Ross goes to visit Marcel, his monkey, while on a trip to California. Joey gets his first fan letter and ends up dating the woman. Phoebe is asked to sing for the children at the library, but their parents are horrified by her lyrics.
Super Bowl episode lands 58 jokes in 45 minutes but underperforms impact expectations at 76.5.
Directed by Michael Lembeck · Written by Michael Borkow, Jeff Astrof, Mike Sikowitz
WAR
58.9
Wins Above Replacement
“The One After The Super Bowl (1)” ranks #66 of 236 Friends episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 76.5 — Great. The episode packs 58 scored jokes at 1.8 per minute, averaging 7.2 on craft and 6.9 on impact, with Chandler landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Phoebe: Grandpa, check out my new job! Grandma, take a nap! You've both got one foot in the grave, so enjoy it while you can! My sweet grandparents, so wise and so cold, buried six feet under when you get too old!
Phoebe Dark/Subversive Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Susie: You thought you were so funny in third grade, didn't you? Well, how do you like it now, Bing?
Chandler: Susie, come on! That was like twenty years ago!
Susie: I've had a long memory and a lot of free time.
Susie Callback Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Phoebe: Now, boys and girls, when you grow up, you're going to have questions about sex. That's normal. But remember, sex is a beautiful thing between two people who love each other. And if someone tries to pay you for sex, you say no! Because you are not a prostitute.
Phoebe Dark/Subversive Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Phoebe: Oh, you know, I'm trying to start over with more appropriate barnyard animal songs.
Phoebe: The cow says moo. The cow says moo. Moo means the cow is happy and content on the farm.
Phoebe: And then one day, a man comes and puts a gun to its head. Pow! Now the cow is in the freezer section at Whole Foods.
Phoebe Dark/Subversive Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Erika: Wait, you're not a real doctor? You're an actor?
Joey: Yeah, I was just playing a doctor on TV.
Erika: Oh my God, the hospital is going to be so upset when they find out!
Erika Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 58 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Joey: That beer commercial with the monkey makes me sad.
Joey: It makes me think about how we're all just trying to find our place in the world, you know? Like, what's it all mean?
Joey: But then they show those girls in bikinis and I feel better.
Joey Observational Misdirection ★ Rewatch Chandler: They're both monkeys!
Chandler Deadpan/Understatement Observational Monica: He's been doing it since he was a baby monkey. I think it's just a natural thing for him.
Chandler: Monica, he humped my leg!
Monica: Well, he probably thought you were a lady monkey.
Chandler: I'm not a lady monkey!
Monica: Well, you should stop wearing my perfume then.
Monica Cringe/Discomfort Observational ★ Rewatch Rachel: Remember when Marcel used to borrow my hats?
Monica: Yeah, and then he'd return them... let's just say not in the same condition.
Rachel: Oh my God, I know! He'd just... monkey business all over them!
Rachel Cringe/Discomfort Observational Chandler: Yeah, well, I tried that once. I thought if I just ignored my problems, they'd go away. So I didn't call my mother for three months.
Monica: What happened?
Chandler: She showed up at my apartment with a suitcase. Said she was moving in until I 'learned to communicate like a human being.'
Chandler Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Joey: Guess what I got!
Chandler: A job?
Chandler Misdirection Deadpan/Understatement Chandler: Well, in my country, we would consider this a very romantic gesture. Fourteen eyelashes is the traditional dowry.
Chandler Observational Deadpan/Understatement Joey: I have a stalker!
Phoebe: Oh my God, you have to share!
Phoebe Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Chandler: That's so sweet, Ross. Marcel's gonna love that.
Chandler: Although, you know, he's a monkey. So he'll probably just throw his poop at you.
Chandler Misdirection Deadpan/Understatement Phoebe: Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! Ha ha ha ha ha!
Phoebe: That is so funny! Ha ha! You guys are hilarious!
Phoebe Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy Rob: Have you considered playing for children?
Phoebe: ...
Rob: I meant performing music for children's audiences.
Phoebe: Oh! Right, yeah, I'd love to do that.
Phoebe Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Chandler: Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! He's coming! He's actually coming!
Joey: What do we do? What do we do?
Chandler: We could, um, we could draw a door on the wall!
Monica: That only works in cartoons, Chandler.
Chandler: Well, I'm willing to try anything at this point!
Joey: I'll just walk past her real casual-like, she'll never recognize me.
Chandler: Joey, she's standing right there.
Joey: Oh, come on! I did a commercial! You think I can just walk around the city like a normal person? I had a bit part on a radio show once - I can't even go to the grocery store anymore!
Joey Character Comedy Absurdist Chandler: Oh my God, someone's coming! Hide! Hide! They're gonna kill me!
