As Friends progressed and moved onto its later seasons - while still massively successful and beloved - the writing was at the end of a lot of criticism. Many fans felt that the characters were being reduced to stereotypes and losing their depth. The issues with the script are never more apparent than in the character arc of everyone’s favorite Italian-American soap opera star Joey Tribianni.
Joey had always been a bit dimwitted, but as the seasons progressed, he stopped having any semblance of intelligence and just was written to be played as dumb as possible. This led to a lot of moments of pure and utter dopiness from him. So, here are ten of the many Joey Tribianni moments that are incredibly dopey.
UNISEX
There are so many moments from Joey like this throughout the show. Simple pieces of dialogue that are insanely dumb, but at least a couple of times, will draw a laugh out of you.
When Joey needs clothes from Rachel for an audition, he questions her decision to give him a bag he believes is female. When she tells him its unisex, he tells her, “maybe you need sex, I had sex a couple of days ago.” When Rachel then spells out u-n-i sex to help him understand, Joey believes she is offering.
CONDOMS TO REPOPULATE
What is so annoying about this admittedly funny moment is the fact it has a very smart foundation. As fans know earlier in the series, Joey, Chandler, Monica, and Phoebe were locked in Monica’s room as Ross and Rachel fought. Joey foresaw this happening again and planned.
Joey prepared a box with snacks, magazines, books, and yes, condoms. His reason for it was they did not know how long they would be in there for, and that they may have to repopulate the Earth.
HOMO SAPIENS
In the early seasons, before the writing for the character went entirely downhill, Joey had dopey moments that induced a load of laughs. His science question for Ross was one of those moments.
Joey wanted to ask Ross a science-related question. He wondered if homo sapiens were HOMO sapiens and if that was the reason they were extinct. When Ross replied that homo sapiens are people, Joey said he does not judge.
IDENTICAL HAND TWIN
Then, of course, there are the unfunny, stupid storylines Joey was thrown into in the late seasons. One of the very worst, that reflected Joey in an awful light was the discovery of his identical hand twin.
The unfortunate subject of Joey’s stalking throughout in a night in Las Vegas was a casino worker whose hands Joey noticed and believed were identical to his own. Joey thought that people would pay big bucks to see his hand twice. There is a half-decent catchy song for a show idea Joey had at least.
BABYPROOFING
Coming again from the later seasons, this was not much of a story, just a recurring joke throughout the episode. When Rachel decides Joey’s apartment needed to be baby-proofed, she hires someone to fit it in, causing mayhem for Joey.
Joey could not figure out how to open the fridge, or lift the toilet seat, or open a drawer. All because of baby proofing. It is ridiculous that the writers for one expected us to think a guy who hands made an entertainment unit (despite any measurement flaws) could not unclip baby proofing, alas it happened, and was dopey.
HEADS OR TAILS
Despite everything, though, Joey’s heart remained pure, and he desperately wanted the gang to stay together. So, when he tried his best to get Rachel to stay, we felt bad for him, but cannot deny the idiocy of the moment, or the fifty-seven of them.
Joey played heads or tails for Rachel to stay. Heads she wins, tails he loses. As he explains it to Chandler and Ross, it seemed as though he realized what had happened, but no, he just forgot to pick up his dry cleaning.
ROSS’ NAME
When Joey ducked out the way of Ross’s punch, causing Ross to break his thumb, Joey took him to hospital. There, due to the condition of Ross’s hand, Joey had to fill in the form. This led to one of the stupidest questions in the history of TV, especially given how close friends these people are.
When filling in the name part, Joey confusingly asks for it. When Ross looks at him puzzled, Joey says, “I know Ross, but what’s it short for. Like Rossell, or Rosstopher?”
GETTING ROBBED
It is a stupid moment on the part of Joey, and we honestly wonder how he made it to adulthood without a grain of common sense. We love him but this scene made us genuinely worry about the characters’ wellbeing and safety.
When attempting to sell the entertainment unit, Joey brags that he could fit inside it and close the door, the seller claims he does not believe him, so, naturally, Joey goes inside. He then ends up locked inside it, and all of he and Chandlers stuff stolen. But, silver lining, at least he never took the five of spades.
PYRAMID
Joey’s famous appearance on the game show Pyramid is something that initially is quite funny, but the more and more it is watched, the worse it seems to get. It is one of the dumbest things Joey had ever been a part of throughout the shows ten seasons.
When on the show, Joey never knew the rules initially. Then, he also did not know the words that were in front of him to explain to his teammate. Worst of all, though, came when Joey had to answer and answered things such as “Paper. Snow. A ghost!” for cream. He did go on a flurry at the end, but it was short-lived.
SPEAKING FRENCH
When Joey asked Phoebe to teach him how to speak French, fans knew they were likely in for a silly, but fun episode. In terms of that particular story, there lacks funniness, with the silliness and straight up stupidity turned up.
Joey is apparently incapable of speaking French, despite slow instruction from Phoebe, and despite the fact, he can say individual words back to her, just not sentences. The worst thing though is that Joey is a professional actor, how is he incapable of sounding back what Phoebe is saying to him when he once memorized an entire analysis of a museum.
