Matthew Perry explains why Friends continues to gain fans 25 years later

When it premiered on NBC in 1994, Friends immediately found a connection with fans and critics thanks to its smart writing and the chemistry of its core cast. That connection is still being found more than 25 years later, whether it's fans re-watching their favorite episodes or new generations discovering the adventures of Pheobe, Monica, Ross, Rachel, Joey, and Chandler.

In a new interview with People, where the cast looked back at their time on the show ahead of the two-hour reunion special on HBO Max, star Matthew Perry reflected on why the show became so popular and why it has stood the test of time, even while the television landscape has changed and grown.

"It was a character-driven funny, not timely funny," he told People. "They didn't make timely jokes. They didn't make jokes about O.J. Simpson. They made character-driven jokes about people — and people are going to come back time and time again and watch that."

The Friends reunion marks only the second time that the cast has spent time together since the show's finale aired in 2004. In a recent interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Courteney Cox spoke about the emotions that came with getting back together on a soundstage for the first time in 15 years, telling Ellen "it was unbelievable, so emotional...it was great—we had a lot of special surprises... it was fantastic, it really was."

The Friends reunion special airs on May 27th on HBO Max.

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