joker Chandler Bing in Friends, was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Saturday. He died in an apparent drowning in his hot tub. A 911 call captured a small portion of the police response.

Perry’s family released a statement to People, saying: “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend. You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.”

Friends co-stars Maggie Wheeler and Morgan Fairchild were among the many actors remembering Perry.

Wheeler, who played Perry’s on-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein on the show, wrote on Instagram: “What a loss. The world will miss you Matthew Perry.”

Fairchild, who played Perry’s on-screen mother Nora Bing, said on Twitter: “I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son’, Matthew Perry.”

Selma Blair, Paget Brewster, Octavia Spencer and Yvette Nicole Brown also shared condolences.

During a Las Vegas show, Adele thanked Perry for being “so open” with his addiction struggles.

Key points

• Matthew Perry 911 call audio released as cause of death probed

• Remembering Matthew Perry’s iconic final line in Friends

• Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice in ‘Friends', mourns Matthew Perry

• Matthew Perry opened up about his struggles while filming 'Friends’

• ‘Friends’ made Matthew Perry one of Hollywood’s most recognisable actors

Former Saturday Night Live writer slammed for joking about Matthew Perry’s death

11:38 , Isobel Lewis

Former Saturday Night Live writer Kevin Brennan has been widely criticised for joking about Perry’s death.

Following the announcement of Perry’s death, comedian Brennan – who wrote for SNL’s Weekend Update segment from 1999 to 2000 – posted a tweet laughing at the TMZ headline about the news.

The “disgusting” post prompted fury from fans, with one Twitter/X user questioning: “What the hell is wrong with you?” Another echoed: “This is gross, dude.”

“These words are utterly ridiculous for you to drum up the nerve to say at such a sensitive time for his family. Shame on you,” one commenter wrote.

However, Brennan doubled down, posting in response: “I didn’t mock it. I just thought it was funny.” On Sunday night, he tweeted: “Am I trending yet?”

Opening line of Matthew Perry memoir takes on heartbreaking new light in wake of Friends star’s death

10:53 , Maanya Sachdeva

Matthew Perry’s fans are revisiting the opening line of his memoir, which has taken on a new significance in the wake of his sudden death.

Paying tribute to the beloved Friends star, fans are sharing the excerpt from Perry’s book Friends, Lovers, and the Big on social media.

The book chronicles how Perry’s addiction struggles grew under the “white-hot flame of fame” after he shot to international stardom, aged 24, playing Chandler.

Read the full story here:

Matthew Perry’s memoir opening line takes on heartbreaking new light

Initial post-mortem results ‘inconclusive’ as Perry’s cause of death under investigation

10:13 , Maanya Sachdeva

The results of Matthew Perry’s initial post-mortem are “unconclusive”, with further investigations underway to determine the actor’s cause of death.

Officials are currently waiting for the results of a toxicology tests, and a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department told CBS News there were “no obvious signs of trauma” after Perry was found unresponsive in a jacuzzi at his home on Saturday (28 October).

Seven of the biggest revelations from Matthew Perry’s memoir

09:29 , Maanya Sachdeva

Matthew Perry’s fans are revisiting the Friends star’s memoir, written almost exactly one year before his sudden death on Saturday 28 October.

Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing came out on 1 November 2022, and in it, Perry wrote about his famous past relationships and his time on the hit sitcom that made him famous around the world.

Here are seven of the biggest revelations from Perry’s book:

Seven of the biggest revelations from Matthew Perry’s memoir

‘He brought so much joy’: Friends stars honour Matthew Perry

09:14 , Maanya Sachdeva

Stars such as Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice on the hit Noughties sitcom, and Morgan Fairchild, who portrayed Chandler’s mom Nora Bing, are among the Friends castmates who have paid tribute to Matthew Perry.

Read more here:

Heartbroken Friends stars among those paying tribute to Matthew Perry

Kathleen Turner ‘very sad for Matthew’: ‘He had a good heart’

08:00 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Kathleen Turner says in a new interview that she is “very sad for Matthew” after learning of the Friends actor’s passing at his home on Saturday.

