Call him a couch potato.
When the highly anticipated “Friends” reunion finally premiered Thursday on HBO Max, fans across the pond were thinking the same thing: Matt LeBlanc is a dead ringer for a beloved Irish uncle.
Irish Twitter was quick to observe that LeBlanc, who played Italian ladies’ man Joey Tribbiani on the sitcom, possessed certain Gaelic grandad, or “Da,” characteristics, including his biting wisecracks, Sunday roasts and frequent pints at the local pub.
Meanwhile, a very “Irish uncle-esque” pic of the 53-year-old “Joey” star sitting with his arms folded on a couch, wearing a striped short-sleeved shirt has taken social media by storm.
“I enjoyed Matt Le Blanc’s ‘Da sitting on the couch during a quick stop at your grans’ performance,’” tweeted one Irish “Friends” fan alongside the now meme-fied photo of the Emmy nominee.
Another quipped, “Never has a childhood of growing up in rural Ireland better prepared me for something more than it’s prepared me for this Matt LeBlanc being your uncle meme.”
The affectionate comparisons are perhaps even funnier given that the comedian isn’t even Irish, but rather boasts mixed French and Italian ancestry.
Nonetheless, the quips came fast and hard, with Irish comedian Dara Ó Briain retweeting a thread featuring the best memes of LeBlanc as the quintessential relative from the Emerald Isle.
“The rest of the world should know that for the last 24 hours Irish Twitter has become OBSESSSED with how much Matt Le Blanc looks like everyone’s uncle/cousin,” he wrote in the caption. “Read this thread to get the full sense of it. Or don’t; because you won’t understand the half of it.”
Meanwhile, journalist Philip O’Connor tweeted that he hoped that Matt LeBlanc “sees the love on Irish Twitter for him these last 24 hours.”
Not everyone thought the adoring tweetstorm was so sidesplitting. Many outsiders criticized Irish fans for “fat shaming” LeBlanc as the photo depicts him looking quite rotund.
“All of the Matt LeBlanc fat shaming isn’t fun or funny,” wrote one Canadian detractor.
Another critic from Yorkshire, UK, wrote, “Stop fat shaming Matt LeBlanc. He’s the only good one.”
However, Irish “Friends” die-hards insisted that the comparisons came from a place of love.
One clapped back, “We are not fat shaming Matt LeBlanc we are claiming his as one of our own, because of his body language, because of his tired but amiable expression and the way he seems to be bracing himself for a long event full of people he loves that he would rather not be at but has to.”