Chandler: Wait, what? Fan mail? You're upset about fan mail? I thought you were a serial killer!
Chandler Escalation Deadpan/Understatement Zoo Administrator: I know this is hard, but Marcel is in a better place now.
Zoo Administrator: Actually, that sounded better in my head. But you know what? He's definitely not coming back.
Dean Lipson: I know the timing is insensitive.
Monica: She looks like something out of a horror movie.
Joey: What do you mean?
Monica: I mean she's beautiful, intelligent, and has a great personality.
Monica Misdirection Observational Monica: He's still a person! He has feelings! He deserves love just like anyone else!
Rachel: Monica, he's been following you for three weeks.
Monica: So? That doesn't make him a bad person!
Chandler: Actually, it kind of does.
Monica: Oh, don't look at me like that! What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?
Monica Reaction Beat Character Comedy Phoebe: Imagine the audience in their underwear.
Phoebe: It really helps with the nervousness.
Phoebe: Although, I have to say, that didn't work out so well at the children's library.
Rob Dark/Subversive Observational ★ Rewatch Chandler: Come on, Phoebe, you can do this. You're a beautiful woman. He's gonna kiss you. Any second now. Any second. Come on, Pheebs. Oh my God, just kiss him! Oh my God, just kiss him! Oh my God, just kiss him! Oh my God, just— Oh, he's kissing her! Oh my God, he's kissing her! Oh my God!
Phoebe: Grandpa, check out my new job! Grandma, take a nap! You've both got one foot in the grave, so enjoy it while you can! My sweet grandparents, so wise and so cold, buried six feet under when you get too old!
Phoebe Dark/Subversive Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Erika: Your hands are so beautiful. I want to eat them.
Joey: Well, you can't. I just got my nails done.
Erika Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Joey: I wanted to help, but the guy had Cardizac Arrest.
Joey Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Phoebe: Now, boys and girls, when you grow up, you're going to have questions about sex. That's normal. But remember, sex is a beautiful thing between two people who love each other. And if someone tries to pay you for sex, you say no! Because you are not a prostitute.
Phoebe Dark/Subversive Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Phoebe: Oh, I have this thing where I can sense when someone's about to say 'but.' It's like a tingling in my spine. First it was just 'but,' then it expanded to 'however,' and now I can sense any word over four letters that implies contradiction.
Phoebe Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Conspiracy Theorist: You believe everything the zoo tells you?
Ross: I have very limited zoo interaction.
Ross Deadpan/Understatement Observational Phoebe: Oh, you know, I'm trying to start over with more appropriate barnyard animal songs.
Phoebe: The cow says moo. The cow says moo. Moo means the cow is happy and content on the farm.
Phoebe: And then one day, a man comes and puts a gun to its head. Pow! Now the cow is in the freezer section at Whole Foods.
Phoebe Dark/Subversive Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Rachel: Wait, so the evil twin is actually his good twin's brother, but they were separated at birth by his mother who was actually his aunt?
Monica: Yes.
Rachel: And now she's married to the man who killed her husband, except he's actually his twin brother so he didn't kill anyone?
Monica: Right.
Rachel: But that doesn't even make sense!
Monica: Rachel, you're watching a soap opera. Nothing makes sense. That's the whole point.
Monica Observational Character Comedy Erika: Wait, you're not a real doctor? You're an actor?
Joey: Yeah, I was just playing a doctor on TV.
Erika: Oh my God, the hospital is going to be so upset when they find out!
Erika Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Chandler: You know what? I'm not going to say you're stupid, because that would be mean. But let's just say if they ever need a stunt double for a crash test dummy, you've got the job.
Chandler Deadpan/Understatement Observational Joey: I'm not Drake! I'm Joey Tribbiani!
Rachel: Oh my God, Joey, I know who you are. I was just testing you because I thought you might be Drake in disguise, working undercover to infiltrate our apartment building to steal my cashmere sweaters for a secret fashion line.
Joey: What? Rachel, that doesn't make any sense.
Rachel: Exactly what Drake WOULD say. Also, I'm pretty sure my mother isn't actually my mother. She's Drake's stunt double.
Rachel: Hans, how could you betray me like this? After everything we've shared, all the passion, all the—Hans, you forgot to take out the garbage again!
Rob: You don't have to be like a purple dinosaur or anything.
Phoebe: What's a purple dinosaur?
Phoebe Character Comedy Observational Joey: A year? That thing must be huge!
Joey Setup/Punchline Character Comedy Joey: Hey, hey, hey! What? It's funny! A monkey and a guy's... it's a classic setup!
Joey Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy Callback Security Guard: Oh, you're friends with a monkey? Well, I'm best friends with Flipper.
