Joey Tribbiani

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Joey Tribbiani

First appearance	The Pilot (Friends)
Last appearance	Joey and The Wedding (in Joey)
Statistics
Gender	Male
Age	30s
Occupation	actor
Family	Joey Sr. (father) Gloria (mother) Nonna (grandmother) Unnamed (grandmother) Michael (nephew) Gina (sister) Tina (sister) Dina (sister) Mary-Angela (sister) Mary-Therese (sister) Veronica (sister) Cookie (sister)
Portrayed by	Matt LeBlanc
Created by	David Crane Marta Kauffman

Joseph "Joey" Francis Tribbiani, Jr. (b. 1967) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), played by Matt LeBlanc. He is also the title character on Joey (2004-2006), the only spin-off of the aforementioned show.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Background
2 Career
3 Relationships
4 Family
5 Age
6 Trivia
7 Post-Friends

[edit] Background

Joey comes from an Italian-American ^[1] family of 8 children, of which he is the only male. He is one of the few "Friends" that made (relatively) few moves of home, having only changed apartments four times in the series: once, when he and Chandler moved into what is usually Monica's apartment after winning it from her in a game in "The One with the Embryos" and then moved back with Chandler into his own apartment; another time, he moved to his own lavish apartment away from Chandler, with whom the psychotic Eddie moved in, but shortly moved back afterwards. Joey is a "stereotypical" actor: oversexed, under-educated and constantly looking for work.

[edit] Career

Joey has a career in acting. He also pursued modeling at one point. It was successful until he learned his latest picture was that for a health safety poster advertising VD. The poster was shown all over the city, including the scoreboard at Madison Square Garden and led to him being briefly ostracized by his friends, and even his whole family. His character is known for his simple-mindedness, trouble with understanding negative criticism of his acting (even once believing a description of his performance as "abysmal" was positive), love of food (particularly meatballs sub sandwiches and the world's famous Joey's Special... Two pizzas) and success with women, which generated the popular catchphrase "How you doin'?" (his pickup line). However, he is something of an idiot savant in matters of romance. This is directly allued to in the episode 'The One Where Ross Dates a Student', when Chandler, referring to Joey, says "A hot girl's at stake and suddenly he's Rain Man." In another example, Joey made up an anecdote that Chandler and Monica referred to as the Europe story; apparently, anyone who hears it will immediately want to have sex with the teller. ("The One with the Videotape")

His roles varied from doctor to headshot in the above-mentioned public health poster for VD. Joey's most famous acting role (and longest lasting) was as Dr. Drake Ramoray on the serial drama Days of Our Lives. However, when he claimed in an interview that he wrote many of his own lines, the writers of the show became annoyed and killed him off a few episodes later (he fell down an elevator shaft). His character later returned after a bizarre plot line resurrected him. In Season 7, he was up for a Soapie for Best Returning Male Character. He lost, so he tried to steal one. Joey's agent was Estelle Leonard.

[edit] Relationships

Joey famously shared an apartment with his best friend Chandler Bing. The two formed perhaps one of the most likeable and enduring television friendships in sitcom history. Their adventures included losing Ross's baby son on a bus, Chandler's dismay at Joey building an entertainment center which was so big it covered both of their doors, buying a chick and a duck (affectionately named 'The Chick and The Duck'), replacing their dining table with a foosball table, spending hours watching Baywatch and Chandler living in a box to prove how much their friendship means to him. A long-running gag depicted Joey and Chandler occasionally fighting with each other like an old married couple, with Chandler often assuming the wife role while Joey assumed the husband role, suggesting homosexual undertones in their friendship (this eventually ended when Chandler became permanently paired with Monica). The two "broke up" temporarily after Joey found success as Dr. Drake Ramoray, but soon moved back in together (after fooling the psychopathic replacement roommate Eddie into believing he'd never lived with Chandler). In the final episode, Monica destroyed the foosball table (when the two couldn't bring themselves to do it to release the trapped Chick Jr. and Duck Jr.), before Chandler moved to the New York suburbs to begin their new family. However, Chandler and Monica made it clear that their new home would have a specially designated "Joey room".

When Chandler moved out to pursue a relationship with Monica, Joey was joined by Janine (Elle MacPherson). He formed a stronger bond with Rachel Green during her pregnancy by Ross Geller. He eventually fell in love with Rachel and dated her for a time; however, nothing came of it and the two returned to being just good friends. By the series' finale, Rachel and Ross resumed their romance.

