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» » Друзья The One with Phoebe's Birthday Dinner (1994–2004)

Short summary

Phoebe plans her birthday dinner, but only the ever hungry Joey is on time. Phoebe holds a table for six for over an hour while the waiters want them to move as party of six is waiting. Chandler was unable to resist smoking again when everybody else did during a meeting at his Tulsa job, which makes Monica furious. However she's determined to have sex on the last ovulation day in her monthly cycle. Rachel and Ross locked themselves out before his mother Judy arrives to babysit and Rachel's absurd baby disaster fantasies reach new heights. By the time everybody arrives at the restaurant Phoebe is totally fed-up, while Joey could eat a herd of horses, and gets surprisingly close...

The waiter tending to Phoebe and Joey is Dan Bucatinsky who is an actor, writer, producer and director of 'Web Therapy' which stars Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe). Dan plays her assistant Jerome Sokoloff. They both also would go on to have recurring roles in Scandal (2012).

In this episode, Monica says Chandler used to tell girls he was a Kennedy to get them into bed. Matthew Perry would later go on to play Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: Decline and Fall (2017)

The 'vegetable men' on the wall behind Phoebe in the restaurant are iconic portraits by a 16th century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

Chandler admits to smoking 3 cartons of cigarettes in 2 days. That amounts to 600 cigarettes (3 cartons=30 packs, 1 pack=20 cigarettes) in 48 hours. This would imply that Chandler smoked a cigarette every five minutes for two days straight.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: betelgeuze
    Phoebe set a dinner with the Friends in her birthday to celebrate the day. Only Mike cannot go because is busy, but everyone is invited.

    Chandler is desperate when he sees that in Oaklahoma is allowed to smoke in the office, specially when all his workmates smoke. He ends up smoking many packs of cigarettes, and when he comes to New York to visit Monica,he still smells. Monica is ovulating and wants to have sex, but when she feels Chandler's smell, she stays angry with him. They argue, but Monica pretends to be okay with Chandler just to have sex with him and not lose her ovulation.

    Rachel doesn't want to be separated from Emma, even having Phoebe's dinner to go. Ross do all his best to convince her that nothing will happen, but Rachel only accepts to go dinner if Judy (Ross' mother) and Emma comes too.

    Joey and Phoebe stay a long time waiting for the other Friends to arrive, making Phoebe's birthday dinner to be terrible,even when the Friends arrive.
  • comment
    • Author: Rrd
    I love this episode. It's so funny. It's one of my all-time favorite Season 9 episodes, as well as one of my all-time favorites for the entire series.

    In this episode, it's Phoebe's birthday and she's having a birthday dinner. She and Joey arrive and literally spend the rest of the episode waiting for the other guests to arrive. Whilst waiting, they're constantly asked to go to a smaller table, since bigger parties are waiting. I don't think that's fair considering they already have the table booked. It shouldn't matter. If no one else was ever going to come, then yes, a smaller table would be understandable, but it's not their fault that the other guests are late. The reason Chandler and Monica were late is because Chandler started smoking again, Monica got mad, but then she pretended to forgive him, so they could have sex, since she was about to finish ovulating. The reason why Ross and Rachel were late is because Rachel couldn't leave Emma, so in the end, Ross's Mum had to look after Emma, at the restaurant, because Rachel wouldn't leave her.

    Overall, I give this episode a 10 out of 10.
  • comment
    • Author: Duktilar
    I really don't like this episode. They are all such horrible friends here.

    Can't stand how little Monica and Rachel care about Phoebe. She is one of their friends and they care more about ovulating or not being able to let a baby with a babysitter who is part of the family? I am amazed that Phoebe likes them more than Ross and Chandler.

    Rachel is getting annoying with her crazy mother self. Not all women who have babies lose their brains

    Monica is nasty. Can't stand her here. I was mad at Chandler for not putting out a cigarette on her face. And all she can talk about is ovulating

    This episode somehow seems to want to show us that people in relationships don't care about their closest friends. Even Phoebe who shouldn't be like one of those lets them there for a guy she recently met. And the only decent person here is Joey, the single guy. At least he got all the food that he sure deserved
  • comment
    • Author: Cerar
    While this is a funny episode of the show, it doesn't exactly show the characters (aside from Joey) at their best, as they all seem to put their lives before their friends.

    I thought Matt Le Blanc was very funny here though. Full of charm and heart, it's lovely what the writers did to develop his character in the last few years of the show.

    David Schwimmer also had some nice moments too, especially when telling the story about the 'whirlpool in the apartment'.

    Sadly Monica is as annoying as ever, bossing Chandler around. I'm not sure where the writers were going with her at this point.

    They might not have been the best friends here, but they were still on the whole funny.
  • comment
    • Author: Skillet
    This episode is one of the worst and does not exemplify the brilliance of the show. The tone is depressing and uncomfortable to such a high degree that laughing is difficult. Nearly every character in this dark episode is angry or biting at another character. While this may reflect true life sometimes, it is unique to Friends' episodes. And although, the show's humor is often built around mishaps, this one feels too mean and thoughtless to fit in with the rest of the series. Except for Joey perhaps, every character is strongly inconsiderate at some point in the show without visible redemption or forgiveness. These are features that made Friends heartwarming, exemplary and enjoyable. Without it, you have sad dysfunction. Perhaps it just needed a bit more editing.
  • Episode cast overview:
    Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green
    Courteney Cox Courteney Cox - Monica Geller-Bing (as Courteney Cox Arquette)
    Lisa Kudrow Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
    Matt LeBlanc Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani (as Matt Le Blanc)
    Matthew Perry Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
    David Schwimmer David Schwimmer - Dr. Ross Geller
    Dan Bucatinsky Dan Bucatinsky - the Waiter
    Christina Pickles Christina Pickles - Judy Geller
    Kevin Farrell Kevin Farrell - the Maitre D'
    Monique Edwards Monique Edwards - Claudia
    Brian Chenoweth Brian Chenoweth - Ken
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