Joey’s 10 Best Reactions On Friends

Joey’s dramatic reactions are often regarded as some of the most hilarious moments on Friends. These are a few of his most memorable.
Joey Tribbiani from Friends, is one of the most beloved TV icons to ever exist. One of the reasons why he is popular is because of his reactions to news and events throughout the show. His varied reactions have differed from dramatic and forgetful to horrified to deadpan and serious.

Portrayed by Matt LeBlanc, Joey is known to audiences as the lovable, dim-witted member of the group, with a fondness for food and women. He is often the last to understand what’s going on and sometimes, his friends have to give him some help and time to figure it out. Viewers of the show have come to connect these moments to Joey’s character, and he has given the most memorable reactions to any event throughout the show’s 10-year run.
10
When He Nearly Forgets His Passport for London
Season 4, Episode 23: The One With Ross’ Wedding, Part 1
Throughout Friends, Joey shows that he is often prone to forgetting important things, from starting a new job to taking part in the Thanksgiving Day parade with the Days of Our Lives cast. Chandler is usually the one to remind his roommate of life necessities. In this season 4 episode, the duo is preparing to fly to London for Ross’ wedding to Emily when Chandler asks Joey about his passport.

What makes this reaction humorous is Joey tells Chandler that his passport is in his drawer, forgetting that he needs to fly across the Atlantic for the wedding. Rather than saying it out loud, Chandler gives Joey a moment to figure it out; when Joey does, he rushes to grab his passport, with Chandler remarking “There it is.” This shows that Chandler has grown used to Joey’s forgetfulness, but also shows that Chandler watches out for his best friend and makes sure he doesn’t get into too difficult situations.
9
When He Finds a Videotape of Monica
Season 9, Episode 7: The One With Ross’ Inappropriate Song
Joey has a fondness for ladies, as shown through his many girlfriends, but it’s seen in this season 9 episode that, even he has his limits. In this episode, Monica tries to advise Joey about investing his money by buying her old boyfriend Richard’s apartment. When he and Chandler check out the place, they accidentally discover a tape labeled ‘Monica’ in Richard’s video collection.

Initially, Joey gets excited about it possibly being a sex tape, but as is typical, it takes him a bit of time to figure the situation out. With Chandler urging him to “Get there faster!”, he and Joey are horrified to realize that Richard potentially owns an erotic tape of Monica. While Monica reassures them later that it’s not her in the tape, it’s another hilarious moment where Joey needs Chandler’s help to understand things.

8
His “Gracious” Defeat at the Soapy Awards
Season 7, Episode 18: The One With Joey’s Award
Joey’s career as an actor has had its ups and downs, but in this season 7 episode, it reaches a new high when he’s nominated for a Soapy Award. Rachel warns him to be prepared if he doesn’t win and ensures he practices a “gracious loser” reaction. However, despite learning this reaction, Joey’s still convinced he’ll be taking the award home.
At the award ceremony, Joey loses out and instead of acting gracious as he practiced, he flips out, banging his fist on the table and complaining to Rachel that it isn’t fair. This reaction shows that Joey is a slightly bitter loser when it comes to losing out on awards, particularly when it comes to his acting career. What makes this even more memorable is that his reaction caught on camera for the entire audience to see and by the time he sees what’s happening, it’s too late to do much about it.

7
Learning About Condoms
Season 8, Episode 3: The One Where Rachel Tells…
In this season 8 episode, Ross finally learns that he is the father of Rachel’s unborn baby; he is shocked, as they had used a condom. Ross doesn’t handle the news well and rings the company to make a complaint, which upsets Rachel. Later, while searching for her, Ross tells Joey and Phoebe what happened while also explaining that he learned that condoms only work about 97% of the time; Joey’s reaction to this news is to simply say “What?” in a dark tone.

This is in stark contrast to how Joey typically responds to news when he freaks out. This serious, deadpan reaction goes completely against the usual crazy dramatics that audiences expect from him. It’s also of note that when it comes to women and sex, Joey takes these situations a lot more seriously than he does anything else, as seen when he thoroughly examines the condom instructions.

6
When the Duck Eats Ross’ Wedding Ring
Season 4, Episode 22: The One With the Worst Best Man Ever
Joey is serving as Ross’ best man for his wedding to Emily, but he discovers that he’s lost the wedding ring after the stag night in season 4, episode 22. After much deliberation, he, Ross, and Chandler discover that the duck has accidentally ate the ring. They must rush the duck to the vet to try and retrieve the ring.