She remembered her TV son — Turner played Chandler Bing’s parent on Friends — and said: “He came to see one of my Broadway shows and he came backstage. When he saw me, he yelled out, ‘Hey dad’ and everyone thought it was pretty cool. I think it was for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”

Turner saw Perry “at least 10 years [ago] at some event. I liked him. He had a good sense of humour and a good heart. He liked other people, which, to me, is terribly important, especially for an actor.

“It’s extremely sad when you think about how young [he was] and a pity he couldn’t get more control.”

From the archives: Matthew Perry ‘begged’ Friends producers to get rid of this essential Chandler Bing character trait

07:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Matthew Perry revealed last year that he “begged” Friends producers to get rid of a signature Chandler characteristic.

Reflecting on his time starring in the series, which ran from 1994 to 2004, Perry said he was annoyed with his character’s signature intonation and wanted to change Chandler’s voice.

In an excerpt published by Variety in 2022, he wrote that he “had to beg the producers” to stop writing his lines this way.

Riffing on his character’s catchphrase, Perry wrote: “That particular cadence – could it be more annoying? – had been so played out that if I had to put the emphasis in the wrong place one more time, I thought I’d explode, so I just went back to saying lines normally, for the most part in season six and then beyond.”

Read the full piece here:

Matthew Perry ‘begged’ Friends producers to get rid of this Chandler character trait

SNL pays tribute to Mathew Perry

07:05 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Saturday Night Live [SNL] paid tribute to Matthew Perry’s memory after the news of his death emerged late the same day as the show’s broadcast.

The broadcast featured a poignant moment when Perry’s photograph was displayed on the screen and was followed by a brief moment of silence just before the goodnight segment.

The episode was hosted by comedian Nate Bargatze.

Perry hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live on 4 October 1997 with the musical group Oasis as the featured guest.

How Matthew Perry confronted his drug addiction, and spent his life urging others to seek help

07:00 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Matthew Perry, who has died aged 54, made no secret of his addiction struggles over the years, writing candidly about his substance abuse and attempts to stay sober in his affecting memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

Released in 2021, the book chronicled the exacerbation of Perry’s addiction under the “white-hot flame of fame” after he shot to international stardom, aged 24, as the wise-cracking Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom Friends.

“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name,” he wrote in the book’s opening passage. “My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.”

In the book, Perry recalled drinking heavily through the first two seasons of Friends, although he said he was never drunk or high on set, and then becoming addicted to the opiate pain medication Vicodin after a jet ski accident while filming Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek in 1996.

By the end of the 10th series of Friends, Perry became “entrenched in a lot of trouble”, he revealed years later.

Read the full piece here:

How Matthew Perry confronted his drug addiction, and urged others to seek help

Fans speak of ‘shock and sadness’ at death of Friends star Matthew Perry

06:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Fans of Friends actor Matthew Perry have spoken of their “shock and sadness” at the death of the “funniest” star of the hit US comedy.

The 54-year-old, who became a superstar playing funnyman Chandler Bing during the show’s 10 seasons, died after an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home, US outlets have reported.

Visitors to the Friends’ Experience in Dublin, Ireland – which showcases sets, props and costumes from the show – said that his jokes and performances would live on.

Irma Varivoda, 18, from Bosnia and Herzegovina and living in Dublin, said: “So this is the one where we all lost a friend.

“I was really shocked and sad but honestly I think this was the best way to pay him respect and come here and we are going to miss him but Chandler is going to live forever. Rest in peace, Matthew.”

Fans speak of ‘shock and sadness’ at death of Friends star Matthew Perry

The moment Matthew Perry tore into ‘complete tool’ Peter Hitchens during Newsnight debate about drug addiction

06:15 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Matthew Perry, who has died suddenly aged 54, was known around the world as Chandler Bing, the saracastic king of the one-liner on the hit sitcom Friends.

Yet in his later years he also became a fierce advocate for addiction recovery, speaking frankly about his own struggles with drug and alcohol abuse over the years.

Outside of Friends, one of his most memorable TV appearances was in 2013, when he debated addiction on the BBC’s current affairs programme Newsnight with Baroness Meacher, an advocate for drug policy reform, and controversial author and broadcaster Peter Hitchens.

