Was Chandler Bg origally gay on Friends? Lisa Kudrow thought so

Contents:

• GAY TV HISTORY: THE STRAIGHTENG OF CHANDLER BG
• HERE'S WHY SOME 'FRIENDS' FANS THK CHANDLER WAS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY
• GAY-UNIENDLY MATTHEW PERRY REFED A ‘FRIENDS’ STORYLE WHICH HAD CHANDLER SNEAKG TO A GAY BAR, ACRDG TO NEW BOOK
• MATTHEW PERRY REPORTEDLY REFED TO DO A FRIENDS SCENE VOLVG A GAY BAR
• TV LEGENDS: WAS CHANDLER ON FRIENDS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY?
• HOW MATTHEW PERRY KILLED A GAY STORY FOR HIS CHARACTER ‘FRIENDS’
• WAS CHANDLER BG ORIGALLY GAY ON FRIENDS? EVEN LISA KUDROW THOUGHT SO

GAY TV HISTORY: THE STRAIGHTENG OF CHANDLER BG

We all know this gay uple. 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.

HERE'S WHY SOME 'FRIENDS' FANS THK CHANDLER WAS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY

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. 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.

GAY-UNIENDLY MATTHEW PERRY REFED A ‘FRIENDS’ STORYLE WHICH HAD CHANDLER SNEAKG TO A GAY BAR, ACRDG TO NEW BOOK

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.

MATTHEW PERRY REPORTEDLY REFED TO DO A FRIENDS SCENE VOLVG A GAY BAR

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. 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. 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.

TV LEGENDS: WAS CHANDLER ON FRIENDS ORIGALLY MEANT TO BE GAY?

“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.

HOW MATTHEW PERRY KILLED A GAY STORY FOR HIS CHARACTER ‘FRIENDS’

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.

On May 10, 2001, Kathleen Turner gut-starred on "Friends" as Chandler's gay dad, Charl Bg, aka the drag performer "Helena Handbasket. 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.

WAS CHANDLER BG ORIGALLY GAY ON FRIENDS? EVEN LISA KUDROW THOUGHT SO

”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.