Everything's Better with Monkeys: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"More fun than a barrel of monkeys!"''|'''Old proverb''', setting the bar impossibly high}}

This is sometimes associated with the tastes of the [[Lowest Common Denominator]], who view the ultimate form of entertainment as a cigar-smoking chimp wearing a diaper and top hat that is riding a tricycle.

 

 

 

 

 

{{examples}}

 

* A very well-known series of adverts for PG Tips Tea in Britain involved a group of trained chimpanzees who acted in the roles of a suburban family, with dubbed voices. Despite their popularity, these were axed in the 1990s over fears of animal cruelty allegations. They have since been replaced with the sock monkey (or ''Muuuuun-keigh!'' as Johnny Vegas pronounces it) inherited from ITV Digital, allowing a thematic continuation.

* The latter arises from a series of adverts by Vegas (playing a character called Al) and the Muuuunkeigh for ITV Digital, which went under despite giving away free sock monkeys with every subscription (some people signed up purely for that reason). The Al-Muuunkeigh combo was briefly transferred to [[The BBC]] for [[Comic Relief]], then bought by PG Tips.

* "It's the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_5w0NvWdZE Rolling Rock Beer Ape]! And he's here to save the day!"

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ZeIoLz8FE This] classic '70s ad for American Tourister Luggage.

* Arby's simultaneously subverted this trope while playing it straight with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg05vToa7Zk this commercial].

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR71GnQ4CU4 These hilarious Career Builder ads], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRDx18GYITw one of which] aired during the friggin' ''Super Bowl''.

* The newer Subway commercials all feature monkeys.

* A Dodge Automobile commercial advertising a new sale has Michael C Hall say, "This event could not be more amazing. Oh, wait, there's a monkey." Cue a small chimpanzee dressed like Evel Knievel walking into the lot and pushing down on a plunger that blasts a small amount of confetti. Hall then says, "I stand corrected."

** "Unbelievable"

* Invoked by USA Network while advertising [[The Golden Compass]].

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** In DBZ, they are not friendly at all. Goku's transformations were occasionally played for humor in the original series, but it was shown to be quite dangerous to those around him, too. Vegeta, on the other hand, retains complete control while transformed into a giant ape. Too bad it's well before his [[Heel Face Turn]] when he does it, so they'd have been better off if he ''had'' become just a rampaging mindless beast. Played straight, however, with King Kai's monkey companion Bubbles.

** [[The Movie]] had not one but two chimps taking turns playing Chim-Chim. Whenever any one of them was on screen,they quite literally [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|threw crap past the radar]], and also [[Hilarity Ensues|got behind the wheel of a vehicle]].

** [[Fan Service|The manga has]] [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v04/c030/3.html this] [[Fan Service|page]].

 

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** Congorilla: Sacred golden gorilla who serves as the alter ego of Congo Bill, a British adventurer, courtesy of mind-swapping rings.

** Gorilla Grodd: Psychic would-be world conqueror from a hidden city of superintelligent gorillas. Gorilla City's actually kind of a big deal in DC; King Solovar was an important figure in the ''original'' [[Crisis Crossover]].

*** Voiced in ''[[Blackest Night]]'' with an undead Solovar:

** The Mod Gorilla Boss: He's one hip swinger, Clyde, and you'd better believe that he's the big man behind the criminal underworld in Bludhaven. And that he thinks vertical stripes are cool.

** Titano: Giant chimp with kryptonite-laser-shooting eyes.

** The Ultra-Humanite: Psychic [[Mad Scientist]] who had his brain surgically placed in a mutant gorilla's body.

** Primaul: [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|An intelligent vampire ape with fascist leanings]]. Which is to say, [[Those Wacky Nazis|he's a Nazi]]. His real name is Julius, as a [[Shout-Out]] to Julie Schwartz.

** Note that ''all'' the above examples are from [[DC Comics]]. Around 1940, DC fell head-over-heels in love with gorillas and has never recovered.

** And a different Gorilla Man, who has a human head and a gorilla's body. While he's technically a scientist, he's rarely portrayed as anything but the [[Dumb Muscle|dumbest, most single-minded thug scientist ever]].

** Not to mention how [[X-Men (Comic Book)|the Beast]]'s original thing was his incredibly simian physique, causing him to look like a shaved gorilla. Then he became something akin to a [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|blue-furred gorilla]] with a bizarre [[Wolverine]]-ish hairdo. Later he lost the gorilla-like traits to become cat-like, though.

** This doesn't apply to ''every'' ape, though; Giant monster-turned-regular-sized-monster Gorgilla is actually kind of a loser, like the rest of his teammates in the Fin Fang Four. And Moon Boy (of ''and Devil Dinosaur'' fame) is just too goofy to be cool. It's not entirely clear exactly what Moon Boy is, but at one point he's believed to be an example of ''[[wikipedia:Homo habilis|Homo habilis]]'' (an early human species from back when humans were much more ape-like).

