Friends: The One Where Everyone Finds Out (s5, e14)
After getting together at Ross’s wedding in London, Chandler and Monica have spent months hiding their affair. Inevitably, it all comes out, but not before we get to watch Chandler and Phoebe attempt to out-bluff each other into a kiss. Perry and Kudrow look close to cracking when Phoebe tries to seduce him, and when it ends in a declaration of love, it remains one of the series’ all-time great moments.
Friends: The One With the Blackout (s1, e7)
While the rest of the gang are trapped in the apartment during a power cut, Chandler gets trapped in a bank vestibule, where he finds himself holed up with a model, Jill Goodacre. Separated from the core cast, it gave Perry what was effectively his own mini-episode, and marked the first time we really got to see the extent of his comedy chops.
The Good Wife
Perry found his first truly great post-Friends role in The Good Wife as the odious, truth-twisting lawyer Mike Kresteva. Towards the end of season three, he not only lies about and manipulates Alicia Florrick, but uses those lies as a platform to announce that he’s running for governor of Illinois – against Alicia’s husband, Peter. The Good Wife was stuffed with fantastic baddies, but for four episodes, Perry was one of the best.
Friends: The One With the Embryos (s4, e12)
Another of the all-time classic Friends episodes, this saw Monica and Rachel losing their apartment to Joey and Chandler in a heated game of trivia, with Joey and Chanandler Bong – or should that be “Miss Chanandler Bong” – ultimately proving victorious.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
It’s hard to think of an actor better suited to Aaron Sorkin’s dense, rapid-fire dialogue than Perry. He was Matt Albie, a writer promoted to executive producer of an SNL-style late-night comedy show. Matt’s on-off relationship with co-star Harriet (Sarah Paulson) is a highlight, and in Matt’s addiction to prescription painkillers, it mirrors Perry’s own well-documented struggles.
Friends: The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath (s8, e13)
It’s one of those Friends episodes that revolves around a very simple conceit, yet Perry manages to spin it into comedy gold: Chandler claims he doesn’t like baths, then Monica runs him a bath, and it turns out that he loves it, but is unable to re-create the magic on his own. Perry received his only Emmy nomination for Friends for the episode.
The West Wing
Before Studio 60, Perry appeared in three episodes of another Sorkin creation, The West Wing, as associate White House counsel Joe Quincy. During his brief tenure in the Bartlet administration, he uncovers a scandal that leads to the resignation of the vice-president, and though his time there was short, it earned him two Emmy nominations.
Friends: The One After the Superbowl, Part Two (s2, e13)
Julia Roberts guest-starred as Chandler’s old schoolfriend Susie Moss. What appears to be a straightforward romance turns out to be a long-incubated revenge plan, one that leaves Chandler naked and alone in a toilet cubicle; in Perry’s hands, far funnier than it sounds.
The Good Fight
Perry returned to the King universe for this Good Wife spinoff, becoming a key player in the first season’s Madoff-esque Ponzi scheme plot. In episode seven, Kresteva’s nefarious attempts to bring down Reddick, Boseman and Kolstad unravel in the messiest of ways, as his endless lies and double dealings finally catch up with him.
17 Again
In this 2009 movie, a minor teen classic, Perry plays Mike O’Donnell, a 37-year-old in the doldrums of life, who is magically transformed into a 37-year-old in the body of a 17-year-old, played by Zac Efron. It takes going back to high school to make Mike realise that he’s been in a bad mood for 20 years, and that it may be time to appreciate what he’s got.
Friends: The One With the Hypnosis Tape (s3, e18)
In 1997, characters in comedies sometimes still smoked. In an attempt to quit the cigarettes, Chandler listens to a self-help hypnosis tape while he sleeps, though as it belongs to Rachel, he also ends up believing that he is a strong, confident woman, too. Perry’s physical comedy, in the simple wearing of towels, was magic here.
