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How you doin'?

—Joey's main pick-up line

Joseph Francis "Joey" Tribbiani Jr., is one of the main characters on the popular sitcom Friends (1994–2004) and the title character in the spin-off Joey (2004–2006), portrayed by Matt LeBlanc. He is best known for being a ladies' man and having a rather silly but adorable personality. Joey's catchphrase is his main pick-up line "How you doin'?".

Joey is portrayed as promiscuous and dim-witted but good-natured, as well as very loyal, caring, and protective of his friends. He is a food-loving womanizer who has had more luck with dates than any of the other group members. In contrast to his persona as the "ladies' man", he has also a marked childish side. His best friend is Chandler Bing.

Background[]

Early life[]

Joey Tribbiani comes from an Italian-American family of eight children, of which he is the only son of Joey Tribbiani Sr. and Gloria Tribbiani. He is from, and presumably born in, Queens. Joey has seven sisters: Gina Tribbiani, Tina Tribbiani, Dina Tribbiani, Mary-Angela Tribbiani, Mary-Therese Tribbiani, Veronica Tribbiani, and Cookie Tribbiani. His grandmother affectionately calls him, "my big fat Joey" telling the gang he weighed twenty-seven pounds at birth. Later Monica's Thanksgiving turkey is about nineteen pounds which Joey tells Rachel, "It's like me when I was born."

As a child, he was extremely accident prone. In "The One With Ross' New Girlfriend", Joey and the men in his family have been fondled by their tailor Frankie since he was a child, but did not realize this way not how pants are cut until Chandler went to get measured by Frankie. As a child, 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 being Chandler's roommate. Joey did not give into the strong pressure about joining his father's pipefitting business. By his own admission he did not do well in high school and never went to college. Joey meets Rachel a while later, at Central Perk when she runs out on her planned wedding with Barry.

Joey is a stereotypical and a terrible actor: oversexed, under-educated, and constantly looking for work. He is also 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. It is revealed in "The One After 'I Do'" that Joey has a size seven foot (European size 38.5), 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 with others. In "The One With Ross and Monica's Cousin", it is revealed that as was common with Catholic boys, Joey is circumcised.

Overview[]

Joey is portrayed as promiscuous and dim-witted but good-natured, as well as very loyal, caring, and protective of his friends. He is a food-loving womanizer who has had more luck with dates than any of the other group members. In contrast to his persona as the "ladies' man", he has also a marked childish side. He enjoys playing video games and foosball, loves sandwiches and pizza, and is a big fan of Baywatch and Beavis & Butt-Head. As a struggling actor, he is constantly looking for work. He was ordained as a minister in "The One with the Truth About London" and officiated at both Monica and Chandler's and Phoebe and Mike's weddings.

He does not like sharing food, especially when it is pizza, and has difficulty with even simple mathematics. In sports, Joey likes the New York Yankees in baseball, Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks in basketball, New York Giants and New York Jets in football, and the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers in hockey.

Series[]

Joey is an Italian-American struggling actor who lives in New York City with his roommate and best friend, Chandler Bing, and hangs out in a tight-knit group of his best friends: Chandler, Ross Geller, Monica Geller, Rachel Greene, and Phoebe Buffay. He lived with a few other roommates when Chandler moved out to move in with Monica.

Season 1[]

