Wikia

Joseph Francis Tribbiani
CHARACTER

First appearance	The Pilot

Last appearance	Joey and the Wedding

Number of episodes	282

Portrayed by	Matt LeBlanc

Information
Name	Joey Tribianni

Nicknames	Joe, Big Daddy, Chick, Dragon, Big Guy, Chandler (By Gunther), J-Man, Mario, Jojo (Jimmy)

Aliases	Ken Adams Holden McGroin Chandler Bing Joseph Stalin

Gender	Male

Date of birth	January 9, 1968

Occupation	Actor Priest Christmas Elf (S1) Cologne sampler (S2) Christmas tree salesman (S3) Museum Tour Guide (S4) Waiter at Alessandro's (S4) Central Perk Waiter (S6)

Relatives	Joseph Tribbiani Sr. (father) Gloria Tribbiani (mother) Nonnie (grandmother) Gina (sister) Tina (sister) Dina (sister) Mary-Angela (sister) Mary-Therese (sister) Veronica (sister) Cookie (sister) Jimmy Costa (brother-in-law) Michael Tribbiani (nephew) Unnamed niece (The One With The Bullies)

Relationships	Rachel (Ex-girlfriend) Alex (Current girlfriend)

"Joey" redirects here. For other uses of "Joey", see: Joey (disambiguation)

“	How you doin'?	”
—Joey's catchphrase

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

CharacterEdit

BackgroundEdit

Joey comes from an Italian-American family of 8 children, of which he is the only male. He is from, and presumably born in, Queens. As a child, he was extremely accident prone. He had an imaginary friend named Maurice, who was a space cowboy. He meets most of the friends (with the exception of Rachel) as a result of becoming Chandler's roommate. He meets Rachel a while later, at Central Perk when she runs out on her wedding.

Joey is a stereotypical actor: oversexed, under-educated, and constantly looking for work. He is ordained as a minister in, "The One With the Truth About London," and he officiates at both Monica and Chandler's and Phoebe and Mike's weddings. Joey sometimes freelances as a male hustler. 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 Huggsy (his "bedtime penguin pal"), which he is very fond of and does not like to share. In, "The One With Ross and Monica's Cousin," it is revealed that Joey is circumcised.

Friends--Season 1Edit

Joey is introduced when he, Chandler, Phoebe and Monica are talking about Paul the Wine Guy. He tries to hit on Rachel after she runs away from her wedding in, "The Pilot." Joey, Chandler and Ross end up in the hospital when Ross is hit in the nose by a hockey puck. It is at the hockey game that Joey and Chandler find out that Ross has only slept with one woman: his ex-wife, Carol Willick (The One With George Stephanopoulos). Joey and Monica later go on a double date with Bob and Angela, and Joey tricks Monica into believing that Bob and Angela are siblings. When Monica discovers the truth, she and Joey decide to break the couple up (The One With the East German Laundry Detergent).

Joey stars in a play called Freud!, which is terrible. He later earns a role in an Al Pacino movie, playing his butt double (The One With the Butt). During a city-wide blackout, Joey tells Ross that he will never be with Rachel because they are in the, "friend zone" (The One With the Blackout). In "The One Where Underdog Gets Away," Joey is seen on a V.D. poster. On New Year's Eve, he kisses Chandler so he will stop whining about how no one has kissed him at midnight (The One With the Monkey). When Joey and Chandler's table breaks, they buy a foosball table and eat their meals at the counter instead (The One With the Dozen Lasagnas).

Joey finds out that his father is having an affair with another woman, and that his mother is happy about this (The One With the Boobies).

Joey dates Ursula, Phoebe's twin sister, which upsets Phoebe. When Ursula decides that the relationship is over, Phoebe poses as her twin and tells Joey about the end of the relationship. The deception is exposed when Phoebe kisses Joey (The One With Two Parts, Part 2).

Joey also helps a woman during labor in "The One With the Birth."

Season 2Edit

Joey is hired on as a cologne sprayer at a department store, before he earns the role of Dr. Drake Ramoray on Days of Our Lives. Wanting to be independent, he moves into his own apartment. He loses his role on DoOL as a result of claiming to write most of his lines, and his character is killed off when he falls down an elevator shaft (The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies). Because he is in debt, and also because he misses his best friend, Joey moves back into the apartment he shared with Chandler.