* Nearly every superhero during [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] was turned into a gorilla, at one time or another. The best way to tell if someone's doing an [[Homage]] or [[Affectionate Parody]] of the Silver Age is to see if there are any gorillas around.

*** Of course, this all culminated in the JLApe crossover, where the entire Justice League were turned into gorillas, even in their own comics. Before you ask, it was actually in the late nineties. Also, it turns out that red-haired and blond gorillas (such as the ape versions of the Flash and Aquaman, respectively), are really weird looking.

*** Later [[Stealth Pun|mimicked]] by [http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/04/simian-super-he.html Marvel Apes], an alternate universe where everyone is a monkey except the Inhumans and Sue Storm. (Note that the Marvel Apes version of Spider-Man, who has a tail, is not an ape, but a [[Stealth Pun|spider monkey]]. He actually calls himself "Spider-Monkey".)

* ''[[Ambush Bug]]: Year None'' # 5: [[Madness Mantra|"Apes on covers sell comics. Apes on covers sell comics. Apes on covers..."]]

* The third collection of ''[[The Adventures of Barry Ween]], Boy Genius'', "Monkey Tales," involves: a superintelligent other-dimensional gorilla, a tribe of sasquatch, and a hyper-Ebola monkey. (That's three separate stories, mind.) In the fourth collection, "Gorilla Warfare," the characters travel to the dimension the superintelligent gorilla came from, where he (the gorilla) is worshiped as a god.

* Chris Sims' ''Exterminape'' is a tongue-in-cheek example, where the main character is a talking gorilla who discovered firearms shortly after learning how to use simple tools and quickly became a badass assassin who likes to show human women his "jungle love".

* The graphic novel ''[[Grease Monkey]]'' features [[Uplifted Animal|biologically uplifted gorillas]] working on a space station, undergoing preparations for an alien invasion.

** "Is that a monkey?" "He's got a gun!" * BLAM BLAM*

** The comic book series ''Proof'' about a Bigfoot who is a paranormal investigator is just "Hellboy [[Recycled in Space|AS A MONKEY!]]"

* Mega City One in ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' has a simian ethnic enclave (named Apetown), and an Orangutan named Dave was once elected Mayor of the city. He ended up being assassinated.

* Matt Fraction's ''Mantooth'' is about a super-spy gorilla who's a super-smooth ladies man.

* [[Squirrel Girl]] thinks that everything is better with monkeys.

* ''[[The Umbrella Academy]]'' loves chimps. Random intelligent chimps are shown throughout the comic, most notably Dr. Pogo who assists the main characters, and to a much lesser extent, Detective Body. The reason as to why there are intelligent chimps randomly about is never explained.

** "Still giving orders, monkey-boy?"

* ''[[The Filth]]'' has Dmitri, a talking chimp who also happens to be a Soviet assassin. He offed JFK.

* [[Secret Six|Ragdoll]] used some of his mercenary money to buy "a monkey house and a variety of little monkey outfits" for his monkeys. He dressed them up as his team members, covered himself with monkey chow and giggled as they attacked him. It was unsettling and hilarious.

* [[Gaston Lagaffe]] once gave Fantasio (of ''[[Spirou and Fantasio]]'') three circus-trained chimpanzees as a birthday present. [[Hilarity Ensues|They proceed to wreak havoc in his office]].

* ''Monkeyman and O'Brien'' is about an intelligent gorilla from another dimension.

** Trope referenced directly in [http://www.gocomics.com/libertymeadows/2007/05/13 this comic.]

* Marvel brings us Hitman Monkey. No word as to whether he is ''that'' hitman monkey yet.

* The Norts in ''Rogue Trooper'' once attempted to counter the Southers' [[Super Soldier|GIs]] with part-human-part-gorillas, who like the GIs could breathe the atmosphere of [[Death World|Nu Earth]]. They failed when Rogue beat their leader in one-on-one combat, [[Asskicking Equals Authority|becoming the new commander]] and persuading them to rebel against their evil masters.

* In ''[[Promethea]]'' there is The Weeping Gorilla.

* [[Wilhelm Busch]]'s story about Fipps the monkey.

* [http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/scans6/DEF79_Mandrill.jpg Mandrill], Marvel's [http://itsclobberingtime.blogspot.com/2010/11/villains-with-potential-mandrill.html misogynistic] [http://www.oocities.org/daredevil_villains/mandrill/mandrill.html manipulating mutant monkey-man].

 

 

* ''[[Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back]]'' had the titular duo adopt an orangutan for some reason. (This was hinted at back at the end of ''Mallrats'', where the last scene shows Jay and Silent Bob heading off into the distance with the orangutan, named Suzanne, in tow. No explanation is given for this, nor was the ape ever seen prior. It seemed to be an excuse to shoehorn Weezer's "Suzanne" over the ending montage.) Sexy jewel thieves were involved.