In the episode "The Pilot" Joey and his friends Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, and Chandler Bing hang at the Central Perk coffee house. The friends are discussing a guy that Monica is going out with and a dream that Chandler had. Later on Ross Geller, Monica's older brother, arrives at the coffee house. Ross is depressed due to the fact that his now ex-wife Carol, who wanted a divorce due to her being a lesbian, has moved her stuff out of his apartment. Joey tries to convince Ross that the answer to his problems is to go to strip joints. As Ross states that he just wants to be married again, Rachel Greene, an old friend of Monica's and Ross' long time crush, enters Central Perk wearing a wedding dress. Rachel explains that she is wearing the dress because she was supposed to get married but decided against it because she doesn't love him. When the group returns to Monica's apartment they watch a show in Spanish and make up their own dialogue as Rachel explains to her father that she doesn't love her fiancé and decides that she'll stay with Monica. Rachel begins to struggle with not having her father's money. In a way to "comfort" her Joey tells her that she can always count on him and that he and Chandler live right across the hall and that Chandler is away a lot. That night Joey and Chandler help Ross put his new furniture together as Ross reminisces about his failed marriage, much to the annoyance of Joey and Chandler. Joey gives Ross a lecture on how women are like ice cream, being that there are a lot of different flavors out there, trying to convince Ross that this was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. The next day Rachel asks about jobs and Joey reveals that he is an actor but he's only been in regional work and Monica reveals that he was in Wee One's production of Pinocchio at the little theater in the park. Later that night Joey and the rest of the friends encouraged Rachel to destroy her credit cards which she was able to do. At the end of the day Ross took Joey's advice and "grabbed a spoon" by asking Rachel if he could ask her out sometime.

In "The One With The East German Laundry Detergent", Joey and the rest of the friends are sitting in the coffee house when Angela, a former love of Joey's, enters and says hi to Joey. Joey approaches her and tries asking her out but she tells that she's with Bob now. Joey tries to convince her to change her mind but she tells him that since he told her that they should just be friends then that was all they were ever going to be. So Joey invites her and Bob to have dinner with him and Monica, who Joey says is his girlfriend, as friends. Joey tries to convince Monica to go with him stating that Bob is Angela's sister and the he is perfect for her. Monica eventually agrees to help Joey out and is instantly attracted to Bob. While on the date Joey talks to Bob and tells him that he and Monica probably won't last due to the fact that she's too much for him in bed. Meanwhile, Monica and Angela are talking and Angela states that Bob is amazing in bed, which shocks Monica. When all four get back to their table, Angela starts rubbing Bob's chest which Monica, thinking they're brother and sister, finds inappropriate. When Monica confronts Joey about this she is able to deduce that what Joey said about them isn't true. Joey then tells Monica that his plan was to break up Angela and Bob so that he could date Angela; Monica decides to go along with Joey's plan so that she can date Bob. Monica and Joey start acting flirty with Angela and Bob and eventually their plan works.

In "The One With The Butt" all of Joey's friends show up to see him in a musical called Freud. In the play Joey is the lead and plays a German therapist. Joey's friends hate the play which Joey discovers when he asks them what they thought and they avoid answering. Chandler gives Joey a card that the usher left with them and it turns out to be a card from the Estelle Leonard talent agency which excites Joey as he believes they want to sign him. Joey goes to meet Estelle and she tells him that she wants to sign him which Joey quickly accepts. One night Joey receives a phone call from Estelle who tells him that she got him a part in a new Al Pacino movie. When Joey is asked what his role is in the movie he revels that he is Al Pacino's butt double. The next day Joey shows up for his role and constantly tried to over act with the role. Later on Joey arrives at Monica's apartment and tells his friends that he got fired for over acting.

In the episode "The One with the Blackout" there is a city-wide blackout. Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, and Ross hang out in Monica's apartment during the blackout. During the blackout the group of friends play a game that involved them revealing the weirdest place that they'd ever had sex. After the game Rachel and Ross have a conversation about passion with Rachel ever wondering if she'll be able to find that. Ross says that he sees big passion in her future and Rachel gives Ross a tousle on the head and leaves. Joey, witnessing the event first hand, tells Ross that he waited too long to make his move and that he is now stuck in the friend zone and warns him that if he doesn't ask Rachel out soon he won't be able to get out of the friend zone. Joey is able to convince Ross to ask Rachel out, however, before Ross can ask her he is attacked by a cat. Ross' plan is dashed further when Rachel falls for a guy named Paolo, the owner of the stray cat. It is here that we also find out that Monica had a crush on Joey when he first moved in because she liked his arms.