Joey is perhaps the most loyal of the friends. As he said in The One with the Jellyfish, "If I had to, I'd pee on any one of you!" (although he actually couldn't pee on Monica, due to getting "stage fright"). In one episode, when Joey believed Phoebe to be pregnant, he proposed marriage, claiming the world is too scary for a single mother alone. However, when it was revealed that it was in fact Rachel who was pregnant, Joey proposed to Rachel, making the exact same speech and demanding the ring back from Phoebe. He also offered to stand up for Ross and Chandler when they were being bullied at Central Perk, and he allowed Monica to hire and fire him so as to prove to her employees that she was not a pushover. When he discovered that Monica and Chandler had developed a romantic relationship and they learned about it, he agreed to keep it a secret until the two were ready to reveal it to the rest of their group (although he was not above humiliating Monica by covering her and Chandler's affair up with the above statement that he himself had slept with her in London). He also called Chandler moments after suspecting Monica of having an affair with a mystery male he had heard in her apartment (who in fact turned out to be Chandler. "I told you you shouldn't have married someone so much hotter than you!").

It is implied in the series that the other Friends think that Joey is immature, and Chandler even claims that he is responsible for Joey's well-being.

Joey's relationships with the other Friends have always been very friendly. He is best friends with Chandler, and Ross is a close second, if not tied. Rachel and the other women on the show have been the object of many unintentionally sexist comments on Joey's behalf, especially Monica. Chandler once put it, "Your long-standing offer to have sex with my wife is much appreciated." This statement fairly accurately summarizes his behavior around most women. Notwithstanding this apparent boorishness, however, he always enjoyed a close relationship with Monica, Rachel and Phoebe.

[edit] Family

Joey's family consists of Joey Sr. (father), Gloria (mother), Nonna (grandmother), Michael (nephew), and his sisters Gina, Tina, Dina, Mary-Angela, Mary-Therese, Veronica and Cookie. Some of the storylines on Friends include Joey Sr. cheating on Gloria with a woman named Ronnie, Chandler fooling around with Mary-Angela, but not remember which sister she is, and Dina telling Rachel that she's pregnant. Most episodes of Joey include Michael and Gina but Mary-Therese and Joey Sr. also appeared.

[edit] Age

Joey's age is not consistently treated. In "The One with the Birth", which aired on May 11, 1995, Joey says he is 25. In "The One Where Joey Moves Out", which aired less than a year later in February, 1996, Joey says he is 28. The latter would put his birth in 1967 or early 1968, which allows him to be older than Chandler, which he must be if the events in "The One Where They All Turn Thirty" is correct. In "The One With Russ", which aired in January, 1996, Joey says he has been acting for 10 years. This is consistent with birth in 1967 or 1968, assuming he began his acting career after high school at about age 18. In another episode, Joey refers to his activities during spring break in 1981 and Rachel comments "You were 13", likewise consistent. In "The One With Ross's New Girlfriend", Joey, confused about whether Franky the tailor did Joey's first suit when he was 15 or 16, asks, "All right, when was 1990?" Joey can't have been 15 or 16 in 1990 and be 28 in 1996; it's possible, however, that an event in 1990 was somehow relevant to the calculation (Joey's mind sometimes moves in mysterious ways). In The One With The Red Sweater (2001) Chandler says to Joey after he laughs at a something silly "32 Joe. You’re 32!" Which would put Joey's year of birth at 1969. By the first season of Joey, Michael reveals that Joey is 35.

[edit] Trivia

Joey first used his trademark line "How you doin?'" in "The One with Rachel's Crush", in the fourth season.

One running gag on Friends is that Joey always wanted to have sex with Monica. At one point, he claimed they had slept together in London, as a way of covering up the fact that Monica and Chandler were dating. It's later revealed that the night that she was drunk and slept with Chandler, she was looking for meaningless sex, and was looking for Joey. And when Chandler and Monica were secretly dating, Joey once suggested that he sleep with Monica once in exchange for keeping their relationship secret. Also, when Phoebe asks Joey a series of rapid-fire questions in which Joey has to immediately answer without thinking about it, she asks him, "Who would you rather have sex with, Monica or Rachel?" and to his own surprise, Joey answers, "Monica". Ironically, he later fell in love with and briefly dated Rachel for a time. In The One With the Flashback, it is seen that Joey is willing to have sex with Monica when he is moving in, when she offered him lemonade. This is because the creators of the show originally gave Rachel and Ross' relationship to Monica and Joey. Also, when Monica slept with Chandler in London the first concept was that Joey had been the one in bed with Monica. Also, twice there have been fantasies thought up of what it would be like if Joey were in Chandler's place, such as doing a crossword with her before bedtime and being married to her as a fat man who is fed by her all the time.

