Matthew Perry's “Friends” Costars Immediately Saw Him as the One Who 'Keeps Us All in a Good Mood'

During the show's first season, with the cast on the brink of stardom, Perry brought a smile to his costars' faces and told PEOPLE the show was "something we can go home and be proud of every day"

Matthew Perry’s sharp wit and punchy zingers brought joy to his Friends costars each day.

PEOPLE's Friends special edition issue features a 1995 interview with the cast of the iconic sitcom in their first year on the show as they reflected on their first steps on the journey the global stardom.

David Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller, said Perry was at the center of many gags and kept energy high during long days on set.

“He keeps us all in a good mood by coming up with that one liner that makes us smile," Schwimmer told PEOPLE at the time.

Related: Matthew Perry Reflected on 'Special,' Unbreakable Bond with Friends Costars Years After the Show

“I feel a little older than the others, with a little more perspective on things,’’ he said, while Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), considered himself “the brother type” and Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green) was the gang’s little sister. Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay) was “like an island,” while Courteney Cox (Monica Geller) was “the one big name in the cast” with her previous experience in Hollywood.

Related: Friends Director on Why Matthew Perry Made the ‘Perfect’ Chandler Bing: ‘He Was Inventive’

Perry, who became a household name for his portrayal of Chandler Bing, explained that their on-screen personas were “slightly exaggerated, slightly more entertaining versions of ourselves.”

“I know Chandler is similar to me. But if you watched my life for a week, there would be many more boring parts,” he quipped. In fact, the writers on the hit sitcom observed some of Perry’s quirky habits and wrote it into the show.

“He has this way of speaking, using questions like ‘Could this be any more this or that?’” Aniston laughed. “So they wrote an entire episode about how everybody at his office makes fun of the way he talks.’’

Related: David Schwimmer Shares an Iconic Friends Image in Tribute to Late Costar Matthew Perry: 'You Had Heart'

The Friends creators not only adopted Perry’s real-life mannerisms, but they also drew inspiration from his real life experiences. The actor recalled a particular instance where he once recapped a date with his trademark wit and self-deprecating humor.

“One of the producers came up and asked me on Monday how a date had gone over the weekend,” he began. “I said, ‘It went great. We went out for dinner, then for a nice walk on Melrose and back to her place, where we shared a nice kiss goodnight. And I’m pretty confident that I’m going to die alone.'”

Sure enough, the line “die alone” ended up finding its way onto the script.

"A lot of actors look at sitcoms as the stepping-stone to a movie deal. But the attitude here is that this show is something we can go home and be proud of everyday," Perry said, gushing about the show's sense of camaraderie and welcome ideas. "The deal here is, the funniest joke wins, no matter what."

Related: Lisa Kudrow Thanks Matthew Perry for 'Trusting Me' During 'the Best 10 Years a Person Gets to Have' on Friends

Friends ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC. It was the hottest show of the '90s, and even landed multiple Emmy nominations for its 2021 reunion special, which aired long after the original series finale.

At the end of the show’s tenure, Perry confessed he nabbed a keepsake from the set to commemorate the group’s time on the sitcom.

“There’s a cookie jar that has a clock on it that was over the fridge,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2004. “One time I asked Lisa Kudrow, ‘What time is it?’ and she looked up at that to tell me the time, and we all laughed really hard, so I made arrangements to give it to her.”

PEOPLE's newly expanded Friends special edition issue is celebrating Matthew Perry’s life, humor and the show that made him beloved by millions.

Perry, 54, died Oct. 28 at his home in Los Angeles.

Two days after his death, his castmates broke their silence with an exclusively joint statement to PEOPLE.

"We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just castmates. We are a family," they shared. "There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss."

"In time we will say more, as and when we are able," the statement continued. "For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world."

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Read the original article on People.