If Chandler had been gay, would the show have been funnier? Would that have let them tell better stori?
Contents:
- HERE'S WHY SOME 'FRIENDS' FANS THK CHANDLER WAS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY
- GAY TV HISTORY: THE STRAIGHTENG OF CHANDLER BG
- GAY-UNIENDLY MATTHEW PERRY REFED A ‘FRIENDS’ STORYLE WHICH HAD CHANDLER SNEAKG TO A GAY BAR, ACRDG TO NEW BOOK
- HOW MATTHEW PERRY KILLED A GAY STORY FOR HIS CHARACTER ‘FRIENDS’
- TV LEGENDS: WAS CHANDLER ON FRIENDS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY?
- MATTHEW PERRY REPORTEDLY REFED TO DO A FRIENDS SCENE VOLVG A GAY BAR
- WAS CHANDLER BG ORIGALLY GAY ON FRIENDS? EVEN LISA KUDROW THOUGHT SO
- WAS CHANDLER OM “FRIENDS” MEANT TO BE GAY? IT SEEMS HE ALMOST WAS.
- WAS CHANDLER OM “FRIENDS” MEANT TO BE GAY? IT SEEMS HE ALMOST WAS.
HERE'S WHY SOME 'FRIENDS' FANS THK CHANDLER WAS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY
This weekend Friends fished filmg a rnn episo, slated to appear on HBO Max at some pot, which has me thkg about jt how close the show me to featurg what uld have been the most proment gay s character history. Shownners me this close to makg the Chandler character gay, only pullg back after they st Matthew Perry. But spe havg straightened Chandler out, creators Marta Kffman and David Crane gave the st... * chandler bing is gay *
Seattle-based journalist Matt Bme, however, believ the show uld have end very differently if the creative team’s origal plans for Chandler, played by Matthew Perry, had been a new vio report, Bme ― who is the thor of the 2015 book “Defg Marriage” and the host of “Culture Cise, ” an acclaimed YouTube seri ― lv to thly sourced but persistent reports that the creators of “Friends” had tend for Chandler to be a gay man, but changed him to a straight character after Perry was st. He also breaks down a number of gay jok ― many of them crgeworthy by morn standards ― prented the show at the character’s expense as evince of a funct plot le.
“No, Chandler isn’t gay, ” he said at the time. “Nor will he be gay. And Perry’s -star Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay, gave crence to that theory a 2014 terview wh the Televisn Amy suggtg that she, too, believed the character was gay at that Chandler posss what he believ is “a gay sensibily, but no gay storyl, ” Bme told HuffPost, “If they had ma fully gay ― wrten gay, played gay ― would that have been a good thg or a bad thg?
”“On one hand, would have been amazg to see a gay ma character on one of the most popular shows TV history, ” he ntued.
GAY TV HISTORY: THE STRAIGHTENG OF CHANDLER BG
A longstandg urban legend is that Chandler was origally supposed to be gay Friends until Matthew Perry was st the role. * chandler bing is gay *
They’d often repeat the same simple joke, that would be funny if a person was gay.... [The show] seemed to be at s bt when tellg heterosexual stori, and I’m not sure they uld have pulled off the challenge of featurg TV’s most proment gay ma character. We all know this gay uple.
GAY-UNIENDLY MATTHEW PERRY REFED A ‘FRIENDS’ STORYLE WHICH HAD CHANDLER SNEAKG TO A GAY BAR, ACRDG TO NEW BOOK
The weirdly queerphobic show would have had a story about Chandler Bg sneakg to a gay bar. * chandler bing is gay *
FriendsThis weekend Friends fished filmg a rnn episo, slated to appear on HBO Max at some pot, which has me thkg about jt how close the show me to featurg what uld have been the most proment gay s character history. Shownners me this close to makg the Chandler character gay, only pullg back after they st Matthew Perry. But spe havg straightened Chandler out, creators Marta Kffman and David Crane gave the st and crew explic stctns to reta the gay vibe: “wre gay, ” they told everyone, “and play straight.
I wonr, lookg back now, if they had allowed Chandler to be gay — or bi, or any other flavor of queer — would that have been better? When Friends premiered, dienc stantly picked up on the gay unrton. I was bg through newspaper archiv om the mid-90s, and a surprisg amount of the verage is voted to slow, patient explanatns that Chandler isn’t gay — really, we promise.
On top of that, Chandler’s d as queer a way that would have been faiar to dienc of the time — not only bee he’s sassy and sarstic, but bee he also nforms to a gay trope that was observed by his lleague, Jerry Sefeld: “Sgle, th, and neat.
HOW MATTHEW PERRY KILLED A GAY STORY FOR HIS CHARACTER ‘FRIENDS’
In the latt TV Legends Revealed, learn whether Chandler was nceived of as gay until Matthew Perry was st and the character was re-wrten. * chandler bing is gay *
Throughout the show’s n, Chandler was the nstant butt of gay jok — always assumed to be “that, ” as the show tend to say rather than g the word “gay. ” He also had a plex relatnship wh his parent, whose handlg is plited to discs: Intified on the show as a gay man who performed drag, the character was scribed by shownners terviews as a transgenr woman.
But if he had been gay … would that have been better? For one thg, spe the “wre gay, play is straight” directive, the show seems a b wobbly when to gay humor, returng over and over and over to the same joke: It would be funny if someone was gay. For another, I thk ’s bt that the first proment recurrg gay character on a US primetime s was played by a queer person.
Matthew Perry might’ve been able to handle gay Chandler (or maybe not) but Ellen’s groundbreakg Puppy Episo set a strong tone for gay s characters by pictg a posive g-out. Before Ellen’s g-out, ss tend to treat gay characters as a crisis, wh “what do we do about this” Very Special Episos.
