Matt LeBlanc has acknowledged that people tend to confuse him with the roles he’s played – particularly Joey from Friends.
"Television has that weird thing," LeBlanc told The Guardian. "You see a character in a multitude of situations over so many years, and you can't help but think that that is who that guy must be."
Back on the small screen on Friday in the second season of the BBC TWO comedy Episodes, the 44-year-old plays a fictional version of himself.
"I was very sceptical and uncomfortable with the idea of playing myself, because I didn't understand what they were getting at," LeBlanc admits. "They said: 'Oh, well, we're not making a documentary; it's not you we're going to write.'
"I said: 'As long as it's not me – as long as it's a character that we can just slap my name on – and we can play with the guy. But I don't want it factual at all.'”
Even now, members of the public assume that he is Joey Tribbiani. “People will speak slowly to me sometimes,” he says. “And they always ask me if I'm all right, because I'm much more low-key and reserved than my character in Friends.
“They think that I'm depressed, or I'm sad, or upset – but I'm just not amped up to go out in front of an audience and do a TV show. That's not who I am."
