Trivia / Drake & Josh

• Adored by the Network: When this show started airing, it quickly became Nickelodeon's top dog in terms of live-action shows - therefore one of the network's most popular shows. The series' popularity resulted in it being run a lot by Nickelodeon even after the show had ended and lead way to similar shows on Nick.
  • And now, almost ten years after it's ended, TeenNick seemed just as infatuated with this show as their parent channel once was. Try turning on TeenNick any given hour of the day, chances are this show or Zoey 101 will be on. On October 28, 2012, TeenNick finally realized people were likely annoyed with the constant re-runs so it was taken off the schedule. Then the show returned to TeenNick's schedule that December, though only in the overnight hours, showing the network has moved on...to milking other shows.
• Baby Name Trend Starter: "Audrey" jumped up 20 spots on the baby name chart in 2006 after it was used as the name of Drake and Josh's mom.
• Billing Displacement: In airings of the Christmas Special, Miranda Cosgrove and Jerry Trainor (Carly and Spencer from iCarly) are emphasized more. Some commercials will actually say "Starring Miranda Cosgrove and Jerry Trainor", even though Jerry Trainor is at most an Ascended Extra.
• The Cast Showoff: Drake Bell. It is as if the audience needs constant reminders that Drake Bell has a music career.
• The Danza: The eponymous characters.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Despite playing geeky best friends in high school, Scott Halberstadt, who played Eric, was nearly 28 and double the age of Alec Medlock, who played Craig, when the show premiered. To his credit, however, he looked much younger and was actually pretty convincing.
  • Josh Sussman, who played Clayton, was 23 in his appearances.
  • Taran Killam and Johnny Lewis, who portrayed Drake's friend Trevor and bandmate Scottie, were 21 and 20 around the premiere.
  • Averted with Drake and Josh themselves, who were 16-17 when the first two seasons were made. However, the show's time moved slower than real time, and they were both 19 during production of the final season while the title characters were still 17-18. This was played straight in the reunion Christmas movie, as they were around 21-22 during filming while their characters were still a few years younger.
• Deleted Role: Nathan Kress was cast as Thorton's younger brother who has a crush on Megan in "Battle of Panthatar". Dan Schneider was so impressed with him that he decided to cast him as Freddie in iCarly. Schneider then removed his scenes from the final cut of the episode to avoid confusing viewers, though he can still be briefly seen in the background in some shots.
• Directed by Cast Member: Drake Bell directed the first part of Really Big Shrimp, while Josh Peck directed the episode Battle of Panthatar.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Drake Bell dyed his dark brown hair auburn for the show.
  • According to Josh Peck, Jerry Trainor gave himself the "psycho-buzzcut" hairstyle to make the Crazy Steve character look even crazier in the later seasons.
• Enforced Method Acting: According to the script for that Scene in "Josh Runs Into Oprah," Josh was only supposed to kiss Drake on the cheek. So when Josh instead kisses him right on the lips for a solid 2 seconds, it's no wonder Drake freezes in the weirdest position like he has no idea where that came from...
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Some episodes of season 1 and 2 (specifically "Pilot", "Dune Buggy", "Believe Me, Brother", "Grammy", "Blues Brothers", "Driver's License", "Number One Fan", and "The Gary Grill") are nowhere to be found on Hulu, iTunes, and Prime Video for unknown reasons, meaning that you have to resort to finding them on old DVD compilations or through torrent sites.
  • While seasons 2-4 were filmed in HD and widescreen, Nickelodeon has yet to release any of those episodes in HD. Only certain clips uploaded on some of Nickelodeon's YouTube channels like DanWarp were shown in HD.
  • The series was added to Paramount+ on December 8, 2020 (back when the service was still named CBS All Access). The service thankfully brought some episodes missing from other streaming platforms back to circulation, but the following episodes are still absent: "Pilot", "Blues Brothers", "Driver's License", "Number One Fan", and "The Gary Grill".
• Meme Acknowledgment: Drake Bell has acknowledged the "Oye, tranquilo viejo" meme from the Latin American dub.
• Missing Episode: Several episode from Seasons 1 and 2 aren't included on Hulu or other streaming services, apparently due to vague "licensing issues" with material used in the episodes.
• The Other Darrin: Frances Callier infamously filled in as Helen in Little Diva when Yvette Nicole Brown was unavailable since she was busy appearing in the ABC sitcom The Big House, which starred a then-unknown Kevin Hart.
• The Other Marty: When the show's pilot was remade into the proper first episode, Jonathan Goldstein took over the role of Walter Nichols from Stephen Furst (of Animal House and Babylon 5 fame) and stayed in the role for the rest of the series.
  • Originally, a different actor was cast as Crazy Steve, but then he wasn't kept because he wasn't crazy enough, so Jerry Trainor took over the role due to the casting director liking his audition.
• Out of Holiday Episode: The special Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh was Adored by the Network for a while by Nickelodeon, airing even when it was no longer Christmas.
• Out of Order: While Really Big Shrimp is the canonical finale of the show (before Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh), it aired before two more episodes, "Helicopter" and "Dance Contest".
• Reality Subtext: Josh's weight loss is brought up during the Christmas Episode. Josh Peck lost weight during the last two seasons after having a chubby figure in the first two seasons and ultimately looking slimmer in the final season. Notably, it's Helen, a character bitchy enough to casually mention sensitive subjects, who brings it up.
• Romance on the Set: Denied. It was rumored for years that Jonathan Goldstein and Nancy Sullivan (Walter and Audrey) had gotten married in real life after meeting on the set. However, Josh Peck dismissed the rumor as “100% not true but a really cute idea” in 2016.
• Schedule Slip: Drake Bell's car accident in December 2005 caused production of the fourth season to be postponed for three months, with three episodes shot beforehand.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The reason why some episodes of the show are missing from Hulu and digital retailers like iTunes remain a mystery, although allegedly due to clearance issues with music and celebrities being a cause, despite many of the missing episodes not having any of those issues whatsoever and episodes with the alleged music issues had clips uploaded legally on Nickelodeon's YouTube channel. Thankfully, some, but not all, of those missing episodes were finally made available to stream when the series was added to Paramount+ (see the Keep Circulating the Tapes section above for more info).
• Throw It In!: Josh Peck broke script when he kissed Drake Bell on the lips instead of on the cheek in "Josh Runs into Oprah," but Drake didn't break character, and the shot made it into the final cut.
• What Could Have Been: In 2019 it was mentioned that Bell and Peck were in discussions to make a revival series. Given the former's legal issues in 2021 (as well as Peck's discomfort with Bell's actions), such a concept is assuredly never to see the light of day now.
  • Stephen Furst was originally cast as Walter. A pilot was shot, but ultimately dropped when he was unavailable for the rest of the series.
  • In a rather dark example, Brian Peck (revealed in 2024 to have sexually assaulted Drake Bell during production of "The Amanda Show") campaigned to have himself cast as Walter. This would end up being the caveat that led to Bell going to the police and subsequently getting Peck arrested.
  • Shortly after his 2021 guilty plea, Bell and his wife pitched a concept titled Josh & Drake with Josh Peck listed as writer of the pilot script, only for Bell and Peck to have a dispute over the proposed script (Peck had written his character as a real-estate agent and Drake as a failed musician) that ultimately led to that reboot attempt being shelved.

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