The Friends alum made a surprising (but funny) point after watching himself on the show recently, and I honestly couldn’t agree more.

I’ve never been an actor, so I can only imagine how strange it would be to look at television in search of something good in a show. TV schedule for 2024 and suddenly see your face on it. This is especially true if several decades have passed since said acting job and you find yourself looking at a younger version of yourself. Tate Donovan apparently knows exactly what it is, as he accidentally stumbled upon one of Friends episodes in which he played a major role. He had a rather funny idea of how he saw himself on one of the best sitcoms of all timeand I couldn’t agree more with him.

Tate Donovan played Rachel’s love interest Joshua in five episodes of the fourth season. Friends being one of the most rewatched series on televisionrepetitions are, of course, not uncommon. What’s a little more coincidental, however, is that of the more than 230 episodes that aired on NBC from 1994 to 2004, the actor encountered one of the few episodes featuring Joshua. Donovan responded well to blasting the past by telling People:

I don’t really watch Friends, but I was in a hotel room the other day and, oh my god, Joshua was there. I thought, “Wow, I was really handsome at one point in my life.” I really was.

Wait, didn’t he already know he was attractive?

I may have never appeared on television in any meaningful way, but it’s actually quite nice to have some sort of emotional reaction to, for example, seeing myself in old photographs. Tate Donovan apparently understood what hooked Rachel(Jennifer Aniston) everything came together back when she became ridiculously infatuated with her client at Bloomingdale’s.

He’s not wrong either. Joshua was a handsome guy, especially with that name—never “Josh,” always “Josh-YA,” as Rachel said. That’s not to say Tate Donovan doesn’t look great now (he’s pictured below during a 2019 interview), but I’m willing to bet we’ve all changed a lot since 1998.

Tate Donovan being interviewed on The Rich Eisen Show in 2019.

(Image credit: The Rich Eisen Show)

Tate Donovan isn’t the only Rachel lover to make headlines all these years later. Friends fans were stunned when they saw recent photos of Cosimo Fusco aka Paolo, saying that the Italian actor “aged like fine wine“

When it comes to Tate Donovan’s guest spot on FriendsHowever, emotions are a little more complex than simply realizing how much time has passed. As the sitcom celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, Donovan candidly recalled real breakup with Jennifer Aniston he was worried at the time. The actors dated for two years, but quietly broke up when he accepted the role of Joshua.

He said Matthew Perry helped him get through this difficult time, and a lot of time passed before he was able to review those episodes Friends. I think it made things even more frustrating when the episode took place in a hotel room!

If you want to relive the days of Joshua or anyone else funniest episodes Friendsall 10 seasons are available to stream from Maximum subscription.