Chandler Bing
Chandler Muriel Bing was a fictional character, played by Matthew Perry, on the popular sitcom Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Chandler worked as a Data-Processor, a job which he thoroughly loathed. However, Chandler was unable to simply quit his job as it was his nature to avoid ending anything forcefully, be it his job, a relationship or even his membership with a gym. Possibly the finest - and most extreme - example of his determination to avoid ending a relationship forcefully involves the 'mind-numbingly annoying' character Janice, who was a constant reoccuring fixture in his life. His final attempt to leave her once and for all involved Chandler claiming he was moving to Yemen (address: 1 Yemen Road, Yemen), and then actually boarding a plane and flying to Yemen (albeit reluctantly) just to prove to her that he is not lying.
Chandler?s ?wise-cracks? were a particular highlight of the show. Some fine examples include Chandler describing Rachel?s attempts to stop him smoking by throwing away every cigarette he puts into his mouth as "the least fun game ever", quoting A.A. Milne as having said "Get Up Dilhole" in an attempt to get Joey out of his favourite chair, and his insistence that his surname is Gaelic for ?thy turkey?s done?. His conversations with Phoebe, which ranged from why Donald Duck wears a towel when getting out of the shower, to why there isn?t a superhero called ?Gold-Man?, were another highlight of the show.
One Thanksgiving, Chandler's father announced that he was a homosexual. He later moved to Las Vegas where he opened up an all-male burlesque called ?Viva Las Gaygas?. He also had a sex change and was played in the series by Kathleen Turner. As a result of this, Chandler hates Thanksgiving and refused to eat any Thanksgiving food. Chandler also highlights this as the point where he began to use humour as a defence mechanism. Chandler himself is often mistaken for gay by friends, colleagues and, most importantly, women.
Chandler famously shared an apartment with his best friend Joey Tribbiani. Chandler and Joey's apartment became an important focal point for the series. The two formed perhaps one of the most likeable and enduring television friendships in sitcom history. Their adventures included losing Ross's son on a bus, building an 'entertainment center' which was so big it covered both of their doors, buying a Chick and a Duck (affectionatly named 'The Chick and The Duck'), replacing their dining table with a foosball table and spending hours watching Baywatch. In the final episode the two symbolically destroyed the foosball table, before Chandler moved to the New York suburbs; however, despite no longer living in the same apartment block, Chandler and Monica made it known that their new home would have a specially designated 'Joey room'.
In season 4, Chandler began an affair with his close friend Monica Geller in London. They had been friends for some time as Chandler's college roommate Ross is Monica's brother. The two fell in love and eventually moved in together. They married (their wedding was officiated by Joey, who was ordained over the internet) and, in the final episode, watched as their adopted twins - Erica and Jack - were born.