In "The One Where Underdog Gets Away" Joey decides that wants to be an actor/model and starts wearing makeup since he had just finished modeling for a poster for the city free clinic. While on his way to his parents' house for Thanksgiving, Joey meets a girl that he used to work with at Macy's when he was an Aramis guy. She and Joey begin flirting and Joey invites her to have a drink. At first she seems excited but then states that she has something to do which is leave. As Joey wonders why she blew him off he turns around and noticed his picture on a poster for an STD called Venereal Disease (these posters were later placed all throughout the city). Joey later joins Monica at her apartment for Thanksgiving because his family believes that he has VD. Joey asks Monica if she can make tater tots since it's a family tradition at his family's house. Chandler enters the room and tells them that the Underdog balloon in the parade got away and was flying over the, causing everybody to go to the roof. After the balloon was shot down the group discovers that they are locked out of the apartment. Joey and Chandler use their key to get back into the apartment but by the time they do the Turkey is burnt. The group is still able to have Thanksgiving with grilled cheese sandwiches.

In the episode "The One With The Dozen Lasagnas" Joey and Chandler return to their apartment after hanging out at Monica's apartment. Joey throws his keys on the kitchen table, causing the table to break. Later that night Joey and Chandler decided to buy a new table together. Joey and Chandler go to a furniture store and, after much debate, decide on a Foosball table.

In "The One With The Boobies" Joey's father comes to stay with Joey for a couple of days due to a job that he has in midtown. That night Joey believes that his dad is talking to his mom over the phone and takes the phone so that he can speak with her. Joey discovers that the woman on the phone isn't his mom and his dad admits to having an affair with Ronni for six years. Later on, after leaving Monica's apartment, Joey finds Ronni sitting outside of his and Chandler's apartment waiting for Joey's dad. When Joey's dad arrives he suggests that he and Ronni go to a hotel for the night but Joey tells them that they're staying with him so that he can keep an eye on them. That night Joey also convinces his dad to tell his wife about his affair. The next day Joey's mom shows up and scolded him about telling his father to come clean about the affair. She tells Joey that she already knew about the affair and that she was ok with it because ever since the affair started he had been so ashamed of himself that he can become more loving and attentive. Joey "fixes" everything so that everything goes back to the way that it was.  

In the episode "The One with Two Parts" while at a restaurant named Riff's Joey and Chandler meet phoebe's twin sister Ursula, whom Joey is attracted to. Later, Joey returns to Riff's and believes that Ursula likes him because when all he ordered was coffee she gave him a Tuna melt and four plates of curly fries. Chandler advises that before Joey does anything he should talk to Phoebe. Joey asks Phoebe if he can ask his sister out and she, reluctantly, gives him permission. Joey asks Phoebe to try on a sweater, leading Phoebe to believe it is a birthday gift for her until Joey reveals that it's a gift for Ursula and that he wanted her to try it on so that way he could see if it would fit Ursula. Phoebe gets angry and tells Joey that she's not okay with him dating her sister anymore. The next day while in Monica's apartment Phoebe reveals to everyone (except Joey) that the reason she is against Joey going out with Ursula is because when they were young Phoebe had a boyfriend who was also her boyfriend named Randy Brown. Ursula stole Randy from Phoebe and then broke his heart which cause to stop speaking to Phoebe all together. Rachel convinces Phoebe to speak to Joey about this, but when Phoebe knocks on Joey's door, Ursula answers the door wearing only a shirt belonging to Joey and a pair of slippers. At Phoebe's birthday party Joey is the only one of Phoebe's friends that doesn't show up, since he went out with Ursula instead. Later on Joey reveals that he has tried calling Ursula for two days and she keeps blowing him off and he doesn't know why. Phoebe visits and Ursula and she tells Phoebe that although Joey is a great guy it's over between them and that she doesn't plan to let him know. Phoebe goes to Central Perk to talk to Joey but Joey mistakes her for Ursula (since she is wearing the sweater Joey gave to Ursula as a birthday present since Ursula gave it to Phoebe as a birthday present). Phoebe goes along with it and breaks up with Joey stating that it's because he's friends with Phoebe and that he won't stop spending time with her. However, after kissing her Joey realizes that it's Phoebe not Ursula.

