It has been over ten years since Monk ended its eight-season run on USA, but a cast reunion memorably brought the beloved characters back to life recently. With so many actors returning to older projects for charity in the wake of the current health crisis, the cast of Monk joined in to do the same. Tony Shalhoub briefly reprised his role as the germaphobic, obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk, right before the actor revealed his COVID-19 diagnosis.
In an appearance on Peacock’s At-Home Variety Show, hosted by Seth MacFarlane, Tony Shalhoub reunited with Monk castmates Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford for a skit that saw Monk performing typical quarantine protocol. He methodically washed his hands while singing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” — in true Monk fashion, he also removed those pesky smudges from the mirror — and complained to his friends that he was down to his last bottles of hand sanitizer. Monk even stood six feet away from his computer and panicked when he heard Randy sneeze, shutting his laptop with a broom handle. Watch the full skit below!
At the end of the At-Home Variety Show, a short-form series set up to support charities providing services to critical workers, Tony Shalhoub revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19. It was a sobering moment when compared to the entertaining Monk-in-quarantine skit that played prior to Shalhoub breaking character to appear as himself. Here’s what the actor had to say about the experience:
I hope you are all being careful and following the protocol. We really are all Monk now. Last month, my wife Brooke and I came down with the virus, and it was a pretty rough few weeks. But we realize that so many other people have and had it a lot worse.
The actor joined a long list of celebrities who previously tested positive for the virus, including Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Idris Elba, The Bachelor’s Colton Underwood and Blue Bloods’ Nick Cordero, who has had a very harrowing ordeal. Thankfully, Tony Shalhoub and his wife seem to have recovered from the virus and he felt healthy enough to join the skit. Shalhoub made sure to end his message with a reminder to “show our appreciation” to all the healthcare workers and first responders.
After Monk ended in 2009, Tony Shalhoub went on to star in TV series like Nurse Jackie, We Are Men, and Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
All eight seasons of Monk are available to stream on Peacock, which is currently only available to Comcast Xfinity Flex and X1 subscribers. The streaming service is set to launch nationally on July 15. For more on what to watch in the meantime, be sure to check out our 2020 summer TV premiere guide.
