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From Friends: The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion

[Scene: Chandler’s office, he is just finishing a meeting with his boss.]

Doug: So thanks for the warm welcome. It’s good to have you guys on my team, and I come to play. I hope you do too. Now, let’s go out there and get ‘em! Huh? And remember, there is no ‘I’ in team.

Chandler: Yes, but there’s two in martini, so everybody back to my office!

Everyone laughs at this point. So what is the joke I am missing?

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    It's punderful.
    – his
    Commented Dec 20, 2015 at 12:03
  • 2
    Yeah, it's just a pun. He's making fun of an old adage to basically say 'party at my office'
    – Walt
    Commented Dec 20, 2015 at 12:13
  • Pardon me, but what is the adage you're talking about Walt? (We -here- don't drink and English is not my native language so I don't know all the sayings)
    – ARGMAN
    Commented Dec 20, 2015 at 13:43
  • 2
    Has everyone missed the point that there are 2 letter i's in the word martini?
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Feb 26, 2016 at 17:05

2 Answers 2

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The phrase "There's no I in team" goes back to 1960's America and basically means that while teams are made up of individuals, everyone needs to work together as if they were a single entity.

Chandler is making a joke about the fact that they can bond as a team over a "martini lunch" in his office. This is doubly funny because not only is he mocking his new boss (and his clichéd turn of phrase) but because it's also deeply frowned-upon for office workers to drink at work (in the US) during the daytime.

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    Nice @Richard What about this [link] (urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=three+martini+lunch) Do you reckon that it has something to do with the three martini lunch?
    – ARGMAN
    Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 11:14
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    @ARGMAN - Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. That's what's missing.
    – user7812
    Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 11:20
  • Say, @Richard, when was that type of lunch abandoned in American culture, you have any idea? coz as per Wiki: "The three-martini lunch is no longer common practice for several reasons, including the implementation of "fitness for duty" programs by numerous companies, the decreased tolerance of alcohol use,[3] a general decrease in available leisure time for business executives, and the social stigma attached to drinking during the day in the United States." BUT: "The entertainment deduction, which includes meals, was reduced to 80% in 1987 and to 50% in 1994" and it is the show's starting year
    – ARGMAN
    Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 22:04
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    @ARGMAN - My personal experience is that non-execs have never really been encouraged to drink during the working day. That being said, those who work in Sales are regularly expected to entertain and take their clients for drinks over lunch.
    – user7812
    Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 22:05
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    @argman - I don't think he can resist it. His boss is using such hackneyed sports metaphors that Chandler's "joke-reflex" just kicks in.
    – user7812
    Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 10:45
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Doug: So thanks for the warm welcome. It’s good to have you guys on my team, and I come to play. I hope you do too. Now, let’s go out there and get ‘em! Huh? And remember, there is no ‘I’ in team.

Chandler: Yes, but there’s two in martini, so everybody back to my office!

It is a simple joke:

Doug is using "I" as the first person singular, and quoting an adage.

But Chandler is punning on "I", and suggesting everyone go back to his office for drinks by saying,

"...but there are two (I's) in martini,..."

martInI has two letter I's.

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