** A similar sequence also appeared in the ''Jay and Silent Bob'' comic-book miniseries and the Clerks cartoon.

'''Wes''': See? }}

* [[Disney Animated Canon]] has a couple examples as well:

** Disney comics feature the monkey mad scientists Ecks, Doublex, and Triplex as enemies of [[Classic Disney Shorts|Mickey Mouse]]. Another comics pal of Mickey's is the tough robot operator Sam Simian, seemingly a gorilla.

*** There's one story where Mickey and Sam take on the three Professors. Apart from Mickey himself, everyone in the story is a monkey!

*** Whatever his character value, King Louie is an example of [[Misplaced Wildlife]]- orangutans are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, not India.

** A few [[Disney Animated Canon]] geeks have a theory: this trope is the ''only'' acceptable reason why there are "[[Misplaced Wildlife|lemurs]]" in the Late Cretaceous period in ''[[Dinosaur]]''.

** [[We Named the Monkey "Jack"|Jack the undead monkey]] from the ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movies.

*** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in ''Toy Story 3'' with '''[[Crazy Awesome|DEATH BY MONKEYS]]'''.

** [[Nightmare Fuel|We would like to forget about them, though.]]

* [[Star Wars|Wookies!]]

** Eastwood once told a joke about that film (in which the ape was a chimp, according to him); he enjoyed the ape's company so much he attempted to buy it after filming was completed. The animal's keeper asked how much Eastwood made, and upon learning it was $5,000 a day or some such, replied "Well Mr. Eastwood, the ape likes you too. But he makes $6,000 a day, so perhaps he should buy you".

** Not to mention its sequel, ''Any Which Way You Can''.

* ''[[Mighty Joe Young]]''

* ''[[Outbreak]]'' unashamedly featured a cute little monkey who was the plague bringer of doom (albeit unintentionally.)

* ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' (although they tend to make things ''worse'' for humans)

** Third opinion: [[Rule of Funny|friggin hilarious]].

* ''[[Space Chimps]]''. Everything's better with Monkeys... [[Recycled in Space|in SPACE!]]

* ''[[Time of the Apes]]'' (like ''Planet of the Apes'', only Japanese and terrible). The film was featured on Mystery Science Theater, as was ''Overdrawn at the Memory Bank'', which involved the main character temporarily inhabiting the body of a baboon as therapy.

* The Toho/[[Rankin/Bass Productions]] produced film ''[[King Kong]] Escapes'' features [[Robot Me|Mechanikong]]. [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Everything's better with ROBOT monkeys]].

* The 2 directors of ''[[American Pie]]'' insisted on having a monkey in it somewhere as "any film with a monkey in it is twice as good as the same film without a monkey".

* ''[[Ace Ventura]]: When Nature Calls'' has a scene with Ace joining a bunch of chimps in a mass exodus from a building, and doing a pretty fair imitation of their movements. Also, [[Black Comedy Rape|gorilla rape to the tune of "The Lion Sleeps"]]. The latter is a case of [[Did Not Do the Research]] combined with [[Rule of Funny]], as gorillas, by and large, have much smaller penises than humans. What? Why are you looking at me like that?

** And let's not forget about Spike, his monkey sidekick.

* The [[The Danza|Tony Danza]] vehicle ''Going Ape''.

* Dino, the [[The Loins Sleep Tonight|sexually impotent]] gorilla in ''[[The Kentucky Fried Movie]]''.

* [[wikipedia:Charles Gemora|Charles Gemora]] is another actor who made a career of playing gorillas in older films and movie serials.

* In the screwball comedy ''Monkey Business'' (not to be confused with a [[Marx Brothers]] film which has nothing to do with monkeys aside from its title), a monkey breaks into a chemistry lab and accidentally creates a batch of [[Screwball Serum]].

* There is a lovable little monkey in the movie ''The Testaments, of One Fold and One Shepherd'', her name is Chio.

* A monkey in a cage plays a part in the finale of the comedy ''[[Trading Places]]''.

* [[Buster Keaton]] would appear to agree.

** In "[[The Playhouse]]," he impersonates a performing orangutan.

** In ''[[The Camerman]],'' he acquires an organ-grinder's monkey as a [[Non-Human Sidekick]].

* The 1987 film ''[[Project X]]''.

* The monkey in ''[[Sunset Blvd]].'' is deceased. Norma Desmond sees to it that it's buried in style.

* Monkey from ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]''.

* ''Born To Be Wild'', [[A Boy and His X]] film where X is a gorilla.

 

== Literature ==

* Carl the monkey (who is disturbingly savvy and prone to shooting everyone the bird) has shown up in Janet Evanovich's Numbers cycle (the Stephanie Plum series) and is also in the Sins spin-off book "Wicked Appetite" alongside Deisel, who is fairly put out by it. Monkeys make the books better, but NOT Deisel's day, as a rule...

