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Matthew Perry Was The Funniest ‘Friend,’ According To Maggie Wheeler, Who Played Janice

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 22:51 PST, Sep 20, 2016

Matthew Perry, best known for his iconic role as Chandler Bing on the iconic Friends television series, is being fondly remembered at FriendsFest, a six-week UK festival organized to commemorate NBC’s popular comedy sitcom.

Maggie Wheeler, the actress who played the role of Chandler’s on-again, off-again girlfriend Janice Goralnik, opened the event at Haggerston Park and recalled some of the funniest moments she experienced while playing Chandler’s longtime on-off girlfriend. Even though he ended up marrying Monica, Chandler’s tumultuous relationship with Janice in the sitcom’s earlier seasons provided some truly hilarious moments for fans, and, it turns out, for the cast themselves.

In the actress’s opinion, some of the interactions between Chandler and Janice were even more hilarious than the viewers knew at the time, and she credits it all to her former co-star Matthew Perry. Maggie Wheeler revealed that filming for Friends, especially along with Matthew Perry, was as funny as the sitcom itself. In fact, the atmosphere on the set was so fun-filled that the actors shared some side-splitting moments while shooting in front of the live studio audience.

Matthew Perry seemed to be one of the funniest cast members, with the actor frequently bursting into laughter due to the hilarious script that was prepared for the show. Matthew Perry’s laughter, in turn, caused his on-screen girlfriend to laugh, and the actress found it difficult to restrain herself while filming some of the funniest scenes.

According to 98FM, Maggie Wheeler found it so difficult to curb her laughter during the filming of certain scenes that she came up with a unique way of laughing to allow herself to lose control while continuing to film a scene.

Friends aficionados will be familiar with Janice’s famous honking laughter which was perceived to be very annoying by the other characters. While Maggie Wheeler came up with ways to help herself get through the funniest scenes, Matthew Perry himself had to go to great efforts to hold back his laughter. According to Cosmopolitan, some of the moments on set were so hilarious that Matthew Perry could be seen to almost lose control while filming even a serious scene featured in Friends.

Maggie Wheeler recalled a funny event that took place when Matthew Perry accidentally popped a paper bag that Janice was busy hyperventilating into during the filming of a tense scene in which Chandler is questioning Janice about her ex-husband. The moment turned out to be one of the most hilarious moments on-set for the actress, who managed to carry on with the scene because her face was obscured by the paper bag, while Matthew Perry managed to continue to act angry when he, in fact, was fighting the urge to burst out laughing.

Apart from his comical nature and his famous character on the TV show Friends, it is Matthew Perry’s acting skills that have made him so popular. Besides Friends, Matthew Perry has acted in several movies like Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards, and 17 Again. Additionally, he has featured in the television shows Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Ron Clark Story.

Currently, Matthew Perry can be seen in The Odd Couple, a CBS sitcom based on a play by Neil Simon. Like his Friends co-stars, Matthew Perry has left behind an unparalleled legacy that his fans wish to enjoy again and again. However, all the major characters in Friends have carved their respective niches in show business and it is doubtful that the celebrities will ever get together again to relive their golden era by featuring in a Friends reboot or revival series.

According to Cinema Blend, Matt LeBlanc, who played the role of Chandler’s best friend Joey in Friends, revealed that he is not keen on the idea of a Friends reunion at the moment as he wishes to focus on Man With a Plan, his upcoming series on CBS.

In Matt LeBlanc’s opinion, the widespread publicity regarding a possible Friends reunion would prove to be a big distraction to his fans, who would prefer to watch him in a Friends revival series rather than his upcoming CBS sitcom. Interestingly, both Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc are featuring in sitcoms on the CBS network while Friends featured on NBC, CBS’s competitor television network.

[Featured Image by Angela Weiss and David Livingston/Getty Images]

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