Joey Tribbiani

Joseph Francis "Joey" Tribbiani, Jr. (born January 9, 1968) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), and the title character in the spin-off, Joey (2004–2006), and is played by Matt LeBlanc.

Background

Joey comes from an Italian American family of 8 children, of which he is the only male. Joey is from, and presumably born in, Queens. As a child, he was extremely accident prone. He also had an imaginary friend, Maurice, who was a space cowboy. He is one of the "Friends" who moved home the most number of times, having changed apartments three times in the series (and only beaten by Rachel, with five moves, and Ross with equal moves): 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 moved back soon afterward. Joey is a "stereotypical" actor: oversexed, under-educated and constantly looking for work. He was ordained a minister in The One with the Truth About London, and officiated at both Monica and Chandler and Phoebe and Mike's weddings. It is revealed in The One After "I Do" that Joey has a size seven foot, which he is secretive and defensive about. He also has a soft toy penguin named Hugsy (his "bedtime penguin pal") of which he is very fond, and does not like to share.

Personality

The character of Joey 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), and love of food. He particularly loves meatball sub sandwiches. In The One with the Ride Along he appears to be saving Ross from a supposed gunshot, when it was actually his meatball sandwich that he was trying to save, it was just near Ross. He also loves the "Joey Special"... two pizzas. However, he is something of an idiot savant in matters of romance, which generated the popular catchphrase "How you doin'?" (his pickup line). This is directly alluded 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 referred to as the "Europe story" or the "magic story"; apparently, anyone who hears it will immediately want to have sex with the teller. ("The One with the Videotape") Joey was not initially as dumb. He progressively becomes more and more dumb after Season 1. He even used to know and use bigger words such as "reluctant" or "rambunctious" in that of season 1 along with understanding entire conversations of the gang with no confusion. One of his idols was Chris Spedding.

Acting career

Joey has a career in acting that has been marked by both success and humiliating failure. His roles varied from neurosurgeon on a popular soap opera to being the headshot in a 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 to Days of Our Lives in a bizarre plot line which resurrected him, after blowing an opportunity to become Dr. Drake Ramoray's twin brother Stryker. The plot line which brought him back is never fully explained, except that a female character's brain is transplanted into Ramoray's body, effectively forcing Joey to play a woman with a dominant personality; however, later on other characters refer to him as Drake, while still alluding he has the woman character's brain, and following that he appears to completely be Drake again. In Season 7 of Friends, Joey was up for a Soapie for Best Returning Male Character. He lost, so he tried to steal one. Joey's agent was Estelle Leonard.

Other known roles of Joey's during the run of Friends include a spot in a commercial for "Lipstick for Men" that only aired in Japan; An infomercial for a device that lets you pour milk out of milk cartons; a leading role in the World War I period film "Over There"; and a starring role in a very short-lived cop show called "Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E." In terms of stage work, he appeared in a play called Boxing Day in which his character of "Victor" goes to outer space, and Monica and Chandler once discussed having seen Joey in a version of Macbeth.

In one episode, Joey was up for a starring roll in a film in which he had to play a Catholic immigrant. The film called for a nude sex scene, but Joey didn't realize until after he landed a casting call that he lacked an essential piece of equipment for the role. When Monica explained the situation to him, they frantically tried to artificially create one using luncheon meats. All seemed to go well until Joey stripped nude at the casting call and his 'foreskin' fell off, prompting him to respond "Well that's never happened before."

In addition to the quick cancellation of "Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.", Joey also had some other remarkably bad luck in terms of his acting career. He filmed a role in a Law & Order episode that was cut from the completed episode -- Joey was only "seen" as a corpse in a body bag. He was also cast in the independent film Shutter Speed, but that film shut down before photography began. As well, he was fired from a Burger King commercial. Later, on the spin-off show Joey, Joey turned down a role in a sitcom called "Nurses" to star in a different series pilot; his pilot did not get picked up, while "Nurses" became a huge hit.

However, it's not all bad. In Joey, it is revealed that Joey's character of Dr Ramoray died again on Days of Our Lives when a nurse stabbed him while he was operating on her husband ("Joey and the Wrong Name"). He won a Daytime Soap Award for "Best Death Scene". In later Joey episodes, Joey landed a starring role on the prime time soap Deep Powder; when he got fired from that job, he almost immediately bounced back by snagging a leading role in the big-budget action picture Captured.

Joey briefly mentions to the gang that Al Pacino is his idol. In Friends, Joey has the poster for the 1983 Al Pacino film Scarface in his apartment room. The same poster is seen in his house in Joey. In one episode, Joey was hired as Al Pacino's "butt double" - a role he later lost due to overacting. He also mentioned his favorite movie is Die Hard.

Other jobs

Joey was also employed (briefly) at Central Perk as a waiter. Facing a dry spell in his career as an actor, Joey was persuaded by Gunther to take a job serving coffee. At first Joey tried to hide the fact of his new job from his friends, but they eventually figured it out. He did not like the work but, true to his nature, soon found a way to use his position to meet and ingratiate himself to attractive women by giving them free food, a practice to which Gunther quickly put a stop. He didn't take his job very seriously and spent a lot of his working hours sitting and talking to his friends. Eventually he was fired for closing the coffee house in the middle of the day to go to an audition while Gunther was running a personal errand. Rachel later persuaded Gunther to give Joey back his job, but once he found more steady acting jobs he eventually just stopped showing up. His absence was barely noticed, with a later episode having a closing scene where Joey realizes he forgot to tell Gunther he quit, and Gunther saying he would've eventually fired him anyway.

