Paid Members SpiritOfTheForest Posted October 29, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 29, 2023 It's a real sickener. I, like many of us here, grew up with Friends and Chandler was my favourite part. A very, very funny man with his mannerisms, timing and delivery. As Gay As FOOK mentioned above, for me Friends was the definition of a safe, warm, comfortable show. Something you can stick on for 20 minutes and forget about whatever's going on in life and have a laugh without having to engage brain too much. It sounds really daft to say I know but for me it sometimes felt that these were real people and many of us ended up connecting with the characters to the point that now that Chandler's away, it hits a bit harder than the typical celebrity death. It feels more personal, if that makes sense? Also a real sense of the marching on of time about this one - if that's the cast of Friends starting to leave us then we really are all getting older.  That said however, of course Matthew Perry the man should be remembered as opposed to just Chandler Bing the character. I read these words from him today that I've shared here and they really hit home that he seemed like a very good man. A good man with his problems but trying his best and trying to give back to others the help he had received. It's a sad day. RIP Mr Perry and thank you for all the laughs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Red Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 4 hours ago, CharlesTuckerTheThird said: Aside from Friends, the main thing I remember Matthew Perry for was his role as Benny in Fallout: New Vegas. Apparently he was such a big fan of Fallout 3 that he messed his hands up playing it so much, and there was most of a season of Friends where Chandler couldn't do anything with his hands. Very sad. True, up to the part about Friends which had been finished 4 years prior to Fallout 3’s release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 I'm not a fan of Friends, not helped by everyone else around me thinking it was the best thing ever, but it takes a lot of talent to make a comfortable show that almost anyone can watch and at least tolerate. I think it's a credit to the cast that the most loved episodes were the bottle episodes. From what I watched of it which is probably most of the episodes by osmosis, most of the characters became increasingly one dimensional as the show went on, but his had a slither of depth or humanity to him which is why I think people related to his character. I don't think Chandler ever comes across as insufferable as Ross and that's definitely down to the performer and not the writing.   Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted October 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 30, 2023 I was really into Friends for a while, and while it's nothing I'd go back and watch, pretty much every memorable gag for me was from Chandler. You can see from watching just about any sitcom that followed it (and anything by Chuck Lorre) how difficult it is to cram the number of jokes into a scene that Friends managed without every single line just feeling like a delivery method for a punchline - nobody's ever accused Friends of being naturalistic, but it's a testament to how good the cast was that, within sitcom logic, they felt like a genuine group of close friends having real conversations, not the shit Big Bang Theory joke-pause-joke-pause rhythm. Matthew Perry had maybe the hardest job of all in that, of being the in-universe "Funny One", which is something that can tank most actors and most writers - the moment you write something where a character has to be exceptionally funny, exceptionally smart, or anything like that, the writing and the performance has to live up to it, and for years Matthew Perry managed that. Even in later seasons, where every character became a bit more of a mess of references and punchlines - Chandler didn't really make jokes any more, they just made jokes about the expectation that Chandler made jokes - he was still brilliant, because his character had evolved to have more heart, and to move beyond the "COULD I BE MORE....?" clichés. But even those clichés weren't clichés before him - he basically created the comic language of the latter half of the '90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted October 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 30, 2023 (edited) Matthew Perry is like most wrestlers and musicians from the 80s and 90s in that I can't believe he made it anywhere close to 54 years and yet I'm shocked he's gone at only 54 years. I wasn't in to Friends originally but then I got a girlfriend and she liked Friends so that meant I liked Friends (and Dawson's Creek and Hollyoaks...) and then I then became a genuinely huge fan (unlike Dawson's Creek and Hollyoaks apart from the calendar). As Pat states, Perry is clearly the highlight, he's got the best comic timing, the best delviery and the best lines for that reason. Friends at it's height was always about whether Ross and Rachel would get together and what funny shit Chandler would say this week. I think I jumped in about 3 or 4 seasons in and went back and bought the videos - full price from WH Smiths - and caught up. The obvious thing whenever you watch it back is the changes in Matthew Perry throughout the show. Both his fluctuating weight and his voice, which is incredibly distressing at one point later in the show's run. He had a shit-ton of issues and we're lucky he was around. Really, really sad yesterday to hear the news. We are on a run through the show with our youngest daughter and just watched a couple of episodes from series 2 on Saturday night. Not sure I fancy watching it again at the moment. We watched The one with the Lesbian Wedding. Friends has come in for some criticism from some of those revisionist cunts in recent years. It's not perfect but it's not simply of it's time either. This episode is years ahead of most attitudes at the time and decades ahead of the Southern US. It tapered off, like most shows do but for several series, it's really tight and pretty challenging. Edited October 30, 2023 by tiger_rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted November 4, 2023 Share Posted November 4, 2023 We've all seen Apollo 13, but the real Ken Mattingly passed away today  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/science/space/ken-mattingly-dead.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted November 4, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 4, 2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67320185.amp One that slipped by your scythe Pete. David Berglas was a superb magician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted November 4, 2023 Share Posted November 4, 2023 19 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67320185.amp One that slipped by your scythe Pete. David Berglas was a superb magician. Full transparency time....never heard of him to be honest. Seems a decent chap though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bellenda Carlisle Posted November 4, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 4, 2023 1 hour ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67320185.amp One that slipped by your scythe Pete. David Berglas was a superb magician. I remember him from the Secret Cabaret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted November 4, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 4, 2023 1 hour ago, Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete said: Full transparency time....never heard of him to be honest. Seems a decent chap though He was head of The Magic Circle in the 90s. There's a pretty well known clip of him that pops up on compilation shows, where he has two nurses each hold one of his wrists, and then he changes his heartrate to each of them. Definitely a brilliant mind for creating magic tricks, but he wasn't as memorable a showman as the likes of Daniels, Burton, Copperfield, Bongo, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted November 4, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 4, 2023 Bongo is in some pretty exalted company there Surf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted November 4, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 4, 2023 26 minutes ago, Bellenda Carlisle said: I remember him from the Secret Cabaret. Holy shit, there's a blast from the past. I know what I'm YouTube rabbit holing tonight now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted November 4, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 4, 2023 Bongo worked as a consultant for many other magicians, including Daniels. Legitimately one of the all time best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted November 4, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 4, 2023 The Secret Cabaret was fantastic. A real alternative to your Daniels, your Suprendos, and your Bongos of this world, and over the years I paid my own money to see all 3 of them and plenty more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted November 14, 2023 Share Posted November 14, 2023 On 10/29/2023 at 8:12 AM, Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete said: Adam Johnson of the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team died overnight following an incident at the game v Sheffield Steelers. A Steelers player was going to make a check but slipped and and accidentally caught Johnson in the neck with his skate blade and his injuries were so severe he died in hospital  Daily Mail link for reference. Ignore the diabolical reporting contained in the article and its the Daily Fail  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12685037/American-ice-hockey-Adam-Johnson-diesthroat-slashed-skate-UK-mother.html https://news.sky.com/story/man-arrested-over-death-of-ice-hockey-player-adam-johnson-in-sheffield-13008311  Seems like this story isn't going away anytime soon, sadly. It was an accident. Why does someone always have to be blamed these days? Matt Petgrave must be in absolute pieces and his teammates and the Panthers team will be in bits too. No chance would ANY ice hockey player go out to kill or injure someone seriously like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts