Let us all now exclaim a collective “whoa!”
Joey Lawrence
stopped by to gab with
Will Friedle
and Sabrina Bryan on their
Magical Rewind
podcast, and his appearance resulted in a cascade of incrementally more substantial “whoa!”s.
The television star, who came to prominence on legendary sitcoms like
Diff’rent Strokes
and
Gimme a Break!
before costarring for five seasons on the hit series
Blossom
,
was on the Disney Channel rewatch podcast to discuss
Horse Sense —
a 1995 cable movie in which Lawrence plays a lazy, good-for-nothing rich kid who learns valuable life lessons on a Montana ranch. (We can all relate to that, right?) But the chat also delved into other aspects of his career.
Indeed, Lawrence made a bold claim, and said that his character on
Blossom
was the direct inspiration for
Matt LeBlanc
‘s character on
Friends
.
“[My character] Joey Russo on
Blossom
was so successful that when they were creating
Friends
, they wanted a 25-year-old version of that,” Lawrence said about the middle child of
Blossom
‘s Russo family, who was a bit of a lech but also a lovable dummkoph.
“Warren Littlefield, who had taken over NBC,” Lawrence began to say, before noting, “I don’t think [the character’s] name was even Joey Tribbiani. I think it was something else. And because Joey Russo was so successful, I think they changed it to Joey Tribbiani.”
Lawrence then explained that Matt LeBlanc was given the difficult task of creating a womanizing character who also retained an aspect of innocence.
“It’s also a tightrope that you have to walk, because when you’re a womanizer, or…the way that you can get by because you’re not, like, lecherous, is with innocence, you know?” Lawrence reasoned.
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Addressing the podcast’s cohost, Will Friedle, he said, “I know that you brought a lot of that to your character on
Boy Meets World —
is its innocence. You get away with a lot with innocence, right?”
Lawrence concluded, “All I remember is that Matt LeBlanc was sent to the
Blossom
stage and he would sit up in the audience with a yellow notepad and take notes on how I portrayed Joey Russo, so that he could bring innocence to Joey Tribbiani. So he could get away with his womanizing.”
Whether or not LeBlanc drew inspiration from Lawrence’s beloved catchphrase “Whoa!” when creating his own “How
you
doin’?” remains unknown.
Reflecting on the legendary role as the not-exactly-bright character on
Friends (
and the follow-up show
Joey
), LeBlanc told
The Guardian
in 2012, “People will speak slowly to me sometimes. And they always ask me if I’m all right, because I’m much more low-key and reserved than my character in
Friends
. They think that I’m depressed, or I’m sad, or upset.”
For his part, Lawrence has kept very active in reality television, placing third on
Dancing With the Stars
in 2006, and appearing on
Celebrity Big Brother
and
The Masked Singer.
To listen to more of Joey Lawrence’s tales, you can press play on the latest episode of
Magical Rewind
above.
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Entertainment Weekly
