Interview by Paul Salfen
WILL FRIEDLE, TLC’S CHILLI AND THOMAS IAN NICHOLAS ANNOUNCED AS PART OF UPCOMING Z2 GRAPHIC NOVEL FROM JOEY, MATTHEW AND ANDREW LAWRENCE
The Lawrence Brothers—Joey, Matthew, and Andrew—are no strangers to the spotlight. With over three decades of acting experience across iconic shows like Blossom, Boy Meets World, and Brotherly Love, these pop-culture powerhouses are now stepping into a bold new venture: The Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency, an original graphic novel from Z2 Comics. Co-created with the Berkowitz Brothers and writer Brian Yuran, this project promises to deliver a nostalgic yet wildly inventive take on the trio, joined by an exciting cast of collaborators including Will Friedle, TLC’s Chilli, and Thomas Ian Nicholas.
The brothers are bringing their detective agency to life at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, kicking off today, July 24, 2025. Fans can catch them at the Z2 booth (#1529) for signings on Friday, July 25 at 4:00 PM PT and Saturday, July 26 at 3:00 PM PT, followed by an exclusive panel on Sunday, July 27 at 11:15 AM PT in Room 6DE. Chilli and Thomas Ian Nicholas will join the brothers on the panel, adding extra star power to an already electric event. The Kickstarter campaign for the graphic novel launched today, offering fans a chance to support the project with rewards like collector’s cards, original art, and even the opportunity to be named the “4th Lawrence Brother” in the story.
AMFM Magazine sat down with Joey, Matthew, and Andrew Lawrence to discuss their leap into the graphic novel world, their creative process, and what fans can expect from this thrilling new chapter.
Paul Salfen: Well, Joey, we’re so happy to have you on with this. It’s always great to talk to you. You always have so much going on, but now I feel like you have the most going on this week since we already talked to you.
Joey Lawrence: Yeah, it’s been an amazing last year and a half, man. You know, we were coming out of Covid and didn’t really know what to do. Started this little pod and did it all independent, in-house. And it just sort of took off and exploded. So, it led the way to, you know, we shot a Christmas movie that was called Mistletoe Mixup, ended up being the number one movie on Amazon. Unbelievable. Like was even bigger than Chris Pratt’s $200 million movie over there. It actually displaced that at number one, which was wild. And we did a sequel which came out this year, and did incredibly well. And then we teamed up with the Berkowitz brothers and Sean Gorman, you know, and Brian Yuran, and it’s just been an amazing sort of ride here with this graphic novel. Never thought we’d be doing it, but it’s so weird because about ten years ago, the brothers and I were talking about doing something funny in the vein of a Hardy Boys, sort of a detective agency. Like, what if we had all this old shit from when we were kids, you know, all these memorabilia and paraphernalia, and we couldn’t get jobs, and we just started saying, like, what are we going to do with all this stuff? You know, we played detectives, we played doctors, we played… Maybe we could just start like some sort of Hollywood detective agency and find because actors are always losing, you know, and then obviously it was just an idea. We’ve been just sort of throwing it around and then Ben and Max, the Berkowitz brothers, came up to us, and guys, we had this idea. Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency. We’re like, what did you just say? We’ve been talking about it. And they were like, but here it is. You’re looking for lost child stars in the 90s, set in this supernatural world, but sort of with a foot in the real world and…
(Matthew and Andrew join the conversation)
Joey Lawrence: Oh. What’s up guys? Hey, there they are. I was just telling them about how fortuitous it was, you know, sort of our connection with the ten years of throwing around this idea and now it really coming to life and, you know, it rounding out into this sort of Scooby-Doo grown up Scooby-Doo world meets Hardy Boys. And yeah, here we are, you know? And it’s just taking shape, man. And the first book is going to be insane. Like, so much fun. It’s gonna have crime and slime. And, I mean, it’s got a bunch of crazy cool things as we solve all these mysteries and adventures.
Matthew Lawrence: It’s also going to have some depth to it as well. You know?
Joey Lawrence: No depth. I’m kidding. You purely surface level B.S.. No, no.
Matthew Lawrence: No matter. Matt’s absolutely right. Good. Matt. Sorry. Well, no, you know, there’s there’s going to be an element to it, you know, that goes into childhood stars and what that’s like to know a workforce that, you know, as a kid. And we’ll always take the comedy route and the mystery route. But there there will be some themes in there that, well, you know, be have some, some depth and have some heart and some cool stuff to it.
