Comedian Conan O’Brien has confessed to feeling a pang of jealousy when his then-girlfriend, Lisa Kudrow, raved about the comedic talents of her Friends co-star, Matthew Perry, after they first met.
O’Brien, 61, and Kudrow, 60, were in a relationship from 1988 to 1993, which coincided with the filming of Friends’ first season. During this time, Kudrow would often gush about Perry’s humor, leaving O’Brien feeling envious.
On his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, Kudrow revealed that she had been rewatching Friends since Perry’s passing in October 2023 and described her co-stars as “phenomenally hilarious.”
Recalling her early days of filming Friends, O’Brien said to Kudrow: “You started doing that show and you called me up and you were raving about…” before Kudrow interjected, “Matthew!”
O’Brien continued: “And you were saying, ‘he’s so funny,’ and there was part of me that was… jealous. Like I was, ‘okay, I make you laugh pretty hard,’ and you were like, ‘No, no, you don’t understand, this guy’s really funny!'”
Conan O’Brien has admitted that he was ‘jealous’ of Matthew Perry when his then-girlfriend, Lisa Kudrow, raved about funny her Friends costar was after she first met him
Lisa first met Matthew when they started filming TV sitcom Friends in the early 90s
Kudrow reassured O’Brien, saying, “Well, you are the funniest person I know,” but O’Brien jokingly responded, “No, no, that’s not what this is about…”
Kudrow went on to praise Perry’s talent, saying: “He was such a huge talent. I thought that Chandler character, when I read it, I went, ‘Oh, they have a gay character, that’s good.’ That’s all I heard.”
She added: “And so at the table read, I just did a double take at him. ‘Oh my God,’ that I never even in a million years could have envisioned anyone playing the character like that and with his own rhythm and everything, it’s his own.”
O’Brien agreed, saying: “Impeccable timing.”
Kudrow also opened up about watching Friends again after Perry’s passing, saying: “I used to not be able to watch it at all. I mean, I’d see it on and be mildly interested, and then I’d see me and say, ‘That’s enough of that, I can’t bear it.'”
She continued: “And then, well, listen. After Matthew died, I could start watching the show again because it wasn’t about me, it had to do with him for some reason.”
The actress also touched on Perry’s personal struggles, saying: “Everyone was so excited and I think for some people, and he was definitely one of them, it’s, ‘oh my God, this will be really good, everything will be fixed now,’ and that’s not how it goes.”
Matthew as Chandler Bing and Lisa as Phoebe Buffay in an episode of TV sitcom Friends
Conan on set with the cast of Friends, including his ex-girlfriend, Lisa, back in 2001
Perry tragically passed away at the age of 54 on October 28 last year after accidentally drowning in his jacuzzi in Los Angeles. The autopsy confirmed that Perry died from the ‘acute effects of ketamine’ and drowning, with the actor having similar quantities of ketamine in his system as a hospital patient under general anesthetic.
The LAPD has since begun an investigation into the circumstances of Perry’s death, with the DEA reportedly planning to charge multiple people with drug distribution resulting in death or great bodily injury.