Here is remembering Matthew Perry and his most memorable character of Chandler Bing, who also just happened to be the most relatable character on the iconic American sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
Perry’s loss feels personal to most of us who spent years watching the show, and who turned to his comic relief on F.R.I.E.N.D.S during hard times, or when we just needed an easy laugh. For such a dear friend we might not even have met or known personally, to have disappeared quietly into the night is rather heartbreaking.
While he might want to be remembered for his other roles beyond the ‘90s’ sitcom, we couldn’t help but look back when two of the best things on the show appeared in the same frame—Matthew Perry’s Chandler Bing and desserts. Here are some scenes from the F.R.I.E.N.D.S sitcoms to celebrate two beautiful creations.
Season 7, Episode 11: ‘The One With All The Cheesecakes’ has this unusual pairing that is Chandler and a cheesecake, which is delivered to the wrong address. The scene opens with him eating straight from the container it came in and sticking a spoonful of the delicious cheesecake right into Rachel’s mouth who was casually declining it just a few seconds until she too gives in. “Thief” is what she calls him when she finds out it was actually delivered to the wrong address, but just two days later when the same bakery delivers the same cheesecake to their address again, Rachel and Chandler both eat it straight off the floor after the two get into a petty fight over the cheesecake and drop both their shares onto the hallway outside. They, of course, ate the good bits by forking it straight off the floor.
In season 3, Episode 4, Chandler becomes “one of the girls” and confides in Rachel and Monica. Chandler comes to a self-driven conclusion that he is “needy and clingy” in his relationships as Monica and Rachel hover over him, coddling him. Rachel hands him the ice cream while the two women play Agony Aunt to their friend, analyzing where he went wrong with his ex. “This ice cream tastes like crap by the way”, Chandler grimaces while Rachel tells him it was “low-cal, non-dairy soy milk junk”. And with Chandler getting ‘scr*wed over’ by his love life frequently, the low-fat option was deemed the best for him by the girls. Chandler’s commitment phobia becomes quite apparent in the episode.
This one is slightly gruesome as Monica slices off Chandler’s toe by accidentally dropping a knife that goes right through his toe and chops off his pinky. This happened in Season 5, Episode 8, called ‘The One with the Thanksgiving Flashbacks.’ Instead of taking the severed toe to the hospital so it can be stitched back on, Monica takes along a bag of ice which has a tiny carrot instead of Chandler’s toe. All of this happened, of course, accidentally, because Chandler had called Monica fat. Fast forward to the present, Monica tries to win back Chandler after he gets upset when she reveals what caused the accident. She stuffs her head into a giant turkey to try and does a weird dance to make Chandler laugh and fix things between them (and ends up admitting that she loves him)
Never good at giving advice or comforting others until he falls in love with Monica, in Season 1, Episode 1, just before Rachel the runaway bride makes an appearance, Chandler who was munching on cookies, offers one to Ross who was venting. Ross had just found out his wife was in love with another woman and was heartbroken. While he never was good at offering emotional support, he did his best at being there for his five friends who were family to him, and his awkwardness makes for effortless comic timing.
This one was a pleasure to watch as Chandler Bing, who has settled into domestic bliss with Monica Geller shows his softer and less awkward side that love brought out of him. This was in Season 7, Episode 9 of the show, Where Monica, who lives for people raving about her food, could be ecstatic at how her exercise of candy-making to get to know their neighbors paid off. One of their neighbors, Gary, wakes up Mondler from their sleep, at the crack of dawn, just to taste Monica’s heavenly Halloween candies. “My roommate says they taste like little drops of heaven,” that’s how he introduces himself. And soon after, more people keep piling up for them.
Matthew Perry gave us a best friend on screen who was equal parts comforting and funny, especially for millennials who run to rewatch the show a dozen times when all is not too well in life. Travel well, Matty!