25 years after Friends first aired, the show is still an iconic sitcom and the most watched comedy series in 2019. The hilarious characters are what make the show, and each one of them is uniquely relatable. The ten seasons gave us 236 episodes and hours and hours of hilarious material to build an entire meme culture on.
Phoebe Buffay is arguably the strangest of the group--but also the most herself. While everyone finds themselves folding to peer pressure occasionally, Phoebe almost always knows exactly who she is and what she want. Her quirky confidence and outsider's point of view have made her an enduring source for meme material. Here are 10 Phoebe memes that are too hilarious for words.
Lobsters Mate for Life
It was Phoebe who taught us in "The One with the Prom Video" that lobsters mate for life. She's trying to tell Ross that Rachel is his lobster, therefore they will end up together. She's right that Ross and Rachel end up together. In fact, they're dating by the end of the episode. On top of being a funny and incongruous image ("old lobster couples walking around the tank") the prediction of love is so sweet that it has made lobsters another word for soulmates.
Unfortunately, she's not exactly right about lobster mating rituals though. But that doesn't matter. Phoebe is still our heart's lobster.
The Two Moods of Phoebe Buffay
We know, it's so exhausting waiting for death.
Phoebe's often dramatic responses to situations, like when Joey doesn't want to read lines with her anymore, are so big they always hit their mark. In some ways, Phoebe's role is as the id of the show, the one that follows her instincts and says exactly what she means. This makes her lines perfect for internet meme culture, and her energy is captured perfectly in this meme. We've all got two main moods: Phoebe making it on her own, and Phoebe convinced that she's going to die soon.
Phoebe and Ant Man
The true hero of Endgame wasn't Iron Man, it was the rat that brought Ant-Man back from where he was trapped in the Quantum Realm. It runs across the controls, turning the machine back on and allowing Scott Lang out from where he's been stuck for five years. Whose rat is it? Well, we sure know someone who raised rat babies with Paul Rudd before he became a superhero a few years later.
This meme is perfect for all those fans of both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Friends. Maybe the true hero of the MCU is Phoebe, the woman who saved the rat who saved Scott Lang who saved the universe.
Parenting Advice from Phoebe Buffay
Let me be clear, best friend: you're naming your child after me.
The internet lives for Phoebe's honest lines and clumsy manipulations. This meme comes from when she tries to convince Rachel and Ross to name their baby after her without actually asking if they will. Now generations of Friends lovers can suggest baby names that pay homage to this wonderful character or use Phoebe's wiles to get babies named after themselves. What two names will you suggest to your pregnant friends?
You Don't Deserve Me
This meme is a deep dive into pop culture. The quote is a reference to Marilyn Monroe's famous quote: "But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”
Ross is a good example of everyone's worst traits: he's petty, insecure, and he uses too much hair gel. Phoebe's a sunny, positive person! (Although, sure, she has a little bit of an edge.) The friends knew it and we know it. But we all have little bits of both Ross and Phoebe in us. So the creator of this meme knows what's up. If you don't love me at my Ross, you don't deserve me at my Phoebe.
Too hard!
We're all capable of hard things, but sometimes the effort just isn't worth it. Phoebe knows that in the season five episode eight, "The One With All the Thanksgivings." The episode starts with the gang recovering in the living room after over-eating. Phoebe wants to watch television while they relaxed but she's too full and tired to lift up the remote. Life is full of these little moments when something that's usually really simple suddenly feels impossible, and Lisa Kudrow captures that feeling perfectly.
"Forget it!" is big internet energy. Sure, we could get up and find the credit card, but why would we?
Daddy
There's a lot of social and cultural history behind the trend of calling men "daddy" and it goes back much further than Friends. Hundreds of years further back, in fact. So even though it's not accurate, it's funny to think of this moment of Phoebe messing with Ross as a modern-day origin for calling sexy men "daddy."
Of course, the sexualization of the term ends up ruining this for Ross, who had been trying to get his daughter Emma to call him daddy. But the scene where they're both trying to one-up each other with creepy flirting is a comedic moment for the ages.
What if...?
Lisa Kudrow has a great force for comedic acting, and so much of Phoebe's funniest moments are the physicality involved. In this particular one, Phoebe has just been told that Santa isn't real. After pretending she knew that in front of Joey, she secretly freaks out.
What if your entire understanding of the universe is upended in a way that you didn't see coming? How could a dog-lover survive having a child that's allergic to dogs? Phoebe's terrified facial expression is a perfect counterpoint to any sort of satirical aha! moment, which is what makes this meme so funny.
"I don't even have a pla."
In season one, episode four, "The One with George Stephanopoulos," all the girls have a quarter-life crisis. They all intensely spin out when they realize that they don't have much of a plan for their lives now that they've finished their education. Phoebe's line "I don't even have a 'pla'" is truly iconic.
"I don't even have a 'pla'" can be used any time in your life: Graduating from college? I don't even have a pla. Summer vacation? I don't even have a pla. Financial investments? I don't even have a pla.
I Wish I Could...
She's not a millennial, but is there a better symbol of millennial energy than Phoebe in the very first episode of Friends? Ross needs people to help him pack up his apartment now that his divorce from Carol is happening and Phoebe is brutally honest with him. She says, "I wish I could, but I don't want to."
This meme is the perfect meme for almost everyone, ever. Not only does no one ever wants to help their friends move, no one ever wants to do anything. We might wish we wanted to like Phoebe does, but really we all just want to go home and rewatch Friends for the thousandth time.