05 November,2023 04:43 AM IST | Mumbai | Rahul da Cunha
Illustration/Uday Mohite
- Matthew Perry
I had a complicated relationship with âF.R.I.E.N.D.S.' - often it was too schmaltzy, too "feel good", maybe a tad too sentimental, it didn't have the edge that âSeinfeld' did - when I re-watch episodes of âSeinfeld' - "the show about nothing" - it never seems outdated. âF.R.I.E.N.D.S.' not so much.
Two 90s shows set in New York, two shows about friends, with ensemble casts. Both, very different.
And yet, no show has impacted viewers, world-wide, quite like âF.R.I.E.N.D.S.' - it was like you knew those six people sitting on that couch in Central Perk, they were seated in your own living rooms, sipping Cappucinos.
Leading this quintet was Chandler Bing, one of comedy's great TV characters - he was one of life's great observers, hiding emotion behind jokes, often landing his pinpoint accurate sarcasm from atop his fence, he was one of the best deliverers of great lines, even converting the passable one-liners into jokes - Matthew Perry had that great comedic gift, he could make even "ordinary" lines land beautifully.
Then, throw in Chandler Bing's roomie Joey Trebbiani, (Matt le Blanc) and you had one of the greatest comedy duos ever.
It was in the mid to late 90s that I began to read about the casts' off- screen bonding in an era where co-stars usually hate each other, and egos dominate, Matthew Perry, Matt Le Blanc, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow were seriously united - to band together and decide that "we'll all take the same fee" is unique, also a show of "one-ness" - here's a team saying "we're 6 people, but one actor, all equally important"⦠this was not merely an ensemble, but an âONESEMBLE'.
Also read: Salma Hayek pays tribute to 'Friends' star Matthew Perry
Then, Matthew Perry became an addict.
Jennifer Aniston once whispered to him that she could smell the booze on his breath, in a sense she was saying, "Dude, you mess up and we're all screwed". In fact, Perry was becoming that dangerous addict, one who could be piss drunk and still seem 100 per cent sober.
He once famously said, watching âF.R.I.E.N.D.S.' was difficult⦠Each season he could tell, "Opiates. Booze. Booze. Opiates. Cocaine, just by the size of my face."
To be a functioning alcoholic/comic, hit those jokes, exude that same energy, was a fatal talent.
There's always one kind of "boy" more loved than a "bad boy"⦠and that's "feel bad for the boy" - and Matthew Perry, while he cracked you up, was seriously on crack.
Matthew Perry went way beyond the comedy, by tapping into the tragedy inside.
Every family has a black sheep. In a sea of perfection, some botox, some barbie, massive bonhomie, there's one kid saying, "I'm messed up, I'm bloated, I'm boozed up, I'm barbiturated out, I'm in a bad place, guys, help me, prop me up", and that's what the other five did, way after the show closed in 2004.
Matthew Perry/Chandler Bing, it is impossible to describe, the mass grief, the collective mourning, the world is experiencing since you've passed on - other comedians, other actors have died, but yours has hit harder - could be your honesty, could be your infectious humour, possibly your ability to hit humans straight in the heart, or hitting those punch lines for ten years⦠or just the years of hiding your addiction from scores of fans and family, till you couldn't anymore - at that level of fame, you had no shame in confessing, letting it all hang out, while you "used humour as a defensive mechanism".
As I write this, the jury is still out, about what led to your untimely death - 15 times in and out of rehab, helping so many people, the sadness that you couldn't survive.
Do I believe you drowned in a bathtub⦠actually we'll never really know. I guess no one told you life was gonna be this way. But we'll be there for you, we'll be there for you. Like you've been there for us too.
Rahul daCunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, photographer and traveller. Reach him at rahul.dacunha@mid-day.com