As well as his acting career, Ross persuaded Joey to write a film to branch out on his film career. After penning a few words he gave up after Chandler's game 'Fire Ball' distracted him. Joey soon lost interested in screenwriting.

Another one of Joey's careers when he was low on money was a sperm donor. He was donating for an experiment a hospital was having and as payment at the end of 2 weeks the hospital would give any donors a 700 dollar check. This was later mentioned when Monica was trying to get over her break up with Richard Burke. She decided that she wanted a baby so she was looking for sperm donors and realized that one of the applicants was Joey. Joey was later very offended when he learned that his sperm had not been very popular.

Some of Joey's other jobs have included selling Christmas trees, dressing as Santa Claus and a Christmas elf, a tour guide at the natural History museum where Ross works and offering perfume samples to customers at a department store.

He also worked at the restaurant called "Alessandro's" where Monica was head chef. He was given the job so that Monica could fire him to intimidate the other employees who pay Monica no respect, but he made a lot of tips and backed out only to realize how important him getting fired was to Monica so he got fired the next day.

Relationships

Joey was originally shunned by Chandler when he came in for a roommate interview, and Joey thought Chandler was gay. However, Mr Heckles, another building resident, interferes with Chandler's originally selected roommate, allowing Joey to move in. Joey's first couple days involved a brief, mutual attraction with Monica. This subdued and Chandler and Joey began to grow close and into best friends, as Joey's relaxing lifestyle began to grow on Chandler. Together they buy a chick and a duck later on in the series. 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- this eventually ended when Chandler became permanently paired with Monica. Joey moved out temporarily when he found success as Dr. Drake Ramoray, but soon moved back in together. Chandler and Monica made it clear to Joey that their new home would have a specially designated room over the garage where he could grow old.

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 due to their inability to get past the fact that it was the other touching them, and the two returned to being just good friends. By the series' finale, Rachel and Ross resumed their romance.

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, he agreed to keep it a secret until the two were ready to reveal it to the rest of their group. He also called Chandler moments after suspecting Monica of having an affair with a mystery male he had heard in her apartment. He is also the only one that knew that Chandler is afraid of dogs and that Ross doesn't like ice cream.

Joey's relationships with the other Friends have always been very friendly. He is best friends with Chandler, and Ross is a close second. Rachel and the other women on the show have been the object of many 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." Notwithstanding this apparent boorishness, however, he always enjoyed a close relationship with Monica, Rachel and Phoebe; LeBlanc once speculated that Joey saw the girls as sisters more than potential romantic interests.

In the end of the series, Joey was the only Friend that ended up without a lover or a spouse, even though he is the one that dated the most women.

Joey has a close relationship with Rachel, also having been attracted to her twice in the series. Although his affection was unreturned in Season 8, once they actually dated in a later season, but they found themselves unable to go further than kissing without becoming keenly aware of the fact that it was their good friend touching them.

Joey's closest female friend is Phoebe. When she was a surrogate mother for her brother's triplets, he offered to eat no meat until the babies were born, so that Phoebe could eat that meat instead. Also, when the Friends realize that the group may have to split up, Phoebe and Rachel conspired to form a separate group by themselves, but Phoebe insists that Joey come to their new group as well. Phoebe's loyalty is proved again when she states that she could live in Las Vegas, since it has everything she needs, "Including Joey!" He in turn invites her to live with him in the mansion he expects to own when he becomes rich from having a hand twin. Phoebe also once says to her friends, "When the Revolution comes, I'll have to kill you all." After a moment's pause, she adds, "Not you, Joey." The two also try to meet once a month for dinner in order to discuss the other Friends. When Phoebe was upset because she'd turned thirty-one without having had the perfect kiss, Joey kissed her so that she could cross that off of her list (Also adding that he was one-sixteenth Portuguese when she mentioned that she hadn't met any Portuguese people). In one episode, when Joey believed Phoebe to be pregnant, he proposed marriage, claiming the world is too scary for a single mother alone.

Joey is also very promiscuous with women. In one episode that takes place early on in the day, Chandler notes that Joey has had a lot of sex, and Joey says, "Today? Some... not a lot." He sleeps with many of the interns and extras on shows that he works on. He has apparently been sexually active for a very long time; when he was nine, he undid a sixteen-year-old girl's bra; slept with his teacher in the seventh grade; and he had a wild spring break when he was thirteen but in Joey, he grows up and begins a committed relationship with Alex.

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" are 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 at about age 18. In "The One with Joey's Fridge", Joey refers to his activities during spring break in 1981 and Monica 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. However, it is possible that Joey had simply confused the years or been simply using 1990 as a point of reference. In "The One With The Red Sweater" (2001) Chandler says that Joey is 32, which would put Joey's year of birth at 1969. In "The One with Monica's Thunder" (2000), Rachel says Joey is 31, and when telling them he is supposed to play a nineteen-year-old, Chandler comments "So by get up early do you mean 1986?", which is inconsistent with his birth in 1969. By the first season of Joey, Michael reveals that Joey is 35.

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 Tribbiani and her son Michael were two other central characters of the show. 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 (Mädchen Amick), his first ongoing relationship that lasts more than one episode since his fling with Rachel on Friends. This too, however, ends when Sarah leaves Joey for her new job in Washington, feeling that their relationship wasn't serious enough for her to stay.

Following Sarah's departure, Alex separates from Eric and finds solace in the arms of Joey, but this too does not last.

Then, after being killed off Deep Powder, for being too demanding, because he thought "America loves me", Joey got his first real big break on the blockbuster movie Captured.

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.

Joey's final line was, to Alex, "There it is, you did it".

References