The One With Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.

Thursday, 13 April 2000

Joey auditions to star in a detective show with a robot partner, and Chandler forgets to finish a phone message in Joey's apartment, costing Joey the part until a second call brings it back.

What happens

• Phoebe runs lines with Joey and decides mid-scene that she is a gifted actress, which annoys Joey enough to end the rehearsal.
• Joey explains that the pilot casts him as a detective working with a robot sidekick, admits he doubts he is good enough, and Rachel tells him he is a fine actor.
• Joey pretends at the coffeehouse that the audition went badly, then admits it went well and that the part is down to him and two other actors, with the callback set for five o'clock the next day.
• Joey tells Ross and Chandler that their jobs carry nothing like this pressure, and Ross takes offence.
• Chandler, alone in Joey's old apartment, answers the phone and learns the audition has moved to half past two, but Monica hurries him out before he finishes writing the message on the board.
• Joey finds out he missed the callback and that the actor from the allergy commercials got the part, and he blames Chandler for it.
• Chandler admits he ruined it, argues that everyone is entitled to one mistake, and Joey stays angry.
• Monica and Rachel try to console Chandler, who confesses he has already forgiven himself, which Rachel finds too quick given what he did.
• Chandler answers Joey's phone again, hears that the actor cast as Mac was attacked by his own dog and that Joey is wanted at two, and this time he writes the whole message down.
• Joey fakes not having seen the message, then reveals he went to the audition and got the part, and the two of them make up.
• Phoebe and Ross both overact while helping Joey rehearse the new script, and Joey cuts the session short and takes their pages away.