Matt LeBlanc almost faced a very different future before landing his career-defining role on “Friends.” The actor says his final competition for Joey Tribbiani arrived at the audition dressed like a cowboy. Fortunately for LeBlanc, his own interpretation proved to be the winning one. Years later, the unusual Friends audition story is getting fresh attention online.
Matt LeBlanc recalls competing for Joey against an actor who arrived dressed as a cowboy
A Reddit post resurfaced the story on Aug. 21. However, LeBlanc originally told it during a 2019 “Tonight Show” interview with Jimmy Fallon.
LeBlanc explained that the Joey audition had narrowed down to him and one other actor. Casting materials described Joey as an Italian-American struggling actor living in New York.
Then, LeBlanc saw his competition. The other actor had arrived dressed as a cowboy.
“I was like, ‘Well, one of us is way off base,’” LeBlanc recalled. He also joked that one of them clearly had not gotten the memo.
Interestingly, LeBlanc did not identify the other actor during that interview. However, the 2021 Friends reunion later revealed that Louis Mandylor was the other finalist for the Joey Tribbiani role. Mandylor eventually joined the show in Season 6 as Carl, the actor Joey hires to pretend to be his twin.
The casting decision became one of those pieces of Friends trivia that feels impossible in hindsight. LeBlanc ultimately played Joey throughout all 10 seasons and later led the spinoff “Joey.”
Meanwhile, his connection to the Friends cast has remained strong decades later. LeBlanc and Courteney Cox recently sparked speculation about their close friendship.
He also reunited with Jennifer Aniston for a star-packed Super Bowl commercial earlier this year. Naturally, the ad included a nod to Joey’s famous delivery.
For Friends behind-the-scenes stories, this one remains hard to beat. The iconic Joey role nearly went to someone with a very different wardrobe idea.
TELL US: CAN YOU IMAGINE ANYONE OTHER THAN MATT LEBLANC PLAYING JOEY TRIBBIANI?
