Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer were Friends on and off screen, but they weren’t always as vulnerable with one another as viewers might’ve imagined.
During a recent interview with Cush Jumbo on her podcast Origins, Schwimmer discussed his relationship with his late costar. Jumbo introduced the subject by recounting her interactions with Perry during The Good Fight. “I’m recalling talking to him about how I knew you a little bit but not very much at that stage, and I was talking to him about commedia [dell’arte] and about physical comedy and all this stuff,” she said. “I was saying, ‘Is David just someone who just does it? It just comes off of him?'”
Jumbo said Perry had high praise for Schwimmer’s professionalism. “He talks about how it’s not out of control at all, that you’re a linchpin person in a scene — that mostly people were always looking to you to know physically what direction things should go in. That without you being the pin, the other things don’t work, which I thought was very, very complimentary and probably very true.”Schwimmer didn’t expect to hear such an anecdote. “That’s interesting for many reasons, to hear that,” he said. “That’s a huge compliment, and I’m surprised to hear it because Matthew was reserved with me, he would not say that to me. But I appreciate that a lot.”
Schwimmer went on to unpack Perry’s comments about him. “Yeah, I am one of the few in the cast who had a rigorous theater training, and so and in this way, in film or in anything that’s involving a stunt or anything physical, I think it’s got to be finely, carefully, choreographed, and I would work and work and work on any physical comedy in a scene,” he said. “I would meticulously structure and choreograph it, not only so that I never hurt myself or hurt anyone else, but that I could repeat it many, many, many, many times, so I think that’s what maybe he was referring to.”
Perry died in October from acute effects of ketamine; he was 54. After his death, Schwimmer paid tribute to him on social media. “Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity,” he wrote. “I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes. And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.”
Schwimmer posted his message alongside a photo from the Friends season 5 Thanksgiving episode (“The One With all the Thanksgivings”). “This photo is from one of my favorite moments with you. Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time,” Schwimmer wrote. “I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around — ‘Could there BE any more clouds?'”
Schwimmer also signed a joint statement memorializing Perry alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, and Matt LeBlanc. “We were more than just cast mates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss,” the quintet said. “In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”
