Matthew Perry obituary: The one who made everyone laugh

Published

6 months ago

October 29, 2023

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When the creators of Friends were casting their six stars, the character of Chandler Bing, the one with the jokes, proved among the trickiest. They weren’t sure he was written well enough.

And then in walked Matthew Perry.

“Matthew came in and you went, ‘Oh, well, there you go. Done. Done. That’s the guy’,” David Crane told the Today show in 2019. “When Matthew reads the dialogue, it sparkles,” said Marta Kauffman in the 2021 reunion special. “This was the only guy to play him.”

With impeccable comic timing and the distinctive speech patterns that made Chandler unique, Perry created Friends‘ most quotable character, never failing to nail a punchline. But he also brought warmth, charm and depth to a role that in the wrong hands could have been far less likeable.

The dry humour was often a cover for insecurities and awkwardness, his wisecracks often at his own expense. In real life, he suffered from similar afflictions. Hidden from the public’s view during much of the original run of the show was his struggle with addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol, which he detailed in his memoir, Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing, published just last year.

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

Born in Massachusetts, Perry grew up in Ottawa, Canada, after his mother, a journalist who once served as press secretary to former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, divorced his father and married a Canadian broadcast personality.

As a child, he became a top-ranked junior tennis player before moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting and improvisational comedy.

When Friends was in the works, Perry was under contract to star in another new series, about luggage handlers working at Los Angeles Airport in the year 2194. But the Friends creators knew they had to have him. It is impossible to imagine Chandler played by anyone else.

“It was as if someone had followed me around for a year, stealing my jokes, copying my mannerisms, photocopying my world-weary yet witty view of life,” said Perry of his character. “It wasn’t that I thought I could play Chandler; I was Chandler.”

When the futuristic airport show failed to make it off the ground, he joined the series that would change his life.

Perry, along with co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer, became one of Hollywood’s most recognisable actors. Relative unknowns before the show launched in 1994, their rise to fame was meteoric; each star reportedly earned $1m per episode at the height of the show’s popularity.

Like all the best ideas, the premise was simple: a close-knit group of young adults who shared space in one another’s apartments and met for coffee at Central Perk, a fictional Manhattan cafe. It was real life.

One of Chandler’s major storylines involved his initially clandestine romance with Monica (Cox), which the four other friends – Rachel (Aniston), Phoebe (Kudrow), Joey (LeBlanc) and Ross (Schwimmer) – each discovered one by one. The One Where Everybody Finds Out is one of the show’s greatest episodes.

By the time it came to an end after 10 seasons, Chandler and Monica were married, about to start parenthood, reflecting the journey of the group of friends from single New Yorkers to serious relationships and starting families.

Friends remains one of the biggest TV hits of all time and has taken on a new life – and found surprising popularity with younger fans – in recent years on streaming services. Perry received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Chandler and two more for appearances as associate White House counsel Joe Quincy in The West Wing.

His TV work also included the short-lived Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip – written by The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin – while he starred in several films including Fools Rush In opposite Salma Hayek and his father John, 17 Again, and The Whole Nine Yards alongside Bruce Willis.

However, like his five co-stars, Perry will always be remembered for Friends. It was the show that made him – but with its success also came great pressure, which hit him the hardest. Aniston once described him as “one of the most sensitive people I’ve ever met”.

“Friends was huge,” Perry wrote in his memoir. “I couldn’t jeopardise that. I loved the script. I loved my co-actors … I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame.

“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…

“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 also recounted how he had to be driven back to rehab right after shooting the episode of Chandler and Monica’s wedding. But when the book came out, he seemed to have overcome his demons, announcing at the time that he had been clean and sober for 18 months.

Following his sudden death at the age of 54, there will be thousands of clips shared across social media in the coming days, remembering Perry as Chandler (forgive the non-official titles here): The One Where No One Knew What He Did For A Living. The One With Julia Roberts. All The Ones With Janice. The One Where He Almost Fake-Kissed Phoebe. The One With The Nubbin. The One In The Box. The One With The Shark Porn. The One With The Mr T Bracelet. The One With The Proposal. The One With The Almost Wedding. The One With The Actual Wedding. The One Where They Said Goodbye.

There are too many to list.

Friends was a series greater than the sum of its brilliant parts, thanks to the chemistry between its stars. Each brought something unique, and Perry was the sarcastic, comic beat of the show.

“Matthew is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life,” Kudrow said of her co-star in 2002. “Most of our hard laughs came from Matthew.” He was a “true gift” to comedy, as he has been described in tributes, whose “legacy will live on through countless generations”.

He was the one who made everyone laugh.

Entertainment

Dane Baptiste apologises to Jewish community for ‘disturbing’ language – and is dropped by agency

Published

13 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Dane Baptiste apologises to Jewish community for 'disturbing' language - and is dropped by agency

Comedian Dane Baptiste has apologised to the “Jewish community, my colleagues and my fans” following criticism over a now-deleted social media post.

The stand-up star, who has appeared on TV shows including 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Live At The Apollo, and Mock The Week, has been dropped by his talent agency Insanity.

The company said the contents of a deleted post were “completely at odds with our values and what we stand for”.

The Metropolitan Police has also been made aware of the post.

