Friends star reveals Matthew Perry joke on set left him baffled-Rishma Dosani-Entertainment – Metro

Tom Selleck has opened up about his time working with Matthew Perry on Friends, and the iconic joke that left him baffled.

The actor joined the sitcom in season two, starring as Monica Geller’s (Courteney Cox) love interest, Richard Burke, and became a firm fan favorite.

Unpacking his stint on the hugely popular comedy in a new interview, the 79-year-old reflected on one particular scene that left him stumped, and seeking out the Chandler Bing star’s advice.

Discussing the episode that Richard, Chandler and Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) started hanging out so much that they mimicked each other, he shared his struggle to accurately pick up Perry’s famous sarcastic delivery, and sought his advice.

‘We had this role reversal thing going, where [Richard] tried to be like them, and them like me,’ he recalled. ‘Matthew had this speech pattern that I hadn’t been aware of.

‘Matt told me: “It’s a joke, Tom. It’s the way he says it.” But during that whole show, I kept going up to him asking, “Can you say it again?” and he’d do the line. That was his signature.’

Tom Selleck opened up about his time starring in Friends (Picture: Getty)

Tom played Richard in Friends, alongside Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry (Picture: NBC)

Selleck also explained that he had a personal connection to Perry – who died last October – as he was good friends with the late actor’s father.

He couldn’t help but praise his talent on screen, continuing to USA Today: ‘He was raw talent. Matthew’s gone, so it’s easy to say this, but it’s true. I think he was the most talented of a very talented group of people.

‘There are no bad stories. No star stuff. Nothing like that there,’ he added. ‘You’d sit down to get notes on rehearsal, and it was fascinating.

‘They all just got along. I think it’s because all these actors had failures on other shows. And now they’re in this hit. They all realized how lucky they were.’

He starred as Monica Geller’s love interest in season two (Picture: NBC)

Perry sadly died on October 28 at the age of 54 – he was found ‘unresponsive in the pool at his residence’.

His co-stars were left devastated by the news and flooded social media with heartbreaking tributes.

In December, a post-mortem examination concluded his cause of death, while stating that contributing factors included ‘drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine’ – which is used to treat opioid use disorder.

‘The manner of death is an accident,’ The County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner confirmed.

Matthew died in October at the age of 54 (Picture: Getty)

The report summary said Perry was receiving ‘ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety’, with his last known treatment one-and-a-half weeks prior to his death.

It was ruled that ‘the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy’, but was not able to specify the ‘exact method of intake’ in Perry’s case.

No evidence was found of alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, PCP, or fentanyl.

The report suggests Perry had been ‘reportedly clean for 19 months’ from drug use.

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