There was some confusion over when Joey joined the "Friends" group. We see in The One with the Flashback that he joined the group exactly one year before Rachel's failed wedding to Barry. This would be September 21, 1993. However, in "The One with All the Thanksgivings," we see him with Pheobe and Monica in a 1992 Thanksgiving flashback.

Joey was the only Friend who ended the series without a lover. (Rachel with Ross, Monica with Chandler and Phoebe with Mike Hannigan). It emerges over the course of the series, that Phoebe had a secret crush on Joey. However, this was rather playful and was never acted upon. Lisa Kudrow explained that she and Matt LeBlanc had suggested that it be revealed in the finale that she and Joey had been having casual sex throughout the series, but the idea was thrown out. However, by the end of Joey, he has entered a serious relationship with his neighbour Alex.

Joey was also the only 'Friend' that never married. Chandler and Monica married, Rachel married Ross while drunk in Vegas (and left Barry at the alter.) Phoebe married Mike, as well as a 'gay ice-dancer', and Ross famously married 3 women: Carol, who left him because she realised she was gay, Emily, who left him first of all because he said 'Rachel' instead of 'Emily' while saying their vows, and left him again because of his refusal to stop seeing Rachel. He finally married Rachel while drunk in Vegas. Ross and Rachel end the series together, but it is never shown if the two marry. In Joey, he is disappointed when Alex says she doesn't intend to marry again, but she eventually admits, she may change her mind one day.

He was also the only friend never to be a parent in some way.

Ross had two children, one with Carol and one with Rachel
Rachel had a child with Ross
Pheobe gave birth to her brothers triplets
Monica adopted two children
Chandler adopted two children

Joey was ordained over the Internet and officiated at Chandler's wedding to Monica and Phoebe's wedding to Mike Hannigan.

When he was a child, Joey had an imaginary friend called Maurice, who was a space cowboy.

Joey sleeps with his "Bedtime Penguin Pal," Hugsy, a plush doll and the penguin is shown every time Joey's bed is seen. Hugsy is seen still in Joey's possession on Joey. Rachel's daughter Emma became enamored by Hugsy; Joey at first allowed Hugsy to stay in Emma's playpen, but eventually decided he loved him too much and took him back. Joey took Hugsy with him to L.A in Joey.

In an alternate reality storyline during the show ("The One That Could Have Been"), Joey is still playing "Dr. Drake Ramoray" and is now a rich soap star. In a reversal of roles, it is now Joey who earns more money, while Chandler is down on his luck. Yet they remain fiercely loyal friends, in spite of Chandler's failed attempt to earn extra cash by being Joey's assistant.

[edit] Post-Friends

After the 2003/2004 final season of Friends, Joey Tribbiani became the main character of Joey, a spin-off TV series, where he moved to L.A. to polish his acting career. His sister Gina and her son Michael were two other central characters of the sitcom "Joey". Gina is a straightforward woman who proudly dresses in revealing clothing. Michael is a shy science major at Cal Tech who is not good at socializing with women. Joey becomes good friends with an attractive female attorney named Alex, who, along with her husband, a travelling musician named Eric, is Joey's landlord. Joey hires a new agent named Bobbie Morgenstern, who is herself rather boorish, and not very sympathetic to Joey. Michael, wanting to get out on his own away from his mother, moves in with Joey, though Gina is still a frequent presence at Joey and Michael's apartment (still appearing to do Michael's laundry, for example).

Lucy Liu eventually joins the cast as the executive producer of Deep Powder. Joey also begins a romantic relationship with a neighboring photographer named Sarah (Madchen Amick), his first ongoing relationship that lasts more than one episode since his fling with Janine on Friends and relationship with Kathy, who ended up with Chandler. This too, however, ends when Sarah leaves Joey for her new job in Washington.

Following Sarah's departure, Alex separates from Eric and finds solace in the arms of Joey, but this too does not last. He later buys a house that burns down and sees his sister reunited with the father of her child. As the series ends he is in a committed relationship with Alex and watches his sister marry the father of her child creating a new family.

Friends