"Monkey Shines" - Opening Credits

[protoborg]

This...would...make...an awesome show! I don't think any would produce it and I doubt Coulton has the money to produce it himself, but still would be awesome. It is pretty damn impressive that these four guys actually put this video together. It actually looks real.

[Vereis]

Brilliant, I especially loved the Neil Gaiman cameo with Gaiman downing a bottle of wine straight from the bottle although you can clearly see a wine glass right next to him. The Paul and Storm moments were also top notch hilarious. Priceless!

[UltraSwat]

A few months ago when I heard about this I actually believed that it was true, apparently I missed the whole "aired in 1985" thing :P I was so innocent back then.....

[JesterSentinelZ]

when he looks at himself in the mirror for some reason i think of alf

[clintxs]

My favorite episode has gotta be "Neil's Gotta Monkey on His Back". Still nothing better on TV.

[couchzombies]

I would love it if Mediocre Films (Greg Benson), JoCo, Paul & Storm, and Neil Gaiman would make an actual episode of this.

[Metalpulsecannon]

Wooo! Totally make this a real show! I'd watch it!

And Paul (the one of Storm) you were totally right pushing this your way!

[tapehead100]

@Metalpulsecannon it is a real show just all of its gone man

[protoborg]

@tapehead100 Are you delusional?! It is a joke! This show never existed! It is just Coulton's unique brand of humor. He made this video. It is meant as a joke. Of course, I suppose your comment could be meant as a joke too so I am going to stop here before I make myself look any stupider.

[tapehead100]

@protoborg i know it was a joke but there was that little shred of maybe or hope

[Pudabudigada]

That monkey attack at 0:38, Calvin and Hobbes reference?

[Pinky39559]

Well , I was 23 at the time , @kevbo4 , so I was allowed to watch it , but I chose not to , for reasons that I getting tired of ABC sitcoms at the time .

[Remolay]

Why does Neil Gaiman look too young in this?

[MexicanGnomes]

For those of you who think that this is real... why is it that JoCo looked the same when he was 15 as he does now?

[lilithdvs13]

@MexicanGnomes

Um... because JoCo is really an immortal monkey demon duh.

[Pat8u]

@MexicanGnomes they sre being sarcastic

[MexicanGnomes]

@Pat8u Of course many people are, but I could have sworn that I saw a comment or two actually criticising it in that way.

[MexicanGnomes]

I would eat my own foot to get my hands on a monkey like that.

[extremekiller44]

The fact people think this is real makes the video so much better

[xiocx1]

AwEsOmE

[drdst17]

I would watch this show if it existed, if not for the amazing song that would introduce it.

Monkey Shines rules!

[medtrans9]

OMG, no wonder it got canned at Square Zero. For one thing, the song was awful. It just looks, all-in-all, terrible. Too bad for Neil Gaiman. I guess he's got some connection to Douglas Adams and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; I have the "Ultimate" version and Neil does the introduction for it.

[Melofada]

I went to Jocopedia and found out Jonathan Coulton was born in 1970 which would make him 15 in those credits.....oh wait I get it....heheh

[Dogmantra2]

Does anyone remember the episode where JoCo's aunt came over, and Monkey thought she was a burglar? Hijinks ensued, but what really got me was when they went for icecream at the end, and Monkey was all "ICE to meet you, Mrs. Coulton!" That was my favourite episode, and I must have watched the tape of that at least once a day for three or four months. Shame that I actually only managed to record the commercials...

[LeapingLeptons42]

Curses for being born in 1993! Ah wells, at least I can hope to live towards the age of time travel and hop back to catch a few eps.

Better yet, perhaps I'll save the tapes from destruction by that ABC prez

[Dogmantra2]

I know what I'm funding if I ever win the lottery.

[zarkonthezeb]

I would watch this show forever.

[tmbg12]

I always liked Monkey Shines. It was a fairly funny, if mediocre, sitcom.

But that Gaiman guy was SUCH a Cousin Oliver.

[hinakiba777]

That was amazing. Especially when Neil Gaiman appeared.

Now if only we could find more of the show. *searches*

XP

[gimpyFG71]

Suckfest -- except for Gaiman. He's cool.

[Volkai]

I saw this show when it first aired.

I was not even one year old yet.

Still the best sitcom I have ever seen.

[Applemask]

Everyone's got something to hide.

[AtupoMaruru]

Except for JoCo and his monkey!

[JesterSentinel]

I want to watch ALF now. :)

[kajicarter]

Maybe if they had given Neil a typewriter instead of that shiny box he would have gotten somewhere as a real writer!