Monkey Trainer: Hey Harry Belafonte!
Crew Member: Hey, that's not an insult!
Chandler: How big a star is Marcel?
Trainer: Well, he's been on TV a few times. He's about as famous as a moderately successful actress.
Trainer Observational Deadpan/Understatement Makeup Artist: You have a mustache.
Makeup Artist: It's like a misplaced eyebrow.
Chandler: Oh, the mirror hat! Yeah, well, I was going through a phase. I thought if I wore enough mirrors, people would be so distracted by their own reflections, they wouldn't notice how awkward I was.
Chandler: It didn't work. Turns out people just saw themselves looking confused.
Rachel: Was Van Damme good in Time Cop?
Monica: Oh, he was great! I learned so much about time travel.
Monica Character Comedy Observational Monica: Rachel thinks you're cute.
Van Damme: Rachel? What about you?
Susie: So Chandler, do you remember that time in high school when you pantsed me in front of everyone?
Chandler: Oh God, Susie, I'm so sorry about that. I was just trying to be funny.
Susie: Well, you know what? I'm over it. And I'd like to go out with you.
Chandler: Really? That's great!
Susie: Yeah... so meet me at the coffee shop tomorrow at 8. And Chandler? Don't be late, or I'll pants you.
Susie Callback Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Rachel: I'll get your espresso.
Monica: No, that's okay.
Rachel: Why not?
Monica: Because you'll drink it.
Monica Character Comedy Observational Phoebe: You just stick a fork in it to see if it's done.
Monica: A fork?
Phoebe: Yeah, like you do with meat. 'If it's pierced easily, it's done.' Except with vegetables it's more like 'If it's pierced easily, it's... really dead.'
Phoebe Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Susie: Have you ever worn women's underwear?
Chandler: No! Well, once, but it was a very special circumstance.
Susie: What circumstance?
Chandler: My parents were very weird.
Chandler Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Monica: People are staring.
Rachel: I know.
Monica: We should probably let go.
Rachel: Yeah, probably.
Monica: Okay.
Rachel: Okay.
Monica: On the count of three.
Rachel: One... two... three.
Monica: Ready?
Rachel: Not really.
Monica Cringe/Discomfort Observational Monica: That's right. I'm the queen bee now. You two are going to have to fight for my attention in the yard.
Monica Character Comedy Observational Chandler: Because God is good!
Chandler: Wait, wait. You want me to take my clothes off in a public restaurant bathroom? Do you have any idea what that's like? I mean, besides the obvious humiliation and the fact that I'd probably get arrested, do you know how cold those bathroom tiles are? And the lighting! The fluorescent lighting in a restaurant bathroom is designed to make you look like you're already dead. I'm not stripping in there. I'm going to go back out there, order a nice salad, and pretend this conversation never happened.
Chandler Observational Deadpan/Understatement Susie: You thought you were so funny in third grade, didn't you? Well, how do you like it now, Bing?
Chandler: Susie, come on! That was like twenty years ago!
Susie: I've had a long memory and a lot of free time.
Susie Callback Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Chandler: Come on, Susie, that was fourth grade. Time heals all wounds.
Susie: Not this one.
Chandler: Well, time will create new wounds that distract you from this one.
Chandler Callback Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Van Damme: Your friend told me you were smart, beautiful, and had a great sense of humor.
Monica: Well, I am all of those things!
Van Damme: I know. That's the problem. She set the bar so high, I thought you'd be even better.
Joey: Dude, what are you doing in women's underwear?
Chandler: I'm not in women's underwear!
Joey: Then what is that?
Chandler: These are my underwear. I'm a woman.
Joey: You can't tell me what to do! You're not the boss of me!
Chandler: Joey, I'm asking nicely—
Joey: Oh, that's rich coming from a guy who can't even get his own underwear!
Joey Irony/Sarcasm Observational Rachel: Monica, can I have some of that milk?
Monica: Oh, sorry, this is the last of it.
Rachel: Oh come on, there's plenty left.
Monica: I know, but Chandler's been drinking a lot of milk lately. He's going through it like there's no tomorrow.
Monica Wordplay/Pun Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Phoebe: I need a new G string.
Chandler: I appreciate you taking the time to set that up.
Joey: Oh, the horror!
Director: Cut! Joey, the line is 'The anguish of my deeds will haunt me forever.'
Joey: The anguish of my deeds will haunt me... forever. The anguish of my deeds will haunt me forever. The anguish... ugh!
Joey: You know what? Forget it. How about this: 'Joey likes to eat'?
Joey Escalation Character Comedy ⏩ The part you fast-forward
Our scorer flagged 14:00-16:00 as the stretch with the fewest or weakest comedic moments. Everything else lands harder.
