The Sly Connection Between Days Of Our Lives Star Drake Hogestyn & Matt LeBlanc's Friends Character

Drake Hogestyn, most known for portraying John Black on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives," died on September 28, 2024. His cause of death was pancreatic cancer. Hogestyn was on the sudser for 38 years, and it's believed that during his long career, he even inspired a fictional soap opera star. In the sitcom "Friends," Matt LeBlanc's character Joey Tribbiani stars on the show's version of "Days of Our Lives." In what seemed to be an homage to Hogestyn, Joey's character's name was Dr. Drake Ramoray.

As is standard for a soap opera, the neurosurgeon Ramoray got into many drama-filled, sometimes outlandish, situations. Although "Friends" ended in 2004 (and the "Joey" spinoff in 2006), LeBlanc brought Ramoray back briefly in a 2015 appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers." The late-night host gave an overview of Ramoray's exciting life, including when he was given a brain transplant after a terrible fall in an elevator shaft. "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," Meyers said (per E! News), adding that Ramoray eventually received a brain from a female donor — that of a fictional diva "DOOL" character named Jessica Lockhart (played by Susan Sarandon).

In a 2024 interview with CinemaBlend, Alison Sweeney — who started appearing on "Days of Our Lives" when she was very young — discussed the "Days of Our Lives" references in "Friends." She told the outlet, "You know we would watch every week that Joey was on 'Days of Our Lives.' 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 also described how fun it was guest starring on "Friends" and getting to play Jessica Ashley, one of Joey's "Days" co-stars.

Although the late Drake Hogestyn never made an appearance on "Friends," other "Days of Our Lives" stars in addition to Sweeney did. Some even played themselves acting as their actual "Days" characters, such as when Kristian Alfonso and Kevin Spirtas appeared in an episode together.

For more, check out Hogestyn's son Ben's soap opera past.