** Not only is he the king of all monkeys in India, he is also a legendary hero and a demigod. Unable to find a rare healing plant on a mountain, he just brought the entire mountain back. Then he helped his friend Rama find his kidnapped wife by jumping from the Indian mainland all the way to Sri Lanka to scout the capital city of the Rakshasa demons. When he was captured and the demon king Ravana had his tail set on fire, Hanuman escaped and jumped from roof to roof, setting the entire city on fire.

* In Max Brooks' ''[[World War Z]]'', the one scene with a monkey popping up is one of the few light moments of the book.

* The killer apes from [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''[[Congo]]'', trained to crush the heads of humans who approached the lost city.

** Crichton's novel ''[[Next]]'' features a ''talking'' monkey pretending to be a kid with a skin condition. Really.

* [[Dean Koontz]]'s Christopher Snow books, ''Fear Nothing'' and ''Seize the Night'', feature a tribe of monkeys that are escaped lab animals.

** {{spoiler|Though to be more precise he's a thirty-one thirty-secondths human hybrid. As it turns out, most caucasians in Lovecraft's universe are probably the result of interbreeding between ancient African tribes and degenerate albino [[Frazetta Man|ape-things]].}}

* [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s {{spoiler|first tale of Detective Dupin, ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue''. The murderer is an escaped orangutan}}.

** But for god's sake, [[Berserk Button/Literature|don't call him a monkey!]]

*** He is somewhat justified in this anger. Orangutans are ''apes''. Great Apes, to be exact.

* Sue the Gorilla, a gorilla befriended by ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' and arguably one of the best things about a very, very eventful book. [[Johnny Cash|Sue's a boy]], by the way.

* A pair of monkeys show up in the early chapters of the second ''[[The Kingdom Keepers]]'' book, for no other reason than to [[Foreshadowing]] [[Disney Theme Parks|The Animal Kingdom]].

* The ''[[Hank the Cowdog]]'' series has one book where Hank finding a monkey in a crate and using him as his own personal servant, inflating his ego in the process. The monkey later starts talking and usurps Hank's command, calling himself the Pasha of Shizzam. {{spoiler|But it turns out that part was [[All Just a Dream]].}}

* ''[[Curious George]]''

* The sitcom ''BJ And The Bear'' was essentially a ripoff of ''Every Which Way But Loose''; it was about a long-haul trucker and his pet ''chimpanzee''.

* Subverted in an episode of ''[[Boston Legal]]'', in which a lawyer attempted to use a case study involving a monkey in one of his closing arguments, but the judge was not impressed.

*** A more recent example could be TBS's "Monkeyed Movies" shorts (featuring chimps doing parodies of popular movies) and it's 30-minute follow-up/spin-off The Chimp Channel from the 1990s.

* During the premiere of ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'', Bulk and Skull were turned into chimps by Elgar; midseason, they were turned back to normal by the fumes of one of Divatox's torpedoes.

** Also, in the ''[[Super Sentai]]'' series ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger]]'', Grifforzer was supposed to be a griffin (hence the name), but was referred to as a "space monkey" and given a more monkey-like voice when he became Goldar in the American ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''.

*** Even more telling, some type of primate tends to be one of the default [[Humongous Mecha]] for most animal combinations of zords. Kakuranger had an ape, Gingaman, Gaoranger, Gekiranger, a gorilla, and Shinkenger had a monkey. Some type of primate is one of the default animal zords, along with Lion, Wolf, Shark, and a large Bird Of Prey.

* The premiere episode of ''[[The Middleman]]'' featured superintelligent genetically engineered lowland gorillas.

* Paul the Gorilla from ''[[The Electric Company]]'', companion of Jennifer of The Jungle. No, not ''that'' kind of companion...

* ''[[Mork and Mindy]]'' had Mork rescuing (or so he thought) a chimp from the zoo. Twice. The first time was just a gag at the beginning of an episode, but the second time was an entire plot.

** Sort of subverted in an earlier episode. A gorilla appears at the Hexfield Viewscreen. He doesn't really do anything. Everybody's understandably confused.

* ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]''. In the episode where he tackles the evil monday haze his second (or third) attempt was

Ned: "Monkeys make ''everything'' better." }}

* ''[[Legends of the Hidden Temple]]'': The infamous "Shrine of the Silver Monkey" room is one of the few obstacles on the show that lasted through the entire show's history.

* A first-season episode of ''[[Rescue Me]]'' included a subplot in which Tommy Gavin's Uncle Teddy wins a bet against a zookeeper, and Tommy's father (who is living with Teddy at the time) is at pains to keep the animal from ruining the house.

* A sketch in ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' had a gorilla being interviewed for a librarian's position. He is thrown out after he is forced to admit he's really a human librarian wearing a gorilla suit ("...trying to deceive us in order to further your career!").

