Monk/Trivia

• Actor Allusion:
  • "Hyooo-mun" towards the end of "Mr. Monk and the UFO".
  • Another episode featured a brief cameo from Shaloub's co-star from Wings (Tim Daly) as himself, with Sharona raving about how Wings was her favorite show. Adrian swears he never saw it.
  • In "Mr. Monk is Someone Else," Monk has to memorize biographical details for the deceased -- including parents Joe and Helen from Massachusetts.
  • Several references to The Silence of the Lambs. Ted Levine, the guy who played Stottlemeyer, played Buffalo Bill from that film.
    • Coincidentially, Mr. Monk is on the Run has an Actor Allusion where both Ted Levine and Scott Glenn interact with each other just like in the above film, only in reverse (ie, Buffalo Bill is tracking down the FBI Agent for justice).
  • An episode with Stanley Tucci ended with him and Shaloub rolling around on the floor while fighting, just like in Big Night.

• Bellisario's Maxim / Did Not Do the Research: Occasionally the show bends the rules of evidence (always, when Monk picks up evidence), or when laws are ... brushed aside. A lesser known example is when Monk, after six seasons, has made a mistake. A prisoner, on exoneration, is immediately released. The DA's office would never let that happen; contesting for years someone's release. Mostly, this is viewed as heinous. ^[1] In-Universe, that the guy is immediately released is coupled with intense guilt on Monk's part.

• Continuity Nod:
  • In "Mr. Monk and the Actor", a director is filming a movie based on the events of the episode "Mr. Monk and the Astronaut" (It being Hollywood, changes were made, like making Randy a woman and also Stottlemeyer's romantic partner).
  • "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan" actually references several episodes by name.
  • When Harold is harshly criticizing a child's drawing and imitating Mothra, a schoolteacher asks him if he's on the schoolboard. And Harold says he is. He beat Natalie to it in "Mr. Monk and the Election".
  • One of the last things we see Monk doing is checking to make sure his stove is off. In the very first episode, Monk kept interrupting his inspection of a crime scene to wonder if he turned off his stove.
  • While obsessing over Harold's transformation into the Frisco Fly, Monk allows Trudy's cock-eyed coffee table to be right-angled.
  • After Monk shoots Santa, there are two. The truck used to block the intersection belongs to the same construction company from an earlier episode, and Randy later wears the sweater his aunt definitely knitted for him the previous season.
  • In "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head", Monk, who can't remember that his favorite brand of water is Sierra Springs, is seen drinking the brand Summit Creek instead. 1 season and a few episodes later, in "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan", Marci Maven brings him Summit Creek water, pointing out that it replaced Sierra Springs as his favorite brand a year earlier.
  • In "Mr. Monk Goes to a Fashion Show", Monk makes a big deal out of buying a shirt inspected by Inspector #8, his favorite. In the later episode "Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa", Natalie asks a store clerk if he can find a shirt inspected by Inspector #8.

• Hey, It's That Guy!: Most of the cast have been supporting actors / actresses for years.
  • Tony Shalhoub (Monk) played taxi driver Antonio Scarpacci on Wings. He also played a Lebanese-American FBI agent working with Denzel Washington in The Siege.
  • Traylor Howard (Natalie) was Sharon on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, Jason Gray-Stanford (Disher) is a long-time anime voice actor, and Ted Levine (Stottlemeyer) was freakin' Buffalo Bill.
  • And a few familiar faces pop up throughout the series, including Adam Arkin as Dale the Whale, Simon Templeman and Michael Hogan in the pilot.
  • Michael Weston turned up in "Mr. Monk and the Astronaut" to stage his girlfriend's death before his brief career as a test pilot. It must have been one of his early missions, just because he got caught.
  • Bulldog is an amoral surgeon in "Mr. Monk goes to the Hospital".
  • "Mr. Monk Goes to a Fashion Show" gives us Alex DeLarge as a snobbish fashion designer.
  • Apparently Elliot T. Jindrake, after being fired, decided to start practicing law.
  • Maybe Buffalo Bill did become an SFPD captain in his time.
  • Robert Barone is the handyman in "Mr. Monk Buys a House".
  • Joe is Monk's psychiatrist from season 7 onwards.
  • Sylvia Costas Sipowicz is Stottlemeyer's girlfriend in seasons 5 and 6.
  • In "Mr. Monk, Private Eye", Marshall Mann is the guy who hit Linda's car.

• Meta Casting: Stanley Tucci, one of the actors originally considered for the role of Monk, plays in "Mr. Monk and the Actor" as an actor playing the role of Monk. Alfred Molina, who had also audtioned for the role, appears in "Mr. Monk and the Naked Man" as an engineer.

• The Other Darrin: Dale the Whale is never played by the same actor twice. Apparently the role is just too big for one actor to handle. Also, three actresses have played Trudy: Stellina Ruisch (premiere up through season 3), Melora Hardin (all appearances of Trudy from "Mr. Monk and the Game Show" onwards), and Lindy Newton (in a flashback in "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion").
• Shout-Out: You know the show's funny font? Yeah, that's originally from Kojak (which is doubly funny, considering that a detective more unlike Monk could not be found).
  • Monk, in one episode, was tortured by Dentists involved in stealing bearer bonds worth $13 million from an ex-cop who himself had robbed them from an armored car and killed two guards, and then later, killing said ex-cop when he figures out what happened, and barged in on them for information regarding one of their clients, in a manner very similar to the infamous torture scene in Marathon Man. The dentists even lampshade this when asking Monk if he's ever watched Marathon Man, and then stating after asking if he can watch it that he's not going to watch it, he's going to live it.

• What Could Have Been: Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) was approached to be the character Monk, but turn it down. Maybe if he took the job maybe the Racial incident may have not happen.
  • Future guest stars Alfred Molina and Stanley Tucci were also considered. Amusingly, Tucci's role was that of an actor playing Monk. Also Molina's role was a man suspiciously similar to Monk.
  • John Ritter, Henry Winkler, and Dave Foley were also considered for the role of Monk. Queen Latifah was the original choice for Sharona.
  • The Season 3 opening episode (Mr Monk Takes Manhattan) was originally written as a Crossover with Law and Order (USA and NBC share the same parent company).
• The Wiki Rule: Here.

1. ↑ They do so because it's their duty to prosecute to the full extent of the law, meaning that every case is fully contested. Whether someone is innocent is not solely up to a new test, but that test must be fully tested by the law. It Makes Sense in Context, but it still makes them douches.