The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance

"The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of Friends, which aired on October 14, 1999.
==Plot==
Ross gets a part-time job as guest lecturer at the university. Joey's health insurance expires because he wasn't working enough, so he asks his agent to find him work to do. Phoebe's psychic says Phoebe will die within a week but she doesn't know how she will be killed. Rachel and Monica sneak into Ross' lecture and find that he is speaking with an extremely pathetic and fake British accent. He says he couldn't help it - he was nervous when having his first lecture and the British accent just came out of his mouth without any further thought. 
While weight lifting, Joey gets a hernia which causes him crippling pain, but refuses to go to the hospital because he isn't covered by insurance anymore. He eventually is cast in the part of "dying man", a role he plays very convincingly, given his injured state. However, the boy in the scene will not cry as he is meant to, even after many takes. Chandler gets Joey to show him his hernia, and the boy begins bawling.
Monica and Rachel fight about some candle holders because both claim they bought them. Phoebe's reading ends up being wrong because her psychic is the one who dies instead. While in Ross' apartment, Rachel gets a call from his lawyer who tells her that since he hasn't heard back about the annulment he's assumed they're giving the marriage a shot. Of course, the fact they are still married is news to Rachel. At the University, Ross tries to phase out the accent but everyone notices. He drops the accent completely, confesses the truth and asks for another chance just before Rachel storms in to scream at him over the fact he never got the annulment (causing the accent to quickly return).
==Cast and Crew==
===Main Cast===
Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene
Courteney Cox Arquette - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller
===Supporting Cast===
June Gable - Estelle Leonard
Ron Glass - Russell
Christopher Darga - The Director
Kim Harris - Casting Director #1
Maggie Baird - Casting Director #2 (uncredited)
Joe Everett Michaels - Casting Director #3
Rick Fitts - The Professor
Ian Meltzer - Alex
Michael Naughton - The Student
Matt Bellner - The Crew Member
James Michael Tyler - Gunther (uncredited) 
===Crew===
Directed By: 
Gary Halvorson
Written By: 
Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen
==Trivia==
* In the scene where Phoebe talks about that her psychic is the one who dies instead, over a table can be seen a book called "The Sixties. Decade Of Design Revolution" by Jackson Lesley and a chest covered by some original poems by Michelangelo Buonarroti that starts with "Dal ciel discese, e col mortal suo, poi che visto ebbe l'inferno giusto e'l pio ritornò vivo a contemplare Dio".
* Joey tells Estelle that she has always been his agent, which is not entirely true. Phoebe temporarily becomes Joey's agent in "The One With The Metaphorical Tunnel" before Joey returns to Estelle.
**While Phoebe did pretend to be a casting agent, this did not mean that Estelle stopped being Joey's agent.
* In the opening scene when Ross is telling Rachel, Phoebe, and Monica about his upcoming job at NYU, during a conversation between Ross and Rachel, Ross uses Monica's catchphrase, "I know".
* The scene with Joey and Chandler in the coffeehouse took about six takes to get right as either Matt or Matthew kept cracking up.
* Ross starts work at the NYU in this episode, a job he keeps for the rest of the series despite dating one of his students, Elizabeth Stevens, later this season. 
* Prior to Joey's final audition, an external shot shows Silvercup Studios where Joey filmed Days of Our Lives.
* Chandler mentions that "he did it on my own until I was nineteen". This is a callback to the apartment quiz scene when one of the questions was "how old was Chandler when he first touched a girl's breast?", the answer being nineteen.
** In the DVD version, after a beat, Chandler corrects it to 20... and then after another beat... 23.
=== Goofs===
* After the opening credits, Ross is demonstrating his lecture in front of the group at Central Perk. Once Ross starts talking about Paleontology everybody slumps and sighs including Phoebe who had a magazine fall off her lap onto the floor. About a minute later we see Phoebe again but with the magazine back on her lap. She may have picked it up while Ross was talking but we just couldn't see it.
* In the beginning of the scene where Ross is trying to phase out his accent, you can see the boom mic for about 2 seconds.
* In the scene where Monica and Rachel are arguing about the candlesticks, the bottoms of the candlesticks are facing towards Rachel. When the camera angle changes the candlesticks are turned towards Monica.
* Despite Joey having given it to Chandler as a goodbye present, the white dog is seen back in Joey's apartment behind the yellow sofa.
** Monica could have convinced Chandler to have Joey 'keep it for him' after they decided on the guest bedroom.
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends
Category:Season 6
Category:Friends Episodes
Category:Episodes with Joey's name in the title
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 6 Episodes