Lou Diamond Phillips is remembering Malcolm-Jamal Warner as a pricey buddy … telling us the late ‘Cosby Present’ star was a form and candy man.

We received Lou in New York Metropolis on Thursday and our photog requested him about Ozzy Osbourne‘s dying … and after praising the late Black Sabbath rocker for being on the chopping fringe of media, he revealed his friendship with Malcolm-Jamal.

Lou says he and MJW used to hang around … telling us the man “simply generated love” and characterizing his dying as an enormous shock and an enormous loss.

Nobody actually knew these two had been mates, however the pairing kinda is sensible … they had been each big within the ’80s … with Malcolm-Jamal starring on “The Cosby Present” and Lou starring in massive films like “Younger Weapons,” “Stand and Ship” and “La Bamba.”

TMZ broke the story … Malcolm-Jamal died Sunday in Costa Rica, drowning at a preferred seashore after being swept underwater by a robust rip tide.