The “Mates” director displays on what made Matthew Perry the right Chandler Bing

Within the wake of Matthew Perry’s dying, Mates director Jim Burroughs tells TODAY what made the actor and his Mates character the right mixture.

Perry died on Saturday, October 28, was 54 years previous, after apparently drowning at his residence in Pacific Palisades, California, police mentioned. The reason for dying has not but been decided as effectively Pending a coroner’s investigation.

The actor has starred in various TV exhibits and movies all through his profession, however was maybe most well-known for his 10 seasons enjoying Chandler Bing on the favored NBC sitcom Mates.

NBC Information correspondent Liz Kreutz spoke solely with Mates showrunner Jim Burroughs in an interview that can air in full on TODAY, Nov. 2.

Within the interview, Burroughs mentioned what Perry was like on set and what made him excellent as Bing.

“It was actually humorous,” Burroughs says. “He was a bit of awkward, too. Chandler was awkward. Matthew was awkward. So it was an ideal, excellent mixture.”

“Mates,” which tells the tales of six buddies dwelling in New York Metropolis, ran from 1994 to 2004. The primary solid consists of Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox and David Schwimmer.

The remaining 5 entities had been issued Joint statement After Perry’s dying, they described their grief.

“We’re all completely devastated by the lack of Matthew. We had been extra than simply castmates. We’re household,” the assertion learn. “There’s a lot to say, however now we’ll take a second to grieve and course of this unfathomable loss.” The assertion continues: “ In time we’ll say extra, once we are in a position to take action.” “For now, our ideas and love are with Matty’s household, buddies and everybody who cherished him world wide.”

Folks was the primary outlet to publish the “Mates” stars’ assertion.

“Mates” creators Marta Kaufman and David Crane spoke solely with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb about their reminiscences of Perry, with Kaufman sharing how she spoke to the actor simply two weeks in the past.

“He was comfortable and cheerful,” Kaufman mentioned. “He does not appear to be burdened by something. He is been in a very good place, which is why this appears so unfair.”

Perry has been open about battling drug and alcohol habit throughout his profession. In his 2022 memoir, Mates, Lovers, and the Massive Horrible Factor, Perry spoke about how consuming his habit was. He went to rehab 15 instances and was given a 2% likelihood of survival when he was in a coma after his colon burst as a result of opioid use.

He mentioned he was very open about his experiences in hopes of serving to others.

“I hope individuals will interact with it and know that this illness assaults everybody,” he informed Folks journal after the memoir was revealed. “It does not matter if you happen to’re profitable or not, the illness does not matter.”