Perry was invited on to discuss specialist drug courts, in which former addicts would sit as magistrates in order to pass a more informed judgement on abuse-related offences by non-violent addicts.

“I know that they work,” he said on the programme. “People who go through drug court have a 55 per cent less chance of ever seeing handcuffs ever again.”

The moment Matthew Perry tore into ‘complete tool’ Peter Hitchens on Newsnight

Watch Matthew Perry’s most iconic Friends scenes

06:00 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Matthew Perry’s portrayal of the sarcastic yet vulnerable Chandler Bing on Friends made the sitcom star a household name.

Clips of the actor’s best moments in the show have resurfaced following the news that Perry was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Saturday, 28 October.

During the show’s 10 seasons, Chandler had many iconic scenes - from trying new armchairs with Joey to stealing the last laugh with the show’s final line, at the request of Perry himself.

Watch Matthew Perry’s most iconic Friends scenes

Matthew Perry, the comic genius who wore his big, bruised heart on his sleeve

05:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The ‘Friends’ star’s performances were a masterclass in comic timing. And in his life outside of Chandler Bing, he was disarmingly honest about his frailties and his struggles with addiction. Fiona Sturges pays tribute:

Matthew Perry, the comic genius who wore his big, bruised heart on his sleeve

Matthew Perry 911 call audio released as cause of death probed

05:00 , Maroosha Muzaffar

A 911 call made from Matthew Perry’s Los Angeles home on the night he died references “drowning” just before first responders arrived to find the actor unresponsive in a jacuzzi.

Perry, the actor best known for his role of Chandler Bing on Friends, was found dead in his jacuzzi in his Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Saturday. He was 54.

In the dispatch audio obtained by TMZ, a man can be heard saying, “Agent 23. Rescue 23. EMS 9 on the radio. In response to the drowning.” Other bits of the 16-minute clip were bleeped out.

Tape was put up around the home, but law enforcement sources told TMZ no drugs were found at the scene and no foul play is suspected.

His official cause of death is still under investigation.

Matthew Perry 911 call audio released as cause of death probed

Kathleen Turner ‘very sad for Matthew’: ‘He had a good heart’

04:43 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Kathleen Turner says in a new interview that she is “very sad for Matthew” after learning of the Friends actor’s passing at his home on Saturday.

She remembered her TV son — Turner played Chandler Bing’s parent on Friends — and said: “He came to see one of my Broadway shows and he came backstage. When he saw me, he yelled out, ‘Hey dad’ and everyone thought it was pretty cool. I think it was for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”

Turner saw Perry “at least 10 years [ago] at some event. I liked him. He had a good sense of humour and a good heart. He liked other people, which, to me, is terribly important, especially for an actor.

“It’s extremely sad when you think about how young [he was] and a pity he couldn’t get more control.”

Hank Azaria says Matthew Perry helped him get sober: He was so caring and giving

04:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Hank Azaria has said that Friends co-star Matthew Perry helped him to get sober, and that it was “heartbreaking” to have to watch Perry deal with drug and alcohol addiction.

Simpsons voice actor Azaria paid tribute to comedy actor Perry after the news of his death aged 54.

The 59-year-old comedian and actor starred as Phoebe Buffay’s boyfriend David in the much-loved 90s sitcom, while Perry played the witty and sarcastic Chandler Bing.

In a video posted to his Instagram page, Azaria described his friendship with Perry and said they were like brothers.

“Matthew was the first friend I made in Los Angeles when I moved there,” he said.

“I was 21 he was 16.

“We did a pilot together … we became really good friends and we were really more like brothers for a long time.

“We drank a lot together, we laughed a lot together. We were there for each other in the early days of our career and he was to me, as funny as he was on Friends and he was and other things too, in person he was just the funniest man ever.

“And every night, he was like a genius, he would start to weave comedy threads together, just hanging out – little joke here, joke there, joke here, joke there – and then by the end of the night he would weave them all together in this crescendo of hilarity.”

Perry, who appeared in TV series including The Odd Couple and Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, had publicly discussed his recovery from an addiction to opiates and alcohol.

