The One Where the Stripper Cries

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friends season ten (the final season) September 2003 - May 2004 List of Friends episodes
Episodes: The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss The One Where Ross is Fine The One with Ross's Tan The One with the Cake The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits The One with Ross's Grant The One with the Home Study The One with the Late Thanksgiving The One with the Birth Mother The One Where Chandler Gets Caught The One Where the Stripper Cries The One with Phoebe's Wedding The One Where Joey Speaks French The One with Princess Consuela The One Where Estelle Dies The One with Rachel's Going Away Party (a.k.a. The One Where Rachel Goes To Paris) The Last One, Part One The Last One, Part Two

"The One Where the Stripper Cries" is the eleventh episode of season ten of the television sitcom Friends.

First aired: February 5, 2004

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot

Phoebe, who will soon be married to Mike Hannigan, invites the gang to her bachelorette party, but none of the guys can make it: Ross and Chandler are going to a college reunion, while Joey has been selected to be a contestant on the game show Pyramid.

Joey's stint on Pyramid is less than illustrious, as brain cells are a commodity Joey has always been a little bit short of. He quickly gets on his partner Gene's bad side ("I got a kid starting college. I've to get surgery on my knee. You just lost me ten grand!"), but rebounds at the winner's circle...only to fail on the very last question.

At their college reunion, Ross and Chandler run across Missy Goldberg, a girl that (as depicted in flashbacks) both were attracted to, resulting in a pact that neither would ever ask her out. Chandler gives Ross permission to break that pact, and he arranges a date with her, only to find out that "Chandler and I used to make out! A lot!" When confronted with this, Chandler points out that it was a long time ago, and that, furthermore, Ross broke a pact too: he kissed an Adrienne Turner, despite knowing that Chandler liked her. The scene flashbacks again, showing that this particular occasion was a Christmas party during their freshman year—not to mention Rachel and Monica's first college party. Chandler then goes on to confess that he had his revenge: he successfully flirted with, and then kissed, Rachel. Ross is very upset: that was, after all, the night he first kissed Rachel... Only to discover that he had the wrong bed, and that the girl buried under all the coats was actually Monica. "You were my Midnight Mystery Kisser?" "You were my first kiss with Rachel?" "You were my first kiss ever?" Chandler, appalled: "What did I marry into?"

Finally, Phoebe's staid, elegant party is a disappointment to her: "When's the dirty stuff starting? You know, the strippers, and the guys dancing, and you know, pee-pee's flying about." Rachel consults hurriedly with Monica, and the two hire the first male stripper in the phone book: Roy (Danny Devito), over-weight and middle-aged. He understandably inspires the girls to nausea rather than lust, and Phoebe turns him away without payment... At which point he bursts into tears. The girls suggest that he hang up his break-away jock strap for good and turn to teaching the next generation of male strippers, and then encourage him to finish his last dance.