Paul Salfen: Yeah, absolutely. And I was just saying that, you were just at Comic-Con and it’s so crazy out there, but probably also pretty inspiring for what you’re doing too man.
Joey Lawrence: The reaction was tremendous. You know, we didn’t know what to expect. I mean, we’re doing a graphic novel and an animated series. Like what? I don’t know, you know, in this sort of made up world, right, with a foot in reality. And, dude, the reaction, I mean, the Kickstarter launched and to see all these hundreds and hundreds of people show up to get advance posters signed and join our sort of community. And it’s been really overwhelmingly amazing to watch that happen. It really started with the pod, as I was saying. And it’s really grown into all these other endeavors that we’ve just been fortunate enough to venture down. It’s been really cool.
Paul Salfen: Yeah. Well, and it’s really neat to see you all work together, you know, because it would really help to have two more of me in what I do. And so it’s, I know it’s great that the mic is good, but it’s got to be kind of funny sometimes to just as brothers, you know, fight a little bit. Right.
Matthew Lawrence: Absolutely. Like any family business, for sure there’s going to be some conflict. Mostly just because we all are very passionate people and have strong opinions, but we’re very lucky. We usually have a two out of three ruling system. Which means if two of us agree on something and the other one kind of just has to go with it, however, sometimes it doesn’t go down without a fight, you know, sometimes. Sometimes it becomes Succession just slightly. Yeah, slightly less, but Succession, I dunno if you ever saw that show, but…
Paul Salfen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and so tell me a little bit about how the idea for this came about for each of you because it’s such a cool concept and hey, we all love solving mysteries but I believe in.
Andrew Lawrence: Yeah, yeah I, you know, we were, we take all these family vacations and have kids and stuff and we were always running around this one town in Hawaii as kids. And we would think, what if we had a detective agency and we were solving crimes on the island because I think some kind of crime happened on the island, you know, I don’t know if it was…
Joey Lawrence: Yeah, it was big talk back in the day when we were kids or something that maybe a family at the hotel or something was stolen or, you know, remember, their villa was robbed and all their jewelry was taken. That’s what it was. Yeah. And it was a very prestigious resort. Like you would never expect that. It was unprecedented, you know.
Andrew Lawrence: Yeah. So we were running around as kids and we were talking about how cool to have this detective agency. And then we were coming up with, of course, the comedy element to it, because that’s what we love to do. And then we just never… we would always bring it, it would rear its ugly head every like three or 4 or 5 years, and then we’d write another couple episodes and then it would go away. And then, yes, we were just by chance introduced to this team, and they had this idea of doing the Lawrence brothers as a detective agency. And we were like, yeah, we’ve literally been thinking of that our whole lives. So that’s how it kind of came about. Truly. That’s exactly what happened.
Paul Salfen: Yeah. That’s so cool. And then, of course, you said there’s a new show we’re going to see too, right?
Joey Lawrence: I was telling him a little bit about… he was asking one of the things we were working on. I said, well, we have yeah, we have a new TV show that is super unique and very irreverent. Very unexpected in a lot of ways. And we’re super excited about it. I said, we have season one that’s launching later this year, probably September, October, probably September. And we’re already working on season two, and it’s, man, the synergy of everything together with the pod and the show and the detective agency graphic novel, and it just seems like there’s no stopping us.
Matthew Lawrence: There’s no stopping us. So, I love that.
Paul Salfen: And there’s going to be some new music right there. Always.
Joey Lawrence: Yeah, always new music. We’re actually our live pod. Our two nights in Vegas at the Strat, which sort of kicks off this sort of, with random dates throughout the rest of this year and more to come next year. We have an amazing band that Andy was lucky enough to sort of put together when he was doing his music a few years back. And we’ve sort of been shepherded in Matt and I and we’ve been rehearsing the last few nights and it’s been so much fun to get up there and sing with these guys. We’ve never done it like this. So, I don’t know why, but it’s been really a treat to get up there together and perform and we’re really looking forward to having some fun up there on stage at the Strat Theater with our band. It’s going to be great.
