Friends‘ Joey Tribianni Guests on Leno’s Tonight Show in Resurfaced Video

Friends and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno were two of television’s biggest shows in the early 2000s, but Joey Tribbiani’s appearance on the Jay Leno-hosted show had been largely lost to time… until now.

In March, Warner Bros. Television began posting full episodes of the much-maligned Friends spinoff Joey to YouTube. Thanks to that rollout, Matt LeBlanc character’s appearance on Leno’s Tonight Show has been unearthed.

In the recently uploaded episode “Joey and The Tonight Show,” late-night’s then-top rated host makes a pair of primetime cameos, cementing himself in Friends canon for the second time.

Aired in February 2005, the episode came late in Joey’s first season, and 12 years into Leno’s tenure on Tonight.

By this point in the series spin-off, Hollywood-based Joey had found moderate success as the star of the buzzy new TV drama Deep Powder, but a spot on Leno’s couch was not quite within his grasp. But after one of The Tonight Show’s scheduled guests cancels the day before, Joey’s agent (played by Jennifer Coolidge!) reveals she has secured Joey a spot on the show. (The character is said to be slotted as second guest, between Colin Farrell and musical guest Maroon 5.)

Having dreamed of appearing on The Tonight Show his whole life, albeit with Johnny Carson, Joey spends the episode nervous about his appearance—planning the perfect anecdote, worrying that he’ll call Leno ‘Johnny,’ and watching footage of Leno teasing Joey’s appearance on the prior night’s show. (Leno shot the tease specially for the episode—one of many times late night has crossed over into other shows.)

The bulk of the episode, however, takes place in the minutes before Joey’s appearance, as Joey, his sister, and his nephew get stuck in the slow crawl of LA traffic on their way to Leno’s Burbank studio. (“I go on in an hour,” Joey laments at one point. “There should be a Tonight Show lane!”)

When traffic comes to a complete standstill, the actor is left desperately improvising another way to get to Leno’s show. As the clock ticks down, Joey’s agent reveals he’s about to be replaced by an animal expert with a snake. What’s worse: “If you’re late, they give away your spot and you’re banned from the show for life,” his agent tells him.

“I’m supposed to be grooving out to Maroon 5 with Colin Farrell right now,” Tribbiani cries. “Instead a snake is doing it!”

Spoiler alert: In the episode’s final minute, Joey makes it to The Tonight Show, giving Leno his second cameo of the episode.

While it was the late night debut of LeBlanc’s Joey character, Leno actually appeared in the Friends franchise ten years prior. Chandler’s mother, erotic novelist Nora Tyler Bing, guested on an in-show episode of The Tonight Show in the sitcom’s first season. (All three shows, of course, aired on NBC.)

For those curious if Joey’s appearance goes off without a hitch, the full episode can be viewed below or on the Friends YouTube channel.

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