Conan O’Brien and Lisa Kudrow, who dated from 1988 to 1993, had already split by the time Friends debuted on NBC in September of 1994. But on a recent episode of his Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, the comedian recalled the envy he felt when Kudrow praised her costar Matthew Perry’s comic talent.

The former romantic partners remained friends as they both moved on to other romantic partners: O’Brien attended Kudrow’s wedding to Michel Stern in 1995 and went on to marry Liza Powel O’Brien in 2002. Appearing with Kudrow on the podcast, O’Brien said that back when she was starting to work on the series, “you called me up, and you were raving about…” Then Kudrow interjected: “Matthew.”

“And you were saying, ‘He’s so funny,’” O’Brien said. “And there was part of me that was jealous. Like, I was [like], Okay. I make you laugh pretty hard. And you were like, ‘No, no, you don’t understand. This guy’s really [funny].’” And O’Brien, whom Kudrow called “one of the funniest people I know,” ultimately agreed with his ex’s assessment of Perry’s talents, noting the late actor’s “impeccable timing.”

Kudrow continued to celebrate Perry, who died in October 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine. “He was such a huge [talent],” she recalled. “I thought that Chandler character—when I read it, I went, Oh, they have a gay character. That’s good…. And so at the table read, I just did a double take at him: Oh my God. That I never even in a million years could have envisioned anyone playing the character like that and with his own rhythm and everything. It’s his own.”

Since Perry’s sudden death at age 54, Kudrow said she has been able to experience Friends in a whole new light. “I used to not be able to watch it at all,” she explained. “I mean, I’d see it on and be, like, mildly interested, and then I’d see me and say, That’s enough of that. I can’t bear it. And then, well, listen: After Matthew died, I could start watching the show again, because it wasn’t about me. It had to do with him for some reason.” Kudrow continued: “I have started watching Friends. Not started, like, season one…but there are marathons on, and I have spent, at times since he died, all day long watching the show.”

Weeks after Perry’s death, Kudrow paid tribute to him on social media, writing, in part, “Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY…. Thank you for all I learned about GRACE and LOVE through knowing you. Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.”