Baptiste said he had made “a massive error of judgment” after receiving “a number of threatening and abusive messages from accounts accusing me of antisemitism for having pro-Palestinian views”.

The comedian said his partner had made him aware that “some of these same people” were monitoring her Instagram account.

In an apology posted on social media, Baptiste said: “In a massive error of judgment, I posted an excessive and impulsive response, hoping to dissuade anybody monitoring my family.

“I made a point to say Zionist and not Jewish, but I appreciate how disturbing, threatening and incendiary that language is, I would categorically state I have no ill intention towards the Jewish community and never have.

“I have a loving family of which I am massively protective of; I reacted poorly and emotionally to a perceived threat with no considered thought to the consequences, and I apologise profusely for my actions to the Jewish community, my colleagues and my fans.”

Baptiste was the first black comedian to be nominated for the award for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2014, and also fronted the BBC Three sketch programme Bamous.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Insanity said: “Insanity became aware of a social media post published by Dane on Instagram yesterday.

“The contents of his post are completely at odds with our values and what we stand for. We promptly made this clear to him, and are no longer working with him.

“As an organisation we do not tolerate hate speech of any kind and are committed to the values of respect and tolerance for all.”

Sky News has contacted Baptiste for comment.

Entertainment

Universal artists to return to TikTok as dispute comes to an end

Published

19 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Universal artists to return to TikTok as dispute comes to an end

Universal Music and TikTok have ended a dispute over royalties after the label pulled millions of songs from the social media platform.

The new licensing agreement means songs by some of the biggest artists in the world, including Drake, Adele and Billie Eilish will return to the site for use within the next two weeks.

TikTok, a short video app, is a valuable marketing and promotional tool for music stars. But in January, Universal claimed it paid artists and songwriters “a fraction” of the rate offered by similar social media platforms, and announced it was pulling its catalogue.

Universal is the biggest music label in the world and also looks after Taylor Swift – who allowed a selection of her songs to return to TikTok as she promoted her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, in April. Swift owns the copyrights to her recordings through her 2018 deal with Universal and can control where her songs are available, according to the Financial Times.

The companies now say they have come to “a new multi-dimensional” licensing agreement that will deliver “significant industry-leading benefits” for Universal’s artists and labels.

In a joint statement, TikTok said it would continue to invest resources into “building artist-centric tools” and work on strengthening online safety protections for artists and their fans.

The AI issue

The agreement means all videos that had been muted will be unmuted. It comes just over three months since Universal posted an open letter criticising TikTok, calling for higher payments for artists and songwriters, protection from the “harmful effects” of AI, and online safety.

In their joint statement, the companies now say they will work together to ensure AI development across the industry “will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters”.

They will also work to remove unauthorised AI-generated music from the platform, as well as on tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution, the statement says.

Universal chairman and chief executive Sir Lucian Grainge said the “new chapter” focuses “on the value of music, the primacy of human artistry and the welfare of the creative community”, while TikTok chief executive Shou Chew added: “Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem, and we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group.”

Concerns about AI have grown in the creative community. In April last year, a song featuring the cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd was removed from streaming sites after going viral.

On Tuesday, British singer-songwriter and producer FKA Twigs told a US Senate hearing how she had created her own digital clone – but condemned unauthorised use of her voice and image.

On Wednesday, a poll by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music found that 83% of UK adults agree that a music artist’s creative “personality” should be protected in law against AI copies and 77% believe it amounts to theft when generated music fails to acknowledge the creator of the original.

In April, more than 200 artists signed an open letter objecting to the “predatory” use of AI to “steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses”.

Entertainment

Wales to get own version of The Voice hosted by Radio 1 DJ

Published

21 hours ago

May 2, 2024

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Wales to get own version of The Voice hosted by Radio 1 DJ

Wales is to get its own version of talent show The Voice, it has been announced.

The series named Y Llais (Welsh for The Voice) will be presented by Radio 1 DJ Sian Eleri.

The Boom Cymru-produced show will make its debut on S4C next year.

Opera star Sir Bryn Terfel has been announced as one of the four coaches.

The Grammy award-winning artist performed at the King‘s coronation last May.

The Welsh-language version becomes the 75th international adaptation of The Voice format.

The series sees contestants take part in “blind auditions” as they hope to impress the coaches and prompt them to turn their chairs to proceed to the next round.

The ITV series The Voice UK also features a Welshman as part of its coaching line-up, with Sir Tom Jones joining will.i.am, LeAnn Rimes and McFly‘s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones.

The winner of the Welsh version will secure a 12-month mentoring scheme as well as further opportunities to perform on S4C programming.

“It’s great that the Land of Song is getting its own special version of the The Voice series,” Sir Bryn Terfel said.

Sian Eleri said she was “delighted to be presenting one of the biggest shows in the world”.

“For it to be happening on home soil with S4C is next level. Bring on those rotating chairs,” she added.

“As a nation we have produced some of the most successful singers in the world, and with this format we’re looking forward to discovering the next big voice from Wales,” added S4C’s interim chief content officer Geraint Evans.

The deadline to apply is 21 June, with auditions set to take place in North Wales on 12 July and in South Wales on 15 July.