While at the vet, Joey is the most worried of the three about the duck’s well-being and fears that it might not provide the procedure. He fears something might go wrong and laments with Chandler and Ross about the good times they’ve shared with their feathered friend. Joey’s fear and worry about the duck reflect how much the bird means to him, so he is later very relieved to learn that the duck is going to be fine.
5
When He Reads Little Women For the First Time
Season 3, Episode 13: The One Where Monica and Richard Are Just Friends
Joey never reads books unless they’re made into movies starring Jack Nickelson – and he puts them in the freezer when things get too scary. In this season 3 episode, he and Rachel swap books, with Rachel reading The Shining and Joey reading Little Women. After Joey accidentally ruins the ending of The Shining for Rachel, she bites back by revealing Beth’s death in Little Women; Joey becomes extremely upset, causing Rachel to retract her statement to spare his feelings.
During this episode, Joey displays childlike innocence and wonder at reading Little Women for the first time. His friends are protective of his innocence, which is why they bind about Little Women to get him to keep reading. Rachel also spares his innocence at the end of the episode by consoling him when he reads about Beth’s illness – they later decide to put the book in the freezer together.
4
“Joey Doesn’t Share Food!”
Season 10, Episode 9: The One With the Birth Mother
If there is one thing that Joey loves more than women, it’s food. He prioritizes food over any potential girlfriend and that shows when Phoebe sets him up with her friend Sarah on a date. Joey hates the idea of sharing food with anyone and initially refuses to see Sarah again as she breaks what he calls his ‘golden commandment’ about sharing food.

What’s interesting about this reaction is that, later on, Joey goes against his belief about not sharing food. He refuses to share his dinner with Sarah, but shamelessly steals some of her chocolate dessert at the end of the meal. This shows that Joey can act like a hypocrite when it comes to his own beliefs about life – and food.
3
When God Broke Their Deal About Getting Old
Season 7, Episode 14: The One Where They All Turn Thirty
Nobody likes the idea of growing old and Joey is one such person. Rachel celebrates her 30th birthday in season 7, and she’s not in the mood to celebrate; Joey tries to cheer her up, only to be reminded of his birthday and how he got upset about God making him grow old. It’s also revealed that he inadvertently ruined Chandler’s birthday by crying about everyone growing old and asking why God is doing this to them.

Joey’s sadness in this episode is directed toward the fear of getting old, but also toward the fear of change in life. He’s scared of things changing for him and his friends; later in his spin-off series, he reflects on how he tried to keep things the same, but everyone eventually grew up and moved on. This dramatic reaction is a reflection of the general fear one may have in terms of life evolving and not wanting things to change.

2
Finding Out Ross Is The Father of Rachel’s Baby
Season 8, Episode 2: The One With the Red Sweater
At the start of season 8, the identity of the father of Rachel’s baby was a mystery to everyone. The only clue to the father’s identity was a red sweater – which was eventually claimed by Ross in what is ranked as one of Friends’ best episodes. It takes Joey a moment to figure out the news, but when he does, he – along with Monica and Phoebe – is shocked.

This reaction is regarded as one of the most memorable moments in the show’s history. Joey starts as calm and collected, but when he understands the situation, his eyes pop out in shock as the reality of the news sinks in. The fact that Joey went from cool to shocked in the space of a second is what made it so Friends-meme worthy.
1
When He Finds Out About Chandler and Monica
Season 5, Episode 5: The One With the Kips
Chandler and Monica unexpectedly hook up during Ross’ failed marriage in London in season 4, and they eventually become a couple and get married. Initially, they kept quiet but one by one everyone found out about Chandler and Monica’s relationship, with the first being Joey. After noticing the similarities between Chandler’s and Monica’s “work events” and that Monica lost an eyelash curler that was recovered in Chandler’s hotel room, Joey puts the pieces together and realizes their secret.

In contrast to how slow it normally takes him to figure things out, the news about Chandler and Monica is the fastest time throughout the show that Joey never pieces things together; though shocked, he later also expresses happiness for the pair while being forced to keep the secret. It shows that when he puts his mind to it, Joey is a lot smarter than he is given credit for. Chandler and Monica later become one of the show’s most popular pairings and Joey has the honor of being the first to know, making this reaction one of the best he’s ever had on Friends.