Matthew Perry's 17 best Chandler Bing moments and iconic 'Friends' episodes
Actor Matthew Perry died on Saturday after he was found unresponsive at his LA home.
The star was perhaps best known for his performance as the sarcastic Chandler Bing on "Friends."
Here are Perry's standout "Friends" moments and episodes.
When Chandler gets stuck in an ATM vestibule with model Jill Goodacre during season one.
When it happens: Season one, episode seven ("The One With the Blackout")
New York City experiences a blackout during the first season of "Friends." At the time of the blackout, Chandler realizes he's not only stuck in a room with a beautiful woman, but it's Victoria's Secret model Jill Goodacre.
In his nervousness, Chandler smiles at her for an uncomfortably long time, talks through his teeth to discreetly tell Joey (Matt LeBlanc) about his situation on the phone, and nearly chokes on a used piece of gum.
Once they're freed from the ATM vestibule, the model kisses him on the cheek and they never see each other again.
When Julia Roberts, Perry's then-girlfriend in real life, guest-stars as his love interest — with a twist.
When it happens: Season two, episode 13 ("The One After the Superbowl: Part 2")
Roberts is one of many famous faces who guest stars on "Friends" during its 10-season run. According to Perry's 2022 memoir titled "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing," the "Pretty Woman" star agreed to do the show if she could be in his storyline.
They developed a courtship via fax machines and by the time Roberts filmed her appearance on the show, she and Perry were dating in real life.
Their chemistry is palpable on-screen, as Roberts plays Susie Moss, a former classmate of Chandler's who convincingly fools him into dating her so she can turn the tables on him and humiliate him, the same way that he embarrassed her in the fourth grade.
When a heartbroken Chandler performs a pitchy duet of "Endless Love" with Phoebe.
When it happens: Season three, episode eight ("The One With the Giant Poking Device")
Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) has plenty of musical moments on "Friends," but only one involves a duet with Chandler.
After Chandler and Janice's breakup, he's seen clutching Lionel Richie's album and singing along to the Richie and Diana Ross track "Endless Love." As Phoebe walks in and catches him singing off-key, she joins in.
When Chandler gets so drunk that he can't remember which of Joey's many sisters he fooled around with.
When it happens: Season three, episode 11 ("The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister")
Still reeling from his breakup with Janice, Chandler gets drunk on vodka Jello-O shots at Joey's birthday party and rebounds with Joey's sister.
The problem is that Joey has seven sisters and Chandler was so wasted that he had no clear recollection of which Tribbiani woman he fooled around with in the storage room.
Hilarity ensues when he walks into dinner with the Tribbiani family and tries to identify Mary Angela from the group.
When Chandler spends most of an episode pantless and in handcuffs.
When it happens: Season four, episode 3 ("The One With the 'Cuffs"):
During season four, Chandler goes out with Rachel's boss Joanna, even though he doesn't like her much.
To protect Rachel's job, Chandler promises to break up with Joanna. Instead, they end up making out in her office and Joanna handcuffs him to her desk chair while she leaves to run an errand.
Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) ends up finding him in there, pantless and mortified. He goes on to spend the majority of the rest of the episode handcuffed until he strikes a deal with Rachel.
When Chandler and Joey competed against Monica and Rachel in a trivia game moderated by Ross during season one.
When it happens: Season four, episode 12 ("The One With the Embryos")
The game begins as a harmless trivia contest of the men versus the women, with a prize of $100. But it escalates the winners getting Rachel and Monica's spacious apartment. Various niche fun facts about the friends are revealed during the game, like the weekly TV Guide being addressed to Chanandler Bong.
Rachel and Monica (Courteney Cox) then mess up during the lightning room when asked to name Chandler's job.
When Chandler buys a ticket to Yemen and has to actually go on the trip so he can avoid breaking up with Janice in person.
When it happens: Season four, episode 15 ("The One With All the Rugby")
Even though Chandler finds Janice irritating, he rekindles his romance with her in season four. He's confident that he'll be able to cut things off with her before they become too serious, but he fails.
To avoid confrontation, he lies and tells Janice that his company is transferring him to Yemen — a country that he randomly picks in the moment. Instead of coming clean to Janice, Chandler commits to the bit by pretending to pack for his trip. He goes as far as to buy a real ticket to Yemen and give Janice a fake address to reach him at — 15, Yemen Road, Yemen.
Because Janice won't leave the airport until she sees his plane takeoff, Chandler's also forced to take a trip to Yemen.
When Chandler kisses Phoebe and Rachel to avoid raising further suspicion about his and Monica's secret relationship.
When it happens: Season five, episode two ("The One With All the Kissing")
During season five, Chandler slips up and instinctively kisses Monica in front of Rachel and Phoebe before leaving for work. When he realizes his error, he kisses Rachel and Phoebe.
Chandler and Monica are caught again later in the episode when Rachel, Phoebe, and Joey barge into the apartment, so he downplays the moment again by kissing his two female friends.
"Probably some European goodbye thing he picked up in London," Monica says.
"It felt French," Phoebe replies.
The "pivot" scene involving Chandler, Rachel, and Ross is one of the most memorable moments of the entire series.
When it happens: Season five, episode 16 ("The One With the Cop")
This scene manages to turn a mundane task (navigating a couch through a winding staircase) into comedic gold.
