BUFFAY, Phoebe
(Friends)
5 Morton Street
Apartment #14
New York City, NY (Greenwich Village)
Phoebe "Pheebs" is a former teenage runaway turned New Age space
cadet and masseuse for Healing Hand, Inc.
When Phoebe was 14 years old, her step-mother
committed suicide. At the time, Phoebe thought her step-mother
was her real mother but later found out that her
birth mother was still alive and living in
Montauk. Her father Frank Buffay
deserted the family before Phoebe was born.
After her step-mother's suicide, Phoebe moved
to New York City where she lived with an Albino
guy
who washed car windows outside the Port
Authority. When he killed himself, she
lived in a box, using the Chelsea Reporter to
keep her warm. At 18 she was living in a car
with a guy who talked to his hand. Phoebe
is borderline psychic (but her memory sucks) and
she likes to cleanse people’s auras’.
Despite all the adversity in her life, Phoebe
still displays a pleasant upbeat personality.
But don't let her sweet, ditzy air-head persona
fool you. When confronted, Phoebe can
quickly retrieve her street-smart darker side to
resolve a problem.
Born February 16th, Phoebe used to live with Monica Geller at Apartment #20 but moved 20 blocks to her
grandmother's old apartment on Morton Street because Monica was a neat freak. Rachel Green replaced Phoebe as Monica’s roommate and later moved in with Phoebe for a time after Monica’s boyfriend Chandler Bing displaced her. Once
after Phoebe got fired for getting to affectionate with a client, she freelanced and proposed a business called Relax-a-Taxi where her customers got a massage during their taxi ride.
Phoebe’s favorite hangout is the
Central Perk, a local coffee bar where she plays guitar and
sings very unique lyrics like "Smelly cat, Smelly cat, What are they feeding you?" [it became a hit record]. Terry, the Perks’ owner once critiqued Phoebe’s singing by saying "It’s not that your friend sings bad...it’s that she sings so bad that she makes me want to gouge my ears out and reach in and swirl my fingers inside my brain."
Phoebe’s twin sister Ursula [middle name: Pamela] works at a nearby cafe called
Riff’s Bar [frequented by Paul and Jamie Buchman from
Mad About You]. Phoebe is a vegetarian ["no food with a
face"]; Ursula eats meat. Phoebe later learned she had a half-brother named Frank and agreed to be a surrogate mother for him and his new wife, Alice. Phoebe gave birth to triplets [Frank Jr. Jr., Leslie, and Chandler] and had to give all the kids to his brother despite her request for "just one." The babies were born while a TV set in the delivery room broadcast a Happy Days episode entitled "Fonzie Plays the Bongos." During her pregnancy, Phoebe’s intense craving for meat forced her to discontinue her vegetarian diet until the kids were born.
Phoebe once married a gay Canadian figure skater named Duncan so he could get his green card. She really loved him and later got really pissed when he announced he wasn’t gay and wanted a divorce to marry another woman. Phoebe also dated Vince, a
fireman; Jason a kindergarten teacher; David, a scientist guy who moved to Minsk, Russia; and a seemingly nice policeman who one day shot a songbird through the bedroom window to shut it up.
Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay on NBC series
FRIENDS
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