This Is The Best Joke In All Of 'Monk'

There are many, many great lines in the eight season of Monk, which aired on USA between 2002 and 2009. The premise of the show: a detective so lost in grief following the murder of his wife that he is unable to function without the assistance of a full time caretaker, doesn’t seem like the most fertile ground for humor. But it's quickly established in the very first episode that a sad man struggling with his mental health and solving crimes is actually a great set up for jokes. 

Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is afraid of everything: elevators, milk, heights, germs, needles, snakes, the dark, crowds—the list goes on and on. His fears provide numerous challenges for the private detective. It’s the reason he can’t join the police force, the reason he needs a nurse/assistance, and the reason he’s never been interested in anyone after his wife’s murder. 

By Season 3, Episode 3, “Mr. Monk and the Blackout,” Mr. Monk has not had any romantic entanglements, and that’s largely not a problem. He can’t shake a hand without taking a wipe from his nurse Sharona (Bitty Schram). The idea of being intimate with a woman is so far off from his list of everyday concerns, that when a woman connected to one of his murder investigations expresses interest he doesn’t really know what to do. 

Somehow, Adrian ends up on the date with the woman, named Michelle. They have a reservation at a restaurant at the top floor of a swanky building, but there’s a problem: the former detective has that pesky fear of elevators. Michelle, being entirely too gracious, agrees to take the dozens of flights of stairs in order to avoid one of his phobias. 

During their trek to the top floor eatery, Michelle and Monk try to get to know each other. During this exchange, Monk tries a compliment: he remarks that her head is perfectly round. 

“Were you born cesarean?” Monk asked. 

“I don’t know,” Michelle demurely responds. 

Then Monk delivers the funniest one liner of the whole show: “I was born naturally, but I was raised cesarean."

Beyond the fact that this is just a bonkers thing to say to another person—especially on the first date—it perfectly encapsulates the entirety of who Monk is as a person. It’s an incredibly economic use of language. In nine words, we get a visceral understanding of who Monk is and what’s “wrong” with him. It speaks to Monk’s self imposed isolation, his traumatic upbringing, the way he’s othered by both himself and those around him, his feeling of alienation. It’s also instantly quotable, the kind of line you can pull out at parties in 2025 and impress people with your sardonic and self-depricating humor. 

This just goes to prove that if you’re clever enough, any premise can be great comedy.