MovieChat Forums > Monk (2002) Discussion > Disher

Disher

posted 6 years ago by Reeveman (182)
12 replies | jump to latest

So, I've been binging Monk on the WE channel for a while now and I have to say Disher is my second-best liked character on the show after Monk himself. All those wonderful quirks they wrote for him and those great throwaway lines often have me laughing out loud. On one show yesterday they're at a pier investigating the deaths of married couple when Disher says (best I can remember) "We have two victims; married, Caucasian, in their 60's, possibly German." To which Stottlemeyer responds "What makes you think they're German, Randy?" Randy: "It's written right here. They're from Dusseldorf." The sheer absurdity of that exchange had be chuckling for hours.

The writers had a lot of fun at Disher's expense but it wasn't mean spirited and Jason Gray-Stanford always pulled it off flawlessly.

[–] Stratego (30534) 6 years ago

He was a very entertaining and endearing character. Unfortunately, they went a little overboard with his stupidity in later seasons.

[–] db20db (17254) 6 years ago

I wondered how he was able to land a chief of police job in the final episode.

[–] Stratego (30534) 6 years ago

Yes. It's a shame, because I really liked his character.

[–] db20db (17254) 6 years ago

He was definitely kind of goofy and comical.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

For all his goofiness he was still able to rise to the rank of lieutenant in a major police department which is an impressive accomplishment that implies he is probably well educated beyond his time in the police department. These attributes were probably appealing to a small town police department where he was probably overseeing a force of under 50 men. They also had a couple episodes that showed he was a rather capable detective in his own right (the one with the dentist and the one on the farm come to mind).

[–] [email protected] (5900) 6 years ago

Randy must've been smart enough to become a detective. But he was given to some goofy comments. A lot of times it seemed like he spoke before he thought or really studied the situation.

One of my favorite episodes with Randy is the time he acquired all the pieces to a game card which won him free soda refills for life. He was really getting on Stottlemeyer's nerves with all the slurping noises he was making. I laugh when the Captain sticks a pencil in the cup and all the soda drains out. Later on he's frantic to find a restroom everywhere they go!

And the Randy Disher Project (!),his rock band with his friends. LOL Randy really thought he had talent. But there are people like that. Years ago we had a neighbor, nice guy but tone deaf, who had a band with his friends. They used to practice for hours and the walls between our two houses were thin. He was so off key and his guitar playing sounded like he was strumming a washboard.

[–] snepts (11123) 6 years ago

Have you heard of the Peter Principle? That's what Disher makes me think of, although it's just a TV show, so I don't expect it to mirror reality. Gawd, I hope not !

[–] Kennedy (110) 7 months ago

Also there are several episodes where Leland is out of commission for one reason or the other, and they always show Randy very competently organising the whole crime scene and initial investigation (something more important for a real life chief of police than making brilliant leaps of deduction).
This goofy young lieutenant schtick he has in SF is also just the dynamic he has developed with Stottelmeyer as the young rookie coming to learn from the old master who has seen it all, but probably he will not behave the same way when he will be the superior officer.

[–] juviejay (456) 4 years ago

Yeah, I wondered that, too.

[–] Tri (15) 6 years ago

They went too far with his stupidity sometimes. It made it almost impossible to believe that this man was a competent homicide detective. It just got worse each season.

[–] Kennedy (110) 6 months ago

Yeah, in some s7-s8 episodes he is really borderline retarded, like when he shoots the egg-eating-robot instead of the criminal, thinking it went sentient. And that can't be played off as him goofing either since it's a life or death situation. But wasn't like that in first seasons and I like the sent-off they gave him too.

[–] sunezno (269) 3 years ago

In the episode where Monk can't sleep and is trying to find the cab driver lady, and Disher and Stottlemeyer are helping him, Disher seems to be going commando under his Captain America pajamas ;)

I was kind of annoyed at how stupid they made him seem as the show went on. He was definitely one of my favorites, and I was happy with his situation at the end of the show.