Phoebe Buffay
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Phoebe Buffay (later Buffay-Hannigan) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Lisa Kudrow.
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History
Phoebe has a rather strange past, and an equally strange present existence. Her biological mother, a real estate agent named Phoebe Abbott, gave her and her twin sister up to be raised by her father and his wife, her best friend. Her biological father, a pharmacist named Frank Buffay, left when she was very young. Lily, the woman she believed to be her birth mother, worked on a barge during Phoebe's childhood, but during Phoebe's early adolescence, Lily killed herself, leaving Phoebe and her twin sister Ursula in the care of their stepfather, who for unknown reasons ended up in prison.
Here Phoebe's past becomes hazy; for example, it is not revealed how she came to be separated from her twin sister Ursula, inasmuch as the two grew up together until at least their early teens, but evidently Ursula did not end up homeless. In contrast, by the age of 16 Phoebe was living on the streets of New York, residing in a Gremlin with a man called Cindy who talked to his hand; she spent her "Sweet Sixteen" being chased around a tire yard by an escaped mental patient who wanted to kill her "or whatever." She occasionally resorted to mugging to survive. At one point, she mugged Ross, when they were fourteen, though neither of them knew each other at the time. A pimp spat in her mouth when she lived on the street. This apparently resulted in her developing hepatitis, but she "got over it."
Her previous lifestyle shocks her friends, such as when she told the story of the time when she stabbed a cop. Their obviously surprised looks resulted in her retort, "But he stabbed me first!" Phoebe picked up an impressive talent for boxing at a YMCA, where, according to her, the guys "weren't acting Christian enough".
Other details: she had an Indian friend called 'Albino Bob', entered into a marriage of convenience with a gay Canadian ice-dancer named Duncan who later "came out" as straight, wrote songs as part of a musical duo (her partner, Leslie, was a former childhood friend whom she evidently chanced to re-encounter), and at one point wrote a letter to Sesame Street, but was disappointed when they sent her back a keyring, as she was homeless at the time and therefore had no keys.
Somewhere along this road, she 'found' aromatherapy as well as massage, which became her profession. She moved in with Monica after this, apparently answering a roommate ad. Phoebe could have been a stockbroker upon a massage client's urging, but she declined. She believed that she would have to live in a box and only eat lox, as well as have a pet fox because she thought the things that happened to her had to rhyme with the stocks she had to sell.
Phoebe later moved into her grandmother Frances's apartment, and inherited her yellow taxi after her death; since Frances was the mother of Lily and not of Phoebe's birth mother, she was technically not related to Phoebe at all, but this evidently never became a sore point between the two after Phoebe learned of it.
Musical skills
Phoebe's somewhat dubious musical skills were a popular source of entertainment. Her stunning array of songs include "The Double-Double-Double-Jointed Boy", "Sticky Shoes", "Ode to a Pubic Hair (Little Black Curly Hair)", and most famously "Smelly Cat", which became both a jingle for a kitty litter commercial and a serious commercial release. See also Phoebe Buffay's songs.
Animal rights and the environment
Phoebe is also somewhat of a champion of animal rights and the environment. She is a vegetarian, and eats "nothing with a face". One time, however, she was so depressed after her husband (who was gay) left her that she ate a cheeseburger, which Monica saw and told the group about later. She also succumbed to her cravings for meat during her pregnancy, though only after Joey agreed that he would abstain from meat so that no extra animals would need to be killed.
She defends her position against eating turkeys at Thanksgiving by claiming they are "beautiful, intelligent animals". She is against the wearing of fur coats (although she inherited one, and later on even began to like wearing it). Once, she became very upset upon witnessing trees being cut down and sold as Christmas trees. She also cries when flowers die (and even arranges funerals for them), and feels sorry about sitting on a line of ants and accidentally killing them.
