Everything's Better with Monkeys: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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{{quote|''"More fun than a barrel of monkeys!"''|'''Old proverb''', setting the bar impossibly high}}
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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.
A chimp with a
This trope is named for [http://www.superdickery.com/index.php?view=category&id=31%3Amonkeys-index&option=com_content&Itemid=34 this] [[Super Dickery]].com subpage. And yes, we know it ought to be "Everything's Better With Non-Human Primates" too. After all, everything's also better with ''apes'', who are technically not monkeys. The difference is actually very simple - Monkeys have tails, while apes (including chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans) don't. [[Rule of Funny|On the other hand the word "monkey" is simply funnier]] (unless you're adressing a certain [[Discworld|librarian]]...)
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* 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."
** In response to PETA's complaints about using a monkey, Chrysler produced another commercial that was almost exactly like the first
** "Unbelievable"
* Invoked by USA Network while advertising [[The Golden Compass]].
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** [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|"Do the words 'robot monkey' mean anything to you?"]]
* ''[[Buster Keel]]'' has Keel, a Dragon Ape, stuck in human form.
* In ''[[Ask Dr. Rin]]'', one of their four [[Ridiculously Cute Critter
* In a ''[[Naruto]]'' filler arc, Kakashi placed a genjutsu on a bunch of monkeys so they would look like his team, confusing his tail. Apparently said tail found monkeys highly entertaining, as it took him half an hour to figure out they weren't human.
* ''[[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]'' episode ''1 Angry Ghost'' has an [[Ace Attorney]] monkey.
* ''[[GetBackers]]'' has monkeys popping up in the two [[Hot Springs Episode
* Averted in ''[[Yaiba]]'', where Basho Matsuo, one of the vilest and most dangerous villains of the series turns into an ape-man during his fight with Yaiba. He relies more on agility and [[Taken for Granite|cursed needles]] than brute strength though.
* The small purple monkey-like creature Chu-Chu in ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Many, many [[
** Congorilla: Sacred golden gorilla who serves as the alter ego of Congo Bill, a British adventurer, courtesy of mind-swapping rings.
** Detective Chimp: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]. He would like to remind you that [[Batman]] is merely the World's Greatest ''Human'' Detective.
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{{quote|'''Professor Zoom''': You know what makes '''everything''' better?! GORILLAS!}}
** 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.
** ''[[Doom Patrol]]'' villain Monsieur Mallah: [[Mad Scientist|Superintelligent]] [[More Dakka|machine-gun-toting]] [[Dirty Commies|communist]] [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized|revolutionary]] [[Badass Gay|homosexual]] [[Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys|French]]-[[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|speaking]]
** Sam Simeon: Comic artist and half of ''[[Angel and the Ape]]''. No points for guessing which half.
** Titano: Giant chimp with kryptonite-laser-shooting eyes.
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** 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.
{{quote|"Let's be clear: HITMAN MONKEY is the harrowing tale of a Macaque monkey from the mountains of Japan who, though fate and circumstance, is transformed into the world's deadliest assassin," [Axel] Alonso continues. "I fail to see what could be funny about-oh. I see
* 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.
* The [[Take Over the World|megalomanical]] Doctor Vulter is the villain of the early [[Mickey Mouse]] story ''Mickey Mouse and the [[Instant Plunder, Just Add Pirates|Pirate]] [[Sub Story|Submarine]]'', a Captain Nemo [[Expy]] [[Mad Scientist]] with a [[High-Class Glass]] and a penchant for [[Putting on the Reich]] (well, it ''was'' published in 1936...). He has returned in European Disney Comics several times since then, and has been a [[Funny Animal]] gorilla since the beginning.
* In ''[[Requiem Chevalier Vampire]]'', Thurim's sex life gets better with gori-mandrills! {{spoiler|For those thoroughly [[
* German comic ''[[Nick Knatterton]]'' has one story about two chimps who were taught to steal. One of them ends up as Nick's "housemaid", having learned to do that job.
* [[Wilhelm Busch]]'s story about Fipps the monkey.
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* ''[[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.
* In ''[[The Fall (film)|The Fall]]'', [[Charles Darwin]] (yes, that
* The [[The Danza|Tony Danza]] vehicle ''Going Ape''.
* Dino, the [[The Loins Sleep Tonight|sexually impotent]] gorilla in ''[[The Kentucky Fried Movie]]''.
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* 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.
* The entire premise of ''[[Lancelot Link Secret Chimp]]''. ("Get that Ape!")
** Which was apparently based on a series of British commercials for PG Tips
*** 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.
* ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'''s Mobats were a new spin on the Winged Monkeys. Only thing better than flying monkeys? Flying monkeys that spawn from the tattoos on the hot Wicked Witch's boobs!
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* [[Flight of the Conchords]] subverts it in "Think About It"; people on the streets are getting diseases from monkeys.
* 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".
* ''[[Dance Sensation|The Funky Gibbon]]''
* 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.
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== Theater ==
* In the opera ''Der Junge Lord'' (''The Young Lord'') by Hans Werner Henze, scientist Sir Edger introduces his 'son', Lord Barrett, to the upper dignitaries of a German town. The young Lord's strange speech and eccentric behavior become a source of fascination: he is much admired and imitated, even catching the eyes of a young noble
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* [[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.
** ''[[Space Ghost]]'''s [[
*** ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' paid [[Homage]] to this in "Channel Chasers," when Cosmo turned into The Monkey.
** ''[[Magilla Gorilla]]'', which, in addition to its own primate star, had a secondary cartoon called ''The Adventures of Peter Potamus and So-So''. So-So, Peter's [[Sidekick]],
** ''Beagley Beagley and The Great Grape Ape''
** The ''[[Superfriends]]''' [[Wonder Twins]] had a monkey named Gleek, effectively making Gleek, as Blip before him, the [[Sidekick]]'s sidekick. Technically, Gleek is indeed a space monkey, but not, as far as we know, a [[Killer Space Monkey]].
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** 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!"
* Monkeys and apes are a recurring joke throughout ''[[Kim Possible]]'', with them being the source of Ron's mystical kung-fu powers (which usually don't work until the [[Grand Finale]]), as well as his greatest fear and the source of power of his personal archenemy, Monkey Fist. Two words: ''monkey [[
** 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.
* [[King Kong]] had his own cartoon series that was produced by [[Rankin/Bass Productions]]. Yes, [[The Hobbit (animation)|THAT Rankin-Bass]]
* ''[[My Gym Partner's a Monkey]]'' uses a monkey (not to mention a whole cast of [[Funny Animal
* ''[[Planet Sheen]]'' has Nesmith, a [[Talking Animal|highly intelligent]] chimpanzee frequently dumbfounded by the title character's actions.
* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''' first nemesis is an evil monkey called Mojo Jojo.
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== Other ==
* ''[[Mad]]'' had a one-panel feature for a brief period of time called "Monkeys Are Always Funny". The article consisted of a serious, often tragic picture from real life with a monkey digitally added
** 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]]."
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