30 October 2023 , 20:13
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Hank Azaria has posted a heartfelt video tribute to Matthew Perry - saying they were "like brothers" when they were making their breakthrough in Los Angeles.
Hank, 59, appeared in several episodes of Friends, playing Phoebe Buffay’s love interest David, as well as being well known for his role in The Simpsons and films including Along Came Polly. In a video posted to his Instagram page, he said: “Matthew was the first friend I made in Los Angeles when I moved there. I was 21, he was 16.
"We did a pilot together...we became really good friends and we were really more like brothers for a long time. We drank a lot together, we laughed a lot together. We were there for each other in the early days of our career and he was to me, as funny as he was on Friends and he was and other things too, in person, he was just the funniest man ever.
READ MORE: Matthew Perry's assistant expresses her 'deepest gratitude' in touching tribute
Hank Azaria said they were like 'brothers' (Getty Images)"And every night, he was like a genius, he would start to weave comedy threads together, just hanging out - little joke here, joke there, joke here, joke there - and then by the end of the night he would weave them all together in this crescendo of hilarity."
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Hank then looked emotional as he discussed Perry’s addiction issues. He added: “Most nights you spent with Matthew you were crying and laughing by the end. I really loved him.
"A lot of us close to him really thought we lost him to drugs and alcohol a long time ago. As he documented in his book, in his autobiography, there was so much suffering. I had to pick up and put down that biography like 11 times, it was so painful for me to read."
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On his own problems, he said: “I’m a sober guy for 17 years, and I wanna say that the night I went into AA, Matthew brought me in. The whole first year I was sober, we went to meetings together.
“He was so caring and giving and wise. And he totally helped me get sober. And I really wish he could’ve, you know, found the – found it in himself to stay with the silver life more consistently.
"But it’s heartbreaking, for those of us who loved him and knew him really well, personally. We just missed him. We just missed him. It’s one of the terrible things about this disease, is it just takes away the person you love.”