Although regarded by many as a stereotypically flaky "New Age" type, Phoebe's actual religious faith is somewhat vague. She deeply believes in reincarnation and has spoken of multiple gods (including Lucifer), which would seem to make her a Pagan; however, not all of Phoebe's beliefs seem internally connected, and it is probable that she has picked up tidbits from a number of religions and simply woven them into her own unique faith. She is very open to the existence of paranormal phenomena and willing to consider the most bizarre scientific theories, much to the befuddlement of Ross.
Personality
Having never had a normal, complete childhood, Phoebe is often quite naive and innocent, and is in some regards still a child at heart. She still believed Santa Claus existed (until Joey told her otherwise). She was also overjoyed when Ross got her a pink bicycle (with ribbons tied to the handles) after she told the gang she never had a bike as a child, due to her family's hardships. That's when the gang found out that she didn't know how to ride a bike. Her goal by the time she was 29 was to have gone one mile while bouncing on a hippity-hop.
Phoebe appears to have been the most "promiscuous" of the three female Friends, being the one most often referred to having engaged in casual sex. Ironically, Lisa Kudrow, the actress who played Phoebe, was well-known for having been a virgin at the time of her marriage. Phoebe's sexual activities while living on the street as a teenager and borderline criminal past were never discussed, probably a wise choice, since realistically they were unlikely to have been pleasant.
Friendships
Phoebe had somewhat peculiar relationships with the three male Friends. Chandler acted as something of a little brother, on several occasions he demands: "Pheebs! Play with me!" The conversations between the two, which ranged from why Donald Duck wears a towel when getting out of the shower, to why there isn't a superhero called Goldman (which Phoebe herself asked), were another highlight of the show. This relationship seems to be one based on Chandler humoring Phoebe, somebody who he genuinely loves as a friend.
Phoebe and Joey had a similar relationship and were actually on the same wavelength quite often, perhaps partially because they were the only members of the group who lacked a college education; since Joey was, to put it kindly, less than fully educated in many fields, he frequently found acceptance from Phoebe, who was in many respects more intelligent than he but also more open to alternative ideas, including whatever ideas Joey had developed through his imperfect knowledge. Moreover, it emerged that Phoebe had a secret crush on Joey, making Joey's brief relationship with Ursula all the more uncomfortable. However, this was rather playful and was never acted upon. Joey is in awe of Phoebe's knowledge of such things as reincarnation and openly wished that he could remember his past lives, to which Phoebe replied that Joey HAD no past lives because he was "brand new." Joey is Phoebe's best male friend, and they have dinner together occasionally to talk about the rest of the gang.
Phoebe and Ross, on the other hand, had a rather different relationship. Ross' scientific beliefs and Phoebe's self-developed beliefs led to conflict over the theories of evolution, gravity, and whether or not Phoebe's dead mother had been reincarnated as a cat; since it was obvious to Ross that Phoebe was a fairly intelligent woman (albeit with no college degree), her perspective often puzzled him. However, the two always remained firm friends and it later emerged that they had almost slept together during Ross' first divorce. In one of the most amusing twists of the entire series, it came out that the mugger that had attacked a teenage Ross, stealing his backpack and the only existing copy of his cartoon "Science Boy" (who had a superhuman thirst for knowledge), had been a teenage, homeless Phoebe. Up until this became known, Ross had claimed that his attacker was a huge, beastly man. Image:Phoebe Buffay 1.jpg
Phoebe's relationship with the two other female Friends were also a bit peculiar. Though she and Monica were clearly very close, Phoebe often found the other woman's competitive, obsessive-compulsive behavior off-putting. She moved out of Monica's apartment surreptitiously, taking out one possession at a time (a lamp, a rug, et cetera) to avoid discovery, and at one point, some time before the first episode, she attempted to "cut Monica off" her life (something that was discovered later when she and Monica re-connected with their friend Amanda who used to live in their building and who knew of Phoebe's "cutting Monica off" plan in the past).
