Matthew Perry claims rehab helped with his 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.