Perhaps one of television’s oddest detectives, Adrian Monk solved many crimes during Monk’s run on the USA Network. Over the course of the show’s seven seasons, audiences became quite intimate with the obsessive-compulsive mystery solver.
Despite how popular Monk was, there are still several hidden details surrounding the show that most aren’t aware of. While the main characters may seem pretty surface level, there is much more to them than meets the eyes. Even the most die-hard of Monk fans might be surprised to learn some of these facts. Here are ten hidden details about the main characters of Monk that you never noticed.
10. Leland and the Armed Forces
Leland Stottlemeyer is the confident, competent police detective of the series. Although even with all his experience, he still manages to need Monk’s help. Stottlemeyer is a standout character throughout the shows seven seasons.
Ted Levine, the actor that portrays Stottlemeyer, revealed some interesting facts about the police detective on the second season’s special features. In this interview, Levine revealed that Stottlemeyer was a former member of the armed forces. This background certainly seems to fit Leland’s tough, professional demeanor.
9. Natalie’s Elegant Tastes
Natalie is often seen wearing expensive clothes, jewelry, and various other elegant accessories. She even has had several different cars throughout the shows run. It seems to be the case that Natalie tastes are a little bit too expensive for her own good.
This no doubt comes from her upbringing in a very wealthy family. Although she kept her husband’s last name to avoid being associated with her family, it seems that there are some parts of her life she does miss: namely the extravagance.
8. Randy Deacon
Randy Disher is the classic police force bafoon for the series. His bit of ignorance and naivete brings some great comedic moments to the series.
Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed that in the first episode, Randy’s last name actually wasn’t Disher. Instead he was listed in the credits as “Lieutenant Randy Deacon.“An odd detail, but the original last name actually had some meaning behind it.
7. Lestrade
Originally, the police duo was meant to be known as Leland Stottlemeyer and Randy Deacon. Although it is unknown why Randy’s name was changed to Disher, this original last name adds an interesting easter egg to murder mystery fans.
If you take the first two letters of all four names (Leland Stottlemeyer Randy Deacon) and put them together, it spells Lestrade. Lestrade is the name of the police inspector who famously works alongside Sherlock Holmes from time to time.
6. The Texas Connection
The Monk family is quite an interesting one. Adrian is not the only member of the family with quirks. When it came to naming the Monk children, Adrian’s parents made some very interesting choices.
Both of the Monk boys are named after cities in Texas. Adrian and Ambrose are both the names of Texas cities. It’s unknown exactly what the connection to Texas is all about. It is likely that their father simply had a fondness for the southern state especially considering he moved to Texas after leaving the family.
5. Randy Was Jealous of Monk
Randy is often seen making fun of Mr. Monk especially early on in the series. Monk’s methods and behavior are obviously absurd and it only makes sense that someone would tease him for it. That being said, it seems to be that there is a little more going on here than meets the eye.
If you pay close attention to Randy’s behavior, it’s clear that he is jealous of Monk. Randy’s ideas tend to be a bit of a joke and he doesn’t realize it. It was clearly frustrating for him to see Monk come up with ideas that sounded equally as bad but were always right.
4. Monk Chose Natalie Because…
Natalie Teeger proved to be a godsend for Monk. She was just as capable, if not more so, as her predecessor Sharona Fleming. The two of Monk’s nurses actually share quite a bit in common, and it appears that there is actually a reason for that.
In a novel titled Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants, Natalie meets Sharona. Sharona lets Natalie know that it is because of their similarities that Monk chose Natalie. Monk likes things to stay the exact same. After losing one single mother with a young child, he naturally had to replace her immediately with someone who filled that exact same archetype.
3. Monk’s Fashion Sense
As mentioned in the last section, Monk likes everything to stay the same. This applies to his clothes as well. Kind of. Adrian seems to be wearing pretty much the same attire every single episode, but in a subtle way, he is actually switching things up and showing a tiny bit of a fashion sense.
Although he is wearing the same clothes, they are often in different shades of brown. Sometimes Monk is feeling a lighter color brown, while on other occasions he goes for a dark brown. While this doesn’t seem like much, it actually is kind of a big deal that he would change this one thing on a regular basis.
2. Sharona Was Stottlemeyer’s Idea
When the show starts up, Sharona has already been working with Adrian for what seems like quite some time. The origins of their relationship are never really explored in-depth.
Originally a nurse, Sharona worked on Stottlemeyer’s wife. After Adrian’s wife was murdered and he had his breakdown, Leland knew Monk was going to need a lot of help. It was actually his idea for Sharona to start working with Monk.
1. Sherlock/ Poirot
The creators of Monk based him off of two detectives from literary lore. The first of these is quite easy to guess. Sherlock Holmes is the detectives’ detective, and his uncanny ability to notice small details and use them to solve intricate mysteries is well known.
Adrian Monk shares these attributes with Holmes but there is one other famous detective he is like as well: Hercule Poirot. Much like Poirot, Monk needs everything to be orderly and it is through this need that he can notice the disorderly in a hyper-observant way, so much so that he can solve seemingly unsolvable mysteries.
