David Schwimmer has revealed how he celebrated the 30th anniversary of iconic sitcom Friends.
The legendary series celebrated the auspicious milestone in September last year, almost 12 months after the tragic death of star Mathew Perry.
Schwimmer, 58, who played Ross Geller in the long-running comedy, made his revelation while chatting with NOVA’s Kent ‘Smallzy’ Small on his show Smallzy’s Surgery this week.
With a Friends exhibit featuring the show’s recognizable Central Perk cafeteria orange couch currently touring Australia, the radio host asked Schwimmer about his memories of his time on the show.
‘I don’t want to make you feel old, but Friend’s couch is in Australia. “He’s celebrating 30 years,” Smallzy said.
‘Do you reflect on when you reach a milestone like 30 years old? You think: how did that happen?’
David Schwimmer has revealed how he celebrated the 30th anniversary of the iconic sitcom Friends
The legendary series celebrated the auspicious milestone in September last year, almost 12 months after the tragic death of star Mathew Perry.
‘Do you think, “Wow, what a great race? I don’t even know.” Or do you say, “God, I feel so old. Don’t say that?”
Responding with: “All of the above,” Schwimmer then revealed the low-key way she celebrated the auspicious milestone.
“I happened to be back in Los Angeles around the day that marked the 30th anniversary of our broadcast, and I actually took (Matt) LeBlanc out to dinner, and we reminisced and toasted 30 years,” he said.
‘I mean, it’s amazing. “It’s amazing to me that people are still watching and finding it funny and heartwarming, and I really feel nothing but gratitude.”
Friends’ 30th anniversary in September 2024 was overshadowed by the death of star Matthew Perry almost a year earlier.
Perry, who played the affable Chandler Bing on the sitcom, died at age 54 from a ketamine overdose and drowned on October 28, 2023, at his Pacific Palisades home.
Following the star’s death, five people, including two doctors, a live-in assistant and the alleged ‘Ketamine Queen’ dealer, have been arrested in connection with the tragedy.
Doctors Salvador Plasencia, 42, and Mark Chavez, 54, alleged drug dealers Jasveen ‘Ketamine Queen’ Sangha, 41, and Eric Fleming, 54, and Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, of 59, have been charged.
Chatting with NOVA’s Kent ‘Smallzy’ Small this week, Schwimmer revealed how he celebrated the auspicious milestone.
“I happened to be back in Los Angeles around the day that marked the 30th anniversary of our broadcast, and I actually took (Matt) LeBlanc out to dinner, and we reminisced and toasted 30 years,” he said. Schwimmer is pictured with Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc.
Perry was found unconscious in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on October 28 by Iwamasa, and the cause of his death was later determined to be “the acute effects of ketamine.”
Live-in assistant Iwamasa has since admitted to being the one who administered the fatal doses to the actor, after Plasencia taught him how to administer them.
Appearing on US Today at the time of the series’ anniversary, creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, and executive producer Kevin S Bright, revealed that they were aware of the pall that the star’s death had placed on the celebrations.
“It’s a huge loss and it makes the 30th a little tense,” Kauffman said before Bright added, “It made us laugh every day.”
Bright also revealed that Perry, whose struggle with addiction had been highly publicized, had been “getting better” in the lead-up to his death.
“I had been fighting the good fight for so long, and I really felt like, since the (2021 cast) reunion, I had finally found some peace.” said.
Widely considered one of the best sitcoms of all time, Friends aired on NBC for ten seasons.
The show made the names of the main cast household names: David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.
Friends’ 30th anniversary in September 2024 was overshadowed by the death of star Matthew Perry (pictured right) almost a year earlier.
Perry, who played the affable Chandler Bing on the sitcom, died at age 54 from a ketamine overdose and drowned on October 28, 2023, at his Pacific Palisades home.
It also made them some of the richest actors working on television, with the final two seasons netting them $1 million per episode for the final two seasons.
Like the show that preceded it, the series finale was a cultural phenomenon, attracting a formidable 52.5 million viewers in the United States.
That made it the most-watched television show since the end of Seinfeld six years earlier.
In fact, the finale was the fifth most-watched episode in history behind M*A*S*H, Cheers, The Fugitive and Seinfeld.