How Matthew Perry's Final Reunion With 'Friends' Co-Stars Unfolded

Friends star Matthew Perry died on Saturday with a strong list of acting credits, but nothing will ever match his role as the sardonic Chandler Bing.

Perry starred as Chandler for all 10 seasons of the hit series alongside Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.

The show, which is one of the most popular TV series of all time, followed the lives of its six characters as they navigated love, career and friendships in New York City.

In 2021, HBO hosted a hotly anticipated reunion of the stars, where they came together to discuss their time on the show and celebrate some special memories.

The one-off episode saw the cast revisit their characters' old apartments, rediscover the set and welcome celebrity guests.

One special revelation from the reunion was that Chandler's romance with Monica Geller, played by Cox, only came about thanks to the fans.

Show producer, Kevin Bright, said the studio audience "went insane" when the characters spent the night together during an episode set in London and even though they planned for them to only have a one-night stand, knew they had to make them an official couple.

Producers also opened up about casting Perry as Chandler, who became known for his hilarious one-liners and sarcastic quips.

"I thought Chandler was going to be the easiest part to cast, because it's not just a character—he's got jokes, he's got like, actual, real jokes. So I thought, 'Here we go. This is gonna be great.' And we saw actor after actor, and it wasn't funny," David Crane said.

His co-producer Marta Kauffman added: "We had worked with Matthew Perry on Dream On, and when Matthew reads that dialogue, it sparkles, and it comes alive. And for the first time through the casting process, we knew there was a character there, and that this was the only guy to play it."

They revealed that they almost didn't land Perry because he had signed on for another sitcom set in the future about baggage handlers at a Los Angeles airport, which Kauffman said, "just sounded insane."

Crane praised Perry's acting skills saying, "He spins the lines in a way that they're his, and there's so many comedy skills there."

Another more somber revelation came when Perry opened up about the anxiety he would feel if the audience did not laugh at his jokes.

He explained how the cast would act out episodes in front of a live studio audience so the writers could change storylines or jokes that didn't go down well before taping the actual episode.

"To me, it felt like I was going to die if they didn't laugh," he said during the reunion. "It's not healthy, for sure, but I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn't laugh and I would sweat and just go into convulsions if I didn't get the laugh I was supposed to get. I would freak out."

Kudrow then asked how often he had felt like that, because he had never revealed to them in the past that he'd felt that way.

He replied, saying he "felt like that every single night."

Much like his character, Perry showed off his dry humor during the reunion, especially when it came to how often the cast kept in contact after Friends wrapped.

"We stay in touch for sure," Kudrow said in 2021. "Maybe not every day, but, you know, we have such a bond from having done this show and forged this very tight relationship that anytime you text or call someone, they're gonna pick up. They'll be there."

Perry added his two cents after host James Corden asked which cast member he has contact with the most and he replied, "I don't hear from anyone."

At the end of the reunion, Perry reflected on how special the bonds were between the six cast members, even years after the show wrapped.

"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 that person all night long," Perry reflected. "You apologized to the people you were with, but they had to understand: you had met somebody special to you and you were gonna talk to that person for the rest of the night ... it's just the way it is."