There is a reason the sitcom Friends was so popular from the off and became such a juggernaut so quickly. The writing was brilliant, and the six actors in it were astonishing individually and even better together. Comedy is alchemical, and they transmuted gold into pure joy.
Matthew Perry formed one sixth of the troupe as Chandler Bing. Every actor had their particular strength and his was perhaps to be the nimblest, the most alive to the currents crisscrossing any scene he was in. He was the only one of the cast allowed in the writers’ room to contribute, and from that maybe we can infer he was the most naturally funny off set too. Certainly his timing, even in the extraordinary company he kept, was immaculate.
