Matthew Perry, who died yesterday, was the funniest of the Friends – and the saddest. ‘What must it be like to not be crippled by fear and self-loathing?’ his character, Chandler Bing, asked. It seems Perry never quite figured out the answer.
Chandler was a brilliant comic creation – and Perry, a melancholic clown, perfectly suited to the part. Perry stood out among his Friends castmates with his impeccable comic timing and the unique cadence with which he delivered his lines.
To most of the world, he will always be Chandler – the brilliant, charming, sad-funny clown
But he was insecure and addictive. Perry once said that, when the live studio audience of Friends didn’t laugh at one of his jokes ‘I felt like I was gonna die’. The pressure of performing, or the success of his performances, or some combination of both, fed into his relentless struggle with substances.
Perry made it to the age of 54 without marrying.
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