Adele paid tribute to Friends star Matthew Perry during her Las Vegas concert on Saturday night.
The singer-songwriter was on stage shortly after news broke that the actor had been found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home at age 54.
Adele paused her show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, site of her ongoing Vegas residency, to speak about the actor, who she described as ‘probably the best comedic character of all time.’
‘It is always so shocking, especially someone that made you laugh and who bought so much joy to your life that you don’t know. This is what I find so strange, I never met him in my life. There is something, you feel so sad about it especially because you don’t necessarily known what was going on,’ she told the crowd.
‘I’ll remember that character for the rest of my life,’ she added of Perry’s Friends character Chandler Bing. ‘He’s probably the best comedic character of all time.’
Adele, who was dressed up as Morticia Adams for the Halloween weekend performance, dedicated her son ‘When We Were Young,’ to Perry.
During the introduction to the song Adele usually works her way through the audience to collect favorite childhood memories.
Sharing her own childhood memory from the stage, Adele recalled: ‘One of my friends Andrew when I was, like, 12 did the best Chandler impression’.
‘He would do it all the time to make us laugh and if any of us were having a bad day or feeling low he would just pretend to be Chandler.’
Adele, who made her own decision to stop drinking earlier this year, also addressed Perry’s issues with alcohol and opioid addiction. ‘He was so open with his struggles with addiction and sobriety, which I think is incredibly, incredibly brave,’ she said of the star who penned a bestselling book about his struggles.
Adele mentioned Perry again later in the show after bursting into tears when she spotted her OB-GYN in the audience, telling the audience: ‘It’s a very emotional night.’
Perry, who shot to fame as the sarcastic Chandler Bing in the seminal 90s sitcom, was found dead at his house in Los Angeles on Saturday after emergency crews were called at around 4pm local time.
He had reportedly played a two-hour game of Pickleball – a sport similar to tennis but played on a smaller court – earlier in the day, before sending his assistant out on an errand. When they returned, Perry was said to be found unresponsive in his hot tub.
Adele paused her Vegas show to pay tribute to Matthew Perry on Saturday night.
Around Hollywood, Selma Blair, Mira Sorvino and more posted tributes to the “Friends” star on social media. Here’s what they had to say: https://t.co/A8aRhRLKZ0#SNL #Friends #ChandlerBing pic.twitter.com/Zv89QAQAdR
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) October 29, 2023
Friends, which followed the lives of six friends in their 20s living in New York, was a smash hit across the globe when it aired between 1994 and 2004, and re-runs still remain hugely popular years later.
Perry won a worldwide fanbase for his role as Chandler, earning him an Emmy nomination in 2002 – but behind the glitz and glamour, he secretly battled substance abuse for decades.
There was no indication of foul play and no drugs were found at the scene of his death, sources said this morning.
The cast of Saturday Night Live also paid tribute to the star shortly after the former Friends star’s sudden death at the age of 54 was confirmed.
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Old times: Perry rose to fame for his role as wisecracking Chandler Bing (clockwise from bottom left: Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green)
A black and white image of Perry closed the latest instalment of NBC’s late night sketch show – hosted on this occasion by comedian Nate Bargatze.
Perry himself had previously hosted the show on October 4 1997, at the the height of his mainstream fame with American sitcom Friends, during which indie band Oasis featured as musical guests.
He was fourth star of the hit show to feature as Saturday Night Live host after Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox served as joint hosts in 1995, while Lisa Kudrow featured the following year.
Perry’s one episode tenure featured a Friends parody, in which the actor played womanising roommate Joey – a character made famous by Matt LeBlanc – while Colin Quinn played an effeminate version of Chandler.
