Actor Matthew Perry’s Friends co-star Maggie Wheeler has mourned the actor's death.“What a loss. The world will miss you, Matthew Perry,” she wrote in an Instagram tribute alongside a photo of them from the hit sitcom. She added, “The joy you brought to so many in your too-short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.” Wheeler made several guest appearances throughout Friends’ 10-season run from 1994 to 2004.
The actress played Janice Hosenstein, the fan-favourite on-and-off girlfriend of Perry’s character, Chandler Bing. She was known for her distinct nasal drawl as well as her catchphrase, “Oh. My. God.” Wheeler previously praised Perry as a brilliant comedian who made her break character on set. In fact, in a 2016 interview, she credited creating her character’s cackle as a way to get through scenes with him.
“So the laugh happened organically in the first rehearsal because I needed to find a way to laugh because Matthew Perry is so funny,” she said. “And working with him, I knew right away, I thought, ‘This guy's gonna make me laugh on set, I've gotta be prepared. What am I going to do?’ So I created Janice's laugh just as a safety measure for when Matthew made me laugh.”
In 2021, she appeared in a TikTok video with performer Jax and performed a parody of the Friends theme song, I’ll Be There For You, and changed the lyrics to reflect her desire to see Chandler leave Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) for Janice. “Chandler, I'll wait for you when you and Monica get divorced,” she sang. “I will wait for you, you know you always loved me more. You love me, Chandler Bing!”