The NBC sitcom Friends will always be known as one of the best tv shows of all time. While it contained many of television's most memorable moments, it wasn't without its flaws.
While there may have been awkward moments like Monica's fat suit, Phoebe revealing herself to be a former mugger, or Tom Selleck appearing sans mustache, the show still made itself memorable by the chemistry between its wonderful cast. While most people tend to focus on the traditional couples of the show, like Monica and Chander, or Ross and Rachel, the unsung heroes of the show might just be Joey and Phoebe. While it was not romantic, they were still worth rooting for in a lot of ways. They were always fun to watch, and often got into the most ridiculous scenarios or conversations that would give the Chandler and Joey duo a run for their money.
The chemistry was so strong that fans often missed moments in the show that just don't make sense upon a rewatch. Joey and Phoebe's relationship is definitely a strange one that the show never seems to pin down. At times they seem as though they are each other's romantic interests, as their physical attraction toward one another is off the charts. Other times they are shown to be almost toxic friends. Most of the time though, they pull through these moments and prove that they have one of the strongest friendships in the show.
Here are 20 Things That Don't Make Sense About Joey And Phoebe's Relationship.
20. They Flirt Constantly
It's no secret that the friends in Friends frequently found themselves romantically entangled (or close to it) with each other. Whether it's Ross and Rachel, Chandler and Monica, Chandler and Rachel, Joey and Monica, Ross and Phoebe, Joey and Rachel...well, you get the point. Despite all of the relationships and near hookups, there's one pair that surprisingly never came close to having any kind of relationship, Joey and Phoebe.
While this wouldn't be weird for several of the other characters, Phoebe and Joey seemed destined for at least a hookup. For two supposedly platonic friends, Phoebe and Joey do an awful lot of flirting. They both frequently discuss how beautiful the other one is or flirt with one another in ways that make it seem like there are true feelings bubbling just under the surface. Even if they are just physical. Apparently, fans weren't the only ones that felt this way.
19. The Actors Wanted Them To Be Friends With Benefits
Fans shipping characters with chemistry together is pretty par for the course for a show like Friends. Almost any show with a mild to extreme fan base has tons of speculation as to who could end up with who. What is rare is to see the actors do the shipping themselves.
Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow itted they wanted to see the pair engage in some sort of physical activity. Apparently, they even went to the producers to pitch the idea. Somehow the producers disliked the idea and refused to go ahead with it. Maybe they just thought there was too many romantic entanglements in the cast already. If only they'd had the same revelation about Joey and Rachel. Oh, well. They may not have ever had a physical relationship but that doesn't mean there wasn't a plan in place to change that.
18. Phoebe Made Him And Ross Her Backup
A common trope in Friends style sitcoms is that two of the will declare that if they are single by a certain age they will marry one another. A marriage back up plan. While it's a major plot point in some shows (See How I Met Your Mother's finale) it was just a throwaway gag in Friends. Except for this time, one of the friends doubled down on backups.
Phoebe and Joey being each other's marriage back ups makes perfect sense. They get along extremely well and have an obvious physical chemistry. What doesn't make sense is that Phoebe would go behind Joey's back and make Ross her back up as well. Ross?! How many happy couples tell the stories about how they first met with, "I robbed him outside a comic book store, it was awesome!" Probably not many. They may have never gotten to get physical with their emergency marriage, but that doesn't mean that one of them didn't pretty much get to second base.
17. Joey Popped Open Her Shirt
The Friends episode "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" is one of the true classics of the long-running series. The scenes where Phoebe and Chandler try to out flirt one another or when Joey laments that he doesn't understand the constant scheming between the friends are some of the funniest of the show. For Joey and Phoebe, it also features one of the steamiest.
While Phoebe is trying to out-seduce Chandler, she hits a wall in trying to freak him out. Joey's aptly suggests that she show her bra since Chandler is afraid of them. Phoebe agrees and Joey skillfully pops open her blouse with a flick of the wrist. That is pretty impressive handiwork there Mr. Tribbiani, but it's safe to say that Phoebe probably could've handled that herself.
16. when she tried to teach him french
In "The One Where Joey Speaks French", Phoebe unsuccessfully tries to teach Joey to speak French. His attempts to repeat after her are not only failed but are hilariously bad. He barely even attempts to speak the words back at her. Eventually, she throws in the towel, but it doesn't end there. Joey goes to the audition somehow thinking that he can wing the French and magically be fluent saying random French sounding syllables. He, of course, fails entirely. Phoebe tries to cover for him to the casting director but her excuse crosses the line a bit. She tells them that the reason he's making a fool out of himself is that he is actually mentally handicapped.
