What’s Your Favorite Matthew Perry Role (That Isn’t Chandler Bing)?

Matthew Perry knew that he would be remembered for “Friends, Friends, Friends,” as he wrote in his 2022 memoir. Indeed the actor, who died last week at the age of 54, was so good on the iconic NBC sitcom that he stole scenes even when unseen, inside a box. But Chandler Bing was far from the only beloved character Perry brought to life with his signature wit. From starring in rom-coms to guesting on other popular sitcoms, Vulture staffers reminisced on their favorite Matthew Perry roles outside of Friends.

Alex Whitman — Fools Rush In

Romantic lead Matthew Perry?! Paired with post-Desperado Salma Hayek?! Fools Rush In makes hay with its gringo-knocks-her-up premise both because Hayek can do no wrong but also because Matthew Perry plays a slightly modulated version of the character he became best known for on TV. It may not be as absurdly zany as a typical episode of Friends, but Perry still sells the physical comedy hard — whether he’s holding a giant swordfish, or trying to give a climactic speech in pouring rain, or recovering from a run-in with a cactus. More importantly, watching his analytical corporate cog of a man discover a romantic edge by unexpectedly becoming Hayek’s baby daddy serves as nice foreshadowing for the guy who would eventually vow to Monica that “any surprises that come our way, it’s okay.” —Eric Vilas-Boas

Murray Marks — Scrubs

Most of the Friends cast made guest appearances on other sitcoms, but even after the show ended it was hard to get away from the perception that they were that beloved character. (For Jennifer Aniston’s appearance on 30 Rock, they played with that inevitability, teasing it as, “a reunion of friends … from Night Court.”) When Matthew Perry showed up on Scrubs, another hit for NBC, he played a sarcastic character with daddy issues. Sound familiar? But Perry, who also directed the episode, was happy to twist your expectations of the lovable Chandler Bing. His character, Murray, may share Chandler’s blend of humor and angst, but he has none of his charm. One could easily imagine Murray as a Chandler who never found his friends and instead let his snark fester into cynicism. The fact that Perry didn’t run away from his signature character, but found a way to bring a new perspective to it, is especially impressive considering this episode aired just a few months after Friends ended. —Emily Palmer Heller

Matt Albie — Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Every few months, people on X (formerly Twitter) discover the scene from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip where Tom Jeter, a sketch comedian who stars in the show’s eponymous SNL competitor, is giving a tour of the eponymous studio to his parents, and then sternly corrects his kind, well-meaning mom for accidentally referring to the show’s sketches as “skits.” Jeter’s dad flies off the handle in response: “That’s swell, Tom. But your little brother is standing in the middle of Afghanistan!” Against all odds, this is the show — mawkish, self-serious, often infuriating — that Matthew Perry, playing the show’s head writer, Matthew Albie, managed to be good in. His character was jealous and petty? No matter. Perry brought a vulnerability and charisma to his performance that made him likable nonetheless. His “genius” was mythologized to the point where his writing could never quite capture the profound level of wit his character supposedly possessed? All good. Perry’s natural timing and gravitas milked every line delivery for all it was worth. I know Studio 60 is a bad show, and yet I’ve watched it to completion from beginning to end three times, almost entirely thanks to Perry’s magnetic performance. —Hershal Pandya

Benny — Fallout: New Vegas

Matthew Perry stanned Fallout 3 so hard that they gave him a role in Fallout: New Vegas. Perry said on Ellen that he played the postapocalyptic roleplaying game so much that he had to see a “hand doctor.” Seeing this, the New Vegas developers gave him the role of Benny. In Fallout: New Vegas, you play the Courier — a normal dude or gal who is having a pretty normal postapocalypse until Benny shoots you in the head. “You’ve made your last delivery kid. Sorry you got twisted up in this scene,” Benny says. “From where you’re kneeling it must seem like an 18-carat run of bad luck. Truth is, the game was rigged from the start.” Then a robot cowboy digs your still-alive body out of its grave and boom! One of the best games of all time starts. Perry’s weird Rat Pack monologue sets the tone for what follows, and he did it out of pure love. —Bethy Squires

Mike O’Donnell — 17 Again

Basically like 13 Going on 30 for men, 17 Again stars Zac Efron as the teenage version of Matthew Perry, an almost-40-year-old man named Mike on the brink of a divorce with the love of his life (the effervescent Leslie Mann). It’s the last movie Perry ever did, and I’ll be completely serious when I say: what a final movie to land on. Sure, 17 Again is incredibly silly, but its emotional sincerity, anchored by Efron and Perry, is what helps the movie shine. I may not be an avid Friends watcher — and I definitely initially watched 17 Again because it had Troy Bolton and the Ice Princess — but Perry’s ability to vacillate from the ever-present “what the fuck am I doing with my life?” to the sweetest of comedic beats and how Efron translates those cues to a younger Mike is surely a pivotal lesson that a fresh-off-of–High School Musical–fame Efron needed. And since then, it’s just a quintessential high-school comedy. —Savannah Salazar

Mike Kresteva — The Good Wife and The Good Fight

The most rage-inducing character of these two brilliantly cast legal dramas wasn’t a murderer or a tech bro but a shameless, pathological liar. Matthew Perry somehow proved a perfect fit for the slimeball Mike Kresteva, a performance built on subtle choices and a confidence that sometimes less is way more. The key to Kresteva isn’t just that he lies constantly (or that he constantly rubs it in our faces: “I know a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has put his shoes on. But still.”), but that he never so much as bats an eye as he’s doing it. To him, a lie isn’t a wink, it’s a cold, gaslighting stare — a slap in the face delivered through his teeth. No wonder he nearly got them knocked out before his arc wrapped. —Eric Vilas-Boas