In "The One With The Birth" the whole group goes to the hospital where Carol is giving birth to her and Ross' baby. While in the waiting room watching a Knicks game, Joey is approached by a pregnant woman who criticizes his team. While they argue with each other she has a contraction, Joey calls for the father but she tells him that there is no father. Joey takes the woman into one of the emergency rooms. Joey stays with and helps her throughout the entire ordeal. Joey later returns to the room with balloons for the lady but when he discovers that the father of the baby is there he leaves the balloon there for her.

Season 2[]

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. During his stint on the TV show, he dates a girl named Erica, who believes that he actually is a neurosurgeon named Drake Ramoray. He breaks up with her after she accuses him of cheating on her, having seen him on the show kissing another woman; by telling her that he's actually Drake Ramoray's evil twin, Hans. Wanting to be independent, he moves into his own apartment. He loses his role on Days of Our Lives 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 3[]

Joey teaches a soap opera acting class. ("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 4[]

When Monica is bullied by the staff members at Allesandro'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 Allesandro's that he takes on the nickname Dragon. Later on, he works as a tour guide at the museum.

Season 5[]

After Monica and Chandler hook up in London during Ross' wedding, Joey is the first among the friends to learn of their affair. They beg him to keep it a secret, which leads to Joey embarrassing himself on numerous occasions. Later, Joey gets a role in a movie which is to be filmed in Las Vegas. On the way there, he and Chandler get in a big fight after Chandler admits that he doesn't believe this will be Joey's "big break", and Joey kicks Chandler out of the car and heads to Las Vegas by himself. However, upon arriving in Las Vegas to shoot the movie, Joey learns that the movie has run out of funding and thus has been put on hold indefinitely. Joey is forced to get a job at Caesars Palace as a gladiator until the movie is hopefully able to gain the funding it needs. Joey desperately tries to hide all of this from the friends but when they all travel to Vegas for Chandler and Monica's anniversary they ultimately learn the truth.

Season 6[]

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 7[]

High on the airing of "Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.", Joey auditions for the role of Dr. Stryker Ramoray, a new character on Days of Our Lives and Drake Ramoray's brother. Due to his overconfidence believing that he'll automatically get the role, he doesn't get that role, but after Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. is cancelled, he is brought back as Drake Ramoray again. ("The One With Rachel's Assistant") He is even nominated for an award for Best Returning Character. At the end of the season, Joey conducts the wedding of Monica and Chandler.

Season 8[]

Joey goes on a date with Rachel to prepare for a big date, however he starts to develop feelings for Rachel. He eventually tells her about his feelings, and is heartbroken when she does not feel the same. Things are awkward for a while, but not for long. In the season finale, Rachel accepts what she believes is a proposal from Joey but was a mistake as the ring belonged to Ross, whose daughter she's just given birth to.

Season 9[]

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' co-worker. The relationship ends, and he and Rachel find that they are both attracted to each other.

Season 10[]

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 too good a 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. At the end of the season, Joey is the only one of the gang not in a relationship, Rachel and Ross having gotten back together in the series finale. When the weather prevents the original minister traveling, he conducts the wedding of Phoebe and Mike.

After the series finale[]

Rachel has moved back in with Ross and it's implied they get married shortly afterwards. It can only be assumed that Joey would conduct their wedding too, having conducted the other friends' wedding. This leaves Joey the only one not in a relationship.

Spin-off[]

Joey Tribbiani (Joey)

Joey Season 1[]

Joey moves to L.A to polish his acting career after the finale of Friends. Joey meets his older sister, Gina and his nephew Michael. Joey also meets Alex, whom he immediately falls for, but is heartbroken when he realizes that she's married. Most of the first season sees Joey adapting to life without the other five friends. 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 prime-time 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. In The Pilot , Joey implies that Ross and Rachel have remarried and that Phoebe is pregnant.

Joey Season 2[]

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. Joey meets Zac who lands him into trouble when they steal a director's dog with the idea of returning it and being awarded an audition. 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. At the end of the last season, he is seen to be in a committed relationship with Alex, his next door neighbor.

Friendships[]

Joey is very loyal, caring, and protective of his friends.