Azaria said: “I really loved him. A lot of us who were close to him felt like we lost him to drugs and alcohol a long time ago because as he documented in his autobiography there was so much suffering.

“I had to pick it up and put down the biography like 11 times it was so painful for me to read.

“It was really, as his, friend who loved him I knew he must be suffering, but the details of it were just devastating, just physically, emotionally, mentally, psychologically.

“You know, from a recovery perspective, I mean I’m a sober guy for 17 years. I want to say that the night I went into AA Matthew brought me in.”

Read the full tribute here:

Hank Azaria says Matthew Perry helped him get sober: He was so caring and giving

Matthew Perry: Seven of the biggest revelations from Friends star’s memoir

04:20 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Friends star Matthew Perry has died at the age of 54, with many now revisiting the memoir he released almost exactly a year before his death.

The star, adored for his portrayal of king of sarcasm Chandler Bing in Friends, was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Saturday 28 October.

Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing came out on 1 November 2022, and in it, Perry wrote about his famous past relationships and his time on the hit sitcom that made him famous around the world.

However, Perry also explored his widely publicised addiction to alcohol and painkillers, which resulted in him visiting rehab 15 times over his lifetime, and having a number of near-death experiences.

Here are seven of the biggest revelations from Perry’s memoir…

Seven of the biggest revelations from Matthew Perry’s memoir

Watch Matthew Perry’s final line of Friends

04:00 , Andrea Cavallier

Matthew Perry’s family break silence on his death aged 54: ‘You all meant so much to him’

03:30 , Andrea Cavallier

Matthew Perry’s family is speaking out following the actor’s sudden death on Saturday.

Matthew was born in 1969 to his parents John Bennett Perry and Suzanne Morrison, but they split less than a year later. He was raised by his mother and father, as well as his stepfather, Dateline NBC’s Keith Morrison.

His family told PEOPLE in an exclusive statement that they are “heartbroken” by his “tragic” death.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother,” the family said. “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend.”

They added: “You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.”

Andrea Cavallier reports...

Matthew Perry’s family speak out on his death

Matthew Perry 911 call audio released as cause of death probed

03:27 , Maroosha Muzaffar

A 911 call made from Matthew Perry’s Los Angeles home on the night he died references “drowning” just before first responders arrived to find the actor unresponsive in a jacuzzi.

Perry, the actor best known for his role of Chandler Bing on Friends, was found dead in his jacuzzi in his Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Saturday. He was 54.

In the dispatch audio obtained by TMZ, a man can be heard saying, “Agent 23. Rescue 23. EMS 9 on the radio. In response to the drowning.” Other bits of the 16-minute clip were bleeped out.

Tape was put up around the home, but law enforcement sources told TMZ no drugs were found at the scene and no foul play is suspected.

His official cause of death is still under investigation.

Matthew Perry 911 call audio released as cause of death probed

Watch: HBO’s trailer for the 2021 ‘Friends’ reunion

03:00 , Andrea Cavallier

Matthew Perry’s book was ranked No. 1 on Amazon on Sunday

02:00 , Andrea Cavallier

On Sunday, Perry’s book was ranked No. 1 on Amazon, supplanting Britney Spears’ memoir, the Associated Press reported.

Unknown at the time was the struggle Perry had with addiction and an intense desire to please audiences.

“‘Friends’ was huge. I couldn’t jeopardize that. I loved the script. I loved my co-actors. I loved the scripts. I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame,” he wrote in his memoir. “I had a secret and no one could know.”

“I felt like I was gonna die if the live audience didn’t laugh, and that’s not healthy for sure. But I could sometimes say a line and the audience wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and sometimes go into convulsions,” Perry wrote. “If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get I would freak out. I felt that every single night. This pressure left me in a bad place. I also knew of the six people making that show, only one of them was sick.”

He recalled in his memoir that Aniston confronted him about being inebriated while filming.

“I know you’re drinking,” he remembered her telling him once. “We can smell it,” she said, in what Perry called a “kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.”

In the foreword to Perry’s memoir, Lisa Kudrow described him as “whip smart, charming, sweet, sensitive, very reasonable, and rational.” She added, “That guy, with everything he was battling, was still there.”

Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice on Friends, said ‘the world will miss’ Matthew Perry

01:30 , Andrea Cavallier

Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice on Friends, has said “the world will miss” her co-star Matthew Perry.

“What a loss.The world will miss you Mathew Perry . The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared,” she wrote on Instagram.

Wheeler had earlier this year said reading Perry’s memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing was “sad”.

The actor said she had “many startling revelations about the ways Matthew has suffered over the years trying to wrangle his addictions” while reading the book.

“I think he’s done a tremendous job and he’s really survived the unthinkable,” Wheeler had said. “And I’m so proud of him and I’m so happy he’s here and I think it’s very brave that he’s written a book and he’s out talking about it, he’s really helping a lot of people.”

Matthew Perry 911 call audio released as cause of death probed

01:00 , Andrea Cavallier

A 911 call made from Matthew Perry’s Los Angeles home on the night he died references “drowning” just before first responders arrived to find the actor unresponsive in a jacuzzi. Andrea Cavallier reports

Matthew Perry 911 call audio released as cause of death probed

Rumer Willis recalls the time her father Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry filmed movies together

00:00 , Andrea Cavallier

“I’m so sad to hear about Matthew Perry passing,” she wrote in an Instagram story post.

“When I was a kid and I was on Set while he and my dad were doing the whole nine and whole 10 yards he was so kind and funny and sweet with my sister and me and I think his physical Comedy and that movie still makes me laugh so much, I know he had many challenges in his life and brought a lot of joy to people with his comedy I hope he can rest peacefully.”

One of Matthew Perry’s last Instagram was about his father

Sunday 29 October 2023 23:30 , Andrea Cavallier

One of the last social media posts made by Matthew Perry was a photo of himself and his father John.

“Here is me, and my father John, both holding a beverage,” he said on Instagram.

Watch Matthew Perry’s most iconic Friends scenes

Sunday 29 October 2023 23:00 , Andrea Cavallier

Gwyneth Paltrow recalls ‘magical summer’ in tribute to Matthew Perry

Sunday 29 October 2023 22:30 , Andrea Cavallier

The actress posted a tribute to the Friends star on Instagram.

“I met Matthew Perry in 1993 at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. We were both there for most of the summer doing plays. He was so funny and so sweet and so much fun to be with. 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. “

“He had shot the pilot of Friends but it had not aired yet. He was nervous, hoping his big break was just around the corner. It was. We stayed friends for a while until we drifted apart, but I was always happy to see him when I did. I am super sad today, as so many of us are. I hope Matthew is at peace at long last. I really do.”

The 7 biggest talking points from Matthew Perry’s raw, honest memoir

Sunday 29 October 2023 22:01 , Roisin O'Connor

Seven of the biggest revelations from Matthew Perry’s memoir

The moment Matthew Perry clashed with Peter Hitchens over addiction

Sunday 29 October 2023 21:40 , Roisin O'Connor

Matthew Perry, the comic genius who wore his big, bruised heart on his sleeve

Sunday 29 October 2023 21:21 , Roisin O'Connor

The ‘Friends’ star’s performances were a masterclass in comic timing. And in his life outside of Chandler Bing, he was disarmingly honest about his frailties and his struggles with addiction. Fiona Sturges pays tribute

Matthew Perry, the comic genius who wore his big, bruised heart on his sleeve

Heartbroken Friends stars among those paying tribute to Matthew Perry

Sunday 29 October 2023 21:01 , Roisin O'Connor

The entertainment world is in mourning after Friends star Matthew Perry’s death at the age of 54.

Perry was best known for his portrayal of the witty Chandler Bing in the stratospherically successful sitcom. He was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Saturday 28 October.

The American-Canadian star died in an apparent drowning, his representative told NBC News.

Perry played sarcastic self-sabotager Chandler in all 10 seasons of Friends on NBC from 1994 to 2004, with the show catapulting him and the rest of the young cast – Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox – to global fame.

Supporting actors from Friends are among those who have led tributes to Perry.

