Why Chandler Went To Tulsa In Friends Season 9

Chandler Bing split time between NYC and Tulsa in Friends season 9, and the brief storyline was connected to Matthew Perry’s personal life.
Even the biggest Friends fans might not remember just why Chandler moved to Tulsa. Matthew Perry’s Chandler Bing moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma for a brief time during season 9, and there were behind-the-scenes reasons for his reduced screen time on the show. Matthew Perry played the cynical and sarcastic character for all 236 episodes of the NBC sitcom. Friends miraculously was able to keep all six core characters during its decade-long run, but that didn’t mean the cast’s professional careers and personal lives didn’t occasionally bleed into the show. Indeed, while Chandler went to Tulsa because of his job in Friends, this is also directly related to Matthew Perry’s personal struggles.
In the second episode of Friends season 9, “The One Where Emma Cries,” Chandler fell asleep during an important meeting at his workplace and accidentally accepted an offer to move to Oklahoma to run a division of the company in Tulsa. Chandler had no choice but to commute between Tulsa and New York City. Even though Chandler ended up quitting his job by the season’s tenth episode, it limited actor Matthew Perry’s screen time. Here’s everything viewers need to know about Chandler’s Tulsa arc and its relevance to Perry’s life at the time.
While Chandler Was In Tulsa, Matthew Perry Was Getting His Life Back Together
Chandler Still Appears In Every Episode With Reduced Screen TimeSince Friends ended Perry has been outspoken about his issues with drugs and alcohol during filming. Matthew Perry already struggled with alcohol dependence, but a jet ski accident in 1997 exacerbated his struggles. Perry became addicted to painkillers, resulting in a short rehab stint. Matthew Perry’s weight was noticeably fluctuating, and his co-stars attempted to provide support. In 2001, Perry sought help from his family, which led to another rehabilitation period. He eventually returned to acting, but getting his life to a happy place became a long-term mission. Despite not missing any episodes on Friends, he was given a less prominent storyline so that his health could be the priority.

Perry has since shared that he doesn’t even remember filming three seasons of Friends. Although he has fought for sobriety, Perry continued attending rehabilitation as a way to continue his recovery. Echoing how Chandler went to Tulsa as a form of support for Perry, the Friends alum has himself paid it forward to those who are suffering from similar situations. Perry reunited with his former co-stars for the Friends special on Max, which prompted a discussion about Matthew Perry’s slurred speech, but helping others was his primary focus.
Matthew Perry’s Speech Was Slurred During The Friends Reunion
Matthew Perry Was Sober During The Reunion
The Friends reunion special was a resounding success, with all six original cast members returning for the program. However, there was one element of the show that had watchers concerned — Matthew Perry’s slurred speech. The actor has battled his own demons throughout his career only to come out victorious as he settled into sober living. However, many noticed that during the Friends reunion, his speech was slurred, causing worry that the actor had relapsed. Luckily, this wasn’t the case, but there was a different medical reason behind his speech difficulties that day.

Apparently, on the day of the reunion filming, Matthew Perry had to undergo emergency dental surgery and was in a lot of pain, resulting in the slurred speech seen in the final edit of the reunion. No actor wants to perform after surgery, but Perry decided that the show must go on and participate in the reunion special anyway.
Was Chandler The Only Friends Character To Have A Reduced Appearance?
Body Doubles Appeared For Other Friends Characters
Before and after Chandler went to Tulsa because of his job, Chandler was technically the only character to have a reduced appearance on the show. That being said, there is one particular episode of Friends in which Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) was swapped for a stand-in — and nobody noticed. In Friends season 9, episode 15, “The One With The Mugging,” a shot where Aniston’s character is half in the picture was shown, but it wasn’t Aniston at all. Rather, it was a stand-in, and she was wearing a completely different outfit than Rachel was.
According to fans, this isn’t the only time a Friends continuity error like this was made. Reportedly, the same thing was done once with Monica and another time with Rachel’s passport photo. While not a continuity error, Friends also famously used Lisa Kudrow’s sister as a stand-in when she filmed scenes with her twin Ursula. While Matthew Perry was the only Friends actor to get a reduced arc for the show, the series accidentally filmed a stand-in instead of Rachel which made it into the final cut.
What The Friends Cast Said About Matthew Perry And Chandler Being In Tulsa
The Friends Cast Members Think Of One Another As Family
Chandler went to Tulsa as a way for Friends to still include Perry without taking away focus from his recovery process, and this type of support has always been present among the Friends cast. Over the years, Perry’s fellow actors have been nothing but supportive of their talented co-star, with some even finding the silver lining in his situation. “I loved that Matthew found a way to make his character relatable by showing vulnerabilities in the personal struggles he was facing,” said Courteney Cox (via Us Weekly) in 2015. Meanwhile, in 2022, Lisa Kudrow shed some light on how Perry was coping then, alongside a hopeful and supportive note:

It’s a hideous disease, and he has a tough version of it. What’s not changing is his will to keep going, keep fighting, and keep living.

Although Perry continued a treatment plan that involved measured amounts of buprenorphine and ketamine infusions (via NY Times), he was found unresponsive by his assistant in October 2023. He died on October 28 at 54 years old. Following Matthew Perry’s death, the Friends cast mourned him together, releasing a joint statement saying, “We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.”