Aisha Tyler Recalls A Matthew Perry Moment From Her First ‘Friends’ Taping

Bruce Haring
·1 min read

Aisha Tyler has shared memories about auditioning for Friends in 2003 on iHeartRadio’s And That’s What You REALLY Missed podcast.

“By the time I auditioned for Friends, I had seen every episode of Friends — like every single one,” she said. “Which didn’t make me confident. It just made me know, well, I know how to tell a Friends joke. But like, am I gonna do it well?”

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Reading with David Schwimmer for the part of his character Ross’s girlfriend, Charlie Wheeler, was “intimidating,” she said, even though Schwimmer himself was “lovely.”

When she landed the role, Tyler said she was supposed to do four episodes. But she ended up filming nine.

“At the end, it’s very much like theater, you do a curtain call, then everybody bows,” she explained. “You’re waiting in the wings, and they’ll introduce the guest stars, and then they’ll introduce the main cast. So, I would be one of the last people that would go out before the main cast.”

She went on to share a sweet Matthew Perry memory from her first episode: “Right before I went out at the end of my first taping, Matthew Perry leaned in and said, ‘Get ready for your life to change.’”

Tyler hasn’t forgotten his words.

“It was just such a sweet, generous thing to say,” she said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Uh-oh.’ He was like, ‘This is exciting. It’s gonna be exciting for you.’ And I never forgot that moment because it really did change my life.”

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