Each of the main characters in HBO Max has expanded its fanbase, along with a special reunion episode that dropped on that same platform.
Friends introduced viewers to a group of six young adults living in New York City and doing their best to juggle their social, personal, and professional lives, along with whatever adulthood threw their way. Over the course of 10 seasons, fans got to know Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, Joey, Rachel, and Ross quite well, even adopting some of their mannerisms, catchphrases, and jokes, and one character who has a lot of memorable phrases, jokes, and more is Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow). Best known as the eccentric one of the group, Phoebe was often delivering great jokes and comedic moments thanks to her sweet but dim-witted nature, but underneath all the jokes and laughs, was a tragic backstory emphasized by some of her best jokes.
By the time Friends begins, Phoebe is already friends with Monica, Ross, Chandler, and Joey, and was Monica’s former roommate as well, but as the series progressed, her backstory was revealed – and it wasn’t a nice one. Phoebe and her twin sister Ursula were the children of Phoebe Abbott and Frank Buffay, but as the former wasn’t ready to be a mother, Frank and their friend Lily adopted the twins and raised them as their own. However, Frank abandoned Lily and the girls not long after, and what followed were more tough moments for the twins: their step-father was sent to prison and Lily committed suicide, leaving Phoebe and Ursula alone. As a result, Phoebe lived on the streets and sometimes resorted to mugging to survive. Phoebe had a tough childhood and teenage years, and these were often reflected in her jokes, but in subtle ways.
Phoebe has various memorable moments, among those the one where Joey told her that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, something Phoebe, in her adult years, wasn’t aware of. This subtly reflects how tough her childhood was and further shows the innocent side of Phoebe that is also part of her childhood trauma. Another joke that reflected this under the disguise of a joke was when she was invited to play her colorful songs at a library. Upon hearing how inappropriate her songs were, Rob, the guy who invited her, tried to persuade her to sing more kid-friendly songs, with Phoebe replying if he wanted her to be “some stupid, big, like, purple dinosaur”. Rob told her he didn’t want her to be Barney, to which Phoebe replied “who’s Barney”. Although Barney and the Backyard Gang and Barney & Friends were released when Phoebe was in her 20s, she should have known who Barney is simply because of its popularity among children, but that side of Phoebe was “disconnected” from the world due to her trauma.
Even though Phoebe went through a lot of rough moments in her childhood and teenage years, that never broke her spirit and she grew up to be a responsible woman with a great sense of humor (and a catalogue of unique songs), and she ultimately found her family in her friends and her husband Mike Hannigan. Sometimes the funniest jokes hide the most subtle and obscure references, and in Phoebe’s case in Friends, it all goes back to her sad backstory.