Monk’s 10 Funniest Scenes

Monk, an early-2000s police procedural dramedy, brought viewers eight beloved seasons of mysteries, tears, laughs, and quirky antics. The show follows the life of former detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), a brilliant San Francisco police consultant who lives with obsessive-compulsive disorder and is struggling to cope with his day-to-day life after his wife Trudy Monk is killed.

It is no surprise that the Monk series is pure comedic genius given the creator (Andy Breckman)’s years of experience as a Saturday Night Live sketch writer. Ted Levine, Jason Gray-Stanford, Bitty Schram, and Traylor Howard make up the supporting cast of this iconic comedy crime drama, and the show takes a beautifully compassionate approach to Adrian’s OCD without sacrificing the ability to recognize Adrian’s frequently humorous nature. Some of the best Monk episodes stem from Mr. Monk’s endearing mannerisms.

10 Mr. Monk Gets Interrupted

Monk Has To Start His Sentence Over Every Time He Gets Interrupted

In “Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan,” Adrian travels to New York City to investigate a clue in his wife Trudy’s (Melora Hardin) murder. Unfortunately, the hustle and bustle of Manhattan proves to be more than he can handle.

Monk had traveled to Manhattan to meet with Warrick Tennyson (Frank Collison), the man who built the bomb that killed Trudy Monk. After their arrival, Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) informs Monk that the only way the local police chief will allow Monk to meet with Tennyson is if he assists in solving the murder of a Latvian ambassador.

As Adrian tries to answer, “I guess I don’t have a choice,” a nearby construction worker fires up a jackhammer. This noisy interruption causes Monk to become trapped in a verbal loop, as one of his compulsions is that he can only say a sentence from start to finish. Every time he is interrupted, he has to start over, leading to a comical scene in which Adrian sounds like a skipping record: “I guess – I guess I – I guess I don’t – I guess I don’t have (…)

9 Harold Takes A Bullet For Dr. Kroger

Harold Krenshaw Wins The Competition For Dr. Kroger’s Love

In “Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink,” Adrian’s rival, Harold Krenshaw (Tim Bagley), has his 3rd appearance on the show. He is the most frequently recurring minor character, with appearances in 9 episodes, closely followed by Kevin Dorfman (Jarrad Paul), who appears in 5. Monk and Harold share a contentious relationship from day one, likely because they are far too similar and share a jealousy for their shared therapist’s attention. In this episode, therapist Dr. Charles Kroger’s (Stanley Kamel) cleaner is murdered, and he feels so responsible for her death that he abruptly retires.

Monk sets about proving that the murder was unrelated to his therapist’s practice, and along the way, both he and Charles are kidnapped by the killers. Harold steps in to save the day, however, and winds up dramatically leaping in front of a bullet intended for Kroger. As the killers are apprehended, Harold has a comical message for Adrian as he lies bleeding in his therapist’s arms: “Beat that!”

8 Mr. Monk Can’t Hear Natalie

Mr. Monk And Natalie Get Trapped In A Never-Ending Cycle Of Mishearing One Another

“Mr. Monk Gets Jury Duty” sees the neurotic detective sequestered with a group of jurors deliberating over a minor assault and robbery. During the case, he spots the body of a woman who had been present during the juror selection lying in a dumpster visible from the courthouse window and begins to suspect one of the jurors may be involved in covering up a more serious crime.

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Monk attempts to communicate with Natalie to inform her of the presence of the corpse, but being sequestered, his only option is to shout down to her from the deliberation room window. The distance causes Mr. Monk and Natalie (Traylor Howard) to mishear one another multiple times, leading to a hysterical loop of Natalie yelling up to her boss the victim has no ID, and Monk repeatedly shouting back, “No idea?”

7 Mr. Monk Speaks Gibberish

An Earthquake Sends Monk Into Shock And He Starts Speaking In Tongues

In “Mr. Monk and the Earthquake,” San Francisco is hit by a minor earthquake that leaves Mr. Monk’s carefully maintained apartment in shambles. Sharona (Bitty Schram) finds Mr. Monk strangely composed in the aftermath and makes the off-handed remark that she expected him to be a basket case. It soon becomes apparent that the trauma of the quake has affected Adrian more than she realized.

As Sharona questions Monk about where he was during the earthquake, she realizes he is speaking complete gibberish. Adrian does not realize, however, that no one else can understand him. He briefly recovers from this bizarre state, but an aftershock brings on another wave of aphasia, and Monk even delivers his iconic “here’s what happened” speech in this strange, syllabic tongue. Impressively, actor Tony Shalhoub did not operate off a script for this episode – he simply combined phonetic sounds from Lebanese (his mother’s language), Italian, and English.

6 Mr. Monk Uses The Level-Checking Level

Mr. Monk Does Not Trust The First Level To Be Accurate

Mr. Monk’s obsessive compulsions can be exasperating but are more frequently endearing, so much so that it is hard to choose the funniest ones. One that certainly belongs on the list, however, is depicted in “Mr. Monk Stays In Bed,” when he reveals to Natalie and Julie (Emmy Clarke) that he has a level-checking level.

When Monk does not trust the first level to be correct, Julie asks how he knows the level-checking level isn’t broken. He explains he has it calibrated multiple times a year just to be sure. This redundancy continues later in the episode, as Monk investigates a case while home sick, he has Captain Stottlemeyer run a humidifier and dehumidifier in his room at the same time. As Leland points out, the two machines cancel one another out, to which Monk says, “Exactly.”

5 Mr. Monk Becomes “The Monk”

Mr. Monk Tells Sharona She’s A Square

“Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine” sees Adrian start a new medication to manage his obsessive compulsions. Unfortunately, he does not react well to the new prescription and begins behaving in deeply uncharacteristic ways. Monk suddenly becomes a bombastic personality, wearing loud Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses during the day, and even referring to himself in the third person as “the Monk.”

On top of this narcissism, the medication also causes Monk to temporarily lose his brilliant investigative skills. Throughout the episode, he struggles to form a connection between a woman’s suicide and an attack on Monk’s friend Captain Stottlemeyer. The episode is equal parts hysterical and tragic, as Monk is happier on the new medication, but it prevents him from being able to function in an investigative capacity. The funniest “The Monk” moment occurs when Monk’s assistant Sharona (Bitty Schram) confronts Adrian for buying a brand new red convertible, and he tells her, “You’re just a big L-7. It’s a square.”

4 Mr. Monk Tries To Use Slang

Monk Tries To Fit In With Rappers But Horribly Misuses Slang

One of the most hysterical episodes of the series, “Mr. Monk and the Rapper” features one of the best Monk guest stars: Snoop Dogg plays Murderuss, a rapper accused of killing a fellow musician with a car bomb. Despite the apparently overwhelming evidence of his involvement, Mr. Monk is able to prove Snoop’s character was set up by his right-hand man.

In the company of Murderuss and his fellow rappers, Adrian struggles even more than usual to act naturally. Having been warned by Stottlemeyer that several of his tics could be perceived as gang signs, Monk decides to simply hold his hands up in front of him the entire time he interacts with Murderuss’ crew.

When Monk gives Murderuss’ security guards awkward greetings of, “Killah, how are yah?” and “What’s up, homely?” Stottlemeyer hurriedly explains, “He means homie…and he doesn’t even mean that.” Later, Murderuss raps the “here’s what happened” spiel – and it is an absolute banger.

3 Mr. Monk Explains His Answer

He Gives A New Meaning To “No Is A Full Sentence”

In “Mr. Monk and the Leper,” Adrian is offered an exorbitant sum to take on an investigation for a mysterious figure who will not reveal his face. Mr. Monk soon finds there is a hefty catch: the man who wants to hire him has leprosy, and they have already shaken hands. Following this realization, Mr. Monk comically goes running down the street in horror.

Natalie tries to persuade Mr. Monk to accept the case for financial reasons, but after nine hours straight of scrubbing and dousing his hand in kerosene, Mr. Monk is staunchly opposed. He begs Natalie to light the “infected” hand on fire and even throws away the landline on which the man called to negotiate, terrified he will contract the disease through the phone. Monk gives Natalie a very simple overview of his thought process: “Let me explain… No”

2 When The Sergeant Wants A Snack

Stottlemeyer Gets Grossed Out By Sergeant Cargill Touching His Food

Ted Levine’s portrayal of Captain Leland Stottlemeyer brings an indispensable amount of comedic relief to the show with his sarcasm, dry humor, and generally-fed-up-with-everything personality. While it is usually Lt. Randy Disher or Mr. Monk himself getting onto the lovable Leland’s nerves, viewers occasionally get a glimpse of Stottlemeyer’s comically irritated interactions with other characters.

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In “Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival,” the Captain has his lunch delivered by a minor recurring character Sgt. Cargill (David Sparrow), who appears in a total of 3 episodes. Cargill painstakingly unpacks the Captain’s lunch, naming each item and even unwrapping Stottlemeyer’s ham and rye sandwich for him. After having failed to take Stottlemeyer’s short, disinterested responses as a hint to leave, Cargill removes the pickle spear from the Captain’s lunch with his bare hands and cheerfully asks him, “Do you want your pickle?” Stottlemeyer gives Cargill an exasperated look and says, “Not anymore.”

1 When Mr. Monk Gets High

Mr. Monk Thinks Inhaling Second-Hand Smoke Is Giving Him A Contact High

As Monk helps Lt. Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) to investigate the death of his uncle in “Mr. Monk Visits a Farm,” the detective travels to the property Disher inherited as a result. During his stay, Monk stumbles across a field of marijuana plants, and after inhaling a cloud of send-hand smoke, he becomes convinced he is experiencing a contact high – and that the effects could be dangerous.

To prevent harm to himself or others, Adrian makes the hysterical decision to chain himself to a piece of farm equipment. Farmhand Oates (James Gammon) looks on in amusement and attempts to explain to Mr. Monk that this is not how weed works, but Adrian is inconsolable.

Sending himself into a panic attack over what he expects to be a bad trip, Monk screams, “Oh, God, here it comes – River Dance”. In arguably one of the most hysterical moments of the Monk series, Adrian rattles off what is possibly the most bizarre list of euphemisms for marijuana ever heard: “The Devil’s Parsley. Skunk. Splim. Splam. Mooster. Side salad.”

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Monk

Starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, Monk follows the titular detective, a private investigator with OCD who helps solve crimes with the San Francisco Police. On the side, he also investigates the death of his wife, who was killed by a car bomb. Bitty Schram, Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford also star. 

Release Date

July 12, 2002

Network

USA

Seasons

8

Directors

Randy Zisk , Jerry Levine

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