Yahoo News Lisa Kudrow Reveals What Kept The Friends Cast Laughing During 'Gruelling' Opening Titles Shoot
The cast of Friends in the show's opening titles (Photo: NBC)
While it might have seemed as though the cast of Friends were having loads of fun splashing around in the fountain in the show’s opening titles, it’s often been spoken of how it wasn’t actually all that great to film.
Lisa Kudrow has now revealed it was actually Matthew Perry who kept up his co-stars’ spirits, and is responsible for certain elements of the iconic sequence.
In the foreword for Matthew’s new memoir Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing, Lisa opened up about her castmate’s addiction issues, while also discussing how he was always funny and professional on set despite his personal troubles.
The Phoebe Buffay actor wrote: “[Matthew] could make me laugh so hard every day, and once a week, laugh so hard I cried and couldn’t breathe.
“He was there, Matthew Perry, who is whip smart . . . charming, sweet, sensitive, very reasonable, and rational. That guy, with everything he was battling, was still there. The same Matthew who, from the beginning, could lift us all up during a gruelling night shoot for the opening titles inside that fountain.”
Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow pictured together in 2015 (Photo: David Livingston via Getty Images)
Lisa then revealed that Matthew, who played Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom, was “the reason we are all laughing in that fountain in the opening titles”.
She remembered him joking: ”‘I can’t remember a time I wasn’t in a fountain!’ ‘What are we, wet?’, ‘Can’t remember a time I wasn’t wet!’”
In his memoir – which was finally released earlier this week – Matthew has written candidly about his 10 years on Friends, as well as his struggles with addiction and substance abuse throughout his life.
He has also spoken out about his romantic life, disclosing why he ended his short-lived romance with Julia Roberts at the height of Friends’ success, and sharing details of a rather disastrous date with Cameron Diaz.
In a recent interview with Nightline to promote the book, he also shared that he almost missed out on Friends’ reunion special last year after having to undergo emergency dental surgery.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