* The title character of the short-lived '80s sitcom ''Mr. Smith'' was a talking orangutan who worked as a government advisor in [[Washington DC]].

'''Gerald''': Wild? I was absolutely livid! }}

'''Troy''': It's an animal that looks like a dude, why don't I have ten of them? }}

** There's a monkey living in the college air ducts with a trove of stolen goods.

* In ''[[Never Mind the Buzzcocks]]'', host Mark Lamarr once got bored reading out the current joke so said "Never mind, here's a video of a monkey on a tricycle."

* If [[Saturday Night Live|Dieter]] allows you, you may [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|touch his monkey]].

* Averted in the ''[[Medium]]'' two-parter "Four Dreams", where one of the creepy prophetic dreams involves an animated monkey mother and her child fleeing a home invasion. It's [[Surreal Horror|as silly as it is disturbing]].

* In ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', Amy owns a cigar-smoking capuchin monkey. Although, to quote her, he's a bit of an ass.

 

== Music ==

** And, of course: ''"If I had a million dollars / I'd buy you a monkey! / Haven't you always wanted a monkey?"''

** Title echoed by the song "Me and My Monkey" by Robbie Williams, in which the protagonist and his talking monkey friend go to [[Las Vegas]].

* The song "Monkeys and Playbills" from [[Title of Show|[title of show]]].

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp9Gm-aRe5A Chimpanzee Riding On a Segway, bam ba ba bam ba bam!]

* George Michael's "Monkey" ("Why can't you do it? Why can't you set your monkey free?")

** Which, as many people don't even realize (but is obvious in the context of the song) is a kind of cocktail drink.

* Dave Matthews Band - "Shake Me Like a Monkey" ("Love me baby shake me like a monkey")

* Placebo's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKC7RCb1H_o Space Monkey]" ("Space monkey in the place to be")

** And John Prine's song of that title.

** Also "My Monkey," about the narrator [http://www.jonathancoulton.com/wiki/index.php/My_Monkey projecting thoughts and feelings onto his monkey butler].

*** Also, "De-Evolving", where the narrator starts ''turning into'' a monkey.

* Chuck Berry - "Too Much Monkey Business"

* Major Lance - "The Monkey Time"

** Bill Wyman's solo album, ''Monkey Grip''

* Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - "Mickey's Monkey"

* The Traveling Wilburys - "Tweeter and the Monkey Man"

* The Pixies - "This Monkey's Gone to Heaven"

* Elvis Costello - "Monkey to Man"

* Honey Cone - "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show"

* Widespread Panic - "Sleepy Monkey"

* Steely Dan - "Monkey in Your Soul"

* Rufus Thomas - "Can Your Monkey Do the Dog?"

* Reel Big Fish - "Monkey Man"

* The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's first album was called ''Gorilla'', featured a man in a gorilla suit on the cover, and was dedicated "to Kong who must have been a great bloke".

* The eternal struggle of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_QsCXm1vrk Monkey versus Robot].

* Inverted in the [[Neil Cicierega|Lemon Demon]] song "Fiberglass Monkey", which is about a guy having [[Nightmare Fuel|reoccurring nightmares]] about a fiberglass monkey statue.

* Martin Page's "Monkey In My Dreams", although it's probably about drugs.

* [[Steve Martin]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqrr-N4ue0c video for Marty Robbins's "El Paso"].

* Darling Pet Munkee's almost-eponymous song "Darling Pet Monkey", about an actual mail-order ad for live squirrel monkeys (see the "real life" section). Since their main shtick is writing songs about comic book ads that reflect the ad's tone and not what the actual product was like, it makes getting a monkey in the mail sound much cooler and less dangerous than it really would be.

* Inverted with Logan Whitehurst's ''Monkeys Are Bad People''. Dude really hates monkeys.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

 

 

* One faction in the tabletop miniatures game ''AT-43'' are the Karmans, who are ''gorillas in [[Powered Armor]]''.

** ''Who smoke cigars''.

** Of course, some of the gorillas (and references to them) still made it into the set as actual cards. In all, nineteen distinct Ape cards have been printed to date (most recently four reprints in the ninth edition of the main set)...not counting those which simply have ''all'' creature types.

** There's also the Jokaero, who are intelligent orangutans...[[Recycled in Space|In SPACE]]. Though not as prevalent as they once were, they are still important due to their feats of engineering.

*** And now, thanks to the new Grey Knights codex, it's possible to field ''an entire army'' consisting of them (plus one Inquisitor).

** [[Memetic Mutation|Monkey bees... my God.]]

** Monkey Bees DO NOT make everything better.

** On a more pleasant note, there are the ''Ramayana''-inspired [[Petting Zoo People|vanaras]], a playable race introduced in ''Oriental Adventures''.

*** There have actually been lots of monkey- and ape-based creatures in D&D over the years. Listing all of them could probably double this page's length.

