David Schwimmer ‘Surprised’ to Hear Matthew Perry Once Praised His ‘Friends’ Comedy Skills: He ‘Was Reserved With Me. He Would Not Say That to Me’

David Schwimmer appeared on the “Origins with Cush Jumbo” podcast (via People) and was surprised to hear the host talk about a conversation she once had with Matthew Perry in which the late actor praised Schwimmer’s physical comedy chops. Perry and Jumbo starred together on a season of “The Good Fight,” while Perry and Schwimmer spent 10 seasons working together on “Friends.”

Jumbo, who had long been impressed by Schwimmer’s physical comedy, was on “The Good Fight” set with Perry and asked her co-star if that style of comedy just came natural to Schwimmer.

“[Perry] talks about how it’s not out of control at all, that you’re a linchpin person in a scene and that mostly people were always looking to you to know physically what direction things should go in,” Cumbo told Schwimmer. “Without you being the pin the other things don’t work, which I thought was very, very complimentary and probably very true.”

Schwimmer expressed shock over the story, telling Jumbo: “That’s a huge compliment and I’m surprised to hear it because Matthew was reserved with me. He would not say that to me, but I appreciate that a lot.”

“Yeah, I am one of the few in the cast who had a rigorous theater training,” Schwimmer continued. “I think it’s gotta be finely, carefully, choreographed and I would work and work and work on any physical comedy in a scene.”

Schwimmer added that anytime he had a physical comedy moment on “Friends,” he would “meticulously structure and choreograph it, not only so that I never hurt myself or hurt anyone else but so that I could repeat it many, many, many times. I think that’s what maybe he’s referring to.”

Perry died last October at 54 years old from the acute effects of ketamine. Schwimmer paid tribute to the late actor on Instagram at the time by writing in a post: “I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes.”

Listen to Schwimmer’s full interview on the “Origins with Cush Jumbo” podcast here.