In This Article
- Kudrow's Remarks and Their Context
- About the Memoir and Its Publication
- Critical Reception and One Controversy
- What to Watch
Lisa Kudrow has revealed that she has been rewatching Friends since the death of her co-star Matthew Perry as a way of keeping his memory close. During a March 28 appearance on Capital FM, Kudrow said she decided to return to the show after Perry died in October 2023, describing him as "so funny, I mean, the funniest," according to E! Online. The comments have drawn fresh attention to Perry's memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which he published just over a year before his death.
Kudrow's Remarks and Their Context
Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay alongside Perry's Chandler Bing across the sitcom's ten-season run, described the reruns as "really comforting," per E! Online. The connection between the two castmates predates even that public statement: Kudrow wrote the foreword to Perry's memoir, describing him in it as "sweet, sensitive and rational," according to Wikipedia's entry on the book. Perry died on October 28, 2023, at age 54, due to a drug overdose, as reported by AOL.
About the Memoir and Its Publication
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing was published by Macmillan Publishers (Flatiron Books in the US; Headline in the UK) on November 1, 2022 — roughly a year before Perry's death, according to Wikipedia. Perry wrote and narrated the audiobook himself, and the book's publisher confirms it was not ghostwritten, a point Perry also stressed in a pre-publication interview with the Financial Times conducted by Elisabeth Egan, in which he said the possibility of helping others going through similar experiences motivated him to share things he might not otherwise have disclosed. The memoir debuted as an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller and No. 1 international bestseller, per Macmillan's own listing.
The book covers Perry's decades-long struggle with alcoholism and opioid addiction — detailing more than 65 detox attempts and over $9 million spent on treatment — as well as a 2018 colon rupture that left him with a 2% chance of survival, according to The Guardian's review. It also recounts his childhood, his early tennis career in Canada, and his path to landing the Friends role. For a full critical assessment, see LuvemBooks' review of the memoir.
Critical Reception and One Controversy
The book received generally positive reviews upon release, with critics frequently singling out Perry's candour, according to Wikipedia. The Guardian's Barbara Ellen praised precisely that openness, noting that Perry is "candid to the point where the reader might not really like him," and suggesting that "maybe that's the mark of a truthful memoir." Not all coverage was uniformly positive — Kirkus Reviews expressed reservations — and the book's original edition attracted backlash over a passage that rhetorically questioned why actor Keanu Reeves had outlived peers such as River Phoenix and Heath Ledger. That passage was subsequently removed from later editions, per Wikipedia.
What to Watch
Kudrow has not indicated any specific plans tied to the memoir or Perry's estate as a result of her recent comments. Perry's book remains in print via Macmillan in digital, paperback, and hardcover formats. Given that Kudrow's foreword is part of the published text, her continued public tributes keep both the memoir and its subject in the public conversation — more than two years after Perry wrote it and more than a year after his death.