Paul Salfen: That’s so cool. Well, you know, a lot of people look up to what each of you do and they think, see, that’s what I want to do. So it’s so much harder than anyone can imagine. But what kind of advice would each of you give to somebody that wants to follow in your footsteps?
Matthew Lawrence: Good question. I only hesitate because I’m still trying to figure it out myself. I have such a loose grasp on any method to madness, but other, you know, just it’s like any… it’s like trying to accomplish any other big goal in your life. And it can be related to anything. You have to be relentless. You have to push forward every day, even though there are these incredible headwinds, and somehow you have to try to make progress and you have to really love it. Because if you really, really love it, then you’re going to survive with all the crazy things that are going to be thrown at you, because it’s going to be a crazy ride when you go for something that is a little out of the ordinary or go for one of your dreams, and this could be in anything. It’s a bumpy road and it’s so yeah, you got to love it. And if you do, I always say just you’ll find a way. Especially with the way things work now with social content and YouTube and all these different avenues for really anybody to get out there and start creating their own content and that’s how things are getting discovered. That’s how you get noticed, you know, you start to see these actors now and you’ll research. You’re like, wow, where did this young up-and-comer come from? You’re like, wait a minute, they got their start on YouTube. Or social. I mean, Justin Bieber. That’s how he got discovered. So especially now, it’s such a renaissance of entertainment. Anything that your dreams are, are within reach. So, Nike said it best. Just do it. That’s the thing. Go for it.
Andrew Lawrence: You know? But really, like both they were saying, I mean, you know, both Matt and Joey. It is the perseverance and you have to have a spine like steel because there are a lot more days early on, especially where it doesn’t feel like you’re getting anywhere but you are. And you got to keep hammering away. You know, it’s so easy or should I say much easier to do the work when success is upon you and you’re experiencing that success. But when you’re trying to build to that moment and all those setbacks that come along the way, which are a hell of a lot more than the successes early on, that’s when the perseverance and the backbone really comes into play.
Joey Lawrence: Having brothers, being able to do that the three of us, we all have our weak days, you know, where we lean on each other in a lot of ways. And you have those vulnerable moments. And what I mean by weak, I have my weak months. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, honestly though, we are really there, like, just instinctually when one of us falls into that place, the other two become the pillars of strength and vice versa. And that’s really allowed us to get through a lot of the lows. You have a lot more lows than you do highs? People just focus on the highs. You know, they recognize the highs. They don’t realize the like Matt said, the months and months of lows before you get that little peak, you know, and that’s what we’re all about working towards and experiencing and, you know, hopefully everything will work out. But it is all those things, love it.
Paul Salfen: You know, my co-host is Drew Pearson. One of our great Dallas Cowboys caught the Hail Mary, went in the Hall of Fame and so nice. I gotta ask you guys your Hail Mary moment. The moment in your life or career, you just had to go for it. And it worked out for you.
Matthew Lawrence: Believe it or not, I think personally we’re in it right now.
Joey Lawrence: Yeah, I was just about to say right now, man. Yeah, this is it. All hail, Hail Mary taking this podcast out on a tour. And we’re going to Vegas. So yeah. We got the graphic novel that we’re hoping that people really love. And we’re gonna turn it into an animated series. We have such big plans, music and and and still movies and the classic television projects that we’re trying to cultivate. So we’re really going for it right now. The whole world is wide open. And, you know, the whole system, for better or for worse, is really falling apart except for a very, very, very select few at the very, very top of the industry. Other than that, it is the Wild West for everybody. And, you know, without the structure, it’s some so mad, you know, no, nomadic, freewheeling world where you have to just piece things together and work hard. And it’s like Tetris a little bit, you know, but that is the Hail Mary because you’re going for broke. And you’re hoping that it is paydirt, you know, and we won’t rest until we exercise everything and take it to the fullest, no matter where it leads us.
Paul Salfen: Love that. You know, and part of that we talk about that on the show is that success mindset you have to have, whether or not you’re feeling it or not. And, you know, it’s creative types who are hard on ourselves. So is there something that each of you kind of tell yourself that keeps you on that right path? One foot in front of the other one?