Chandler Bing[]

Chandler and Joey

Chandler and Joey

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. Mr. 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. In the spin-off "Joey" , a picture of Joey and Chandler can be seen in Joey's apartment.

Monica Geller[]

Monica and Joey

Monica and Joey

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. However, a depressed Monica in London seeks out Joey for a one night stand to cheer herself up, but cannot find him, and they occasionally flirt, but this mostly is initiated by Joey. In one episode, Monica tells Joey that she needs a favor, to which he responds, "I can't say that it isn't something I've thought about, but it would be wrong...good [wink], but wrong." Monica, who was going to ask for money, replies, "First of all, it would be great..." Joey stood in for the un-photogenic Chandler in their wedding announcement for the paper, and Monica, pleased by how good they look together, wonders what their kids would look like. Joey has also seen Monica topless in "The One With The Boobies" when he was looking for Rachel.

When Monica is bullied by the staff at Allesandro'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 Greene[]

       See also: Joey and Rachel

In the beginning seasons, interactions between Joey and Rachel were rare. However, Joey forms a strong bond with Rachel when she moves into his 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. In the spin-off "Joey", Joey talks about Rachel as "The only woman he's ever loved", and how she ended up with his "best friend", which could be implying that Ross and Rachel have remarried.

Ross Geller[]

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' 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. They also have a very close relationship, as shown by them having a nap together on the couch after Joey invites Ross in episode 6 of Season 7. Indeed Ross tells Rachel that he considers Joey his best (male) friend. When Joey developed feelings for Rachel, he didn't act on them due to his long friendship with Ross, feeling that Ross and Rachel had too much history for him to try and step in. Joey also taught Ross the Europe story which indirectly led to Rachel's pregnancy.

Phoebe Buffay[]

Phoebe and Joey-5x15

Joey and Phoebe

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 them 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. There are hints that they have a crush on each other, but it's unknown if they sleep together at any point.

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 thumb of the hand-shaped mansion he expects to own when he becomes rich from having a hand twin. Phoebe once said 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, Ursula, especially when Joey sleeps with Ursula 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, "Plus, I'm one-sixteenth Portuguese.". He has also stated that Phoebe is his "number one girl", and went as far as not eating meat for several months when she was pregnant and felt desire for it, just so, in his words, no additional cow would be killed, because she would be eating his. When he and Phoebe are discussing the pairings of their other four friends (Ross and Rachel, and Monica and Chandler), Joey wonders aloud when he and Phoebe "are gonna hook up." Phoebe responds with, "All in good time, my love."

Friendships in general[]

The girls 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,  According to Matt LeBlanc, Joey sees the girls as sisters more than potential romantic interests.

A good example of the strong affection all five of his fellow friends have for Joey occurs immediately 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.

Romances[]

Joey has had more luck with dates than any of the other group members.

Alex Garrett[]

Alex is Joey's super in the Friends spin-off Joey. They meet in the first episode and Joey immediately falls for her, unfortunately she is married and Joey is heartbroken. However they remain close friends later on. She later becomes his girlfriend, and she is the first girl Joey has thought about marrying (discounting when he proposed to Phoebe and Rachel after hearing they were pregnant). They get engaged in Season 2 of Joey.

Women[]

Joey is 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.

Despite his great interest in women, he has shown more than once that he will put friends over lovers if faced with a choice: when Janine Lecroix revealed that she disliked Monica and Chandler, Joey quickly broke off his relationship with her despite having been interested in her for the last few episodes, and when Phoebe impersonated her twin sister Ursula (who Joey had been dating) and made him decide between his relationship with Ursula and his friendship with Phoebe, Joey chose Phoebe without hesitation. 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, although these were predominantly one-night stands.

As of the end of Joey, he is in a committed relationship with Alex Garrett.

