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As we look forward to the next instalment of Days of Our Lives, let’s take a moment to reminisce on its association with another beloved TV show, Friends. The link dates way back to 1995/6 when a character from the show, an aspiring actor, apparently landed a role named Dr. Drake Ramoray in the TV soap opera. It was Joey Tribbiani, played by Matt LeBlanc.
In other words, LeBlanc’s character played a character on Days of Our Lives (in the Friends universe).
In reality, though, Days of Our Lives did not have any role by that name. It was a faux crossover between the NBC/Peacock show and Friends.
Naturally, the recurrent association of Joey/LeBlanc with Days of Our Lives gave rise to one pertinent question over the years. Did the actor really play the doctor’s role in Days of Our Lives? And the answer, for the record, is no, Matt LeBlanc/Joey Tribbiani didn’t play any character on Days of Our Lives.
Could Friends' Joey retain his Days of Our Lives role?
In a particular episode of the second season of Friends, it was revealed that Joey had been cast in a role on the television series Days of Our Lives. It happened in episode number 10, titled The One With Russ, which was broadcast on January 4, 1996.
The character’s name was Dr. Drake Ramoray, and it was a chance Joey held onto very dearly, given that his acting career was not taking off despite efforts. Eventually, he loses his job because he made false comments while talking to Soap Opera Digest magazine.
In season 7, in a hilarious story arc, Joey gets back the role of Dr. Drake Ramoray only to lose it again, as shown in Friends’ spin-off Joey.
But that didn’t stop the obvious question, did Matt LeBlanc/Joey Tribbiani truly play anything on the real Days of Our Lives? And the answer is straight no.
Days of Our Lives, which is slated to air its 16th episode of season 59 next Monday, was simply referenced in the sitcom to probably prove what a dream role is to Joey.
Further, John Aniston, father of LeBlanc’s fellow Friends star Jennifer Aniston, played a pivotal character in the real Days of Our Lives. The late actor was seen as the ruthless mobster Victor Kiriakis on the long-running show.
LeBlanc did play Dr. Drake Ramoray once in real life
LeBlanc, however, made a cheeky appearance as Dr. Drake Ramoray on Late Night With Seth Meyers in 2015. In the talk show, he was a part of the “Distinguished Guests” section as the neurosurgeon.
His intro, as said by Meyers, read,
“Ladies and gentleman, the field of medicine owes a debt of gratitude to this next individual. Famed neurosurgeon Dr. Drake Ramoray is here…Dr. Ramoray is a leader in the field of neuroscience, but is probably best known for falling down an elevator shaft in 1996 and being left in a potentially permanent coma with such extensive brain damage that only he himself could treat.”
The host continued,
“However, he was eventually brought back to life after he was given a brain transplant from a female donor, which did of course cause him to act like a woman.”
On the work front, LeBlanc was last seen as the main character in Man with a Plan. The CBS sitcom began airing in 2016 and was cancelled four years later.
The next episode of the Days of Our Lives television series will be broadcast on Monday, September 18, 2023.
