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Everyone has their favourite Friends character, who is the best friend is often debated by fans across the globe. However, one thing we can all agree on is that the absolute weirdest character is without a doubt Phoebe Buffay.
Constantly baffling the group with her anecdotes from before she was in their lives, Phoebe is the whimsical and ditsy friend. Whilst it is used for comedic effect, she clearly had a difficult upbringing. Her father abandoned her mother, not long after her mother killed herself. She is estranged from her twin sister and spent portions of her childhood homeless and fending for herself. That environment goes some way to explaining her stranger quirks.
Each of the characters have their fair share of misadventures and oddities: anyone remember that time Chandler locked himself in a box to win back Joey's trust? However, Phoebe seemed to always get the short stick when it came to the more out-there plots, filling her already colourful history with more and more interesting stories.
She is certainly the friend you would want to chat to at a party but maybe not while she's possessed by a deceased client...
10. When She Secretly Moved Out
After living with neat-freak Monica for a while Phoebe decides she cannot stand it anymore and so does the logical thing by moving out. However in true Phoebe fashion it is not so simple.
To avoid hurting Monica's feelings she pretends to still be living with her and so has been sneaking furniture out the flat and over to her grandmother's apartment. To keep up the ruse she sneaks away every night and comes back every morning. Monica eventually finds out by noticing that none of Phoebe's things - specifically her bed - is missing from her room.
After sneaking all her things out under Monica's nose, the two discuss the situation and leave it on good terms, although Monica is disheartened and questions if this is why she is single. A majorly awkward way round a situation that could have been avoided if Phoebe had spoken to her in the first place.
9. When She Mugged Ross
It is well documented throughout Friends that Ross was, and still is, a giant dork. His interest in palaeontology and science marks him as the clever one but this also causes the others to roast him for this repeatedly.
After an encounter with a mugger, Ross tells Phoebe how he was mugged as a child but paints the picture that it was an older man who did it. He explains how someone jumped out at him with a pipe, demanding his money. Ross says the thing that hurt the most was losing the comic he had been writing called Science Boy.
Once he leaves Phoebe reveals to Monica that it was in fact her who jumped out at him. She then tells Ross this and he gets upset, claiming it was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. In an even stranger twist she brings Ross his comic that she has managed to keep for all these years. If only he had had 'Unagi' back then.
8. Finding A Thumb In Her Drink
Whilst this is not something caused by Phoebe, it is one of the weirdest things to happen to her. This is one of the weirdest things to happen on the show in the entirety of its run.
In a strange series of events, Phoebe discovers the bank has put $500 into her account. Ignoring the gang's bad advice to keep it, she informs the bank of the error. Instead of taking the money back they credit her another $500 plus a football phone. Phoebe then donates the money to a homeless woman named Lizzy, who in turns buys her a can of soda. Phoebe opens the soda and discovers a thumb floating in the drink.
A long chain of events to get to a strange gag that only could have happened to the show's resident oddball.
7. 'Regina Phalange'
Throughout Friends, when Phoebe finds herself needing an alter ego, she calls herself Regina Phalange. Whilst there seems to be no canon basis behind the name, this becomes a recurring joke that runs through from season 5 onward.
In an attempt to explain why Ross accidentally called Emily the wrong name at the alter, Phoebe claims he has a brain injury and that she is his doctor, Doctor Phalange. There are many references to the name dotted across the seasons from this point. She introduces herself when role playing with different members of the gang and even goes as far to say she is a french woman called Régine Philange in order to help Joey win a part.
The final reference to Miss Regina Phalange is as Rachel's plane is about to leave there is a rumour about a problem with the left phalange, a tip which is called in by Phoebe. The plane is evacuated consequently grounding Rachel, one final triumph for this multifaceted alter ego.
6. Her "Acting" Career
You would think that the chance to be an extra on her friend's prestigious acting job thanks to his contacts would mean that Phoebe would be on best behaviour.
After all, it's Joey's reputation that's on the line and anything reflecting badly on him could have seen him kicked off the show. You know, earlier than he actually was.
But no, instead Phoebe lets the acting bug get to her head and believes she's a very gifted actor, ignoring her cues to over-deliver on her background artist duties to the point that she completely sabotages the shoot. It's funny, but it's hardly a sensible thing to do.
