Well....

??

I do.... actually it agravates me sometimes.
Before I was a fan of this show, I always thought she was the funniest.

But after going through Season 1 on DVD, and just finishing Disc 1 of Season 2.... I realize that she's the weak-link in the series.
Throughout all the episodes I've seen, she's really unneccessary.... and very unrealistic.
She's so strange, that its not funny sometimes.
I don't know, I still like the series.... but if I could've helped it, I would've built a different character to be the 6th "Friend"

I think she is unrealistic but it doesn't really hurt the show. The other charecters can be unrealistic at times to like in the fifth season Ross' anger problems don't seem that realistic to me. The un realistic things make it funny.

I, too, once thought that Phoebe was the funniest in the bunch. But then it seemed like her character didn't really develop. Yes, I think she's a little unrealistic - but IMO her biggest problem is that she lacks something the other characters have: vulnerability. Being a Cheers fan, let me make the comparison to Cliff Clavin. Both of these characters are very odd...verging on insane. But Cliff was very vulnerable. When he did or said something crazy, there was a lot at stake - making his character so much more real and funnier. Phoebe, on the other hand, is completely unembarrassed. True, it's refreshing to see someone like that, but it doesn't make her very interesting to watch. When she's being weird, she's not risking anything. She's too happy!
Interesting characters are constantly struggling with something.

Yes,she's unrealistic sometimes.Her story touched me more
than the others(her mother killed herself,she lived on the street).
She lives in horror in all her life.That's why she's so weird,the fantasy surrouding the character and her struggling life that make her so funny and lovable.

Originally posted by Céline
Yes,she's unrealistic sometimes.Her story touched me more
than the others(her mother killed herself,she lived on the street).
She lives in horror in all her life.That's why she's so weird,the fantasy surrouding the character and her struggling life that make her so funny and lovable.

There is a darkness underneath her "weirdness," (that's the character's only saving grace) but personally, I don't think her personality produces good comedy for a central character. You can only take her role so far. I'd like her a lot more if she played a supporting part similar to Ursula's in Mad About You. Anyway...it's just an opinion.

All the characters of this show have a crazy side
anyway.I think she put her life together at the end:
she got married to Mike(a nice guy) and she wanted
to start a family.Of course,with Phoebe it's dark humour.
Nobody is confortable with this type of comedie.I used
to think that she delivered bad messages but,I
understood what she been through in her life and her
dark side made sense.After that,I laught at her jokes
and I find her really funny.

I think she is anda always will be the funniest character on friends. She took all the serious story lines (i.e. ross and rachel, monica and chandler, baby emma, etc.) and made them humourous....I love Phoebe!

Originally posted by barwars
Well....

??

Of course she is, it's a tv show ;) :p

There are lots of people out there like Phoebe.

I've gotta say Lowell From Wings, Phoebe and him I swear were separated at birth they remind me of each other.

Dude! She's supposed to be warped! At times, however, she displayed common sense. In "TOW the Birth," she, Ross, and Susan got trapped in the janitor's closet, and Ross and Susan argued until Phoebe lost her cool and told them off. In "TOA the Super Bowl Pt. 2," Rachel and Monica argued over Jean-Claude Van Damme and ended up fighting on the floor and Phoebe yelled "OK now I'm gonna kick some a** !!!" and pulled them up by their ears.

I think all the characters have gone through un-realistic moments. Monica's neat freak personality was bizarre at times. Ross' anger was annoying and over the top. Joey was so dumb it wasn't funny etc etc

When you think of Phoebe's past, her mother killed herself, the albino guy killed himself, her sister barely knows she's alive, her father walked out on her and her biological mother gave her up for adoption.

I think her humour and strange personality fit her life, it is dark but there is also an optimism that the others don't always have.

Also, I have seen a vunerability, like when she gave birth to the triplets and wanted to keep one, the whole looking for her father storyline and finding her brother, sharing the other friends lives and being there for them as an emotional support, they have been her family.

The reason you don't see her vunerable side a lot is because she is street smart and learned not to show it, that way she won't get hurt, sad but true of most people in similar situations.

I realise she is a character on a television show, but I think there are Phoebe's in this world.