Perry, who died in October 2023 from an accidental ketamine overdose<\/a>, appeared on the cover of PEOPLE on Sept. 25, 1995, just as Friends hit the airwaves for its second season. The actor, then 26 years old, explained in a lengthy interview that he and his friend Andrew Hill Newman had actually written a pilot, called Maxwell’s House, about a group of twenty-something friends that NBC was interested. After meetings, the network decided they wanted another show with a similar premise, Friends.<\/p>\n He auditioned for the show. When he read the script for the first time, he thought, \u201cMy God! Their writers did a better job than I did.\u201d\u00a0 He had his first audition for producers on a Wednesday, and by the following Monday, he was on set working on the new show.<\/p>\n PEOPLE<\/p>\n Matthew Perry on the cover of PEOPLE in September 1995<\/p>\n When the show premiered on Sept. 22, 1994, Perry\u2019s Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston<\/a>\u2019s Rachel Green, Courteney Cox<\/a>\u2019s Monica Geller, Lisa Kudrow<\/a>\u2019s Phoebe Buffay, Matt LeBlanc\u2019<\/a>s Joey Tribbiani and David Schwimmer<\/a>\u2019s Ross Geller quickly became some of America\u2019s favorite characters. The show became a top 10 hit \u2014 and continued to have good ratings in the summer reruns \u2014 and was only poised to be bigger and better in season two.<\/p>\n But Perry, still at the start of his success, candidly admitted to PEOPLE that fame was already a mixed bag. \u201cI’d say 88 percent of it is great,\u201d he said, \u201cand 12 percent is a little scary.”\u00a0<\/p>\n He added of the interest in his personal life, “The attention is gratifying, and part of what we’re in this business for.\u201d He shared that \u201cthe good thing\u201d was that every day, he went to an \u201cunbelievably wonderful place to work.”<\/p>\n Aniston said of her costar, \u201cPeople assume he’s just a funny guy, but he’s also very sensitive.\u201d She called him \u201ca good guy.\u201d LeBlanc called him \u201ca sweetheart,\u201d and Kudrow added, “He’s just somebody you want to be around.”<\/p>\n Gary Null\/NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via Getty <\/p>\n From left: Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Anison and Lisa Kudrow in season one of ‘Friends’<\/p>\n![\"PEOPLE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/3b2e59a2e1868468b1246507ef0f0857.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Gary](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a3fbce65d7a34a3e23cb99df7463a1d6.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n