Actor Joey Lawrence Still Has Plenty Of 'Whoa' Moments!

Actor Joey Lawrence is well known for his roles on “Blossom,” Gimme a Break,” “Melissa and Joey” and many other popular TV and movie roles. One thing many people think of when they see or hear Lawrence is his iconic “whoa,” and to this day, he’s still got it!

Lawrence recently had a genuine “whoa” moment while trying out a new product. That’s how he knew a partnership was meant to be. 

The actor and singer has always been a fan of LISTERINE products, so he was happy to upgrade his oral care routine with their newest line, Clinical Solutions, which was developed with dentists to help prevent top oral care issues. 

Lawrence literally said “whoa” after giving the new line a try.

“My dentist would always tell me to use LISTERINE. I’ve been inherently using LISTERINE for years and my kids use it, and we may have even talked about it on the pod,” he exclusively told The Blast. 

“Crazy story is, they reached out, were like, 'Hey, we have this brand-new Clinical Solutions line, it’s fantastic, and we’d love for you to give it a try.' I said okay great. I tried it, no joke, a lot of people say a week you’ll see a difference, right. Honest to goodness a week later like a massive amount of improvement and I couldn’t believe it.”

Lawrence said that while looking in the mirror one day, he literally said “whoa” because of the difference he’s noticed since using the new line.

“And I said that word, whoa, genuinely, honestly, I said it. I was like, this is nuts," he said. "We were talking and I said, 'Guys, I said whoa when I used this stuff,' and they’re like, 'Well this is great because that would make perfect sense if we could partner.'"

Lawrence’s well known “whoa” wasn’t something he set out to create. It actually happened completely by accident during a scene from his hit show with Mayim Bialik, “Blossom.” 

“It was one of those things, it was before social media, they had written the line in the script to be more like a Keanu Reeves ‘whoa’ like he said in ‘Speed’ and we had live audiences which was such an amazing experience. And it was in the height of a bunch of teen idols stuff that was going on, it was crazy for me at that time,” he told The Blast. “They gave me this line and nobody really laughed. I had seen this beautiful girl and was like ‘whoa’ and people were like eh and they really didn’t laugh, just a little chuckle.”

So, they tried the line once again and still no laugh. That’s when the executive producer told Lawrence they were going to give him a new line. He was told that when the girl walks in the room and Joey Russo, his character, sees her, don’t think about it and just say whatever comes to your mind.

“She walked in and literally I was like ‘whoa,’ literally, and the audience erupted into laughter. The third take, exploded. The producers were like, do it again," he said. “And the next three months it literally exploded.”

The ‘whoa’ stuck and Lawrence said it in multiple episodes for six or seven years. Still to this day, it’s something he’s well known for. One might think he’s sick of people asking him to say his iconic “whoa,” but he’s not.

“It never really gets old. It was a great part of my life being able to do this at the level I’ve been able to do this for 40-something years is really rare and I worked my butt off but I’ve also been blessed too and very lucky and so I look back on it fondly. It’s really neat,” he said. “The ‘whoa’ has been very kind to me and I absolutely said it the first time I used this Clinical Solutions line by LISTERINE. I really did.”

Lawrence has been active in his acting career since he was a young child. He’s also had a successful musical career. When asked if he has a favorite moment, he talks about many.

“There’s been a lot of great moments. Having a number one record was great. Being able to go on tour and perform in front of 70,000 people in stadiums was really amazing. Being able to work with my brothers, and honestly this pod has been the little engine that could. It exploded on us. To have it grow like it has, top 50 of all pods, it’s really amazing,” he told The Blast. 

“But I think the greatest moments, I always say, I think, I’m praying, they’re ahead of me because there’s a lot of stuff I have yet to accomplish that I would love to, and I hope I get the opportunity to and so I’m looking forward to some of those great moments left coming up here.”

Lawrence and his two brothers, Matthew and Andy, have a weekly podcast called “Brotherly Love” where they talk about anything and everything.

“It’s just dinner table conversation. I think that’s really what people are kind of responding to. We’re not a specific show,” he said. 

“We’re not a show where celebrities come on and promote things. We just literally have friends, some of them are celebrities, some of them aren’t. Some of them are near and dear, but they all have special places in our hearts. We have our best friends on, we’ve had both our parents on. It really is dinner table conversation. I think that’s what people have really responded to.”

Lawrence said each episode takes on a life of its own and that it’s like “an old closet” where you pull things out and reminisce about it. He said the “reception has been really great.” 

The actor is a busy dad of three girls ages 17, 14, and 1 ½. In addition to his dad duties and partnering with LISTERINE, he’s got some exciting upcoming projects in the works.

Lawrence is producing the movie, "Heart Attack" and his brother Andy is directing it. He's also working on a sequel to their Christmas movie, "Mistletoe Mix Up" which will be coming out later this year. The Lawrence brothers are also working on their first scripted television show together in 20 years.

And then let's not forget that there's the exciting news of a possible "Blossom" reboot.