Lisa Kudrow Finally Watched Friends After Matthew Perry's Death — The Poignant Reason

Lisa Kudrow says reruns of Friends have turned into a weirdly comforting way to keep Matthew Perry close — and yeah, she’s laughing through it.

Watching Friends hits different now

On Friday, March 27, the 62-year-old stopped by the UK radio station Capital FM and explained that when networks ran Friends marathons after Perry died, she found herself watching. It helped. The show still makes her laugh, and seeing him on screen made her feel like he was right there.

"He was so funny, I mean, the funniest. Sorry to everybody else, but truly."

She also admitted she didn’t really watch Friends when it was actually airing. During the show’s heyday, she had a kid, the cast wasn’t glued to the episodes, and the Thursday 8 pm slot wasn’t exactly ideal for sitting down to watch your own sitcom.

Revisiting it now, she can finally say it: Phoebe is a funny character. And it’s not just her — the whole ensemble still cracks her up. Kudrow said the show’s feel-good factor matters more than ever: it’s an easy, healing kind of escape about people who connect and show up for each other.

• Kudrow spoke on Capital FM on Friday, March 27; she’s 62.
• She and Matthew Perry starred opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc across 10 seasons on NBC.
• Perry died in October 2023 at age 54; the Los Angeles Medical Examiner attributed his death to the acute effects of ketamine, and five people have since been charged in connection with the case.
• Kudrow has previously said she took comfort in believing he got to die happy.
• Back at the start, the pilot was called "Friends Like Us," and at the NBC Upfronts, Perry suggested poker to help the cast bond — it stuck.

Her tribute then, and now

Not long after Perry’s death, Kudrow posted a long, emotional thank-you on Instagram in November 2023. She looked back on those early days — from filming the pilot to the Upfronts — and credited Perry with coming up with the cast poker nights that helped them click. She thanked him for making her laugh so hard every day that it physically hurt, for being open-hearted in a six-person partnership that only worked because everyone compromised and talked things through, and for showing up even when he wasn’t feeling well — then still delivering something brilliant.

She called those 10 years the best a person could hope for, thanked him for trusting her, and said she learned a lot about grace and love from knowing him. Bottom line: watching Friends now isn’t just nostalgia for Kudrow — it’s a way to keep celebrating the friend who made all of them, and a lot of us, laugh.