Drake Bell and Josh Peck rose to fame as the stars of the popular Nickelodeon teen sitcom Drake & Josh. However, both actors were already established performers when they landed their respective roles on the show.
While Bell started acting when he was 5 years old with appearances in commercials and later in numerous shows and movies, Peck got involved in stand-up comedy when he was 8. In 1999, they starred in The Amanda Show alongside Amanda Bynes.
Pek and Bell regularly appeared on the show. After its cancelation in 2002, they worked together on the spin-off show Drake & Josh. This show saw them as stepbrothers who were often at odds due to their opposite personalities. Similar to their predicament on the show, the actors did not get along when they first met.
Drake Bell Admitted That He Did Not Get Along with Josh Peck The First Time They Met
The Amanda Show, starring Amanda Bynes in the lead, aired three seasons between 1999 and 2002. Drake Bell joined the cast in the first season, but Josh Peck did not star in the show until the second. Bynes left the show as a star who worked in a series of big-budget comedies. Young actors Bell and Peck also had potential and got their own spin-off show.
Although the two stars were great friends after they started working together on Drake & Josh, they did not get along the first time they met. In an interview on the Speech Bubbles podcast, the Bad Kids of Crestview Academy actor admitted this, saying:
“What’s o cool is that we- the first time we met, we did not click at all. I don’t know what it was, but… we just didn’t click. When I saw that he was coming on The Amanda Show because I’d already done a season of The Amanda Show ‘I’m like, whoa, I’m the only guy in the cast.’ When I see Josh Peck on the call sheet, I’m like ‘Josh… No, not Josh Peck!’”
Bell then went on to say that when Peck came on the set, he started getting along with everyone. And they were able to bond soon over their love for classic comedies and comedians.
Drake Bell and Josh Peck’s Relationship Had a Tough Time for a While
Although Bell and Peck were good friends throughout the run of Drake & Josh, they seemed to have lost touch over the years. When the Grandfathered star married Paige O’Brien in 2017, he did not invite his former co-star to the wedding. This drew a wedge between them as Bell tweeted about his lack of invite (via US Weekly).
The co-stars were able to hash it out as they reunited at the Video Music Awards a couple of months later. Peck even posted a picture of them hugging on Instagram. Things seemed to have gotten better between them over time.
