Fans Talk: Joey Tribbiani

Not sure what Joey’s doing resurfacing on every fan’s radar today. Although, it also makes total sense that he’s never left their radar.

Combing through what the fans deem to be the “best of” Joey Tribbiani from F.R.I.E.N.D.S, I think I’ve stockpiled a few nostalgic remember-when’s.

Like, remember when Joey stole all of Chandler’s clothing and wore every single piece all at once? Commando? Chandler learned fast never to steal his best friend’s underwear again.

“I’ll tell ‘ya, it’s hot with all this stuff on. I better not do any, I dunno, lunges.”

-- Joey to Chandler

Or however many personas Joey’s taken over the seasons: PlayStation “punk”, greaser, just plain hiring his own stand-in. (They were a little more Jersey than Manhattan, I think. Too much black.)

Of course, the fans didn’t forget the trademark “How you doin’?” Even if stand-in Carl couldn’t get the line (or the pizza), Joey laid out the catchphrase with finesse: to Rachel, to models, to the nudist neighbor across the street. Fun fact, Joey knows improvisational sign language.

Joey: “I look a woman up and down, and I say, ‘Hey…how you doin’?’”
Phoebe: “Oh please.”

-- Joey, showing Phoebe the power of the “doin’.”

But my favorite Joey moment has to be the Game Show Moment. You know the one: Joey shows up as a contestant on Pyramid (or the equivalent of), and can’t guess anything down to coffee creamer (“paper, snow, a ghost!”).

“The plan…it’s not a shmoo-print…”

-- Joey, trying to hint the word “blueprint.”

But if the game show doesn’t go to show, it’s that everyone loves Joey despite everything that makes him Joey. He leaves the show (the game show and the F.R.I.E.N.D.S show) with a special place in our hearts.

What If Joey Was President?

As iconic a show as Friends became for all the 2000’s and before, a good number of set paraphernalia became familiar sights for TV-show audiences. Anyone could recognize a decoration in either Joey and Chandler’s, or Monica and Rachel’s apartments at a glance, with little to no effort at all!

Which brings me to the less-recognizable poster, though just as important, that remained a permanent part of Chandler and Joey’s place, no matter the marriages, houseguests, or how many times the lease changed hands (or added roommate editions).  This would be the Laurel and Hardy poster from the back wall, a black and white photo still out of the 1928 movie Leave Them Laughing, one year after Laurel and Hardy became the iconic team they’re known as today.

But who were Laurel and Hardy? More than that, why this poster, of all posters?

I don’t think its any accident Laurel and Hardy, two male comedic pairs, found themselves the backdrop of Joey and Chandler’s lives…two more male comedic pairs.

The parallels don’t stop there. The Laurel and Hardy brand of comedy evoked slapstick humor, where Laurel was the more naïve relief to the pompous Hardy. Let’s picture that a second: who else do we know so naïve and perhaps a little slow, elbow-to-elbow with someone so sarcastic and quick to talk back?

Oh. Right.

What’s more, the two interacted on the silver screen a la “tit for tat,” or using equivalent retaliation, where one side matches another side’s action. AKA, when one person speaks, the other answers. When one person pulls a practical joke, the other responds in kind. Or, as good “friends” should, when one person needs a helping hand, word of advice (however contrived), or laugh, the other can be depended on just as easily.

Now I think that’s a comparison we can all easily recognize.