The One with the Giant Poking Device

"The One With the Giant Poking Device" is the eighth episode of season three of the television situation comedy Friends.

First aired: November 14, 1996

Plot

Phoebe has a toothache but refuses to go to the dentist; apparently, every time she goes to the dentist, someone she knows dies. "I floss to save lives!", she tells her friends. Since she doesn't want any of them to die, she decides to live with the pain - but must relent when it becomes overwhelming.

Ross has an emergency at the museum and so asks Monica to watch Ben. Rachel is upset that Ross didn't ask her, so he tells her that she can watch the child instead (with the knowledge that Monica will be there the whole time). Rachel does fine with Ben but Monica bumps his head on the wall. They decide not to tell Ross but spot a lump forming on Ben's head. They cover it with a hat, but weren't anticipating Ben starting to say "Monica bang"! Ross, of course, notices the bump—and blames Rachel for it. She reveals that Monica was the one who banged Ben's head, so Ross plays a trick on Monica to make her confess. Ironically, he ends up banging his own head in a scuffle between the siblings.

Joey struggles to find a way to tell Chandler about Janice kissing her husband. He finally comes out and tells Chandler, who denies it but confronts Janice, who confirms it. She says she's in love with Chandler and her husband. Since Janice and her husband have a child together, Chandler convinces her to keep the family together and go back to her husband.

Ugly Naked Guy has purchased a new hammock. Joey notices that he hasn't moved from the hammock for hours, leading the gang to think he's died (upsetting Phoebe, who has just returned from the dentist). They decide to fashion a long poking device out of chopsticks, to see if he's still alive. He is—and, in return, shows the gang his "poking device."

Trivia

• When Monica bangs Ben's head, Ben spends the rest of the episode saying "Monica Bang." In his little boy voice, it sounds like "Monica Bing," foreshadowing her marriage. Of course this cannot have been intentional as, at this point in the show's development the writers did not know Monica and Chandler would get married, so this is simply coincidence and barely counts as trivia (except to an inbreed, who was probably the person who wrote this anyway). Also, Monica never actually becomes 'Monica Bing' as it is revealed in The One with Princess Consuela she never actually took the name 'Bing'.