Lisa Kudrow thought Chandler Bing in Friends was gay when she read the script
"I never even in a million years could have envisioned anyone playing the character like that and with his own rhythm and everything"
Friends actress Lisa Kudrow has said that she first thought the character of Chandler Bing in the TV sit-com was gay when she read the script.
Matthew Perry played Chandler for the show’s duration. The actor died last October from the “acute effects of ketamine.”
Appearing on the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast recently, Kudrow, 60, discussed her first impressions of Chandler. “I thought that Chandler character, when I read it, I went, ‘Oh, they have a gay character, that’s good,’. That’s all I heard.”
She then said she did a “double take” at the table read with the rest of the cast at how Perry played Chandler. “Oh my God. I never even in a million years could have envisioned anyone playing the character like that and with his own rhythm and everything. It’s his own.”
“I have spent, at times, since he died, all day long watching the show” – Lisa Kudrow
Agreeing with O’Brien that Perry had “impeccable timing,” Kudrow shared an anecdote from the filming of the iconic title sequence. Describing it as a “nightmare” with about “500 takes of dancing, unmotivated dancing.” She recalled that they were told they’d be one more take. “And [Matthew] said: ‘One more? OK, can’t remember a time I wasn’t in a fountain’.” Kudrow explained how the rest of the cast found it hilarious and those shots ended up being used.
The actress also revealed that she had been able to start watching Friends in the wake of Perry’s death. “I used to not be able to watch it at all,” she said. “I’d see it on and be mildly interested, and then I’d see me and say, ‘That’s enough of that. I can’t bear it.’ And then well, listen.
“After Matthew died, I could start watching the show again because it wasn’t about me. It had to do with him for some reason. And so, I have started watching Friends. Not started like season one… But there are marathons on, and I have spent, at times, since he died, all day long watching the show.”