TV LEGENDS: WAS CHANDLER ON FRIENDS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY?
Acrdg to a behd-the-scen book, Matthew Perry reportedly refed to do a Friends scene volvg Chandler a gay bar. * chandler bing is gay *
Gay episos that followed on other shows seemed to take the cue, and queerns was sudnly a e for celebratn on TV stead of agatn. The creators of Friends got a sort of send chance at gay Chandler on their next show, Veroni’s Closet.
MATTHEW PERRY REPORTEDLY REFED TO DO A FRIENDS SCENE VOLVG A GAY BAR
Charl Bg, profsnally known as Helena Handbasket, is the blogil father of Chandler Bg, portrayed by an unknown actor and by a woman named Kathleen Turner. After g out as gay or transgenr, Charl divorced Chandler's mother Nora Tyler Bg, and works as a drag artist Las... * chandler bing is gay *
That’s not to say that Friends uldn’t have done the same — if anythg, their more sensive handlg of the Josh character on Veroni’s Closet shows that a more nuanced take than “lol he’s gay” was wag the wgs.
” As was, Friends seems to stggle wh gay edy, repeatedly dippg to the same “haha someone’s gay” well, whereas other gay ics of the time like Stt Thompson and Bob Smh were dog far more nuanced and funny tak on queer life the '90s. Ultimately, I spect — if I had to gus — that at the end of the day, “wre gay and play straight” is not, fact, the most eful of prompts. A longstandg and oft-repeated urban legend is that Chandler was origally supposed to be gay Friends until Matthew Perry was st the role.
“If we had st a different actor – who was gay – there was the optn that we would have taken the character that directn. This ntributed heavily to fan speculatn that Chandler was origally supposed to be gay – a theory given crence by Phoebe Buffay actrs Lisa Kudrow, who 2014 revealed that she thought the character was gay when she first joed Friends. Friends might not have pulled off havg TV’s most visible gay character.
WAS CHANDLER BG ORIGALLY GAY ON FRIENDS? EVEN LISA KUDROW THOUGHT SO
Throughout the years, Friends fans have speculated Chandler Bg was origally gay. Even Lisa Kudrow thought so. So was he? * chandler bing is gay *
Bme said Chandler has “a gay sensibily, but no gay storyl”. “If they had ma fully gay – wrten gay, played gay – would that have been a good thg or a bad thg? “On the one hand, would have been amazg to see a gay ma character on one of the most popular shows TV history.
WAS CHANDLER OM “FRIENDS” MEANT TO BE GAY? IT SEEMS HE ALMOST WAS.
If Chandler had been gay, would the show have been funnier? Would that have let them tell better stori? * chandler bing is gay *
They’d often repeat the same simple joke, that would be funny if a person was gay. Bme said Friends was at s bt when tellg “heterosexual stori”, addg: “I’m not sure they uld have pulled off the challenge of featurg TV’s most proment gay character. I’ll be there for you — jt as long as you’re not at a gay bar.
A new book lookg at the behd-the-scen of one of televisn’s most popular ss is sheddg some light on how one of s stars felt about a slightly gay “Generatn Friends: An Insi Look at the Show That Defed a Televisn Era, ” noted pop culture historian and cric Sl Aterlz retells some of the stori lived by the st and crew of NBC’s mt-see-TV the book, which cis wh the 25th anniversary of the show’s premiere, Aterlz ed exclive terviews wh the show’s creators David Crane and Marta Kffman, executive producer Kev Bright, director Jam Burrows, as well as wrers and st one such acunt, Aterlz scrib a would-be scene om an episo that might as well have been lled “The One Wh Matthew Perry Givg the Gays Some Real Sha.
”Acrdg to Aterlz, wrers of the show had thought of a storyle for Perry, who played the wisecrackg Chandler Bg, where he sneaked to a gay bar bee he liked the tuna melt that served. -based LGBTQ news se Gay Tim that the show hasn’t “aged well” when to LGBTQ a lbian romance, which is praised for beg one of the first same-sex uple portrayed on prime-time televisn, has been sctized by some the LGBTQ romantic same-sex relatnship between two supportg characters, Carol and San, was “nstcted primarily to make Ross — Carol’s ex-hband, played by David Schwimmer — unfortable and emasculated by appearg to tmp his agile masculy, ” Samantha Riel, an opn wrer who foc on transgenr issu, wrote for the LGBTQ se them.
WAS CHANDLER OM “FRIENDS” MEANT TO BE GAY? IT SEEMS HE ALMOST WAS.
In a new book chroniclg the massively popular NBC s Friends, a wrer om the seri says that actor Matthew Perry (who played the joke-crackg character Chandler Bg) nixed a storyle that had him sneakg to gay bars bee he loved their tuna melt sandwich. Bg’s blogil father — who works as drag and burlque performer Helena Handbasket a revue lled “Viva Las Gaygas” — also beme a repeated punchle, subject to misgenrg and transphobia spe her beg a fabulo and self-assured dividual. It’s unclear if Handbasket was supposed to be gay or trans, but the fact that the character was played early on the seri by a cis male and was later on portrayed by actrs Kathleen Turner suggts the latter.
“Chandler and Joey were repeatedly mistaken for a gay uple, male characters were mocked for perceived ‘feme’ behavr, Ross is unable to handle the ia of havg a male nanny, and Chandler was equently portrayed as beg paranoid about beg thought of as gay. In 2011, vio artist Tijana Mamula put together a 50-mute vio entled “Homophobic Friends” which showed the seri’ ongog e of queerphobic humor durg s 10-year n.