[Volkai]

yeah the laptops are the one real giveaway on this. Otherwise it's superb.

[RockingJamboree]

I believe it has something to do with a demonic bargain, or maybe it's because most of Coulton has been replaced with cybortronic parts by now. Most of what you see today is Robotic, constructed by Disney Imagineers.

[church1000]

The final episode was the saddest ending to any show ever. When Johnathan had to make the decision between moving away for that VP's position or to stay with the monkey. The final thing Johnathan said to the monkey is something that I will remember for the rest of my life: "Even though I would shine as a vice president, there is nothing that shines brighter than my monkey." And then they walk back into the house hand and hand. I give Monkey Shines a 10/10 in my book.

[captaincaustic]

Is it true that, after the show was canceled, the monkey fell on hard times and into alcohol and drug use. Then found god and religion and is now the head of a church(somewhere down in Texas, I think) that wants to have creationism taught in the public schools and Evolution outlawed?

[moongewl]

Remember when Monkey taught Paul that monkeys could do anything humans could do? Monkey's impassioned plea for equal treatment of all primates inspired me to become an animal rights activist. (I hope to see monkeys granted suffrage in my lifetime.)

My favorite moment: in the episode where Storm was freaking out because his mother was trying to make him go back home and finish boarding school, when guest star Fred Savage out-sassed Mrs. Storm: "Even MONKEY has better fashion sense than you do!"

[Kevbo4]

I wasn't allowed to watch this show when it aired, even though I was almost 18 at the time. Something about not suitable for anyone... known to cause retinal scarring or something like that.

[guardiansun]

My favorite episode from the series was "Spatula Crackers." Oooh man I laughed SO hard when that aired!

[SouthernersSax]

That episode rocked. Especially the part when they had the potato gun chase through the city.

[guardiansun]

...and I'm scared. Someone hold me.

[jfesmire]

Wow, you guys haven't aged a day.

:-P

[TotzthePlaid]

*laughs* The only way this could be more awesome is if the stuffed monkey got thrown at Neil Gaiman, too, and/or a cameo by Bruce Campbell.

JoCo IS win. No arguing.

[stuckinthisroom]

@TotzthePlaid

Tell that to my dad please.

While doing our monthly check of the new songs available to Rockband, he saw JoCo's picture and laughed at the dorkiness, and raised a brow to Skullcrusher Mountain before even previewing the song.

...I was too shy to tell him of the awesomeness, too. D:

And yay for me replying to a one-year old comment!

[whynaut1]

When it gets bad do you believe it will get better?

Can you forget the big mistake?

Is it really living if you're living by the letter?

How many monkeys does it take to change a lifetime?

(JoCo)

Your monkey got a second chance he thinks he'll take it.

(JoCo)

Your monkey knows that life is only what you make it.

Once you learn how to love, it's time to let it show.

There's "Monkey Shines" where ever you go.

[ScissorSlinger]

Oddly enough, Someone at TWC just put the movie "Monkey Shines" on demand. Coincidence? Or inspired by this fantastic opener? We may never know....

[crimsong19]

Nice cast! Any actual episodes? LOL.

[RebelYellHim]

that was awesome! if only it were a real TV show *sigh*

[TheKevolution]

Genius! Even more so as I recognize some of the places it was filmed.

[Numinous123]

First of all, in 1985, JoCo would have been in his teens, if even that.

Also, that unless they had a time machine, that MacBook, looks a bit out of place of place for the time period.

However....

It's still a great clip.

I'm honestly surprised that someone hasn't gone up to Coulton and offered him a TV deal of some kind. I'm willing to bet it'll happen someday.

I personally would get cable again if there was a show with JoCo AND Neil Gaimen starring in it.

[rhettcochran]

However? HOWEVER? Listen you ungrateful Philistine, you will be watch JoCo and P&S's homage to the 1980's sitcom and you will like it. There is no however. It's chock full of awesome and that's it - anachronisms be damned.

Now. Tell JoCo and the monkey that you're sorry.

TELL HIM!

[AidanGS]

So wait (and I know I'm gonna sound like an idiot here), was this an actual show? In 1985?

[ScissorSlinger]

What an idiot there. Just kidding. No, it was not.

[firebert25]

I would watch this even if it was just this song in a loop for half an hour with commercials exclusively for erectile dysfunction pills.

[dwhit8]

I can't figure out how many of those descriptors are supposed to be detractors.

[Lumbargo]

Great, now I want to watch this.

Curse you, President of the ABC in 1985!

[winterswitchery]

Oh man, Nerd Heart attack. Paul, Storm, JoCo AND NEIL?!

And yeah, I'd watch it.

[Dayuse]

0:34: Oh, that Neil. Good on ya. Much better of a guest star than Don Knots ever was.

[RockNStroll75]

I love Neil Gaiman, but Don Knotts guest starring with a monkey...comedy gold.

[KaaSerpent]

The sad part is that Ted McGinley was slated to guest on the show in the third episode, but due to its cancellation, the world never got to see what promised to be the defining performance of McGinley's career.

[hoopernatorial]

Every year I watch my poor quality bootleg of the holiday special, where the monkey gets lost in the mall and everyone learns the true meaning of Christmas.

[JonBStrickland]

These have to be some of the best YouTube comments I've ever seen. It's nice to finally see a real conversation around a video clip. On a related note, I had never seen the opening of this show before, but I do have an old reel-to-reel film clip of bloopers from the series. It's in poor condition, and you can barely make anything out, but the Poo Flinging Incident that happened on the first day of shooting is priceless.

[rhettcochran]

I believe Tim Conway was a guest star no that episode and he started ad libbing and it just sort of went from there.

[talene]

The best episode (real or otherwise) was the one where Jonathon had amnesia.

[RockingJamboree]

Grant Tinker canceled "Monkey Shines" because he didn't like the direction Producer George A. Romero was taking the situation comedy, making Coulton's character quadriplegic.

Romero destroyed all the existing copies of the TV show. He then retooled and recast the entire show as a Horror Movie. "Monkey Shines. An Experiment in Fear."

Only John Pankow (Paul's cousin Ira on "Mad About You.") kept his original role from the TV series in the movie, as the whacked out Geoffrey Fisher.

[rasagathi88]

Thanks for the addition to the wiki page.

[AresAlpha]

I'd watch that

[brandeks]

Best. Show. Ever.

[Hymn3385]

Nice.

[doggans]

This show was canceled because nobody understood it. I mean, it was so ahead of its time that it had a Macbook! In 1985! Cutting-edge, my friends.

[Cernoise]

Guys, those weren't real episodes, they were all hoaxes. Feel free to write fanfic, but don't pretend those were real episodes. All we have are these opening credits and the memory of that hilarious 10 minutes or so (can anyone remember what the baby was using? It was so long ago, it's kind of hazy.)

[ambug666]

Hey, just because you don't remember the episodes don't mean the rest of us don't. They ran those 10 sweet minutes over and over again in syndication when I was growing up. Those were some of the best 10 minutes of my life!

[rasagathi88]

Cernoise is right, my friends. The show was cancelled after the first episode. Most of the "shows" that people remember are either fan-written stories or simply teleplays for the unaired episodes that leaked out. But one thing is for sure, only a few episodes were written, yet there are hundreds of "real Monkey Shines" teleplays online. So take these stories with a grain of salt. But add them to the 'Rumours' section of the wikipedia page, it needs it. Search 'Monkey Shines (tv show)'

[jawboneradio]

Remember the one where the monkey had the roomies dress up as sheiks to get into that exclusive party? All the return that copy of the King James Bible back to the pretty girl at the hotel front desk?

[mnfellow]

Help fill out the wikipedia page if you remember episodes or rumours that surrounded the show. You can find it by searching:

'Monkey Shines (TV Show)'

[rhettcochran]

Brilliant!  Just... wow

[Mpony70]

This explains -so many- characters in Gaiman's work.

[lionsgateblows]

still shocked that gaiman gave up such a promising career as a comedic actor for writing...truly a waste of a great talent

[jdtaylor555]

Damn, I wish this were a real show :(

[lynxeagle]

Best. Sitcom. Ever.

[rumtussle]

I loved this show. Particularly liked the thanksgiving episode where Paul accidentally stuffed the turkey with Monkey and hijinx ensued. Oh -- and I'm rolling on the floor just remembering it -- the one where Jonathan gets arrested for dressing up in heels and the vice cops mistake him for a prosty? Classic!!

[rhettcochran]

Do you remember the episode, I think it guest starred Ted White, when his eccentric uncle left him a house in the country and all he had to do was stay the night, except it was haunted? And then, when Jonathan, Paul and Storm thought they saw a g-g-g-g-g-ghost, it turned out that it was only his uncle? Talk about classic TV!

[RockingJamboree]

I've never seen that episode: #9, "A Visit to The Old Country." But, I believe it was Ted Knight, the guy who played Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, who played the eccentric uncle. And I've heard it was hilarious, the way Storm kept saying "Jinkies!" throughout the whole episode.

