‘Friends’ Matt LeBlanc’s Soap Character Based After Late ‘DOOL’ Star
The soap opera world lost a legend this week when Drake Hogestyn died at 70. Drake played John Black on Days of Our Lives for 38 years and died from pancreatic cancer on Saturday, September 28. With his death, fans remembered his time on Days and recalled how the sitcom Friends based a Matt LeBlanc storyline on the soap star.
Here is what you need to know about Matt LeBlanc’s character and how it ties into the Days of Our Lives star.
Matt LeBlanc’s Friends Soap Opera Character Based On Drake Hogestyn
On Friends, Matt LeBlanc played Joey Tribbiani, and his job on the show was as an actor. His main role in the series was as a soap opera star on a fictional show-within-a-show. That soap was based on Days of Our Lives. Not only was it based on the popular soap, but Joey played a character named Drake Ramoray on the soap.
It is easy to see how Drake Ramoray resembles Drake Hogestyn. However, when Joey was in character as Drake, it was also uncanny how much his character acted like Hogestyn’s John Black, from his facial expressions to his serious reactions. Like John Black, Drake Ramoray was exaggerated and dramatic when his fake soap scenes were shown on Friends.
The two characters were very different, though. John Black was involved in law enforcement stuff while Drake was a doctor. However, John Black’s mishaps on Days of Our Lives were nuts, and Drake’s mishaps on his fictional soap were just as wild.
When Joey tried to brag that he wrote his own lines, the soap’s writers punished him by having Ramoray fall to his death in an elevator shaft. They brought him back from the dead with a new brain and then had a nurse kill him by stabbing him to death. It was never any more ridiculous than the Days storylines with John and Marlena, especially when the latter was possessed by the devil.
Did Drake Hogestyn Ever Comment On Friends’ Homage?
Drake Hogestyn never said anything about Matt LeBlanc’s parody of his character in Joey’s soap opera role. However, Alison Sweeney (who played Sami Brady on Days of Our Lives) said that the cast would watch Friends every week, so it was clear Drake knew about it.
“It was such a fun ongoing story to watch on Friends, and it made us laugh. It just had such a sense of humor about what we do, and we just loved it,” Sweeney said. In a fun turn of events, Sweeney even had a short stint on Friends as an actress in the same soap Joey starred in.
What are your thoughts and memories of Drake Hogestyn? Did you realize Matt LeBlanc’s character on Friends played a character influenced by the Days of Our Lives actor? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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