Matthew Perry said he “had to beg” Friends producers to change the way his lines were delivered.
The actor recalled the incident in his new memoir Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing, in which Perry – who played Chandler Bing in the hit TV show between 1994 to 2004 – has shared a number of revelations, including kissing Eddie Van Halen’s wife and being accidentally hit in the face by Cameron Diaz.
In an excerpt published by Variety, Perry wrote: “That particular cadence – could it be more annoying? – had been so played out that if I had to put the emphasis in the wrong place one more time, I thought I’d explode, so I just went back to saying lines normally, for the most part in season six and then beyond.”
The 53-year-old actor claimed that he had actually created “Chandler speak” when he was growing up in Ottawa, adding: “I read the words in an unexpected fashion, hitting emphases that no one else had hit. I was back in Ottawa with my childhood friends the Murrays; I got laughs where no one else had.”
Perry also stated that he had asked Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman if Chandler could have the last ever line in the show – a request which was granted.
In the show’s final episode, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) suggests the group – who spend the entire 10 seasons regularly meeting at Central Perk – get coffee together, to which Chandler responds: “Sure. Where?”
Elsewhere in the book, which was released yesterday (November 1), Perry revealed that he almost died four years ago from opioid overuse after his colon burst. The actor spent two weeks in a coma, five months in hospital, and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months.