Joey Lawrence: Yeah. You know, honestly, baby steps. We evolve. Yeah. Baby steps, baby steps down the escalator. Baby steps. I feel like, you know, I just, I tell myself a few things that aren’t really that effective, you know? But it’s when the other guys tell me things that really helps me, you know? It’s like you got this, man, you know? I mean, we’ve all been doing this for 40 years, you know? So while it’s just so weird, it’s so weird because we’re still fairly young guys. Well, Andy’s young. Matt and I are still hanging on, but, you know, it’s weird to say you’ve done something for 40 plus years professionally, you know?
Paul Salfen: Yes. Yeah. I’m just curious how you guys time manage it all. You have so much going on all the time.
Matthew Lawrence: Well, that’s another thing. It’s brutal. It’s brutal. We try to delegate and yeah, it’s overwhelming at times. Especially right now I feel like this is the most overwhelming time. We have so many different things that are kind of growing rapidly in all different ways. And it’s an amazing feeling. But it’s wildly overwhelming at times.
Paul Salfen: Yeah. You know, so. So when are we going to see the graphic novel and then the music and everything else?
Joey Lawrence: Well, the graphic novel launch is April of ’26. The TV show, season one, most likely September of this year. The pod tour kicks off August 15th in Las Vegas at The Strat and our podcast, The Brotherly Love Pod. You can see every single Friday on our YouTube, Brotherly Love Pod.
Paul Salfen: That’s perfect. Well, and then, of course, in between all this, you have to manage all the socials, which is a whole nother thing that that wasn’t there in the beginning, right?
Joey Lawrence: Oh, my God. Yeah, the beast man. It is. Yeah yeah yeah, I got to manage all that. And three daughters and… Yeah, yeah. Two teenagers. You’ve got your hands full more than anybody I’ve heard of it. It’s like I’ve aged so much the last five years, man.
Paul Salfen: Now you’re doing great. I need to get some fitness tips from you over there.
Joey Lawrence: Just consistency, man. That’s right. 300 pushups a day. Just do 300 pushups a day. Just start with that. Only 300. All right. Got it. Oh, that was pretty quick. Ten sets of 30 under just try 100 Joe. That’s ten sets of 30. You’re banging them out in like 15 minutes. Oh yeah.
Paul Salfen: Yeah yeah I love it. Well well let’s leave it with this. What what is it that you’d like to accomplish that’s not on that long list of things that you’re doing right now. You gotta throw it out there in the world.
Joey Lawrence: You know, we’ve always wanted to launch… Well, I mean, I know we talked about a lot of things, but like a cool clothing brand because we’re all into fashion in different ways, you know, and it’s been a part of our lives in different ways too, you know, especially me with the flannel shirts, the ripped jeans and all these things and, you know, with all the retro stuff back, we’ve really been trying to crack with the team sort of how to do a clothing line together and incorporate sort of everything that we’re working on. Right? Because there’s all sort of nostalgia and it’s all sort of retro, but it’s also like into the future, and we’re just working on all of that. So, we’re excited. We were having a big meeting today, actually, and throwing around some really exciting ideas of how to do that. And I think we cracked it. So we’re looking forward to that. That’s what I’m personally looking forward to because I love clothes personally. But, you know.
Paul Salfen: Yeah. That’s amazing. We’re so excited for you. And just tell everybody to check out all these things coming up. It’s great to check in with each of you and look forward to talking to each of you again soon.
Joey Lawrence: Appreciate your time. And we’ll see you again, hopefully in the great Texas soon.
Matthew Lawrence: Oh, man. You will, you will. Yes. We were actually in Corpus Christi not too long ago. It was very nice down there.
Andrew Lawrence: Yeah we were. Texas is always near and dear to our heart. So shout out to everybody in Texas. You’ll definitely be seeing us for sure.
Paul Salfen: It’s beautiful. Thank you all so much.
The Lawrence Brothers: A truly legendary trio, Joey, Matthew, and Andrew Lawrence grew up on camera, starring in classics like Gimme a Break!, Blossom, Mrs. Doubtfire, Boy Meets World, and their own sitcom Brotherly Love. They recently reunited on screen for the indie holiday hit Mistletoe Mixup and its overwhelmingly popular sequel. They currently co-host the hit Brotherly Love Podcast, a mix of hilarious confessions, behind-the-scenes stories, and unfiltered takes on growing up famous. Whether riffing on fame, family, or the weirdness of Hollywood, the Lawrences are doing what they’ve always done best: keeping it real, keeping it funny, and doing it together.
