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Sometimes, destiny comes with a black eye—or a busted nose, in Matt LeBlanc’s case. Long before Friends became the ultimate sitcom juggernaut, LeBlanc’s audition for Joey Tribbiani took an unexpected (and slightly painful) turn. The night before one of his key auditions, LeBlanc and his buddy decided to embrace the “friends hanging out” vibe with a little too much enthusiasm. A few drinks in, he stumbled on his way to the bathroom, face-planted into a toilet, and walked away with a nose injury.
But here’s the twist: that very mishap became the golden ticket. LeBlanc showed up to his audition with a visible mark on his face. He spun the hilarious story like the charming goofball Joey himself when asked about it. It had the casting directors cracking up, sealing the deal for a role that would define his career. LeBlanc’s comedic timing—and that real-life “Joey moment”—proved he was Joey Tribbiani, inside and out.
The road to casting Joey wasn’t a smooth one, though. Two big names almost nabbed the part before Matt LeBlanc made it his own. Comedy icon Hank Azaria tried twice to land Joey. Azaria told James Corden that he knew the show would be huge, but the role slipped through his fingers despite his efforts. He didn’t walk away empty-handed, though. Azaria later appeared as David, Phoebe Buffay’s sweet but stammering love interest, in a storyline that left fans rooting for him—until Paul Rudd’s Mike Hannigan swooped in.
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