Overview
- Lisa Kudrow said she returned to Friends after Matthew Perry’s death and newly appreciated the series, calling his comic work “beyond us all” and “genius.”
- She explained that she could not watch at first, then found marathon reruns comforting because they made her laugh.
- Kudrow, who wrote the foreword to Perry’s 2022 memoir, said she had not grasped the full extent of his addiction during the show’s run.
- Perry died in 2023 at age 54 from the acute effects of ketamine, according to reports cited in the coverage.
- Perry had described the cast’s support with a “penguins” metaphor, a bond Kudrow now highlights as central to how they helped him.