'I'm terribly sorry about this' - Chris Evans shares sweet story about meeting Matthew Perry in LA

Virgin Radio

31 Oct 2023, 10:35

Chris Evans has recalled meeting Matthew Perry in Los Angeles, and he also told another amusing story about encountering some of his Friends co-stars and Brad Pitt.

Following the sad death of Perry on Saturday 28th October, on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch today (31st October), Chris told the story of when he chanced upon the late Friends star in LA.

“I met Matthew a couple of times,” he said. “We had him on the show. I think we were responsible for his last UK interview a few years ago.”

He continued: “The other time I met him was when I lived in Los Angeles, and we used to go to the same coffee shop every morning. I was in there with Billie, my ex.” 

Speaking about seeing the US comedy star at The Coffee Bean on Sunset Boulevard, he said: “The first morning that we went there, we were being followed by the UK paps. 

“They were following us around, because we were looking to buy a house. And so they sort of knew this, they'd found out about this, and we went to have a coffee.

“Matthew was a couple of tables to our right. It was early morning-ish. It was about eight o'clock, half-eight. Gorgeous day, as always.”

Chris continued: “There was a pack of paps, and he was reading the paper and he just put his paper down and he looked over to us. He said, ‘I'm terribly sorry about this. They'll be gone in a moment’.

“He then carries on reading this paper, and he has another look and says, ‘Are they here for you?’. I said, ‘We think they might be’. He said, ‘Who are you?!’, I said, ‘It doesn't matter!’.  He said, ‘Well, this makes a goddamn change!’” 

Chris then told a related story about buying a house in LA. When the real estate representative showed them a property that was “not officially for sale” and Chris agreed to buy it, the realtor explained that there were some other people “due here in half-an-hour and they've been booked for a week”. 

Chris said: “It turned out that the person coming to look at the house whilst we would still be there - because we were looking around it and we had to sort some things out if we really going to move on this, and we really were gonna get it that day if we could - was Courteney Cox. And Courteney Cox arrived with Jennifer Aniston, who arrived with Brad Pitt, who arrived with David Arquette!

“I was asked politely by the realtor to pretend that I worked there! He said it was because he couldn't explain away quickly enough that somebody else was going to see the property and that would be rude and they were very esteemed and valued clients. And he just snuck us in, but he thinks they wouldn't have approved of that. 

Chris added: “I thought, ‘I don't know what job to pretend to have’. So I went and hid in the bedroom. 

“Some poor lost soul who was just feeling a bit out of the whole process, the experience, was little Brad Pitt. So he wandered into the bedroom I was in. And we both had similar bucket hats on. He said, ‘Hi dude.’ I said ‘Hello’. He said, ‘How are you doing?’ I said, ‘I'm fine. How are you?’. He said: ‘I'm fine too. Stay cool’. And then he just left.”

Our own Graham Norton also paid tribute to Matthew Perry at the weekend:

Matthew Perry's Friends co-stars have shared a statement after the actor was found dead in his Los Angeles home at the age of 54. Read it here.

Listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.