Age[]

Joey's age, like his friends, is not consistently treated. It is first mentioned in "The One With The Birth", which aired in May 1995, in which he says he is 25, which would made him born around 1969-1970, and would even make him younger than Monica (who claims being 26 just an episode before, in "The One With The Ick Factor"). But, a little less than a year later in "The One Where Joey Moves Out", which aired in February, 1996, Joey says he is 28. The latter would put his birth in 1967 or early 1968, which would make him older than Chandler. In "The One With Joey's Fridge", he refers to his activities during spring break in 1981 and Monica comments, "You were thirteen." which also supports the statement that Joey was born in early 1968 as Spring Break is celebrated in April-May in America.

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. Furthermore in "The One With The Cake", Ross informs Joey that he'll be 52 when Emma turns 18 in 2020, which would point to a birth in 1968.

On the contrary, the possibility of him being born in 1969 is referred to again in Season 3. Indeed, in "The One With The Jam", when Monica is reading a list of sperm donors, she sees Joey is among them and it is written here that he is "27". But, 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 since that would place his birth date around 1967-1968.

Due to the age at the end, this is how the ages should have gone: 1 (25-26), 2 (26-27), 3 (27-28), 4 (28-29), 5 (29-30), 6 (30-31), 7 (31-32), 8 (32-33), 9 (33-34), 10 (34-35). Joey's birthday is then consistent with what Michael reveals in the first season of Joey, where he said to be 35. This results in a 35-36 age for season 1 and 36-37 for season 2.

Personality[]

"Hey, look, I take a girl out she can order whatever she wants. The more the better, all right? Just don't order a garden salad and then eat my food! That's a good way to lose some fingers."
—Joey discussing his views on dates and food to Phoebe Buffay[src]
JoeyTribbiani

Joey is generally a good-natured, charming and well-meaning person, but not so bright. He loves food, women, sex, family, friends, jam, and the New York Knicks.

Joey is known for his love of food and sex. He particularly loves sandwiches and pizza. In "The One With Ross' Wedding, Part 2", it is mentioned that the "Joey Special" is two pizzas. Also, 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. Joey also doesn't like to share food, even with a date, as shown in "The One With The Birth Mother".

He has a lot of trouble with understanding negative criticism of his acting. Also, although he is usually simple-minded, there are moments where he seems very smart. He discovers Chandler and Monica slept with each other when he hears Monica lost her eyelash-curler, and immediately remembers Chandler saying that the girl he slept with had lost her eyelash-curler.

The character was originally not supposed to be anything like he is portrayed throughout most of the series. His original character description mentions him as "macho, smug, loves women and most of all Joey" which is how we see him for the first two seasons. It was Matt LeBlanc's idea to make a dim character.

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.

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 her again. This includes Laura the adoption assessor but who he convinces didn't call him! Joey 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 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 says, "A hot girl's at stake, and suddenly [Joey is] Rain Man" after he quickly comes up with an idea for how Ross could find out which of his students referred to him as the 'hottie of the paleontology department' in the end-of-year evaluation. Joey has made up an anecdote referred to as the "Europe story," or the "magic story", which after hearing it the listener will immediately want to have sex with the storyteller. When Rachel points out that she heard that a man named Ken Adams came up with the story, he confesses to her that he is, in fact, Ken Adams.

There have been moments in the series where Joey acts like a hypocrite. This is mostly displayed in "The One With The Birth Mother", where it's revealed that he can't stand it when others take food from his plate, as he even loses his cool when his current date, Sarah, takes some of his fries or when Emma, a baby, wants a grape from him. Yet, various times throughout the series, Joey has eaten his friends' food without asking first. In said episode, he eats Sarah's torte despite her telling him not to after the previous plate incident. Additionally, in "The One With Joey's Fridge", he continuously tries to make his friends pay for a new refrigerator when his old one breaks by claiming that they were the ones that broke it. However, he himself has taken a lot of money from his friends with no intention on paying them back, as Phoebe claims that he owes her $800 once he demands money from her so he would finally shut up about the fridge.