Season 3Edit

Joey teaches Soap Opera Acting (The One With the Race Car Bed).He is also up for the role as Nick the boxer on All My Children. When he finds out that one of his students is up for the same role, he attempts to sabotage the student's efforts by encouraging him to play the character gay. The casting director loves the student's portrayal of Nick, and they hire him instead of Joey.

Season 4Edit

When Monica is bullied by the staff members at Alessandro's, Joey decides to help her out by taking on a job as a waiter and then allowing her to fire him so she can earn the respect of the staff. It is at Alessandro's that he takes on the nickname Dragon. Later on, he works as a tour guide at the museum.

Season 6Edit

Joey is given a job in the episode The One With the Joke, and then he becomes a waiter at Central Perk. After this, he becomes the lead actor in a show called Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.

Season 7Edit

Joey auditions for the role of Striker Ramoray, a new character on Days of Our Lives. He doesn't get that role, but he is brought back as Dr. Drake Ramoray (The One With Rachel's Assistant). He is even nominated for an award for Best Returning Character.

Season 8Edit

Joey starts to develop feelings for Rachel, and he is heartbroken when she does not feel the same. Things are awkward for a while, but not for long.

Season 9Edit

Joey and Phoebe, wanting to convince Ross and Rachel that they should be together, set them up on disastrous blind dates. Later on, Joey sends messages that Chandler has written about Ross sleeping with dinosaurs. He also begins to date Charlie, Ross's co-worker. The relationship ends, and he and Rachel find that they are both attracted to each other.

Season 10Edit

Joey and Rachel have a brief relationship, which ends when they have trouble progressing beyond the kissing stage because they are acutely aware that the other person is a good friend. When Chandler and Monica announce that they are moving into a house, Joey presents them with a unique housewarming gift: a chick and a duck, who are named Chick, Jr. and Duck, Jr. The pets remain in Joey's apartment.

Joey Season 1Edit

After turning down a starring role in the TV show Nurses (which goes on to be a huge hit), Joey has several auditions until finding the perfect job---a starring role on the primetime TV series Deep Powder, which has been described as " 'Baywatch' on skis." He becomes very popular on this show by the end of Season 1.

Joey, Season 2Edit

Early in Season 2, Joey is fired from Deep Powder (his character is killed off) after his agent makes unreasonable salary demands in response to Joey's popularity on the show.

Soon after losing his job on Deep Powder, Joey lands a starring role in a major (80 million dollar budget) action film called Captured. The movie, which is successful, results in Joey securing a 3 movie studio contract in which he has creative control.

RelationshipsEdit

Chandler BingEdit

Chandler is Joey's best friend. Joey meets Chandler when he shows up at the apartment for a roommate interview. He is initially shunned by Chandler when he incorrectly assumes that he is gay. Mister Heckles interferes with Chandler's originally selected roommate, which means that Joey becomes Chandler's new roommate.

They become fast friends when Joey's relaxed lifestyle grows on Chandler. They buy a chick and a duck, which they keep as pets in their apartment. A long-running gag depicts Joey and Chandler occasionally fighting with each other like an old married couple, with Chandler often assuming the wife role while Joey assumes the husband role. This ends when Chandler becomes involved with Monica. When Chandler moves out, Joey tears up.

Joey moves out for a while when he finds success as Dr. Drake Ramoray on Days of Our Lives, but moves in again when he loses his job. He and Chandler remain roommates until Chandler moves in with Monica. When Chandler and Monica have trouble finding a minister to officiate at their wedding, Joey becomes ordained so he can perform the ceremony himself. He calls Chandler moments after suspecting Monica of having an affair with a mystery male he hears in her apartment, not knowing that the "mystery male" is Chandler himself. He is also the only one that knew that Chandler is afraid of dogs.

Monica Geller-BingEdit

Joey and Monica meet when Joey leaves the roommate interview, and they are instantly attracted to each other. Monica invites Joey in for some lemonade, which Joey misinterprets as an invitation to have sex with her. While Monica has her back turned to him, Joey strips naked. Monica turns around and is startled by what she sees, insisting that she was not offering to have sex with him. At some point, their mutual attraction dies down and they settle for being good friends.

When Monica is bullied by the staff at Alessandro's, Joey allows her to hire him and then fire him so she can prove to her employees that she is not a push-over. When he discovers Chandler and Monica's relationship, he agrees to keep it a secret until they were ready to tell the others about their romance. His sense of obligation to the couple often resulted in him being involved in embarrassing situations.