Ellie Harrison reports:

Heartbroken Friends stars among those paying tribute to Matthew Perry

Watch: HBO’s trailer for the 2021 ‘Friends’ reunion

Sunday 29 October 2023 20:41 , Roisin O'Connor

‘The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken’: Friends co-creators pay tribute to Matthew Perry

Sunday 29 October 2023 20:30 , Andrea Cavallier

The co-creators of Friends paid tribute to Matthew Perry in a statement released following his sudden death.

Perry, who died on Saturday at the age of 54, was best known for his role of Chandler Bing on Friends.

Marta Kauffman and David Crane along with executive producer Kevin Bright said, “We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Matthew’s passing. It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives.”

“He was a brilliant talent," the statement continued, according to Deadline. “It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words. From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us. We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment - not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart."

“We send all of our love to his family and friends. This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.”

Fans pay tribute to Matthew Perry’s work as an addiction recovery campaigner

Sunday 29 October 2023 20:20 , Roisin O'Connor

Matthew Perry reveals nightly studio live audience worry: ‘I felt I was gonna die’

Sunday 29 October 2023 20:00 , Roisin O'Connor

Matthew Perry and Chandler Bing: Two sides of the same coin

Sunday 29 October 2023 19:40 , Roisin O'Connor

It was often noted how similar Perry was to his on-screen role. When he first read the script, he was convinced someone had stalked him for a year, stolen his jokes and mimicked his “world-weary yet witty view of life”.

“It wasn’t that I thought I could play Chandler, I was Chandler,” he said.

The similarities were such that Perry’s actor friends approached him for advice before auditioning for the series in 1994. Perry would suggest techniques and claimed that his friends copied him; when it came to his own audition, he “broke all the rules” and used the odd emphases that became one of Chandler’s defining characteristics.

He admitted his insecurities to his new castmates during an interview arranged by producers before filming commenced. His humour was a defence mechanism, Indeed, Perry was so wracked by self-doubt that a joke met with silence from the audience would send him into “convulsions”.

Friends star Matthew Perry, who played king of sarcasm Chandler Bing, dies aged 54

Matthew Perry opens up about the time Jennifer Aniston confronted him over addictions

Sunday 29 October 2023 19:21 , Roisin O'Connor

Charlie Puth pays tribute to Matthew Perry at his concert

Sunday 29 October 2023 19:10 , Andrea Cavallier

The singer played the piano as he led concert-goers in a heartfelt rendition of the Friends theme song in honor of Matthew Perry at his show in Melbourne this weekend.

Matthew Perry is best known for his portrayal of sarcastic joker Chandler Bing in Friends.

Matthew Perry: Seven of the biggest revelations from Friends star’s memoir

Sunday 29 October 2023 19:01 , Roisin O'Connor

‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing’ was released last year, and included Perry’s memories of his time on the hit sitcom Friends, along with deeply frank anecdotes about his struggles with addiction.

Seven of the biggest revelations from Matthew Perry’s memoir

The moment Matthew Perry tore into ‘complete tool’ Peter Hitchens during Newsnight debate about drug addiction

Sunday 29 October 2023 19:00 , Andrea Cavallier

Matthew Perry, who has died suddenly aged 54, was known around the world as Chandler Bing, the saracastic king of the one-liner on the hit sitcom Friends.

Yet in his later years he also became a fierce advocate for addiction recovery, speaking frankly about his own struggles with drug and alcohol abuse over the years.

Outside of Friends, one of his most memorable TV appearances was in 2013, when he debated addiction on the BBC’s current affairs programme Newsnight with Baroness Meacher, an advocate for drug policy reform, and controversial author and broadcaster Peter Hitchens.

Full story:

The moment Matthew Perry tore into ‘complete tool’ Peter Hitchens on Newsnight

How Matthew Perry confronted his drug addiction, and spent his life urging others to seek help

Sunday 29 October 2023 18:00 , Roisin O'Connor

Matthew Perry, who has died aged 54, made no secret of his addiction struggles over the years, writing candidly about his substance abuse and attempts to stay sober in his affecting memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

Released in 2021, the book chronicled the exacerbation of Perry’s addiction under the “white-hot flame of fame” after he shot to international stardom, aged 24, as the wise-cracking Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom Friends.

“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name,” he wrote in the book’s opening passage. “My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.”

