Lisa Kudrow thanks ‘Friends’ co-star Matthew Perry ‘for best 10 years’

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Friends star Lisa Kudrow has added her poignant tribute to the late Matthew Perry, thanking her castmate “for the best 10 years a person gets to have.”

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“Shot the pilot, Friends Like Us, got picked up then immediately, we were at the NBC Upfronts. Then … You suggested we play poker AND made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that,” Kudrow, 60, began her message, which was accompanied by a throwback photo of the pair.

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“Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY.”

Kudrow, who played Phoebe, went on to thank Perry for his “open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise.”

“Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant,” she continued.

“Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have,” she concluded. “Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.”

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Kudrow was the final member of the Friends cast to pen a personal remembrance to the actor following his death last month after he was found dead in a hot tub in his home. Earlier this week, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc posted tributes to their co-star.

Aniston said Perry’s death “cut deep” in a lengthy message she posted alongside a photo of the two sharing a laugh on set, a screenshot of their final text conversation and a clip from the show.

“Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before,” Aniston wrote in an Instagram post Wednesday. “We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep. And we loved him deeply.”

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The text from Perry reads, “Making you laugh just made my day. It made my day,” alongside a photo of the two of them giggling while reading a script.

Aniston replied, “Awww the first of THOUSANDS of times,” and was accompanied by a star-eyed emoji, a laughing-crying icon and a heart.

In Cox’s message, she remembered her TV husband by sharing one of her favourite scenes from Friends.

“When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share,” she wrote. “For now here’s one of my favourites.”

In the clip, Ross (Schwimmer) runs into the room to share his excitement over getting married. “I’m getting married, today!” Ross exclaims as Perry’s Chandler says, “Yeah, you are.” After Ross leaves, his sister Monica (Cox) pops out from under the sheets and asks, “You think he knew I was here?” which had the studio audience erupting in cheers.

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“To give a little backstory, Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one night fling in London. But because of the audience’s reaction, it became the beginning of their love story,” Cox wrote. “In this scene, before we started rolling, he whispered a funny line for me to say. He often did things like that. He was funny and he was kind.”

Schwimmer also honoured Perry, sharing a throwback photo of them in character on the Friends set.

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“Thank you for 10 incredible years of laughter and creativity,” Schwimmer wrote. “This photo is from one of my favourite moments with you. Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time. I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around — ‘Could there BE any more clouds?’”

LeBlanc, who played Joey and was the first core member of the Friends cast to post an individual tribute, called working with Perry “among the favourite times of my life.”

Up until this week, the cast had only shared a short statement saying they were “utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew.”

“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just castmates. 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 Friends cast’s joint statement read. “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.”

Perry was found dead in his hot tub on the afternoon of Oct. 28 following a two-hour game of pickleball. After his well-publicized struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, police reported that there were no illegal substances found in his residence. But Perry’s cause of death has been deferred pending further tests.

He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Nov. 3.

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X: @markhdaniell

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