Appreciating Matthew Perry

The “Friends” are too young to be dying on us.

Not ready to be thinking about a TV sitcom from the ’90s and early 2000s as “nostalgic”, but that show was definitely a blueprint for those of us who were young and living the same experiences at that time.

And if you were a ’90s guy, “Chandler Bing” was the “Friend” you wanted to be. Joey was a handsome dummy. Ross was a bag of neuroses.

Chandler had vests.

And sarcasm, attitude, comebacks…all the things we think we are better at than we really are.

At the same time, the actor playing “Chandler” also had things: personal demons, loneliness, all the success side-effects we constantly hear about and are still, somehow, surprised by.

He struggled. You could see it. It was more than just the prototypical “tears of a clown” stuff.

And he was honest about it: brutally, specifically and graphically candid about overdoses, addiction, the physical toll. He went even further. Rather than call for someone to do something, Perry spent his time and money actually helping people deal with addiction. Anyone can point out the the problem, Not everyone does something.

In the end, the Chandler Bing character personified the glassy veneer of 1990s young male American life.

And Matthew Perry’s actual life became a lesson he selflessly shared.