** Keep in mind however, that some fans (some more rational [[Unpleasable Fanbase|than]] [[Fan Dumb|others]]) think they dialed down the brokenness ''too'' much, and now the game is a ''little'' underpowered. Most of those admit that the game is more playable, now (and the official boards [[Fandom Heresy|won't like you very much]] if you bring up that criticism).

** Evil gorilla psychiatrist?

* [[Eden Studios]] once published ''Terra Primate'', an RPG not unlike their better-known ''[[All Flesh Must Be Eaten]]'', but with apes instead of zombies. Most "Ape Worlds" (e.g. settings) were reminiscent of the ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' franchise in one way or the other.

 

== Theater ==

 

 

== Video Games ==

* A ridiculous number of video game mascots are apes or monkeys of some sort: The mascot for the rhythm action game ''[[Samba De Amigo]]'', the cast of ''[[Super Monkey Ball]]'', and ''[[Donkey Kong]]'', among others.

** {{spoiler|Jan Jansen's life following his association with CHARNAME was typically convoluted, the barest of details hidden amidst his half-truths and whole lies. According to his published memoirs, "A Jansen in Every Port," after a short prison term for monkey smuggling, he returned to his first love... monkey smuggling. This led to the now infamous Gibbon Riot of '72, a tumultuous and altogether unclean event that seemed to center on the estate of the Shadow Thief Vaelag. Jan would deny that he had planned the downfall of the rogue, but he was unable to explain what practical application he had intended for a horde of knife-wielding simians. Nevertheless, the death of the admittedly disliked and generally suspect Vaelag could not be attributed to the young gnome. Strangely enough, Jan had alibis for each and every second of the day in question, and what a day it must have been! Relatives from across the Realms came forward to say that he had stopped in for tea and turnips. At his later wedding to Lissa, Jan was asked how he managed to be in so many places at once, and yet still so far from the scene of the crime. "Well," Jan would say, "when you have that many monkeys, anything is possible."}}

* In ''Bible Adventures'', one level of Noah's Ark had you gathering a pair of monkeys; another level had monkeys throwing fruit and coconuts for you to scavenge.

* The reason why Crunch wouldn't take off his NV Helmet in ''[[Crash Bandicoot|Crash: Mind over Mutant]]''. "Sooo ''awesome!'' Monkeys!"

** [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|His name is Salsa]]. Fassad makes him his slave by threatening his girlfriend (whom Kumatora dubs the "love monkey") and then fitting him with an [[Shock and Awe|electric collar]].

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series, the Imga and the Tang Mo are two monkey races, respectively from Valenwood and [[Wutai|Akavir]].

* ''[[Far Cry]]'' has mutated monkeys known as Trigen that run straight at you, can leap at you from more than a dozen feet away, and can kill you in just 2 or 3 hits. They were widely considered [[Demonic Spiders]] and an unexpected [[Genre Shift]] from the game's previously tactical combat against human mercenaries.

** The Trainer Dressphere for Rikku provides her with a monkey named Ghiki for a battle companion.

* ''[[Freedom Force]] vs. the 3rd Reich'' has the Kill-a-Rillas, half-human, half gorilla experiments created by Bliztkrieg.

* Apparently, the developers of ''[[God Hand]]'' decided that the hilarity of gorillas was only increased by training them in the art of Lucha Libre, and was increased to nearly fatal levels by throwing in groin shots complete with a laugh track. It worked, mostly due to the fact that the whole game is so absurd that they don't seem too weird in comparison.

* ''[[Metal Slug]] 3'' allows the player to get a cute monkey armed with a deadly Uzi as a sidekick. ''[[Metal Slug]] 4'', in the other hand, allows the player to ''transform'' into said cute machine gun-wielding monkey.

* ''[[Monkey Island]]''. Better yet, '''[[Look Behind You!|three-headed]]''' [[Running Gag|monkey]].

*** Also the awesome [[Logo Joke|parody]] of the THX logo in it with increasingly louder monkey sounds and the ominous text "The monkeys are listening".

* A number of ''[[Pokémon]]'' are monkeys and other primates.

** There's also the robot monkey Coconuts featured in both Sonic 2 for the Genesis and a cartoon series that was (somewhat) based on it, as well as some of the Sonic-based comics.

* ''[[System Shock]] 2'' had monkeys with [[Psychic Powers|cryokinesis and pyrokinesis]].

* ''[[Thief]]: The Dark Project'' and ''[[Thief]] 2: The Metal Age'' include ApeBeasts among the Trickster's minions. In the second game, some of them have blowpipes.

* Monkeys have become the de facto mascots of the ''[[Time Splitters]]'' game series. ''Time Splitters: Future Perfect'' included [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|ninja monkeys, zombie monkeys, and cyborg monkeys]] (which the game describes as "Inevitable, really"). Multiplayer includes "Monkey Assistant" mode, in which the losing player is lent help by a pack of monkeys with rocket launchers.

* ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' features a monkey named Konga, who returns in the sequel as a circus ringmaster.

* The main reason for the character of Skrunch in ''[[Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal]]'' (in this case, a cyclopean alien monkey).

** And of course, the series wouldn't be complete without a gun that turns enemies into monkeys. Enemy robots? Cymbal banging monkeys.

* The player's party in ''[[Treasure Hunter G]]'' includes a monkey that wields [[Black Magic]].

* In ''[[Mind Jack]]'' the corporate military have cybernetically enhanced gorillas and bonobos in their army.

* Monkeys and apes are very well-represented in the roster of species available for ''[[Zoo Tycoon]] 2'', especially if you include the Endangered Species and African Adventure expansion packs.

* Jep, a monkey you can befriend in ''Return to Mysterious Island'', is an implausibly-clever helper that uses inventory items for you.

* Subverted in ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', with Gohma Howlers, which are anything but nice, as they kill humans without hesitation in packs.

* The Hozen of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' are a race of sapient mountain- and tree-dwelling monkeys. They are noted as having mentalities comparable to a fourteen year-old boy, made only worse when their new Horde allies give them rocket launchers and machine guns.

 

* Imagine suddenly finding a dojo in your room. Now see [http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20071030 this Least I Could Do strip]. See? Better.

* A recurring villain (despite a brief [[Heel Face Turn]]) in ''[[Walkyverse|It's Walky!]]'' is Monkey Master, a [[Humongous Mecha]] created by Head Alien. Monkey Master will take every opportunity to point out that he is in fact shaped more like an ape; at one point, [[Genki Girl|Robin]] wrote the word "Munky" all over him [[Super Speed|in a split second]] just to goad him (or rather, at the time, [[Gender Bender|her]]).

** According to [[Word of God]], Judy is the proud possessor of one of the few immutable laws of the universe:

** [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-10-31 "One of the best uses for a monkey is to make everyone pay attention to the monkey."]

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' uses [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1713 a monkey dressed as Hitler] as part of a proof that fiction is stranger than truth.

 

== Web Original ==

* Never one to miss a comics trope, [[The Descendants]] has recurring character Lucian the Ape Knight and has had some one shot demonic baboons.

* Karl Pilkington's "Monkey News" and the short-lived "Cheap as Chimps" segments from ''The Ricky Gervais Show.''

* Bruno, Vatsy's bodyguard/handyman/gopher in ''[[Vatsy and Bruno]]'', is a chimp. Subverted somewhat in that, unlike most chimp characters, he's pragmatic, stoic, and content. To quote the work:

* Well not everything is better with monkeys, as the end of this [[Nightmare Fuel|nightmare fueled]] video should prove: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRMEGMZcF2Y&feature=recommended\]

** Possibly played straight (at least for readers) with [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-050 SCP-050], a monkey statue that automatically appears in the possession of [[Hilarity Ensues|the person to play the best prank]].

* The ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' plays this trope straight with the Ape superheroes Tachyon, Massive, Charity, Bounder, and The Shape. They invert the trope with the Ape supervillains Guido the Killer Chimp and Brainy Ape, not to mention the sinister [[Evil Genius|Doctor Simian]] and his [[Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters|"ape liberation" organization, Prime 8]].

* The Monkey King certainly thinks so in the [[Whateley Universe]]. Some of the people he decides need a little pranking, like Phase, may disagree.

* [[The League of STEAM]] often have to deal with invisible ghost monkeys.

* ''[[Psycomedia]]'' features some amazing experiments with a monkey with a robot arm, or monkeys using poop-throwing the way humans use speech.

 

== Western Animation ==

** There's also a [[Continuity Nod|recurring]] incredibly ugly ruby-encrusted monkey statue. It creeps the hell out of Katara, but Iroh thinks it's "handsome" enough to buy.

* ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'' stars a monkey.

* ''[[Clerks the Animated Series]]'': Jay and Silent Bob decide to get a monkey. When asked why, Jay replies "To teach it to smoke. Duh." Randal thinks it's infected like in that <s> [[Outbreak|Dustin Hoffman]]</s> [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|Al Pacino]] movie. It isn't.

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' had one episode with the near extinct fictional Purple Back Gorilla named Samson. {{spoiler|Later revealed to be a female}}, Samson played a part in the plot by kicking the main villain's ass.

* ''[[Dora the Explorer]]'' has a monkey, Boots, as a [[Sidekick]].

** "You know, if it weren't for the fact that all of this is historically accurate, I would think that someone was making up incredibly lame puns."

*** This is specifically in response to a history lesson about how the "Founding Alpha Males" signed the "Declar''ape''tion of Independance" to create "The United Apes of America", but there are more ape related puns. [[A Worldwide Punomenon|Many, many more]].

