Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan (née Buffay; born 16 February 1969)[1] is one of the six main characters from the American television sitcom, Friends.
She plays acoustic guitar and sings simple, awkward songs at Central Perk, occasionally busking also.
In the pilot episode, Phoebe is introduced as one of the six original friends, including her Greenwich Village Manhattan neighbors Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Chandler (Matthew Perry), former roommate Monica (Courteney Cox), Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), and Monica's brother, Ross (David Schwimmer).
She is a masseuse and part time, aspiring folk-type musician, who plays dreadnought style acoustic guitars and sings very awkward or absurd, self-composed songs.
She has been shown busking in the subway, outside of the gang's usual "hang out" place, Central Perk, as well as at a public library, and has been seen frequently playing live sets inside the coffee shop.
Phoebe's crass, identical twin sister, Ursula Buffay (also portrayed by Kudrow), a character originally created for and appearing in the American sitcom Mad About You as a waitress, is also introduced in the first season, in "The One with Two Parts".
Due in no small part to her extremely traumatic childhood, Phoebe has developed a child-like naïveté in an attempt to shield herself from the world's evils.
In addition to being a vegetarian and an avid tree hugger, she also displays a remarkable lack of experience with the "darker sides" of life.
Much to the dismay of her friends (especially paleontologist Ross), Phoebe dabbles in trendy New Age ideas and superstitions throughout the series.
She is convinced she can feel the presence of her dead grandmother in her old apartment, she senses the spirit of her mother in a lost cat, reads tea leaves, and dismisses Charles Darwin's theory of evolution as "too easy" in "The One Where Heckles Dies".
Physicist David (Hank Azaria), has a romance with Phoebe in the first season of the series, but breaks her heart when he decides to leave for Minsk on a three-year research trip.
One of the show's running gags are Phoebe's absurd, folksy songs with awkward titles like "Pervert Parade", "Ode to A Pubic Hair", "You Suck", "Shut Up & Go Home", "Ballad of the Circumcised Man", "The Food Here Will Kill You", however Phoebe's magnum opus is undoubtedly "Smelly Cat", which she debuts in season one at Central Perk.
The verses consist of Phoebe rattling off a list of ways in which the cat is disliked ("They won't take you to the vet", "you're obviously not their favorite pet", etc.)
In the episode, "The One Where Eddie Moves In," Phoebe is discovered by a record producer who wants to make a music video for "Smelly Cat".
Phoebe is delighted with the result, at first naively failing to recognize that the voice in the video belongs to a far more talented singer.
Ultimately, she philosophizes that the unrecognized singer is, metaphorically, Smelly Cat, denied deserving adoration for having the wrong "look".
In "The One Where They All Turn Thirty" (Season 7), it is revealed that Phoebe was born a year earlier than she thought, believing she was 30 but was truly 31, which further adds to the inconsistency of her age throughout the show's run.
Ellen DeGeneres, Kathy Griffin, Jane Lynch, and Megan Mullally all auditioned for the role of Phoebe.