David

David
Aliases	David, The Scientist Guy
Gender	Male
Occupation	Physicist
Relationships	Phoebe Buffay (ex-girlfriend)
Information
First appearance	"The One With The Monkey"
Last appearance	"The One In Barbados, Part 1"
Number of episodes	5
Portrayed by	Hank Azaria

David, also known as David the Scientist Guy, was the first serious love interest of Phoebe Buffay, portrayed by Hank Azaria. Their romance ended when David had to go to Minsk to work.

David's dialogues are characterized by his lack of fluency in speaking (his lines are often punctuated by stutters and 'um's), a fact which Chandler points out to Monica in "The One In Barbados, Part 1".

History

David was first featured in "The One With The Monkey", Phoebe yells at him when his loud conversation with fellow scientist Max interrupts her guitar playing. When David explains that they were talking about how beautiful she was, all is forgiven and she now wants to break the New Year's "no date" pact. Unfortunately, David is torn because he and Max were given a grant to study in Minsk, Belarus. Eventually, he leaves, and Phoebe is left heartbroken. He returns in Season 7's "The One With All The Cheesecakes" to visit, and Phoebe has to decide between seeing him during the one night he'll be there, or keeping her dinner with Joey. She does the former, despite lecturing Joey for doing the same thing. He then returns during the latter half of Season 9 after finishing his research in Minsk. He professes his love for Phoebe, but she has moved on to Mike by this time, and she eventually accepts Mike's proposal for marriage.

Trivia

• David and Phoebe were originally going to reunite when David returns form Minsk. Hank Azaria wanted David and Phoebe to end up together. He revealed the reason why Phoebe ended up with Mike (despite the original plan) in this interview.
• David is portrayed by Hank Azaria, who is one of three voice actors from the animated sitcom The Simpsons to appear on Friends. The other two were Harry Shearer, who portrayed Dr. Baldharar and Dan Castellaneta, who portrayed The Zoo Employee.
• David is played by Hank Azaria, who also plays Nat Ostertag in Mad About You. However, both of these shows exist in the same universe, as Phoebe's twin sister Ursula appears on Mad About You and two main characters of Mad About You appear on Friends, mistaking Phoebe for Ursula.

Appearances

• "The One With The Monkey"
• "The One With All The Cheesecakes"
• "The One With The Male Nanny"
• "The One With The Donor"
• "The One In Barbados, Part 1"
• "The One In Barbados, Part 2" (mentioned only)
• "The One After Joey And Rachel Kiss" (mentioned only)