Matt Cohen, who plays Detective Burrow on The Young and the Restless, expected to meet some familiar faces around the studio. But he didn’t expect to run into Roger Howarth, his former General Hospital co-star, who was now playing the recast version of Matt Clark, known as Mitch Bacall.
Cohen and Howarth built a strong bond on General Hospital when Cohen played Griffin Munro, while Howarth played Franco Baldwin, so their reunion came as a surprise.
Matt Cohen on reconnecting with Roger Howarth on The Young and the Restless
Matt Cohen told Soap Opera Digest that he and Roger Howarth connected easily when they worked together on GH. “We’re just two guys that connected, kind of, emotionally,” he said. Cohen also mentioned that Howarth was one of the first people to reach out when Cohen left the show.
The two eventually fell out of touch during the pandemic, but their reunion at The Young and the Restless felt natural. Cohen remembered walking through the hallway on his first day and spotting Howarth. “I couldn’t have felt more unbelievably happy and at home to see his face,” he said. At that time, he didn’t even know their storylines would cross.
However, Cohen soon learned that Detective Burrow would be working undercover as a dirty cop tied to Mitch, which meant the actors would share scenes. “We’re deep in it together. We’re in each other’s dressing rooms trying to challenge, like, how can we lift this material in another direction? How do we find another dynamic to it?” he added.
“Roger and I have a real comfort,” Cohen shared, before adding, “We’ve done a lot of, call it, men’s spiritual talk behind the scenes together.” That connection, he said, adds something special when they act together.
Beyond Roger Howarth, Matt Cohen has also reunited with former General Hospital stars Tamara Braun, Michelle Stafford, and Hayley Erin. And he crossed paths with one of his oldest friends, Michael Graziadei, whom he first met filming Boogeyman 2.
“We became the closest of closest friends,” Cohen said. “So when I got the chance to come to Y&R and knew I’d be on his set, that was amazing,” he added. Even though he hasn’t shared scenes with everyone yet, he loves having them around. He said that just seeing friends at work and watching them rehearse makes the job more enjoyable.