Rachel GreenEdit

Joey forms a strong bond with Rachel when she moves into the apartment after the fire at Phoebe's apartment. The bond becomes even stronger when Rachel becomes pregnant by Ross, to the point where he finds himself falling in love with her. They date for a while, but break up due to their inability to get past the kissing stage.

Ross GellerEdit

When Chandler and Ross are being bullied at Central Perk, Joey offers to stand up for them. He convinces Ross to prevent Rachel from finding out about his one-night stand with Chloe so neither of them will be hurt. When Rachel does find out about Ross's indiscretion, Joey is visibly upset as he listens to the couple arguing in the living room. Joey is the only one who knows that Ross does not like ice cream.

Phoebe BuffayEdit

Joey meets Phoebe at the bar that will eventually become Central Perk, shortly after he becomes Chandler's roommate. They seem to be on the same wavelength, partially due to their being the only members of the group who lack a college education. Joey is Phoebe's best male friend, and they have dinner once a month to talk about the rest of the group.

When Joey decides to learn how to play the guitar as his New Year's resolution, it is Phoebe who decides to teach him. He becomes fed up with her when she forbids him to touch a guitar until she feels that he's ready, and they have a brief falling out when he hires a professional guitar teacher. Phoebe also tries to teach him how to speak French, as he has claimed to be fluent in the language. Much to Phoebe's annoyance, Joey has no aptitude for foreign language and speaks gibberish.

When they realize that the group may have to split up because Emily has forbidden Ross from being friends with Rachel, Phoebe and Rachel conspire to form a separate group by themselves. Phoebe insists that Joey come to their new group. Her loyalty is proven 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 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."

For a time, Phoebe seems to have a crush on Joey. She becomes jealous of his relationship with her twin sister, Urusla, especially when Joey sleeps with Urusla instead of choosing to attend Phoebe's surprise birthday party. Phoebe and Joey's relationship never progresses beyond a few kisses. When Phoebe realizes that she is 31 and not 30, she laments all the things she has failed to do before turning 31 - including having the perfect kiss and meeting Portuguese people. To make her feel better, Joey gives her a kiss and says, "Oh. I'm 1/16 Portuguese."

Phoebe often hits on Joey for no apparent reason, and they once agreed to be each other's back-up if they weren't married by the time they turned 40. Thinking Phoebe is pregnant, he proposes marriage to her because he feels that the world is too scary for a mother to be alone. When Phoebe marries Mike Hannigan, it is Joey who performs the ceremony.

Friendships With the Ladies

Rachel, Phoebe and Monica have been the objects of many sexist comments on Joey's behalf, especially Monica. Chandler once sarcastically puts it, "Your long-standing offer to have sex with my wife is much appreciated." Not withstanding this apparent boorishness, he's always enjoyed a close relationship with Monica, Rachel and Phoebe. According to Matt LeBlanc, Joey sees the girls as sisters more than potential romantic interests.

Friendships in GeneralEdit

A good example of the strong affection all five of his fellow friends have for Joey occurs immeadietly after they find out that his Days of Our Lives character has been killed off. When he doesn't answer his phone, they rush over to his apartment to check on him. Rachel tries to cheer him up by assuring him that as far as all of them are concerned, he will always be a great actor.

Joey and His WomenEdit

Joey is also very promiscuous. When Chandler asks Joey if he's had a lot of sex, 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. He undid a 16-year-old girl's bra when he was 9-years-old; he slept with his teacher in the seventh grade; and he had a wild spring break when he was thirteen. At the end of the series, Joey is the only friend that ends up without a lover or a spouse, even though he is the one who has dated the most.

He is currently involved in a committed relationship with Alex.

PersonalityEdit

Joey is known for his simple-mindedness, trouble with understanding negative criticism of his acting, 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. But in reality, it is his meatball sandwich that he is trying to protect; it just happens to be near Ross. He also loves the Joey Special: two pizzas.

Joey's simple-mindedness and lack of common sense are demonstrated when Chandler's traumatizing experience at Joey's childhood tailor finally wake him up to the fact that his tailor has been taking advantage of him and his family for 16 years. Joey says, "When I first moved to this city, I went out a couple of times with this girl. Really hot. Great kisser. But she had the biggest Adam's apple. It made me nuts," not realizing at the time that women don't have Adam's apples.