While Ross' (David Schwimmer) emphasis and pronunciation of the word "pivot" defines the scene, it's Chandler's frustrated "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" retort that adds to the hilarity of the moment.
When Chandler sweetly explains to Monica how their contrasting personalities balance each other out.
When it happens: Season six, episode 12 ("The One With the Joke")
When Chandler wasn't delivering sarcastic one-liners on the show, he had moments of sincerity and sweetness, particularly during his and Monica's relationship.
In this scene, he makes Monica see the positive side of her high-maintenance nature.
"You're not easygoing, but you're passionate," he says. "And that's good. And when you get upset about the little things, I think that I'm pretty good at making you feel better about that, and that's good too. So they can say that you're high maintenance, but it's OK because I like... maintaining you."
When Chandler and Monica take their relationship to the next level by getting engaged on the two-part season six finale of "Friends"
When it happens: Season six, episode 25 ("The One With the Proposal: Part 2")
Monica finds herself in a love triangle with Chandler and her ex Richard (Tom Selleck), who tells her that he's changed his stance and wants to have kids with her. Monica ultimately chooses to be with Chandler and proposes to him in the living room of her apartment.
A few words into her speech, Monica becomes overwhelmed and teary. So, Chandler steps in to complete the emotional proposal.
"You make me happier than I ever thought I could be," Chandler tells her, his voice shaky. "And if you let me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way."
When the time comes for Chandler and Monica to take engagement photos, he can't muster up a flattering smile.
When it happens: Season seven, episode five ("The One With the Engagement Picture")
Monica and Chandler enlist the help of a professional photographer to take a picture for an engagement announcement in the local newspaper.
Although Chandler's capable of smiling naturally, he's unable to do so when asked to pose.
When Chandler and Rachel can't stop themselves from stealing a neighbor's cheesecake and devouring it — twice.
When it happens: Season seven, episode 11 ("The One With All the Cheesecakes")
Perry and Jennifer Aniston hardly have any scenes together on the show without other members of the core group, but episode 11 of season seven is one of their few memorable moments together.
In the episode, Chandler and Rachel become addicted to a creamy, delicious cheesecake that's accidentally delivered to the wrong address. When another cheesecake shows up again two days later, they try to resist the urge to eat it, but cave.
Chandler and Rachel's hilarious dessert stealing culminates in them on the floor of the hallway, eating the salvageable bits of the cheesecake that had fallen to the ground — with Joey joining in after taking a fork out of his jacket.
When Chandler embraces bubble baths on season eight.
When it happens: Season eight, episode 13 ("The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath"):
Chandler insists that he doesn't like baths until Monica draws up the most relaxing one with salts, bubbles, candles, and the music of Enya playing.
He enjoys the experience so much that even when Monica isn't around to pamper him, Chandler draws his own bath. He later goes rogue and steals Monica's prepared bubble bath, too.
When Chandler flexes his unexpected ping-pong skills and defeats Mike Hannigan.
When it happens: Season nine, episode 23 ("The One in Barbados")
The ping-pong match between Mike (Paul Rudd) and Monica while in Barbados brings out both characters' competitiveness.
Phoebe and Chandler stay on the sidelines watching the tight game become more intense as four hours pass. Monica almost forfeits after injuring her hand, but Chandler, fully aware of how much winning means to Monica, volunteers to take her place.
Monica assumes that Chandler would be terrible at ping pong, but he turns out to be surprisingly skilled with the paddle.
In a perfect mic-drop moment, Chandler defeats Mike.
"I never sucked, I just didn't want you to know how good I was," Chandler explains.
When Chandler makes a passionate case for why he and Monica deserve to adopt a woman's baby.
When it happens: Season 10, episode nine ("The One With the Birth Mother")
In the episode, Monica and Chandler go to Ohio for an adoption interview, with the hopes that the woman who's pregnant, Erica (Anna Faris), will pick them.
However, the agency mixes up their information with another couple. Erica is taken aback by Monica and Chandler when they confess to going along with the mix-up and pretending to be a doctor and a reverend.
But Chandler, knowing how much being a parent means to Monica, makes one final plea to Erica.
"I love my wife more than anything in this world," he says. "And it kills me that I can't give her a baby. I really want a kid. And when that day finally comes, I'll learn how to be a good dad. But my wife, she's already there. She's a mother... without a baby. Please?"
It's one of Perry's most serious, heartfelt scenes on "Friends" that shows Chandler's heart and love for Monica.
When Perry gets the last word on the series finale of "Friends."
When it happens: Season 10, episode 17 ("The Last One")
When "Friends" came to an emotional end in May 2004 after 10 seasons, Perry got to have the last word.
After Monica and Chandler empty their apartment in preparation for their move, Rachel asks if they could get some coffee before the couple heads over to their new home in the suburbs.
"Sure," Chandler says before sarcastically asking, "Where?"
In his 2022 memoir, Perry revealed that he asked cocreator Marta Kauffman if he could have the final line of the show.
"'Nobody else will care about this except me,' I said. 'So, may I please have the last line?'" Perry wrote. "That's why as we all troop out of the apartment, and Rachel has suggested one last coffee, I got to bring the curtain down on 'Friends.'"
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