Loyal and reliable: a Joey Tribbiani character analysis
My friend McKinley Mitchell has watched friends six times and like me, she has a hard time picking a favorite friend. But Joey Tribbiani (Matt Leblanc) is the friend she appreciates the most consistently.
“He’s the one who fits the title of ‘friend’ the most,” McKinley explained in between Friends episodes. “He never really screws any of the other friends over.”
After pondering McKinley’s statement, I realized she was right. Out of all the friends, Joey is the most loyal and reliable. Joey is a good-natured and kind-hearted friend. In fact, he prioritizes his friends so much that he would not pursue a girl he was interested in if he knew that Chandler or Ross were also interested.
The Joey haters would say that the only reason Joey is more reliable than any of the other friends is because of his work. As a start up actor, jobs for Joey are few and far between. In fact, there may be more scenes of Joey with his agent, Estelle, than there are scenes with Joey on sets. However, Joey having an inconsistent job would be more of a reason for him to be unavailable to his friends. The truth is — as dim as Joey can be — he takes good care of himself.
Joey understands being there for his friends also means being there for himself. In “The one with the inappropriate sister,” Joey teaches Ross how to escape the boredom that comes from an inconsistent schedule. In this episode, Ross is working to get over how he was put on sabbatical “on account of his rage” and recent stressors in his life (getting divorced, moving apartments, etc.) Joey helps Ross learn how to spread out his work thus leaving more time for creative freedom (spent making up games like fireball). Just think, how many people have been dying of boredom during quarantine and COVID-19? How has that boredom affected their mental health? Boredom has wrecked most of us, but it didn’t wreck Joey. Joey was smart when his mental health was on the line. Why? So he could be there for his friends.
Joey is not perfect, but he is very good at being emotionally available for the people closest to him. Still, in “The one with the ride-along” Joey protected his sandwich instead of his friends when a gunshot (later declared a car backfire) went off. I guess he really loved that meatball sub. What I’m trying to say is that Joey has his boundaries: he doesn’t share food and he is a bit of a ladies’ man.
Joey Tribbiani is always there for his friends when they need him. He is forgiving when Chandler kisses Joey’s girlfriend, open when Phoebe calls him out for choosing a date over dinner with her and he keeps quiet when he finds out that Monica and Chandler are together. Joey Tribbiani is a stand up guy. I know I wouldn’t mind being his friend.
*Graphic by Sadie Buhman.
Emily White is a junior studying English and print journalism. She is currently serving as the senior writer for the Lifestyles section of the Statesman.
—emily.white@usu.edu