Her relationship with Rachel was a bit more even-keeled. She once admitted that, if she had to choose which her two girlfriends to have a sexual relationship with, she would pick Rachel because she was not as high-maintenance as Monica. (This was one of several references to Phoebe's possible bisexuality. She once considered asking out Ross and Monica's female cousin; commented that Monica had the "breasts of a Greek goddess"; she once kissed Rachel just because she "wanted to know what it was like"; and mentioned to Joey that another female friend of hers was not opposed to three-ways but she, Phoebe, couldn't say how she knew that.) Phoebe might be considered the dominant figure in the three-way friendship between the three girls: once, when Monica and Rachel were fighting, Phoebe easily overcame both of them by pinching their ears so hard both were forced to kneel; once Monica and Rachel agreed to stop fighting, Phoebe commented, "If we were in prison, you guys would be like, my bitches."
During the series Phoebe continued to uncover bits of her past, including meeting her real mother, Phoebe Sr. (played by Teri Garr), her half-brother Frank Buffay Jr. (played by Giovanni Ribisi), and finally her real father, Frank Buffay Sr. (played by Bob Balaban). Along the way she also acted as a surrogate and gave birth to her brother's triplets, with whom she aimed to be "Fun Aunt Phoebe".
Regina Phalange
Phoebe's famous pseudonym/alter ego was Dr. Regina Phalange.
The first references to Dr. Phalange were used in the episodes set in England, in the run up to Ross's marriage to Emily; Phoebe was at home because she couldn't fly overseas pregnant, and she persisted in calling Emily's family in an attempt to warn Ross that Rachel was coming to break up the wedding. When Emily's family became weary of calls from "Ross' friend Phoebe", she invented Dr. Phalange and a disease for Ross to explain his odd behavior.
Dr. Phalange later re-surfaced when the group traveled to Las Vegas, and Phoebe was kicked out of a casino for stealing an old lady's jackpot. She tried to convince the security guard that he kicked out Phoebe and that she was Dr. Phalange. Phoebe uses the alias a third time in order to teach Joey how to distinguish if someone is acting or just lying very well. She once again uses the name to demonstrate to Monica and Chandler how people can easily give fake names after they got "fake-numbered" on their honeymoon. In Season 10, Phoebe uses a variation of the name when Joey butchers an audition in which he is asked to speak French. Phoebe comes out of the audience and introduces herself to the director as Regina Phalange (this time pronounced in a thick French accent) and explains to the director, in French, that Joey is her little retarded brother.
Additionally, in the series finale, Phoebe tries to convince Rachel not to remain on the plane because there's something wrong with the plane's "left phalangey." Dr. Phalange is recognizable by the odd pronunciation of certain words, most notably her own name (it is pronounced /Template:IPA/, with unusually strong stress on the second syllable).
There is also an occasion when Phoebe refers to Regina Phalange as a different person not actually herself. It happens when special guest Winona Ryder's character asks her about ever being part of a sorority. Feeling a little out of the loop for never having attended college, Phoebe comes up with a fake story involving a sorority named "Thigh-Mega-Tampon, which was shut after Regina Phalange died of alcohol poisoning".
Also when helping with Chandler's interviewing skills she refers to herself as Regina Phalange (thus being the persona of the interviewer).
The term "phalange" refers to the human finger bone.
Marriage
In Season 9, Joey - somewhat inadvertently - introduced Phoebe to Mike Hannigan (played by Paul Rudd). Phoebe and Mike had a long relationship which temporarily ended when Phoebe learned Mike didn't want to ever marry again, having already been through a failed marriage. In a later episode, Mike learned that her first serious boyfriend, David, was going to propose to her and changed his mind about marriage and they got engaged. In one of the final episodes, the two were married in the street outside of Central Perk after a blizzard. Monica and Rachel were bridesmaids, Joey officiated the wedding (he had been ordained over the internet for Monica and Chandler's wedding), Chandler gave Phoebe away and Ross held Mike's childhood dog.