Who are Craig Bierko and David Pressman? Matthew Perry's friendship with 'rat pack' explored

Matthew Perry's unexpected death sent shockwaves down the entertainment industry, and fans experienced an overwhelming sadness akin to losing a true friend. Perry rose to fame for his iconic portrayal of the wisecracking and ever-so-sarcastic Chandler Bing in the hit 90s sitcom Friends. The actor was reportedly found drowned in his Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles home on Saturday, October 28, 2023.

Just like the friendship between the titular characters of Friends, Perry had his own "mini-Rat Pack" who used to hang out in the Formosa Cafe. The friend group consisted of actors Hank Azaria, David Pressman, and Craig Bierko. Pressman is notable for his role in the Matthew Perry starrer Mr. Sunshine, Azaria is famous for lending his voice to Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in The Simpsons, and Bierko originally turned down the role of Chandler Bing.

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Matthew Perry's "mini-Rat Pack"

In his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry revealed that he too used to have a gang that he constantly hung out with in West Hollywood's Formosa Cafe, just like the iconic Friends characters used to hang out in Central Perk. Perry's gang consisted of actors David Pressman, Hank Azaria, and Craig Bierko, a group he called his very own "mini-Rat Pack."

David Pressman is an actor mostly known for many small roles showered across hit films like Tropic Thunder, Stargate, and DC League of Super-Pets. He most recently portrayed Bean Centaur in Dan Harmon's 2023 animated adult sitcom, Krapopolis.

After Perry's death, Pressman paid tribute to his friend on Instagram. He posted a picture of him and another friend, Roger Castilo, from his birthday dinner years ago. In the caption, he wrote:

"I know you can’t tell from my expression but nobody made me laugh harder. I’ll miss him. A lot. And I hope wherever he is, he’s finally at peace. Love you, Matthew.'

Craig Bierko's friendship and tumultuous history with Matthew Perry are well documented in Perry's memoir and are known to most hardcore Friends fans. Even though the showrunners had their eyes set on Matthew Perry for the role of Chandler Bing from the beginning, Perry was unavailable due to commitments towards L.A.X. 2194.

A Matthew Perry-coached Craig Bierko auditioned for the role and came close to nailing it but had to choose between 'Best Friends' or 'Friends Like Us' (Friends). Bierko chose the former, despite Perry and Hank Azaria telling him otherwise. L.A.X. 2194 fell through, allowing Perry to audition for Friends, which he obviously nailed, and the rest is history.

The show Bierko turned down became a cultural phenomenon under the friend who had initially coached him for the role. This led to a temporary end to the friendship between Perry and Bierko, as the latter refused to talk to Perry throughout the first two years of the show.

After refusing to pick up Perry's calls for years, Bierko eventually called and met Perry at his apartment, where he apologized to Perry for not calling. Craig Bierko claimed he couldn't handle that Perry had gotten "rich and famous" from a role he turned down. Perry forgave Bierko and told him that all that did not do what everybody thought it would do. Bierko did not believe him.

Hank Azaria is quite famous among Friends fans for playing Phoebe Buffay's first serious love interest, David, the scientist. The unexpected yet warm and cozy romance between the two ended abruptly when David had to go to Minsk. He appeared in five episodes of the series.

Apart from this role, Azaria is quite an accomplished actor, landing roles in hit movies like Heat, Pretty Woman, Godzilla, The Birdcage, and Lovelace. He also landed the iconic role of Gargamel in both the live-action Smurfs movies.

He is also a legendary voice actor, most notable for voicing a variety of Simpsons characters, including the iconic Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. His work in The Simpsons landed him six Primetime Emmy Awards.

As a tribute to his late friend, Matthew Perry, Hank Azaria released an Instagram video talking about his experiences with Perry. The actor said that Perry was the first friend he made when he moved to Los Angeles. They did a failed pilot together when he was 21 and Perry was 16. The actor revealed:

"We were really more like brothers for a long time."

Azaria remembered the times when they would drink and laugh "a lot" together. He called Matthew Perry "the funniest man ever". He further explained the genius of Matthew Perry:

"He would start to weave comedy threads together, just hanging out – little joke here, joke there, joke here, joke there – and then by the end of the night he would weave them all together in this crescendo of hilarity."

Azaria revealed that reading Perry's biography was painful, and he had to put it down around 11 times before getting through it. He credited Perry for helping him with his sobriety, which has lasted for 17 years. He revealed that Perry brought him into his first night of A.A. As a friend, he called the details of Perry's recovery process and struggles with addiction "devastating."

"I really loved him. A lot of us who were close to him felt like we lost him to drugs and alcohol a long time ago because as he documented in his autobiography there was so much suffering," he said, adding, "We just missed him. It’s one of the terrible things about this disease is it just takes away the person you love."

Towards the end of the video, Azaria wished for two things to have gone differently: he wished that Matthew would have been consistent in his sobriety, and he wished that he and the rest of the world had gotten to witness the rest of his career.