5x14 Huggsy

Joey with Huggsy

In contrast to his "ladies man" personality, he has also a marked childish side. He enjoys playing video games and Foosball, "exclusively" reads comics ("The One With The Halloween Party"), and is often seen having fun with whatever is around; like a hockey puck ("The One With George Stephanopoulos"), a scooter ("The One Where They All Turn Thirty"), a pile of boxes ("The One Where Ross Moves In"), bubble wrap ("The One With Rachel's Going Away Party") or jumping on the bed ("The One With The Jam"); among many other examples. He even sleeps with a soft toy penguin named Huggsy and has a Cabbage Patch Kid which he named Alicia May Emory.

This childishness often leads to a running gag where he is actually treated like a infant. In "The One With Rachel's Other Sister", after Ross says Chandler wouldn't get Emma if Ross and Rachel die, Chandler says none of them would get Joey. After they clear things up, Chandler says they can get him, but warns Ross that "he [Joey] eats five times a day and shoves pennies up his nose". In "The One Where Rachel's Sister Baby-Sits", Joey writes a recommendation letter for Chandler and Monica and sends it to an adoption agency, who mistakenly believe it had been written by a child. They "guessed 8, 9, based on his drawings", and call Joey in return, asking for his "mommy and daddy". In "The One Where Monica And Richard Are Friends", Joey puts The Shining and Little Women in the freezer after he is too scared or sad to keep reading them, and Rachel has to comfort him and lie to him about the death of a character he liked. In "The One With Princess Consuela", Joey and 8-year old girl Mackenzie try to prevent Chandler and Monica from buying a house, and Joey suggests telling them the house is haunted, to which Mackenzie responds "What are you? Eight?". He later calls her asking for an unrelated advice, but she redirects him to her stuffed bear, and Joey effectively keeps talking to the toy.

Despite generally being ignorant in most academic fields, he purchases a single encyclopedia in "The One With The Cuffs". This ends up making him knowledgeable about any topic that begins with the letter "V", specifically vomit, Mount Vesuvius, volcanoes, vivisection, the vas deferens, and the Vietnam War.

In addition, despite being the least intelligent of the friends and generally easygoing and pleasant, Joey is more than willing to showcase a mockingly sarcastic sense of humor on occasion, having plenty of good one-liners in the first season and throwing the occasional barb or two in the later ones.

Career[]

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 Al Zebooker, a man who eats paper, Joey is Estelle's only client.

JoeysNewBrain

Joey's return on Days of Our Lives

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, Stryker, 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.

MacAndCHEESE

Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.

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.

Holden McGroin

Joey as "Holden McGroin"

He played the title role in Freud!, as well as auditioning for Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet under the pseudonym Holden McGroin.

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 uncircumcised. 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 off, 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 in "The One With The Butt". However, he loses the role when he "acts too much".

Other Jobs[]

5x04 Joey phone

Joey got a job answering calls at a PBS telethon

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. Rachel is angered that Gunther had left just so that he could dye his hair, leaving new employee Joey in charge. Rachel easily persuades Gunther, who is in love with her, 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 check.

Some of Joey's other jobs have included selling Christmas trees ("The One Where Rachel Quits"), dressing as Santa Claus and a Christmas elf ("The One With The Monkey"), a tour guide at the Museum of Natural History ("The One With Phoebe's Uterus"), and offering cologne samples to customers at a department store ("The One With The Breast Milk").

He also works briefly as a waiter at Allesandro's, where Monica is head chef.. He is given the job just so that Monica can fire him to intimidate the staff, who don't respect Monica. He makes a lot of money in tips and backs out of "getting fired", only to realize how important it is to Monica.

He is an ordained minister since "The One With The Truth About London", when he got ordained over the internet so that he could perform Monica and Chandler's wedding ("The One With Monica And Chandler's Wedding, Part 2"). He has kept up this status ever since- apparently believing that priests are permitted to ride the underground for free- which allowed him to officiate at Phoebe and Mike's wedding when the original minister was unavailable ("The One With Phoebe's Wedding").