**** To the point where Timmy swore if he ever got his godparents back, he would wish for a world without puns.

** {{spoiler|Later, it turns out the only way he was evil was that he was squatting there the whole time, accidentally terrorizing Chris with poor communication skills.}}

* ''[[George of the Jungle]]'' in both movie and animated form had George's best friend/"brother" as "an ape named Ape."

* In ''[[Get Ed]]'', the word "monkey" is used as slang for "cool".

* [[Hanna-Barbera]] worked this trope handily during the 60s and 70s.

** ''[[The Herculoids]]'' had a rock ape named Igoo, and "The Beaked People" had flying monkeys.

** ''Beagley Beagley and The Great Grape Ape''

* I.R. Baboon in ''[[I Am Weasel]]'', though he's a literal [[Butt Monkey]].

* ''[[Invader Zim]]'' features The Angry Monkey Show and GIR's Monkeydance most notably, but just you ''try'' to find even ''one'' episode that doesn't feature monkeys as a sound effect.

** And by "less than amused," we mean "Luthor shot him in the face."

** Even the heroes were underwhelmed; [[Wonder Woman]]'s response upon seeing her transformation: "Oh, come ON!"

** There was also Josh Mankey, a character that Ron formed a [[Conspiracy Theory]] around, based on his last name being one vowel away from "monkey." And Camp Wannaweep, the camp Ron went to as a young boy, had a chimpanzee for a mascot. Ron was forced to bunk with said mascot, and this is where he developed the phobia.

** "That's what you get for not hailing to the chimp!"

** "Pray. For. Mojo."

** Title on the multiplex cinema marquee: "Sing, Monkey, Sing."

** An in-universe example: Homer always finds monkeys (or actually, chimpanzees) hysterically funny whenever someone dress them in human clothes. Of course, we all know how easily amused he is.

** Plus there was Phonics Monkey, who killed Kenny...

** And Dr. Mephesto's ([[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|genetically engineered]]?) four- and five-assed monkeys.

** He's not the only one though. Other Transformers getting up to monkey business include Beastbox and Apeface from ''Generation One'', and Optimus Minor, Apelinq, Primal Prime, B'Boom, and Apache from the beast era. Though to be fair, two of those are derived from toys of Optimus Primal, and the last two are nigh identical, but separate, characters using the same toy.

** [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Trukk_not_munky However, not everyone thought it was good].

* ''[[Titan Maximum]]'' features Leon, the monkey janitor, as the pilot of the green fighter that makes up the giant mecha's left leg. Inverted in that Leon is usually shown reacting with a calm world-weariness to the antics of his human teammates.

* ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' had the Baboon as a recurring character.

* The ''[[Madagascar]]'' film franchise has a ring-tailed lemur (King Julien), a mouse lemur (Mort) and an aye-aye (Maurice). ''And'' two chimps, Phil and Mason. All five can also be found in the spin-off TV series ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'', which ups the count even further by adding two gorilla characters, Bada and Bing.

* ''[[The Rugrats Movie]]'' has the babies getting lost in a jungle where they meet a troop of escaped circus monkeys, and it seems this way when they start dancing with them. That is, until Tommy opens up Dil's banana-flavored baby food, at which points do ''not'' become better with the monkeys.

* The [[Walter Lantz]] cartoon characters Meany, Miny and Moe.

* [[Babar]] has Zephyr the monkey as Babar's best friend. It occasionally features other monkeys and apes as well.

 

 

== Other ==

** They also did an entire issue "written by" monkeys. It didn't work as well as you'd think; when [[Overused Running Gag|every single punchline is "MONKEY!"]], it loses its effect.

* The greatest TV pitch in history: "[[They Fight Crime|She's the Pope. He's a chimp. They're cops]]."

** Monkeys are a fairly common theme in Ross Noble's comedy as well, particularly on his 'Unrealtime' DVD.

* As they're all improvised it gets hard to really pin it down, but around 30% of Ross Nobles shows will involve monkeys.

* Freeware 3D program Blender has the head of a monkey (named "Suzanne," as a [[Shout-Out]] to Kevin Smith) as one of its basic models. It's often used for test renders.

* Plans for ''[[The Haunted Mansion|The Mystic Manor]]'' at [[Disney Theme Parks|Hong Kong Disneyland]] involve a mischevious monkey among the supernatural stuff.

* Oh dear, the Lake Superior State University has added the word to their "List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness", specifically because of this trope. I think we broke it [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081230/ap_on_re_us/banned_words\].

* ''[[The Daily Show]]'' had a lot of fun with this one in relation to Congress' [http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219507&title=Felonious-Monkeys "monkey bite bill"].

* A man in China trained some pet monkeys in rudimentary Tae Kwon Do to entertain passersby. In December 2009 the monkeys turned on him. (For the record, the trainer overcame the monkeys and restrained them before they could do any real harm)

* [http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4922473&categoryid=2378529 "The monkeys are beating the bears!"] Uh, yeah...that's definitely interesting.

[[Category:Primate Index]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Everything's Better with Monkeys]]