How Conan O’Brien REALLY felt about Matthew Perry filming Friends with his then girlfriend Lisa Kudrow

Conan O’Brien has admitted he was “jealous” of Matthew Perry when his then-girlfriend Lisa Kudrow raved about how funny her Friends co-star was after she first met him.

O’Brien, 61, and Kudrow, 60, dated from 1988 to 1993, so they were already in a relationship when Lisa filmed the first season of Friends with Matthew, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc.

During an appearance on her ex-wife’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, Kudrow, a mother of one, said she’s been watching Friends a lot since Perry’s death in October 2023. She described her castmates as “phenomenally hilarious.”

O’Brien, recalling the early days of filming, told Kudrow, “You started doing that show and you called me up and you were raving about…,” as she finished his sentence and blurted out, “Matthew!”

O’Brien continued: ‘And you were like, “He’s so funny,” and there was a part of me that was… jealous. Like I was like, “Okay, I’m making you laugh pretty hard,” and you were like, “No, no, you don’t understand, this guy is really funny!”‘

Lisa first met Matthew when they started filming the TV sitcom Friends in the early 90s

“No, I wasn’t that bad!” Kudrow laughed when O’Brien replied, “No, you weren’t, but I’m just saying that’s what I think is human.”

Kudrow reassured her ex-boyfriend, telling him, “Well, you’re the funniest person I know,” to which O’Brien replied, “No, no, that’s not the point…” while the blonde actress continued, “One of the funniest people I know… well, it’s hard to hear now, but it’s true, that’s just a fact.”

Referring to her late friend Perry, Kudrow said at the time: “He was such a big [talent]I thought that Chandler character, when I read it, I thought, “Oh, they have a gay character, that’s good,” that’s all I heard.

“And so at the table reading, I looked at him twice. ‘Oh my God,’ I never in a million years could have imagined that someone would play the character like that and with his own rhythm and everything, it’s his own,” she added, while O’Brien added, “Impeccable timing.”

Of Friends, in which she played the hilarious Phoebe Buffay, Kudrow said, “I used to not be able to watch it at all. I mean, I would see it on TV and be mildly interested in it, and then I would see myself and say, ‘That’s enough, I can’t stand it anymore.'”

‘And then, listen, after Matthew died, I was able to go back to watching the show because it wasn’t about me, it was about him for some reason.

“And so I started watching Friends. Not like season one, but there are marathons going on, and sometimes since he died I’ve spent the entire day watching the show.”

The actress also briefly touched on Perry’s personal struggles as Friends continues to gain popularity, saying, “Everyone was so excited and I think some people, and he was definitely one of them, were like, ‘Oh my God, this is going to be really good, everything is going to be OK now,’ and it’s not like that.”

Matthew as Chandler Bing and Lisa as Phoebe Buffay in an episode of the TV sitcom Friends

Conan on set with the cast of Friends, including his ex-girlfriend Lisa, in 2001

Perry, who struggled with substance abuse for decades, sadly passed away on October 28th of last year at the age of 54 after accidentally drowning in his hot tub in Los Angeles.

In December 2023, an autopsy confirmed that Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine” and drowning. The actor had similar levels of ketamine in his system as a hospital patient under general anesthesia.

Since then, the LAPD has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Perry’s death.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is “confident” in the investigation and plans to charge “multiple people” with drug distribution resulting in death or serious bodily injury.