Mr. Monk and the Actor
The series follows Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), a private detective with obsessive–compulsive disorder and multiple phobias, and his assistant Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard).
Written by Hy Conrad and Joe Toplyn, and directed by Randall Zisk, "Mr. Monk and the Actor" guest starred Stanley Tucci.
The following day, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) tells his therapist, Dr. Charles Kroger (Stanley Kamel), that he will go on his first vacation since the murder of his wife Trudy.
Natalie's warning is right: Ruskin has so adopted Monk's persona that he is distracted by minor details of the set and is unable to complete the scene.
[2] Shalhoub and Tucci had been friends since they met each other at the Yale Repertory Theater in 1989 when they acted on John Guare's play Moon Over Miami.
[4] Another guest star for the episode, Peter Weller, was on set to direct "Mr. Monk, Private Eye" and volunteered for the role of the actor who plays Captain Stottlemeyer.
[2] "Mr. Monk and the Actor" was first available via video on demand service on June 30, 2006,[7] and its television premiere through USA Network was on July 7, 2006 at 9 pm EST.
"[19] In contrast to other reviewers, Adam Finley of AOL TV elected the best moment of the episode Disher's reaction to the fact his role is played by a woman who dates Stottlemeyer.
The writers wring laughs from the inaccuracies in Hollywood's versions of the series' leads, and the culminating fight scene in which Shalhoub and Tucci try to out-Monk each other is a complete joy.
"[23] Finley and David Kronke of Los Angeles Daily News also highlighted the line "[Ruskin] wanted to play a character that wasn't so depressing and dark.
"[17][20] Criticism to the episode was done by Finley who said, "So much of this show is dependent on Monk's subtle mannerisms, but he exaggerates them to an absurd degree as he tries to impress the actor who's playing him.
"[24] Although praised Shalhoub–Tucci dynamic, Rich Heldenfels of Akron Beacon Journal criticized it as "the actor-imitating-life thing has been done before on TV and in the movies, and the gag well is pretty dry.
