“The One with the Baby on the Bus” is a very broad episode of Friends comedically – there’s lot of physical gags with Chandler and Joey, Ross talks in a funny voice, and we hear about a half dozen of Phoebe’s songs. But there’s a certain charm to it all that comes alive in the third act, and for a filler episode, ‘Baby on the Bus’ is a pretty enjoyable episode.
Forget about Monica, Rachel, and Ross in this episode: they’re mostly ancillary to what’s going on through the episode, with Ross’s entire allergy plot being introduced and forgotten in a matter of minutes (thankfully – Ross acting childish is not fun to watch). Most of the episode’s laughs come from Joey and Chandler, who take baby Ben out for a day of adventures, assuming that ‘adventures’ would mean ‘picking up women in public’. This doesn’t work out well: one woman mistakes them for a gay couple, and they’re so distracted by a pair of attractive women that they leave Ben on the bus.
Again, lots of broad comedy here – but a lot of it works, simply because of how damn charming Joey and Chandler’s friendship is. The scene where the two are arguing over which baby is Ben is the highlight of the episode, highlighting the great chemistry between the characters, and really showcasing Matthew Perry’s ability to play off Matt LeBlanc’s simplistic straight man Joey. For a plot constructed essentially around two jokes, it works quite well because it uses every comedic advantage it has to full effect.
Like most of her other material, Phoebe’s journey as a musician is forgettable, contrived mostly to get Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders on the show for a musical number, playing the role of confident, white-heel wearing Stephanie Schiffer, a professional musician whose presence insults Phoebe and her delicate genius. Unlike Chandler and Joey, the chemistry of Phoebe and Rachel is not very entertaining to watch (thanks to the fact Friends derives a lot of jokes from their common airhead qualities), but we do get a hilarious duet of Phoebe and Stephanie singing ‘Smelly Cat’ in the closing tag, which at least closes the Central Perk activities on a positive note.
There isn’t a lot to talk about in”The One with the Baby on the Bus” without getting repetitive; it’s an episode light on plot and heavy on simplistic humor that spends just enough time with Chandler and Joey to be enjoyable. Most of the other characters are a non-presence – save for Phoebe, who is probably the least fun character to hang out with in the entire group (doubly so when her only counterpart is Rachel). But for for an episode that’s basically twiddling its thumbs, ‘Baby on the Bus’ serves its purpose well.
Other thoughts/observations:
- the receptionist at the department of human services is a bit actor I always remember fondly as the homeless guy who follows Will home from the pool parlor in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
- Monica mentions having a baby again, something that will factor in heavily at the end of the season.
- one of my favorite Joey/Chandler exchanges of all-time is in this episode.; Chandler: “We have to assign heads to something!”; Joey: “Ducks is heads, because ducks have heads.”;”what kind of scary ass clowns came to your birthday?’
- another great joke: Joey mentions an uncle with a big tongue, and Chandler asks “Is he the guy with the beautiful wife?”
- I know it’s not technically true, but I always like to think the kid asking for his condom back is actually Phoebe’s half-brother. It makes for a really great moment if it is, and it’s the same actor (acting basically in the same fashion), so it works for me.