Matthew Perry reveals he ‘hated filming in front of a studio audience’

Perry, who struggles with his mental health and substance abuse, revealed that he found the experience deeply stressful.

Washington: ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry during the highly anticipated ‘Friends: reunion’ revealed that he ‘hated filming in front of a studio audience’ and shared that he ‘felt like I was going to die if they [the audience] didn’t laugh’.

Perry, who struggles with his mental health and substance abuse, revealed that he found the experience deeply stressful.

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As the ‘Friends reunion’ saw the star cast of the show namely– Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer — reconnect on the actual set of the show, the 51-year-old comedian Perry poured his heart and said he ‘hated in front of a studio audience’.

The ‘Serving Sara’ star, who struggles with his mental health and substance abuse, revealed that he found the experience deeply stressful.

“I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh…I would sweat and shake,” said Perry as he described his experience of performing in front of the live audience.

The sitcom was performed in front of a live audience and each 22-minute episode of ‘Friends’ took six hours to film, which was twice the length of most sitcoms. The producers felt that the audience played an essential role in the series and they even hired a comedian to entertain the audience in between takes.

‘Friends: The Reunion’ is streaming on HBO Max from May 27. Indian fans can watch the reunion special on Zee5. The video streaming platform recently announced that it will exclusively premiere the special.

‘Friends’ originally aired for 10 seasons on NBC from 1994 to 2004. The reunion special was first announced in February 2020 by HBO Max.

Ben Winston is directing and executive producing the reunion special alongside ‘Friends’ executive producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane.

The American sitcom was touted as one of the most popular ones and is still the talk of the town among fans, who are eagerly waiting to see their favourite stars back together.

The beloved sitcom followed the story of six friends in their 20s and 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City.