While this does provide adequate cover for him, it doesn't change the fact that she lied to people that work in his business about his mental aptitude. This team may very well be casting a different role in the future and now they will definitely refuse to cast him. Though he may have burnt that bridge himself. C'mon Joe, you can do better. You were Dr. Drake Ramoray! While they may have had a rough spot there, it didn't stop their regular dates together.
15. They Had Regular Friend Dates
While many of the titular friends were crazy close, perhaps none were quite as close as Joey and Phoebe. None of the others had a standing appointment to have dinner together. While their regular dinners were sweet, they were also a bit weird.
Apparently one of the core reasons for these dinners was to talk about the other of the friend group. That's more than a little weird for a group so tight that they rarely go a week without seeing each other. The ritual of the dinner is also so important to the pair that it supersedes any other plans that might arise. Phoebe very nearly misses a date with her star-crossed ex, David for a dinner. She may have guilted Joey for the same type of behavior but his date definitely wasn't as serious. Surely a dinner designed for gossip isn't as important as true love.
14. Joey Broke His Promise And Ate Meat
Phoebe's surrogacy for her brother was one of the show's biggest recurring plot points. Her triplets caused a lot of changes for Phoebe, but perhaps the most disturbing for her was the cravings they gave her for meat. Phoebe, a devout vegetarian, found the notion of this very problematic.
Luckily, Joey had an answer. After he cooked them up a few steaks, Joey made a guilt-ridden Phoebe a special deal. Joey would stop eating meat to more than cancel out all of the meat Phoebe might eat. This is one of the noblest acts Joey does in the series considering how ionate he is about food. He almost took a bullet for a sandwich, this is a big deal! Too bad it didn't last. Once Joey was on a different continent for Ross' wedding, Joey fully indulged his meat-eating lifestyle. He thought he got away with it, but Phoebe's intuition sussed out his crime as soon as he walked into Monica's apartment.
13. Joey Gave Her The Perfect Kiss
"The One Where They All Turn 30" brilliantly crossed a huge milestone for all of its characters in one episode. It's easily one of the top ten episodes of the entire series as it shows the stresses of having to give up the twenty-something lifestyle all of the friends were so used to. Many of these stories were sad for the characters involved, but none were as sad as Phoebe's. Unlike the other friends, Phoebe tried to make the occasion into a positive experience. She found a list of all the things she wanted to do by the time she was thirty and tried to get them all accomplished. Unfortunately, it wasn't her 30th birthday after all. She was actually turning 31.
While she was depressed about essentially losing a year of her life, Joey nobly helped her achieve one of her life goals. He gave her the perfect kiss. This was an incredibly sweet gesture, but it showed that the chemistry that would never flourish between the two. One would think that once she got the perfect kiss, she'd want to come back for seconds.
12. Joey Dated Her Twin
The character of Ursula started out as an in-joke for the other sitcom Lisa Kudrow was known for, Mad About You. In that series, the actress played a ditzy waitress by the name of Ursula. Producers for Friends thought it would be funny if the character appeared on their series as well so they made her Phoebe's twin. While she remains one of the best-ing characters of the series, that doesn't mean things didn't get weird.
In "The One With Two Parts" Joey and Chandler discover Phoebe's twin. Joey's attraction is instantaneous and he decides to ask her out. Phoebe laments how uncomfortable this makes her feel. Things get worse just as she is about to confront Joey about it and finds out that they had already slept together. Talk about icky. Perhaps this moment was why the two characters never hooked up.
11. Phoebe Dumped Him (As Ursula)
Joey didn't get serious about a lot of girls during the run of the show, but something about Ursula made him obsessed. He even forgot about Phoebe's birthday party in order to spend more time with her. This ultimately backfired as Ursula started distancing herself from him.
When Phoebe confronted Ursula about this, her sister revealed that she had callously decided to end things with Joey without telling him. She gives her sister the dress he bought her and walks away without a second thought. That's where things got weird. Phoebe then puts on the dress and poses as Ursula to give Joey the breakup he deserves. They even end the moment with a kiss that reveals who she really is to Joey. For any normal friends, this entire situation would have put a huge wedge between them. Luckily, their bond was far too strong.
