The One With The Joke

"The One With The Joke" is the 12th episode of season 6 of Friends, which aired on January 13, 2000.
==Plot==
Ross has sent in a joke to Playboy magazine, which is printed in it. However Chandler claims it was his joke so he starts logging his jokes. While the girls go through the Playboy, Phoebe manages to insult Monica by saying she thinks Rachel is the better choice to go out with. Later Phoebe then further insults Monica by saying she's high-maintenance, and then calls Rachel a push-over. 
When Joey must explain to Gunther he can't pay his bill because he's broke, he gets a job at Central Perk as a waiter. He tries in vain to keep his job a secret from the friends, who end up reassuring him and offering advice. 
 
Unable to settle the joke authorship, Chandler and Ross ask Monica to decide, each confident she's in his pocket, only to be told the joke is misogynistic and offensive, leading to both of them trying to blame one another instead of taking credit for it. 
Closing the café after Gunther refused him time off to do an audition, Joey is fired but one word from Rachel has him re-hired.
==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===
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
J.D. Lewis - The Customer
Joeanna Sayler - The Woman At The Table
Matthew Mullany - The Patron
Alex Boling - The Latte Guy (scenes deleted)
===Crew===
Directed By: 
Gary Halvorson
Written By: 
Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen
==Trivia==
*In Central Perk when Gunther is talking to Joey about working there, Joey is reluctant to take the job, saying, "I was a regular on a soap opera, you know? And to go from that to this..." In "The One Where Eddie Won't Go", Gunther confesses that he had gone from being a regular on a soap opera, Brice on All My Children, to working at the coffee shop.
*The Playboy cover shown is that from January 2000. The actual first joke in that issue has nothing to do with monkeys, but is a joke about Prince Charming apparently reviving Snow White by sleeping with her, but she's "faking it".
*The quick change of leg crossing used by Chandler has been used by a number of pantomimes and TV shows, including an episode of The Morecambe and Wise Show (ITV) which guest starred Richard Briers.
*Sneeze muffins were first mentioned by Rachel when she and Ross had dinner with her father in "The One With Five Steaks And An Eggplant".
*This is the second porn magazine to feature in the series as Joey brought one in to the hospital room in "The One Hundredth", although in that case the magazine was named Playpen, rather than Playboy.
*A new laugh track makes its debut in this episode.
===Goofs===
*When Chandler says to Monica "You're a little high maintenance." in this shot, Monica's arms are loose, but in the next shot, her arms are crossed.
*The way Rachel first holds the Playboy magazine in the coffeehouse changes. 
*When Monica asks Joey "Do you work here?", the side of Phoebe's head is shown, but then a few seconds later, she is gone, when it shows Joey, Ross, Monica and Rachel.
* When Ross and Chandler tell their stories to Monica, Ross says "I study evolution... monkey into man". Monkeys do not turn into humans, they are at the same evolutionary level as humans and only share a common ancestor. No scientist or anyone studying evolution would make that mistake even in a casual conversation.
* When Chandler and Ross are explaining the joke to Joey in the coffeehouse, just before Chandler says, "You are not allowed to laugh at my joke," he's looking at Joey but then suddenly he's looking at Ross without any time to turn his head.
* When we first see the girls looking at the Playboy magazine in the apartment, the back page (an advert for Grand Marnier) is flat, in the next shot it's folded up but in the next shot it's flat again.
* Right after Chandler tells Joey his first tip, to "Not eat yellow snow," and writes it down in his joke book, the shot cuts to Ross staring back. Joey can be seen to Ross' left doing some sort of dance movement, or possibly delivering a line that wasn't included in the final edit.
==Images==
TOWTJoke.png
TOWTJoke-Itsmyjoke.png
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One with the Joke" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends Episodes
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Category:Season 6
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Category:Season 6 Episodes