Matthew Perry talks about creating the unusual vocal pattern he used for Chandler in FRIENDS

Matthew Perry he never could have known the height of stardom he would be pitched to when he auditioned for the series Friends like usthat has become Friends. He knew, however, that he had to bring something unique to the character, as there was a huge number of people auditioning for the role, which was the last character to be cast, and he felt as strongly as Chandler. Bing was a big part of who it was.

In his next memoir, Friends, lovers and the great and terrible thingPerry writes:

“I read the words unexpectedly, hitting emphasis that no one else had hit. I was back in Ottawa with my childhood friends, the Murrays; I had laughs where no one else had. “

By becoming the last member of the main cast of six, Perry brought this same delivery style into production:

“I was speaking in a way that no one had ever spoken in sitcoms before, striking strange emphasis, choosing a word in a sentence that you might not imagine was the rhythm. I didn’t know it yet, but my way of speaking would seep into the culture of the next decades. For now, though, I was just trying to find interesting ways to insert lines that were already fun, but that I thought I could actually dance to.

He went on to say:

“(I was once told that authors would underline the word that is not usually emphasized in a sentence just to see what I would do with it.)”

It was successful, of course, considering that decades later, Chandler’s expressions, including the memorable “Can I BE …?” remain commonly cited today, no doubt aided by the endless reruns of the record-breaking sitcom, which a whole new generation of fans discovered on Netflix during the lockdown.

Perry also recounts how, as soon as he was sent the script for the show, he instinctively knew that Chandler was the character he was supposed to play.

“It was as if someone had been following me for a year, stealing my lines, copying my ways, photocopying my world-weary but witty vision of life … It wasn’t like I thought I could play ‘Chandler’; I was Chandler.

Perry’s memoir will be out next week, November 1st, and will be available wherever the books are sold.

via: Deadline