In the book, Perry recalled drinking heavily through the first two seasons of Friends, although he said he was never drunk or high on set, and then becoming addicted to the opiate pain medication Vicodin after a jet ski accident while filming Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek in 1996.

By the end of the 10th series of Friends, Perry became “entrenched in a lot of trouble”, he revealed years later.

Full story:

How Matthew Perry confronted his drug addiction, and urged others to seek help

Matthew Perry, the comic genius who wore his big, bruised heart on his sleeve

Sunday 29 October 2023 17:45 , Roisin O'Connor

Matthew Perry, the comic genius who wore his big, bruised heart on his sleeve

Watch Matthew Perry’s most iconic Friends scenes

Sunday 29 October 2023 17:30 , Roisin O'Connor

Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ co-stars pay tribute to ‘brilliant’ actor

Sunday 29 October 2023 17:00 , Roisin O'Connor

Friends co-stars Maggie Wheeler and Morgan Fairchild have remembered Matthew Perry for the joy he “brought to so many” following his “shock” death age 54.

The actor, who became a superstar playing funnyman Chandler Bing during 10 seasons of the US hit comedy, died after an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home.

Wheeler, who played Perry’s on-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein during the early series of the TV show and often appeared to perform her catchphrase “Oh! My! God!”, paid tribute to Perry on Instagram.

“What a loss,” Wheeler captioned a picture of the pair. “The world will miss you Matthew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on.

“I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.”

Meanwhile Fairchild, who played Perry’s on-screen mother and erotic novel writer Nora Bing, said on Twitter: “I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son’, Matthew Perry.”

The 73-year-old US actress added: “The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock. I’m sending love and condolences to his friends and family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry, who I worked with on Flamingo Road and Falcon Crest.”

When Matthew met Miriam...

Sunday 29 October 2023 16:45 , Roisin O'Connor

Thousands of fans are sharing their favourite memories of Matthew Perry, following his sudden death aged 54.

Among them is this fantastic clip of Perry being interviewed on The Graham Norton Show along with the always-iconic Miriam Margolyes, and fellow actor Gemma Arterton.

Unfortunately for Perry, who might not have been aware of Margolyes’s love of over-sharing, the Harry Potter star decided to tell the tale of the moment she met her idol, Sir Laurence Olivier.

Upon hearing the NSFW story, Perry joked (or perhaps he wasn’t joking) that this was the “most uncomfortable” moment of his entire life.

We’ll let the clip do the rest of the talking.

The Independent’s tribute to Matthew Perry

Sunday 29 October 2023 16:15 , Roisin O'Connor

When Matthew Perry was a teenager in Ottawa, Canada, he developed a dryly sarcastic manner of talking that was a big hit with his friends. At high school, he had discovered that he could use humour to get people’s attention – and attention and validation were what he craved. Muttering behind the back of a particularly belligerent teacher, he would say, “Could he be any meaner?”, to hoots of laughter.

Ten years later, reading the early scripts for Friends, a series about a group of twentysomething New Yorkers who lived in and out of each other’s apartments, Perry found a kindred spirit in the character of Chandler Bing, who used humour to send up his own insecurities and whose sarcastic one-liners – “Could she be more out of my league?” – would become his trademark.

Read this wonderful tribute to Matthew Perry by Fiona Sturges:

Matthew Perry, the comic genius who wore his big, bruised heart on his sleeve

Matthew Perry’s ‘iconic’ final line of Friends resurfaces as actor dies aged 54

Sunday 29 October 2023 15:00 , Roisin O'Connor

Matthew Perry had the last laugh at his request in Friends’ final episode.

The legendary clip of Chandler Bing’s final line has resurfaced following multiple US media reports of the actor’s death at the age of 54 on Saturday, 28 October.

In the hit sitcom’s last episode in 2004, “The Last One, Part 2”, the show ended with Chandler’s sarcastic joke.

Perry wrote in his memoir that he got to say the final line because he asked the show’s co-creator and executive producer Marta Kauffman if he could do so.

Fans on social media praised the last line as “iconic” in tributes to the star.

Matthew Perry’s ‘iconic’ final line of Friends resurfaces as actor dies aged 54