Matthew Perry ‘felt like he would die’ over pressure filming Friends in front of studio audience

During the highly anticipated Friends Reunion show, Matthew Perry revealed to his castmates the trauma he went through during filming.

Matthew Perry has revealed he “felt like he would die” with “sweating and convulsions” when filming Friends in front of live audiences every week.

The 51-year-old actor played Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom, giving fans around the world plenty of laughs across the 10 seasons.

Matthew Perry felt like he would ‘die while filming the Friends episodes in front of a live audience’. Picture: Binge

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But during the Friends reunion show, the actor has revealed the pressure he felt to get the laughs throughout the show’s entire run.

The cast discussed how they felt about filming in front of a live audience every week, with David Schwimmer saying: “I really enjoyed the energy of the live audience.”

Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc agreed, as he added: “It was like doing a one-act play every week with all of us.”

Courteney Cox then said: “I found myself – when they would laugh at something – I’d think ‘Oh if you think that’s funny, wait ’til you get a load of this next line.’”

Matthew said he would sweat and have ‘convulsions’ if he didn't get the laugh he thought he should. Picture: Binge

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But Perry admitted he had a different experience entirely, telling his co-stars: “To me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh, and it’s not healthy, for sure.

“I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and go into like convulsions, if I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get.”

Looking surprised alongside Aniston, Lisa Kudrow replied: “You didn’t tell us that. I don’t remember you ever saying that.”

His co-stars said they had no idea that’s how he felt. Picture: Binge

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Perry said: “Oh yeah, I felt like that every single night.”

The reunion show also revealed how the star had originally been contracted to another sitcom when the Friends pilot was made, and so the creators were worried about whether they would be able to secure him as Chandler for the series.

However the other show – LAX 2194 – wasn’t picked up, leaving Perry free to join the cast and achieve global fame.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission