Joey Tribbiani stands as many fans’ favorite out of the Friends gang. He’s easy to like with his ability to charm the ladies and his hilariously simple-minded ways. But one of the most entertaining aspects of Joey is his often disastrous career as an actor.
From the beginning of the series, Joey struggles to make it in the competitive and difficult acting world. Though he might not be the best actor around, he has proven too willing to take on just about any job. This results in some hilariously awful and embarrassing roles in a variety of projects that make us feel sorry for Joey while also admiring his determination. Here are Joey’s worst acting jobs on Friends.
Nudity Movie
As a struggling actor, Joey knows that sometimes you have to lie and embellish your skills a little to get the job. However, he learns that there are some things that are harder to fake than others.
When Joey is offered a role in a movie that will require full-frontal nudity, he accepts. However, he quickly encounters a problem when they explain that the role requires someone with an uncircumcised penis. Despite Joey lacking the necessary equipment, he is determined to get the part and uses some deli meat to fake it. Surprisingly, it seems to work, at least until it falls off in the middle of the audition.
Lipstick For Men
Even Hollywood’s biggest stars are willing to do the occasional overseas commercial to make a little extra money. Joey might not be a star, but he’s apparently not opposed to making a fool of himself on international television.
Joey became the spokesman for a very unique Japanese product called Ichiban, which is lipstick designed specifically for men. The most logical question would be, why is lipstick for men any different than lipstick for women? Apparently, the answer is that men’s lipstick is blue. Needless to say, the commercial in which Joey dons to lipstick is not his proudest moment.
Mac And C.H.E.E.S.E.
Being cast as the lead in a cop show would be a dream for most actors, and indeed, Joey is quite excited about his role in the new series “Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.” Unfortunately, he is less thrilled about his co-star. The series was meant to follow a cop who partners with a robot to solve crimes.
Joey was initially thrilled at the idea of sharing the screen with a robot, only to be let down by the robot’s lackluster size and design, looking like a cheap knock-off of the Short Circuit robot. To make matters worse, Joey soon finds out that his robotic co-star is far more valuable to the show than he is.
Days Of Our Lives
Though soap operas can often be criticized for their ridiculous storylines and overacting, many of Hollywood’s biggest stars got their start on these shows, including the long-running Days of Our Lives. For Joey to get the role of Dr. Drake Ramoray was a huge step up for his career. Sadly, he finds countless ways to mess it up.
First, Joey gives an interview where he insults the show’s writers leading to them killing off his character. When given the chance to return as Drake’s brother, Joey once again lets his ego get in the way, leading to him being recast as Drake while he’s in a coma. In the end, he is finally brought back after Drake gets a brain transplant from a woman, so that’s something at least.
Over There
Despite showing questionable acting talents all around, Joey somehow keeps getting cast in decent roles. He is even chosen to co-star with an Oscar-nominated actor, Richard Crosby (Gary Oldman), in a World War I movie.
Despite having such an impressive co-star, things don’t go smoothly for Joey. First, Richard has a tendency to over-enunciate his dialogue, which causes him to continuously spit in Joey’s face during their scenes together. While Joey eventually accepts this acting technique, he has even more trouble with Richard showing up to the set completely drunk, leading to a long and unproductive day at work.
Porno Movie
Working actors often have to make compromises early in their careers when it comes to the projects they choose. Sometimes a paid gig can be enticing, even if it is a very embarrassing job. And, of course, there are the stories of aspiring actors turning to the adult film industry to pay the bills. Joey is one of those actors.
But even though such a role might be embarrassing for most actors, it doesn’t seem to bother Joey much at all. It probably helps that he isn’t one of the people having sex in the movie. Instead, he plays a man who comes to fix the office copier, only to find two people having sex on top of it.
Outbreak 2
Outbreak is a fun but generally forgotten movie from the ’90s about a deadly virus that spreads throughout the United States, threatening to wipe out all life on the planet. Though the movie didn’t get a sequel in reality, it did in the Friends universe, and Joey managed to secure himself a role in the film.
Though a big-budget film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme would look pretty good on the resume, Joey was only cast as a random dying man. However, he tried to make the most of the role, overacting, improvising and ruining take after take until they decided to change the role to simply a dead man.
Al Pacino Movie
There are few actors as legendary as Al Pacino and any aspiring actor would love the chance to appear in a movie with the Oscar-winner. Joey does indeed get the chance to appear in the film, though probably not in the way he envisioned.
Joey gets the job of acting as Pacino’s butt double. It is indeed a real role in Hollywood when stars don’t want to show their rear end on camera. Though Joey’s friends give him a hard time for the awkward job, he is determined to make the most of the role. However, he is quickly fired for overacting in the part.
Boxing Day
As cringe-worthy as Joey’s film work has been, his stage work might be even worse. “Boxing Day” was a play Joey was cast in the lead role for and eventually fell for his female co-star, despite a rocky beginning. While the relationship was a nice aspect, the play itself was something of a disaster.
It’s hard to get a sense of what the play is really about, only that the opening night reviews are horrible and the director is a madman. When we finally get to see play in action, we find out it ends with Joey’s character heading off into space to find intelligent life. At least it doesn’t sound dull.
Freud!
Joey certainly isn’t afraid to be versatile in his acting choices. The problem is that he doesn’t seem competent in any role, no matter what it is. So the thought of him starring as famed psychologist Sigmund Freud in a play just sounds like a horrible idea. To make matters worse, the play is also a musical.
Looking like someone dressed as Freud for Halloween and sporting a ridiculous accent, Joey gives it his all, singing a song about Freud’s theories like “penis envy.” Even Joey’s best friends have a hard time finding anything to compliment about this mess.
