Joey

Joseph "Joey" Sipowicz is a career criminal and drug dealer with a passion for jazz music. He works as the live musician for the talk show, Capital Cineforum.

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

Joey always wears some variation of a dress shirt, vest, and tie combo, often in tacky, garish colors. He always pairs this with gray dress pants and red converse. He speaks with a slight (and not very accurate) New Jersey accent. Despite his wiry, beanpole appearance, Joey can pack a punch, as seen in "The Masked Cape Begins."

### Personality

> *"Didja hear that? Duke Ellington just came in his grave."* -Joey, in a now-deleted character promo.
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Joey is depicted as a shifty, somewhat paranoid individual. He has a deep love for jazz music and is dedicated to pursuing a career in it. While not unfriendly, his crude, sleazy aura can be a bit off-putting. He adores his piano, who he's nicknamed "Penelope."

Underneath the posturing, Joey harbors extreme guilt for the things he's done in his criminal career and at times even seems to be struggling with deep-set trauma. He desperately wants to "be better" and leave his criminal past behind him, but his self-destructive tendencies keep dragging him back down. As a result, Joey constantly struggles with deep self-loathing.

## Biography

### Background

While we don't know much about Joey's criminal history, he appears to work mainly as a middleman, handling drugs provided by an unnamed employer and distributing them to their clients. The Chinese lettering on the packages he delivers suggests Triad involvement. Joey has made many connections during his time as a dealer, including Trusting Toni, Risky Ricky, and Mallory Practíce.

At some point, Joey submitted a video audition to Capital Cineforum (shortly before being raided by the police) and secured a job as the show's live musical accompaniment.

### Jerry Lee's Gauntlet

Joey with his one true love, Penelope.

Joey meets KC when she walks in on him practicing for that night's show. He tells KC that all she has to do to receive his point is to take a package and deposit it below a set of stairs. He warns her to make sure she places it in the right spot, as there are several "unsavory individuals" who would be "very upset" with him should the package be misplaced. When KC nervously asks if what he's asking her to do is legal, Joey responds by laughing and telling her "not to sweat it."

Later, Joey is interrupted by Jameson and Tori, who bring him his package, claiming to have found it in a trash can. Joey is furious that KC would discard such an important package and promises Jameson and Tori that if they deliver the package instead, then he'll give them his point for sure.

### Conflict With the Masked Cape

> *"Well maybe I don't WANT to be the bad guy anymore! Maybe I'm **tired** of being a good-for-nothing scumbag! Maybe I want to **contribute** something to society for a change! **Maybe**...maybe I want to be better. And maybe I'm not sure how to be, yet." -* Joey, addressing the Masked Cape.
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Settling into his new job, Joey makes one last dropoff to his contact, Trusting Toni, telling her that this will be his last delivery as he's turning a new leaf and "going legit." Toni congratulates him, then points out that the package seems lighter than it should, implying that Joey has kept some of the product for himself (whether he did this with the intention to *use* the product or sell it to someone else at a higher price is unknown). Joey nervously denies any knowledge, and Toni believes him, leaving with the package.

As Joey watches Toni leave, he is confronted by the Masked Cape, who declares him a villain for "selling drugs to that poor innocent civilian." Joey frantically denies this, stating that he's just a musician. The Masked Cape then declares him his arch-nemesis, dubbing him "The Mad Maestro" and running off.

Over the course of the day, the Masked Cape plays a series of increasingly malicious pranks on Joey, which he refers to as "justice," culminating in the vandalization of Joey's piano. Grief-stricken and fed up with the Masked Cape's abuse, Joey confronts him. Attempting to appeal to the Masked Cape, he says that he doesn't want to be the "bad guy" anymore and that he's trying to be better. Joey then asks for a truce, to which the Masked Cape responds by hitting him in the face with a pie and running off.

Frustrated, Joey opens up to KC about whats been going on. KC, caught up in the superhero craze, insists that they need to form a superhero team to bring the Masked Cape to justice. Joey says that that would be a terrible idea and that he just wants to do his job. KC ignores him and drags him along with her as she interviews the various members of the crew.

Finally, the show goes live and Ariel introduces the Masked Cape. Before they can even start the interview, however, The Masked Cape challenges Joey to a duel. Joey begs him to save this for when they aren't on air, but the Masked Cape doesn't listen. KC and her "superhero team" intervene and banter back and forth with the Masked Cape. During this banter, the Masked Cape taunts Joey with the phrase, "once a villain, always a villain." This causes Joey to snap, and while KC and the Masked Cape are arguing back and forth he gets up from his piano, walks across the room, and decks the Masked Cape square in the jaw, knocking him out cold. Chris then rushes forward to restrain Joey as he begins screaming at the Masked Cape's unconscious body.

