Matthew Perry: 'Rehab helped with new TV role'

Matthew Perry has joked that his time spent in rehab helped new show Go On.

The former Friends star will play a sportscaster who enters group therapy to overcome the loss of his wife in the NBC comedy.



"I don't have a lot of experience with grieving, but I have a ton of experience sitting in circles and talking about my problems," Perry quipped, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"I've been doing that for a long, long time so I didn't have to do much research."

Perry entered a 28-day programme in 1997 for vicodin addiction and returned to rehab in February 2001 to treat an addiction to vicodin and methadone.

Discussing the group experience, the actor said: "The interesting thing is that common bond creates a lot of laughter, a lot of jokes, and a lot of funny."

Perry recently claimed that Go On is better than his previous ABC comedy Mr Sunshine, which was axed after a single season in 2011.

NBC will air a special preview of Go On on August 8 following coverage of the London 2012 Olympics, with the series debuting in full on September 11.

> Star Trek's John Cho made series regular on Matthew Perry's Go On

Watch a clip from Go On below: