Wearing A Trench Coat?

A fan brought up a great point the other day—every one of our sitcoms features, to some extent, a monkey. Monkeys somehow take the cake over any other animal in terms of funny business…but why?

Let’s learn about the sitcom simians and how they made their mark on television.

Ross earns the honor of first ape, with Marcel, his season one pet capuchin monkey. You know, the monkeys one typically sees in movies? These smart little guys take direction well and know their place: above everyone else, of course! At least for little Marcel.
Rachel loses Marcel in his inaugural episode, right before he’s sent to live peacefully in San Diego Zoo. For a little while, at least. Once the heist occurs, Marcel breaks his way (ba-dum-bsh) into showbiz in New York, where Ross tracks him down and sees him off a final time.

The monkey to make its way on Big Bang Theory has just a just as useful, though perhaps less graceful, role. Ricky, Amy’s own capuchin, smokes cigarettes for science! Amy trained him how as a course of nicotine-addiction study and came to the conclusion “he looks much cooler than the other non-smoking monkeys.” There’s no rhyme or reason for Ricky to smoke in the apartment—Amy only concludes that if she’s giving him emphysema, she might as well let him watch cable.

And finally, we reach How I Met Your Mother’s…monkey implied. Marshall gets mugged in the park and, to calm a worried Lilly, claims the offender was simply a rogue monkey (and perhaps their partner in crime). He lied to keep her from purchasing a gun for protection, but Robin, excited by the story, invited him to divulge all the details on her cable-access show. As Marshall’s motto correctly assesses, “A lie is a just great story ruined by the truth.”

I think pets are amiable distraction enough from Valentine’s Day, don’t you? Though be sure to tune in to Big Bang Theory before you head off for the evening—see you then!