The next day, Joey and KC are called into to Jerry Lee's office, where he reprimands them for what happened. Joey tells him to get it over with and fire him, but to leave KC out of it, as she had "nothing to do with what happened." However, to his and KC's surprise, Jerry Lee reveals that the previous night's episode was actually the most popular episode the show haS ever aired. He boasts that they've already gotten to the top of the Masked Cape subreddit and that the "Mad Maestro" has become a fan-favorite villain. Joey desperately insists that he isn't a villain, only for Jerry Lee to dismiss him off-handedly.

When KC asks Jerry Lee why he pretended to be mad at them, Jerry Lee says it was a new leadership strategy that he learned about in a book. Furious, Joey calls him out on this and says that that's a messed up way to treat his employees. Jerry Lee reacts to this by cowering and begging Joey not to punch him. Joey, confused, insists that he wasn't going to, to which Jerry Lee responds, "my bad, you just make me *very* uncomfortable." He then leaves KC and an emotionally shattered Joey alone in his office.

KC apologizes to Joey for getting carried away, but Joey tells her that she has nothing to apologize for and that he's the one who screwed up. KC then opens up to Joey about her own struggles with change, and how sometimes she feels like she might never "belong." She says that she can't give Joey an easy solution, but she can give him a cup of coffee. Joey excepts the coffee with a smile.

### The S.H.O.T. Outbreak

When Capital Cineforum's next guest can't make it to the show, Joey says that he knows someone who could replace them. That someone turns out to be Dr. Mallory Practíce, an "old buddy" of his who he swears has been clean for at least a year.

When Dr. Practíce arrives, Joey greets her and offers to take her bag. He calls Jameson over and tells him to take the doctor's briefcase and put it wherever Jerry Lee tells him to, an act that infuriates Jameson to no end.

After one of Practíce's experiments, S.H.O.T., infects Ariel and Tori, it doesn't take long for people to start blaming Joey for bringing someone so clearly unstable on the show. Joey insists that he thought she was clean, but the others mostly ignore him.

Later, when the group splits up to find Practíce's briefcase, Joey ends up with Jerry Lee, who also blames Joey for bringing on such a "maniac." Joey insists, again, that he thought she was legit. Unexpectedly, Jerry Lee says that he believes him. Relieved, Joey thanks him, and launches into a dramatic monologue similar to the one he gave in the previous episode. While Joey talks, Jerry Lee sneaks out of the room just as a S.H.O.T. zombie enters. Joey's last words before he's infected are "I've got to stop doing that."

After the effects of the disease wear off, Joey checks on Dr. Practíce and tells her that "being good is hard," and that "we can't all make it on the first try." Practíce responds by saying that the CDC is downstairs waiting to arrest her. After taking a moment to process this, Joey says goodbye and tells her not to give up on herself.

## Relationships

KC attempts to comfort Joey

**KC:** The first time they meet, Joey doesn't really think of KC as much more than an intern. However, in episode 2 he's shown to develop a bit of a fondness for her, putting up with her superhero interviews and trying to keep her from losing her job. After the two open up to each other at the end of the episode, Joey seems to fully consider her a friend. Joey is the only character who notices KC's references to "The Commune" and is also the only character who seems at all concerned by them.

**Trusting Toni:** Trusting Toni appears to be an employee of one of Joey's employer's clients. The two seem to be on friendly terms with each other, although clearly not friendly enough for Joey not to try and swindle her boss out of product.

**Dr. Mallory Practíce:** According to Joey, Dr. Practíce is an old friend who owes him some favors. The exact nature of their past relationship is unknown, but they are portrayed as friendly towards each other, with Joey more or less used to her odd mannerisms. At the end of the episode, Joey appears to be the only one concerned about her wellbeing. Dr. Practíce is also the only character in the season who refers to Joey by his real name, Joseph.

## Notes and Trivia

* Due to Season 17's early and unexpected cancellation, Joey's last name was never canonically established on the show. "Sipowicz" (pronounced Sip-o-witz) was one possibility suggested by Joey's actor. Another suggested name was "Wheeler," in reference to Joey Wheeler, a character from Yu-Gi-Oh who speaks in an exaggerated Brooklyn accent.
* Another casualty of Season 17's cancelation was Joey's bisexuality. Prior to cancellation, there had been multiple pitches for episodes where Joey had to deal with ex-boyfriends or current male lovers, but they were all outvoted, with the writer's room planning to leave that specific piece of character development for later in the season.
* Although it's never explicitly stated exactly what kind of drug Joey is moving, the Chinese lettering on the packaging and the brick of white substance seen in his character promo imply that it was most likely heroin.
* Henry Williams, the actor who played Joey, took piano for six years when he was younger, and relearned many of the fundamentals of the instrument, as well as several jazzy chords and melodies, over the summer in order to prepare for the role. However, when the time came to film the first episode, the director decided not to plug the piano in, leading to the awkward out-of-sync piano sound bytes you hear whenever Joey "plays."
* All of Joey's established criminal contacts are women: Trusting Toni, Mallory Practíce, and the briefly mentioned Risky Ricky. This was an inside joke in the writers' room. The running gag of Joey somehow only knowing female criminals was intended to continue throughout the season if there had been more episodes.