[321kenneth]

1985, awesome.

[rasagathi88]

Well, back when this show came out, Neil didn't have nearly the fan-following he does today. As it was, he was just working to make ends meet and took whatever work came his way. The studio was looking for someone to play a writer and decided they could save money by hiring a starving writer instead of paying a lot more for a real actor. Although he's consistantly denied it, some rumors state that Neil, once famous, paid to have this show destroyed and hidden. I don't believe it, myself.

[DreamerM]

WTF?? Neil Gaiman? I demand an explanation!

[dreamingWisdom]

zomg it's Neil Gaiman!!!

[AndyAnonymous]

Of course, Monkey Shines! My favorite episodes of this classic were the episode in which we learn that lying never pays off, and the one in which Jonathan goes on vacation and the precocious children -- mysteriously absent from the opening credits -- throw a party in his absence. And of course there was the Christmas episode and the "very special" episode featuring the improper touching. Ah, the memories!

[Brodie9]

jackferry2 is right, watching the Monkey Shines movie trailer with this theme song is amazing.

[jackferry2]

I combined them up on my video page. (Search for Monkey Shines and Jack Ferry)

[csblakeley]

My parents didn't let me stay up late to watch TV, but I remember that they let me watch the one where Sally Ride moved in next door.

Oh, and the two episode "crossover" they did with Diff'rent Strokes? Classic!

"Whatchoo talkin' bout, Monkey?!"

[rumtussle]

I loved that one!!

[nytonks]

My favorite episode was when Neil had a deadline coming and he chained Monkey to his computer to get him to write something better than Hamlet... but he came back later to find Monkey had ordered a boatload of bananas online.

This show was way ahead of its time.

[masonlk]

Boy, I'll say. Ordering things online in 1988???

[Monsterbeard]

Damn, I loved this show. It was just... you really ended up caring about the characters, you know? I can't wait for it out on DVD

[leighwoosey]

I like the Monkey.

[ambug666]

Yeah, I remember watching this in syndication. My favorite episode was the one with the wacky hyjinx ensuing due to a hilarious misunderstanding!

[dominictemple]

Awesome find guys, but I did actually hear that Coulton has recently decided to become a musician, I don't think it'll go any where though.

And who's that Neil Gaiman guy, was he ever heard from again?

[AeroWing]

0:45-46 had me cracking up.

Great work guys.

[jackferry2]

As much as I like this video, I found that the song works almost as well if you listen to it while watching the trailer for the movie Monkey Shines.

[sweetafton23]

1985?

JC had quite the formidable beard, for a 15 year old.

[ScissorSlinger]

That is god-damned fucking phenominal. And I don't mean bceause of simply JoCoPaSto, I mean the pure genius in construction.  It really IS a sitcom opener, and that is downright flabberghasting. Exquisite work, gentlemen; I've been floored.

[jackferry2]

I've been wanting to shoot that video since the first time I heard Monkey Shines. I guess P&S have a bit more Coulton access than the rest of us. (Good job!)

[YoungHoward]

I'd watch it.

[jgf42]

Bravo.

[tet3]

Awesome!

But I have to say that the purported provenance strains credulity a bit. I mean, I don't think there were Macbooks in 1985; more like 8 pound Toshiba T1100s with 640KB of RAM and no hard drive. Or glass-topped ranges.

I think you made this just recently and made the whole Yale archives thing up.

[sweetafton24]

Yeah. Jonathan Coulton actually invented the fistpound in 1984, but it took over 20 years to finally catch on.

[sweetafton24]

I could watch an entire montage of people getting hit in the face with the airborne monkey.

[DJWidget]

Why was it taken away? That looked amazing!  Damn you, ABC!

[00muinamir]

This is like the best thing ever.

[justinrussell]

The shot at 0:28 provides a glimpse into the scary first season cliffhanger finale, "Creepy Monkey."

p.s. Fromage!

[justinrussell]

I meant 0:27. Apparently YouTube is picky.

[suchducks]

Excellent job.

[neobergeron]

Awesome. That's all i can say.

[bubblemum]

Brilliant! Way to go you guys!

Cookie (aka inadvertent...you know) Minion

[twinschick1]

Great stuff! Very funny. :)

And the mention of this super secret project in Gaiman's blog back in October finally makes sense. Love his cameo.

[ErindeWI]

Brilliant in so many ways!!! Thank you for the entertainment!

[Cernoise]

I can't wait to get home from work so I can hear the sound! (Although, I guess I could listen to the theme song on my iPod and hope it syncs.)

[mtgordon]

I can't wait for the pilot!