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Image / Living / Culture

#MattieBan: Matt LeBlanc reacts to the Irish uncle memes


By Sarah Finnan
14th Jun 2021
#MattieBan: Matt LeBlanc reacts to the Irish uncle memes

Matt LeBlanc has become somewhat of an Irish Twitter sensation after a shot of him from the ‘Friends’ reunion went viral online.

UPDATE: This week, Matt LeBlanc’s friend and Episodes co-star, actor Stephen Mangan has said that the Friends star had seen the explosion of memes about him following the reunion for the hit 1990s sitcom.

While promoting this new children’s book, Escape the Room, on RTÉ Radio’s The Ray Darcy Show, Mangan said that he of course had mentioned the memes to LeBlanc. “Oh yeah, I wouldn’t miss a trick like that… they caused a lot of joy in this house,” said Mangan.

“I’m not sure Matt really understands what was happening,” he chuckled, but reckons he got the gist. “He saw the funny side of it. He’s got a good sense of humour.” In fairness, unless you actually had an Irish uncle, it’s hard to explain just how spot-on of an impression he was doing.

If you need an update on #MattieBan, take gander at our favourite tweets, below.


In news that is surprising to no one, everyone is still talking about the Friends reunion, but not for the reason you might have expected. Unless you’ve been living under a rock with no internet, you’re likely to have seen the Matt LeBlanc memes by now… but let me catch you up to speed just in case. 

Basically, Matt LeBlanc has been granted honorary status as a through and through Irishman after two different shots of him from the reunion ep went viral. Why? Well, because he looks very bloody Irish in it. Everything from his outfit choice, to his expression, to his posture (he’s leaning against the countertop in one, leaning back in his chair, arms folded and feet out in front of him in the other) screams Irish uncle – and the internet has gone wild for it. 

Pictured alongside any number of different Irishisms you’d expect from your country dad/uncle/neighbour, we’ve rounded up some of the best #Mattieban memes we’ve seen over the past few days. 

He’s down with the kids.

Shur he could’ve done better himself.

A classic dad joke.

We can all see this.

A great analogy.

The cat that got the cream.

Joey’s famous catchphrase, but Irish.

Twinkle, twinkle…

The IRL version of Irish mammies saying “bye, bye, bye” a million times before actually hanging up the phone.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that this comment is a given when wearing ripped jeans.

Even Simon Harris got involved… though not everyone was a fan of his contribution.

In other Friends-related news, Courteney Cox treated us all to an updated version of the routine over the weekend. Yes, that routine… the one that she and David Schwimmer whipped out in honour of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Superfans of the show, the brother-sister duo were invited to be “party people” at a pre-New Year’s Eve filming by Janine, Joey’s dancer roommate. Unimpressed that they weren’t getting as much camera time as they’d hoped, they knew they’d have to do something special to get the crew’s attention. And something special they most certainly did. Performing a routine they first put together back in 8th grade, it worked a charm and landed them a prime spot on the coveted podium – little did they know the clip would be used exclusively for the bloopers reel though. 

With all things Friends still fresh in everyone’s minds, Cox decided it was time to take the routine out of hibernation once again. Teaming up with longtime pal Ed Sheeran for the dance, she shared the clip over on her Instagram writing, “just some routine dancing with a friend…”. The ending proved a little difficult, but otherwise, it’s a 10/10 from us. 

I can’t help but think that maybe Monica and Ross were ahead of their time… that is just the kind of thing that would have made them TikTok famous during lockdown. 

Feature image via @stagedreaction