From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishas friendly/cheerful/miserable etc as everas friendly/cheerful/miserable etc as everas friendly etc as someone or something usually is George was as miserable as ever. The food was as bad as ever! → ever
Examples from the Corpus
as friendly/cheerful/miserable etc as ever• The lads were as cheerful as ever but guarded, like the possessors of unwelcome news. 