Lucky for Joey he'd obviously got some tenure already...
5. Having Her Brother's Children
Despite being widely agreed to be one of the weirder plot on the show, this is a reasonably grounded and feasible story-line compared to others. Phoebe is asked to be a surrogate for her half brother and his wife when they are unable to have children.
Early on in Phoebe and her newly found half brother, Frank Jr.'s, relationship he reveals to her he has met someone. This amazing woman turns out to be his 44 year old home economics teacher Alice. Phoebe is originally against their engagement due to there being an age gap of 26 years between the two. Eventually the gang see past the age difference and support the two lovebirds, in Phoebe's case this means becoming their surrogate.
It is revealed that she is not only carrying one child but triplets, this adds another layer of weird to the situation when Phoebe asks if she can keep one. Frank Jr. and Alice understandably say no but allow her to name one of the children. She chooses the name Chandler and despite the baby being a girl the name is kept.
In context of the show this made sense but it is still one of the more out-there moments from Phoebe.
4. She Believed Her Grandma Was A Cat
Out of all the Friends gang, Phoebe is the most willing to explore the possibilities of spiritualism and alternative ways of living. This belief system tests the rest of the group's willingness to indulge her on many occasions; particularly science guy Ross.
The biggest indulgence into this is when Phoebe is convinced a cat she finds is the reincarnated spirit of her mother, Lily. After finding the cat in her guitar case she gasps and tells the others that she has a feeling this is Lily, despite the fact the cat is male - as pointed out by Joey.
Ross steps in once they find a missing poster for the cat, in his usual matter-of-fact way tells Phoebe about this and in doing so hurts her feelings. Rachel apolgises to the cat on behalf of Ross and they reunite him with his owner.
3. She Dated Her Sister's Exes
Not once but twice Phoebe found herself falling for men who had previously dated her sister Ursula. On both of these occasions she learned the hard way that dating people who had been in love with her twin is perhaps not the most sensible of choices.
In season 3 Phoebe realises she is being followed and confronts the man stalking her. He turns out to be an ex boyfriend of Ursula named Malcolm who had accidentally begun to follow Phoebe instead. She finds herself drawn to him and begins a relationship with him in an attempt to distract him from her sister. Although Phoebe realises the situation is too weird she does offer to help him get over his obsession.
Following this, in season 8, Ursula arrives at a party with her fiancé Eric. Quickly Phoebe realises that Ursula is lying to him about almost everything and informs Eric of this. They break up and he confides in Phoebe, this relationship develops and they end up kissing. However, Phoebe leaves the room and Ursula comes in, Eric then has sex with URsula believing her to be her sister.
Luckily both these relationships crumbled almost as quickly as they developed but Phoebe's sanity has to be questioned.
2. She Was Possessed By Her Dead Client
When one of her clients passes away during a massage, Phoebe comes to Monica's apartment shaken. She tells the gang that she doesn't think Mrs. Adelman's spirit went far, revealing she thinks it passed into her.
Whilst in the coffee house the spirit of Mrs. Adelman weighs in on a conversation with Rachel, prompting Joey to ask how long this ghost will be with them. Phoebe says she thinks she might have unfinished business and sets about trying to complete that for her. She contacts Mr. Adelman to discover if she had anything on her bucket list, he tells her she wanted to sleep with him one last time to which Phoebe replies "I'm sorry there's laughing in my head".
At Carol and Susan's wedding Mrs. Adelman finally goes claiming she's finally seen everything. Phoebe's long history of spiritualism is well documented in the series, often used as a punchline, but this has got to be one of the more insane moments on the long-running show.
1. She Legally Changed Her Name
In the final season Phoebe finally gets to marry the man of her dreams, Mike, in a simple ceremony that takes place in the street outside Central Perk. The ceremony itself isn't your normal wedding but this is not the most insane thing she does.
After the wedding she goes to change her name to take Mike's last name, however, she comes back with an entirely new name. She doesn't even go for her alter ego Regina Phalange, instead choosing to become Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock. Understandably this upsets Mike who in term changes his name to Crap Bag in retaliation, the pair reconcile and Phoebe settles on Buffay-Hannigan for her last name.
A long-winded, totally bizarre turn of events that truly make no sense and you spend the whole episode just wondering what on earth is going on in her head.