Joey has a fan (Brooke Shields) who turns out to be a stalker. Phoebe gets a gig singing songs to children at the library. Ross tries to find out where Marcel is and learns he is in New York making commercials.
Tropes
- Age-Inappropriate Art: Phoebe's children's songs, about subjects like death and sex.
- Always Someone Better: Joey bemoans how he finally gets a job on TV, only for "the monkey" to get a movie role.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When the gang pretends that Joey is Dr. Drake's twin Hans Ramoray.Rachel: And I know this because... because he pretended to be Drake to... to sleep with me! (splashes Joey)
Monica: And then he told me he would run away with me, and he didn't! (splashes Joey)
Chandler: And you left the toilet seat up, you bastard! (splashes Joey) - Bed Trick: Rachel claims that Hans Ramoray pulled this on her, pretending to be Drake so she would sleep with him.
- Brutal Honesty: Phoebe's songs tell the children brutal facts of life without sugarcoating anything. While the parents are horrified, the children love Phoebe's songs precisely because she tells them the truth. At the end of the episode, they even track her down to Central Perk so they can hear more.
- The Bus Came Back: Marcel is now an animal actor shooting a movie nearby.
- The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House: Monica realizes the letter Erika sent Joey wasn't mailed, meaning she was in the building.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Erika is convinced that Joey is Dr. Drake Ramoray.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The zoo janitor (played by Dan Castellaneta) who tells Ross about Marcel is clearly a little out of his gourd and seems to believe there's a huge conspiracy going on at the zoo. He also talks about bats and opossums in a very melodramatic manner.
- Didn't Think This Through: The janitor, likely because of his own cloudcuckoolanderness, tells Ross the entire story of what happened to Marcel, only trying to extort Ross after the fact. Ross even points out that the janitor has nothing to bribe him with.
- Dog Got Sent to a Farm: Phoebe's song about grandmothers alludes to this trope.Phoebe: Now, your mom and your dad said she moved to Peru, but the truth is she died, and some day you will too.
- Food Slap: Erika throw water on Joey's face because she thinks he's cheating on her (since she saw Drake Ramoray kiss another woman on TV). Rachel, Monica and Chandler then do it too, when pretending he's Dr. Drake's evil twin Hans.
- Freaky Is Cool: The kids at the library love Phoebe's macabre songs and show up at Central Perk to hear more.
- Genre Refugee: A dark variant, Erika talks and acts like she's a quintessential Soap Opera character because she Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality and thinks that's how people actually behave, eventually the gang go along with it because it's the easiest way to get her to leave.
- I Am Not Spock: In-Universe. Erika believes Joey actually is Dr. Drake Ramoray, his Days of Our Lives character. The only way to convince her he's not is by Joey pretending he's actually Drake's Evil Twin.
- Imagine the Audience Naked: Before her first performance at the library, Phoebe considers doing this to calm her nerves. Rob advises her not to do that because her audience is children and "that's kinda the reason the last guy got fired".
- Is There a Doctor in the House?: A man collapses in the restaurant where Joey and Erika are eating. Erika tries to offer "Drake's" help, forcing Joey to awkwardly cover as he has no idea how to actually help.
- Laughing Mad: Erika during her dinner with Joey.
- Loony Fan: Erika Ford, Joey's stalker.
- Perverse Sexual Lust: Erika doesn't know it, but she is really into fictional character Drake Ramoray.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: When arguing with Rob about how she won't compromise the content of her songs, Phoebe inadvertently makes a reference to a famous children's character and is left confused when Rob brings him up.Rob: Maybe if you played some regular kiddy songs...
Phoebe: No. What do you, what do you want me to be, like some stupid, big, like, purple dinosaur?
Rob: I'm not saying you have to be Barney.
Phoebe: Who's Barney? - Skewed Priorities: Joey feels flattered to have a stalker. Lampshaded by Rachel.Rachel: Joey, remember when we talked about good thing - bad thing? This is a baaaad thing.
- Something Else Also Rises: Chandler squirts a bottle, spewing white goo up when he sees Erika.
