Joy Payne

**Joy Payne** is a recurring character in Season 2 and Season 3 of *Only Murders in the Building*. She is a hair and make-up artist for the original and reboot of Brazzos.

She is portrayed by Andrea Martin.

## History

### Work on Brazzos

Joy worked on the original Brazzos, where she formed a close bond with Charles-Haden Savage. The two even slept together at one point. Years later, when Brazzos was rebooted, Charles called Joy to come out of retirement and work on it. One day on the set, she touched up his make-up as he finished a take. Later, she came to retrieve the wig he'd been wearing. She said she didn't understand why they made him wear it as his own hair was perfect.

### Dating Charles and Ben's Death

After the trio solved Bunny's murder, Charles returned to the Brazzos set to find his part had been significantly expanded. When Joy came to touch his make-up, he tried to ask her out on a date, but stuttered. Despite this, she knew what he was asking and accepted.

A year later, they were still together and Joy came to the debut of Charles's new show, which Oliver was directing. Unfortunately, Charles's co-star, Ben Glenroy, died on the stage as the show started. Joy took Lucy home and then went to Charles's place, where she told him it was okay that he was relieved about the show ending since he wasn't up to doing eight shows a week. She also said that Lucy was a lot and she needed a drink.

### Moving in with Charles

Joy moved in with Charles, bringing a large fish tank and 62 fish with her. She was excited because she thought Charles would die alone when she first met him. When Charles came home from rehearsal ranting about messing up his patter song, Joy told him he was probably just hungry and suggested he make himself an omelet. When he discovered that making the omelet helped him relax and do the song properly, Joy told him that it was just a crutch and it was really her who would help him, just like she helped him with Ben. Ben knew he'd have to deal with her if he tried anything with Charles.

When Charles came home the next day, he tried to talk to her about the stress her living with him had brought him, but ended up going to the White Room and proposing instead, an offer she accepted. As she celebrated, Mabel and Oliver came in and Joy was delighted that Mabel had her missing lipstick. She took it from Mabel and put it back in her make-up kit, unaware that Mabel had found it in Ben's dressing room.

Joy became upset when Charles asked her about the lipstick and indicated that she might have used it to write on Ben's mirror. She left to go to their cake tasting alone. When she returned, she told him she had been in Ben's dressing room on opening night to cover a red mark on his face with make-up. Charles admitted that he had punched Ben, which gave him the red mark and Joy was angry that Charles was the one who punched him and still thought she had something to do with his death. He told her he wanted to change, to be more open like her, but she said it was too late and shoved some cake samples into his chest, telling him the engagement was off.

## Relationships

### Charles-Haden Savage

She and Charles were dating.

When they broke up, she started dating Scott Bakula.

She has an aunt who was dating a guy who'd had a hair transplant, but broke up with him. She also has a brother who got vulgar placemats from someone named Ron.

## Career

She is a hair and make-up artist. She worked on both the original Brazzos and the reboot.

## Notes and Trivia

* Her mother sent her own wedding dress to Joy to have it altered for her wedding.
* Her father was planning to walk her down the aisle carrying her childhood dog.

## Gallery

### Episode Stills

Photography by Craig Blankenhorn and Patrick Harbron"I Know Who Did It" (S02E10)"The Show Must... (S03E01)."The White Room" (S03E04)"Ah, Love!" (S03E05)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Ah, Love!" (2023). Season 3, episode 5.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Thirty" (2023). Season 3, episode 9.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "The Show Must..." (2023). Season 3, episode 1.
4. ↑ "Performance Review" (2022). Season 2, episode 6.
5. ↑ "I Know Who Did It" (2022). Season 2, episode 10.
6. ↑ "The White Room" (2023). Season 3, episode 4.