Even after watching all 236 episodes of Friends, I fail to recall this quite dark revelation about one of its funniest characters, Joey. And quite frankly, he's not the only character with quite a distressing backstory from a show that brings unadulterated laughter and joy to its viewers.
But then again, the best comedians are those with some very deep past experiences which they use as a source for their material. What makes them great is how they are able to find a silver lining despite the circumstances they faced. And at the end of the day, when the worst has passed, those painful experiences become merely a part of our history, and slowly, we are able to make light of even the most serious of our circumstances.
JM McNab from Cracked gives us this list of sitcom characters who have surprisingly dark backstories.