Matthew Perry Was A 'Man Slave' To One Friends Co-Star After Losing A Bet Behind The Scenes

The late Matthew Perry once experienced of those Mandela Effect moments that all of us have likely experienced; he remembered something one way and was 100% sure he was correct. Indeed, Perry's false memory led to stubborn insistence, pride, and — perhaps foolishly — a bet. There was a moment, back in the 1990s on the set of "Friends," when he was positive that one of Anthony Michael Hall's lines from John Hughes' 1985 movie "The Breakfast Club" was spoken by Hall in Hughes' other 1985 movie "Weird Science." Given the line, the fact that Hall appeared in both films and the proximity of the two films' releases ("Breakfast" hit theaters in February, while "Science" turned up the following August), one can understand Perry's faulty memory. It didn't excuse the fact, however, that he lost a bet with a co-star and had to become their personal servant for a five-month spell.

Perry's bet was related by fellow "Friend" star Courteney Cox on an episode of "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. Recall the scene from "The Breakfast Club" wherein the teenage characters, realizing they were unsupervised, decided to partake in some marijuana. They all got giggly and silly. The Anthony Michael Hall character began speaking in a silly voice, talking about how "chick can't handle their smoke."

According to Cox, Perry — being a loose and funny man — was amusing his co-stars by doing his impersonation of Anthony Michael Hall's strange voice. Perry would then proudly declare that line to have been from a different movie altogether. It seems there was a long, amusing process to prove that Perry was wrong. This was before the days of streaming services and YouTube, so some in-person confirmation was required.

Cox related the story as follows:

"One day I was on the set, and I was sitting around, reciting this line, like, doing this imitation of Anthony Michael Hall. He has this line in a movie. The line is, 'Chicks cannot hold their smoke, that's what it is.' And Matthew Perry walks over to me and very adamantly says, 'Oh, "Weird Science."' And I said, 'No, Matthew, that's "The Breakfast Club."' And he was 100 percent sure that it was 'Weird Science' and I was 100 percent sure it was 'The Breakfast Club.'"

Clarification was required, and wouldn't you know it, one of the stars of "The Breakfast Club" just happened to be shooting in a nearby studio, just across the lot from the "Friends" set. Judd Nelson, a co-star of a contemporary 1996 hit series, would surely have the answer. As it so happens, he did. Cox continued:

"More and more crew members got involved in the debate and the stakes kept rising. We realized that Judd Nelson was over on stage 29, doing 'Suddenly Susan.' So, we ran over there and found out that yes, indeed, it was 'The Breakfast Club.'" 

Cox declared, quite proudly, that she had won a bet over this trivial debate with Perry. When Leno asked what she won, Cox merely sneezed. She then rang a bell that had previously been hidden in the couch she was sitting on. Rather unexpectedly, Perry himself emerged from the wing of "The Tonight Show" with a box of tissues. He made quite a show of extracting a tissue and handing it to Cox before rolling his eyes and exiting.

"Five more months of that," said Cox, smiling. "As your man slave!" Leno added. "My man slave," Cox replied.

Perry was very game. R.I.P., sir.