Friends, "The One with the Monkey": I'm sick of being a victim of this Dick Clark holiday

My review/recap of the December 15, 1994 episode after I juggle balled-up socks.

Certainly not the funniest episode of Friends, but the New Year's episode was definitely a good one. It was pretty much one storyline that gave everyone something to do (though some more than others).

Chandler proposes a "no date" New Years Eve party, which everyone agrees to unenthusiastically. Ross pretty much goes insane this episode after getting Marcel, a monkey, as a new roommate. He thinks of him as a human. During Phoebe's singing performance at Central Perk, she meets David (Hank Azaria), a scientist who is there with his science partner Max (Wayne Pére). They start going out, and Phoebe wants to bring him to the party, even with the "no date" pact. Chandler also says that he is bringing Janice, Paolo is cataching an earlier flight from Rome to be with Rachel, Joey is bring a single mother he met at the mall, and Monica invited "Fun" Bobby (Vincent Ventresc), thus ruining the pact and leaving Ross with the only one without a date. 

Max tells the group that he and David won a grant to research in Minsk for 3 years. David doesn't know if he wants to stay for Phoebe or go to Minsk so he makes her decide. She tells him to stay.

The party turns out to be a disaster for the group. Janice annoys Chandler until he is forced to break up with her again, Paolo misses his flight and Rachel is beaten up by a woman for a taxi, the single mother Joey invited brings her children and Joey can't kiss her in front of them, "Fun" Bobby's grandfather had just died and is no longer "fun," and Ross's "date" Marcel keeps running away from him. When Max tells David that he is going to Minsk with or without him, Phoebe tells David that he should go to Minsk and that they should break up. As the ball drops, the group has no one to kiss. Chandler becomes so annoying that Joey ends up kissing him.

Other notes:

• Ugly Naked Guy's 5th mention
• Janice's second appearance is definitley funnier than her first one.
• Minsk is not in Russia, but in Belarus

Funniest parts:

• David explaining to Phoebe (and the rest of Central Perk) why he and Max were talking during Phoebe's performance
• Janice scaring Chandler at the party, and the two of them breaking up as Ross continually takes pictures
• Max calling Phoebe "Yoko"

Overall this was a good, simple episode. Everyone had something to do and there was no extra, unnecessary sub-plots. Janice makes a very strong appearance, and Phoebe actually has a meaningful storyline.