It can be argued that he is the most promiscuous of the group. He has sex with a variety of women, and quite often will sleep with a woman and never call them again. He has been known to even take shots at and flirt with his female friends. He has actually kissed all of them, and he even dates Rachel for a time. He also frequently imagines lesbian scenes in his head, such as when Rachel tells Monica that they're going out with two nurses. Joey believes that she means female nurses, and he seems pleased with the thought.

He is something of an idiot savant in matters of romance, and his popular catchphrase/pickup line is, "How you doin'?" This is directly alluded to when Chandler, referring to Joey, says, "A hot girl's at stake, and suddenly he's Rain Man." Joey has made up an anecdote referred to as the, "Europe story," or the, "magic story" : anyone who hears it will immediately want to have sex with the storyteller. When one of his friends points out that she heard that a man named Ken Adams came up with the story, he confesses that he is, in fact, Ken Adams.

CareerEdit

Joey has a career in acting that has been marked by both success and humiliating failure. His roles vary from neurosurgeon on a popular soap opera to being the poster boy of V.D. Until her death, a brash, chain-smoking Estelle Leonard is Joey's agent. With the exception of a man who eats paper, Joey is Estelle's only client.

Joey's most famous acting role is as Dr. Drake Ramoray on the serial drama Days of Our Lives. When he claims in an interview that he writes many of his own lines, the writers of the show become annoyed and kill off his character. After blowing his opportunity to be cast as Dr. Ramoray's twin brother, Striker, Joey returns to Days of Our Lives in a bizarre plot twist which resurrects Dr. Ramoray. The plot line that brings Dr. Ramoray back is never fully explained, except that a female character's brain is transplanted into Ramoray's body. This effectively forces Joey to play a woman with a dominant personality. Other characters refer to the character as Drake, while still alluding to the fact that he has the female character's brain. Following this, he appears to completely be Drake again. In season 7, Joey is up for a Soapie for Best Returning Male Character. He loses, so he tries to steal an award from a female co-star who can't be there to receive the award.

Joey's other roles include: A spot in a Japanese commercial for Lipstick For Men; an infomercial for a device that makes it easier to pour milk out of cartons; a leading role in the World War I period film Over There; and a starring role in a short-lived cop show called Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. In terms of stage work, he has appeared in a play called Boxing Day, in which his character goes to outer space. He has also been in a production of Macbeth, as well as Freud!

Joey is up for a starring role in a film in which he has to play a Catholic immigrant. The film calls for a nude scene, and the casting director requires an actor who is uncircumcized. Joey and Monica frantically try to artificially create a foreskin using luncheon meats. All seems to go well until Joey strips nude at the casting call and his "foreskin" falls of, prompting him to say, "Well, that's never happened before."

In addition to the quick cancellation of Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E., Joey also has some other remarkably bad luck in terms of his acting career. He films an episode of Law & Order and is horrified when he finds that he's been cut from the completed episode; he is only seen as a corpse in a body bag. He is also cast in the independent film Shutter Speed, but it is shut down before filming begins. Also, he is fired from a Burger King commercial.

However, his acting career has had some better moments. In Joey, it is revealed that Dr. Drake Ramoray is dead after a nurse stabbed him while he was operating on her husband. He wins a Daytime Soap Award for Best Death Scene. Joey lands a starring role on the prime time soap Deep Powder. When he is fired, he almost immediately bounces 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. He has the poster for the 1983 Al Pacino film Scarface. He is excited, but embarrassed, when he is cast as Pacino's butt double. But he loses the role due to his overacting.

Other JobsEdit

Facing a dry spell in his career as an actor, he is persuaded by Gunther to take a job serving coffee at Central Perk. At first, Joey tries to hide this fact from his friends. But they eventually figure it out, anyway. He does not like the work. But, true to his nature, he soon finds a way to use his position to meet and ingratiate himself to attractive women by giving them free food. He doesn't take his job very seriously, and he spends a lot of his working hours sitting and talking to his friends. Gunther fires Joey, who closes the coffee house in the middle of the day to go to an audition. Annoyed by the fact that Gunther left Joey in charge so he (Gunther) could dye his hair, Rachel persuades Gunther to give Joey back his job. When Joey finds more steady acting jobs, he stops showing up for work at the coffee house. His absence is barely noticed. Joey realizes that he has forgotten to tell Gunther that he quit, and Gunther says that he would've eventually fired him anyway.