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

Filmography[]

Title Year Role
Pinocchio (1993) Pinocchio
Unnamed Jean-Claude Van Damme project (1994) Al Pacino's butt double (Fired)
The Milk Master 2000 Infomercial (1996) Kevin
Days of Our Lives (1996-1996) (2001-2005) Dr. Drake Ramoray/Jessica Lockhart (won Daytime Soap Award for "best death scene")
Outbreak 2: The Virus Takes Manhattan (1996) Corpse
Law and Order (1999) Corpse
Shutter Speed (1999) (Bank robbed on first day of production)
Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. (2000) Mac Machiavelli
Over there, Private Tony (2001) Tony
Ichiban! Lipstick for Men Commercial (2003) Model
Captured (2005) -
Searching for Bobby Fischer (2007) Bobby Fischer

Trivia[]

  • Joey is fiercely protective of his seven sisters and his friends.
  • 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.
  • Joey is the only character to be unmarried. It is only left to assume that he marries Alex, due to Joey being cancelled.
  • Joey became ordained over the internet when Chandler and Monica were unable to find a minister and marries them at the end of Season 7. In Season 10 he steps in to marry Phoebe and Mike when bad weather prevents the original minister attending.
  • Joey left New York in September 2004 for L.A. after turning down what turned out to be a successful series.
  • Joey is the only main male character of the group who is not a father. Ross had Ben and Emma and Chandler had Jack and Erica. However, Joey donated to a sperm bank shortly after completing the fertility study, so it is possible that he has genetic children.
  • Joey speaks gibberish, which he thinks is French although he has occasionally used a phrase correctly. When he says the bits of a French word slowly, he can say it perfectly.
  • Despite not being able to speak French in the show, Matt LeBlanc is actually fluent in French.
  • Joey's Italian voice actor, Vittorio De Angelis was the older brother of Eleonora De Angelis, who voiced Rachel in the Italian version. He died of a heart attack in 2015.
  • In the Italian dub, Joey's name is spelled the same but is pronounced as "Triviani".
  • 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: 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 failed to smoke when Chandler tried to teach him to smoke for an audition.
  • 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.
  • Despite being the ladies man out of the 3 males in the group, he is the only one who has not had sex with any of the 3 female members of the group. He almost did with Rachel, but they eventually broke up. He's also the only one not confirmed married in further irony.
  • Joey was the first one to find out about Monica and Chandler's secret relationship.
  • Joey puts Stephen King's The Shining in the freezer when he gets scared while reading it. He later asks Rachel to do the same with Little Women as it was too sad.
  • Joey has an intense dislike for sharing his food ("Joey doesn't share food!"), as said in "The One With The Birth Mother".
  • Joey didn't start using his popular catchphrase "how you doin'" until "The One With Rachel's Crush"
  • Joey lives in the same apartment throughout the series of Friends apart from a brief period living alone after getting a part in Days of Our Lives and when he and Chandler win the apartment bet against Rachel and Monica. He is also seen living alone in the alternative reality episode "The One That Could Have Been". It's assumed that Rachel (and Emma) move back in with Ross after they get back together in the last episode of Friends leaving Joey on his own again.
  • With one appearance, his parents appeared the least in Friends though his dad appeared in one episode of Joey. However that episode was never broadcast in the original run of Joey, owing to the series being cancelled.
  • Joey is 55–56 as of 2024.
  • Joey is the only main male character who didn't date Janice. In fact he runs away when he sees her leaving Monica and Chandler's apartment.
  • He bought an encyclopedia in Season 4 which contained words beginning with 'v'.
  • His resume claims he can dance but an episode in season 3 shows he can't. However at some point he takes tap lessons, possibly after dancing with Mr. Treeger, his apartment building's supervisor.
  • Joey was supposed to be snarky (e.g. Season 1, Season 2) but it was the actor Matt Le Blanc's idea for Joey to be dumbed down.
  • Joey and Phoebe are the only members of the group who are not related through blood or marriage to any of the other members of the group.
  • Joey has a Google Easter Egg. It can be found by searching "Friends Joey," then clicking the pizza icon. Various foods gather on the screen, after which Joey says "Joey doesn't share food!" and the foods all disappear.
  • He along with Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Monica and Phoebe are the only main characters to appear in every episode.
    • He is the only main character to appear in both Friends and Joey as well as being in every episode of both shows.

Photos[]

Friends

Joey

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