Ross persuades Joey to write a film to branch out on his film career. After penning a few words, he gives up when he becomes distracted by a game of Fire Ball.

Another one of Joey's careers when he is low on money is a sperm donor. He donates for an experiment a hospital is conducting. As payment, at the end of two weeks the hospital will give him a $700.00 check.

Some of Joey's other jobs have included selling Christmas trees; dressing as Santa Claus and a Christmas elf; a tour guide at the Museum of Natural History; and offering cologne samples to customers at a department store.

He also works at the restaurant called Alessandro's, where Monica is head chef. He is given the job so that Monica can fire him to intimidate the staff members who pay Monica no respect. He makes a lot of tips and backs out, only to realize how important him getting fired is to Monica.

He once got an audition for a Star Wars film as a character who has a monologue.

AgeEdit

Joey's age is not consistently treated. In "The One Where Joey Moves Out," which aired less in February, 1996, Joey says he is 28. The latter puts his birth in 1967 or early 1968, which allows him to be older than Chandler. He must be older than Chandler, if the events are correct. 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," he refers to his activities during spring break in 1981 and Monica comments, "You were thirteen." When Joey tells his friends that he's supposed to play a 19-year-old, Chandler comments, "So by 'get up early', do you mean 1986?"which is inconsistent with his birth in 1969. Due to the age at the end, this is how the ages should have gone: 1 (26-27), 2 (27-28), 3 (28-29), 4 (29-30), 5 (30-31), 6 (31-32), 7 (32-33), 8 (33-34), 9 (34-35), 10 (35-36). Joey's birthday is inconsistent with what Michael reveals in the first season of Joey, where he should be 35. This results in a 35-36 age for season 1 and 36-37 for season 2.

TriviaEdit

Like Rachel, Chandler, and Ross, Joey has kissed every friend. One of them happens only in an alternate future. In addition, he has the distinction of being the only friend to kiss every other Friend on-screen.
- Rachel - Their first kiss takes place in, The One With All the Resolutions. They share a few more kisses leading up to and during their brief relationship in season 9 and season 10.
- Monica - They share a kiss in an alternate future, in which they are married (The One With the Truth About London).
- Phoebe - They kiss in The One With Two Parts, Part 2, when Joey thinks Phoebe is Ursula. They kiss in The One With Barry and Mindy's Wedding to evaluate Joey's kissing abilities for an upcoming callback. Another kiss takes place in, The One With the Red Sweater, after Phoebe agrees to marry Joey. Joey kisses Phoebe in, The One Where They All Turn Thirty to help her achieve her goal of experiencing the perfect kiss. And their final kiss takes place in, The One with Phoebe's Birthday Dinner, when Phoebe agrees to order dinner without the other friends.
- Chandler - Joey kisses Chandler to fulfill his friend's request for a New Year's kiss (The One With the Monkey).
- Ross - Ross decides to kiss Joey as a favor to help his friend prepare for his callback audition (The One With Barry and Mindy's Wedding). Joey kisses "Ross" when the former sees the latter's face when kissing Rachel (The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss).
Joey is the only character to be unmarried. It is only left to assume that he marries Alex, due to the show Joey being canceled. He however has been unofficially engaged.
Joey is the only main character who has a show named after himself. Coincidentally, he has shows named Joey.
Joey is the only main male character of the group who is not a father. Ross had Ben and Emma and Chandler had Jack II and Erica.
Joey speaks gibberish, which he thinks is French. When he says the bits of a French word slowly, he can say it perfectly.
Despite his apparent lack of education, Joey can read well and seems to be a fan of Stephen King novels.
When put in bad situations or when he is angry, his "smart side" comes out. (Example: The One With Monica's Boots)
In The One Where Chandler Can't Cry Joey claims he is still angry with Chandler for drunkenly having sex with his sister and then failing to recognize her after sobering up.
He doesn't smoke and fails to smoke when Chandler tried to teach him to smoke
Matt LeBlanc had to dye his hair black for the show, as he was prematurely growing grey hair. "I dyed my hair the whole time on Friends," he admitted and LeBlanc continued to do so for the spinoff Joey.
During the series, Joey had sex with 51 women.