Mork, the Monkey's Uncle

"Mork, the Monkey's Uncle"
Season 3, Episode #6 (#57) in series (95 episodes)
Mork kidnaps a chimp from the zoo and brings it back to the apartment in "Mork the Monkey's Uncle" in Season 3 of Mork & Mindy (ep.#6).
"Mork & Mindy" episode
Guest Star(s):	Robert Donner Joe Howard Bebo
Network:	ABC-TV
Production code:	306 (3x6)
Writer(s)	See below
Teleplay by:	Tom Tenowich & Ed Scharlach
Story by:	James Klein
Director	Howard Storm
Original airdate	December 11, 1980
IMDB	Mork, the Monkey's Uncle
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Mork the Prankster"	"Gunfight at the Mork-Kay Corral"
List of Mork & Mindy seasons/episodes

"Mork, the Monkey's Uncle" is the sixth episode of the third season of Mork & Mindy, also the 57th overall episode in the series. Co-written as a teleplay by Tom Tenowich and Ed Scharlach from a story penned by James Klein, the episode, which was directed by Howard Storm, was shot on November 7, 1980 and premiered on ABC-TV on December 11, 1980.

Synopsis

While Mindy is anguishing over whether to change her look to improve her chances of landing an anchor role at a TV station, Mork 'rescues' a chimp from the zoo and brings it back to the apartment.

Plot

At Mindy's Apartment, Glenda Faye is hanging out with Mindy who is putting herself up for an anchor role at Channel 19. Glenda thinks that becoming a blonde is a sure way to succeed and has provided Mindy with a blonde wig which she thinks screams anchor. Mindy however is less convinced, checking herself out in the mirror, feeling it looks too flashy on her. But Glenda points out that every news team has a blonde.

Mork returns home as they're talking and Mindy turns to show off the wig and see what he thinks, only for him to wig out, grabbing it off her head shoving it in the fridge. Mindy explains that Glenda was just helping her out for the interview she has. After Glenda goes, Mindy asks Mork how his day was observing at the Zoo. Mork enthuses about the animals he saw (naming the most mundane ones which he things are the most bizarre), tells her he made a new friend, named Doc a chimp that lives at the zoo.

TV Guide Ad - for Mork the Monkey's Uncle, shot on November 7, 1980 and premiered on ABC-TV on December 11, 1980.

Later, while Mindy is out, Mork arrives home with Doc from The Denver Zoo, believing that Doc's mother has been kidnapped, and decides that Mindy would be mad if he didn't give Doc the best room in the house and promptly puts him in Mindy's bed. Mindy returns and tells him she took Glenda's advice and got the hair dye, and the moment of truth has arrived, does she go blonde or chicken out. She wants Mork to tell her to the truth, if she does go blonde does he think she'll lose her 'girl next door quality'? He's not sure but she says what does it matter if she does become a blonde, as long as she gets that job. Mork tries to tell her about what happened at the Zoo as she heads for the bedroom but she asks him to hold off telling her as if she doesn't do it now she'll chicken out. Mork says sure, and he'll see her in a minute...knowing what's in her bedroom...maybe less. And 10 seconds later, Mindy walks back out of her room, looking back in to be sure she's seeing what she thinks she's seeing.

Walking straight to Mork on the couch she calmly announces there's a monkey in her bed. As Mork starts to explain it's a chimp and the differences between simians and monkeys, Mindy, again calmly asks if she could have an explanation? And Mork explains that's Doc, he sprung him. Mindy finally letting her exasperation show points out he took a chimp from the Zoo last year, he tries to say it's different, but she tells him he has to give him back. He tries to explain, saying his mother was kidnapped from the zoo, and he's afraid the same men will come back and kidnap him. Trying to clarify that he's kidnapped a chimp to stop it being kidnapped, she's left wondering how he gets himself into these things, and says again he has to bring it back, but he poses a moral conundrum for her, and she caves allowing to keep him with them for the night providing he promises to bring him back tomorrow. Giving the dictionary definition of 'Merciful' to her, he promises totally. When she discovers she has to sleep with Doc however, she gives that particular joyful experience to Mork and says she'll sleep on the couch, after she dyes her hair before her interview at 9am the next morning.

At 5am the next morning, her hair wrapped up, Mindy is fast asleep on the couch when Mork comes out of her bedroom signaling to Doc Startling her awake, Mork says Doc wants some warm milk, which she gives the okay for, closing her eyes again, until she processes Mork saying he'll go unplug the refrigerator. After she suggests he give him some water instead, Mork heads back to the room, only for Mindy to be startled again by a scream from her bedroom. This time Mork sticks his head out to say he had to scare the hiccups out of Doc. He tells her he's only trying to take as good care of Doc as she does of him, and she knows he means well, as he heads back into the bedroom she decides to see how her hair turned out. And as she takes her towel off lets out a scream of her own as she sees her hair has turned a metallic green. Distraught, Mindy blames the monkey for throwing everything off, having to sleep on the couch, hardly getting any sleep before, ending up with green hair, and as Mork tries to assuage and soothe her, unseen by either of them, Doc wearing Mork's striped shirt, takes his suitcase and sneaks' out the front door. Later, after Mindy has calmed down a little, resigning herself to not going for the interview this next morning and buying some more dye, going into her bedroom to try and wash some of what was in her hair out, she discovers Doc is gone. As they start searching for him, the front door open and Doc 'under arrest' is forced back in by their 'neighborhood vigilante' Exidor. Exidor is convinced that Doc is a Con in a clever disguise and after Mindy picks Doc up, warns Mork that he is clearly in league with Mindy, planning to rob him blind and run off together to Rio. Mork explains that Doc is actually a chimp, and that he's hiding him there because his mother was kidnapped. Mork suddenly gets the idea that, though he couldn't go back to the Zoo to scope around to see what happened to Doc's mother, Exidor could as he would be 'inconspicuous'.

The next day Mork is being cleaned out by Doc at Poker when Fred arrives with a tricycle and a lot of toys, and is a little freaked out when Mork leaves him alone with Doc and overcompensates, Mork finding him riding around on the tricycle when he gets back. He gets out just in time, as Exidor returns. Exidor tells Mork that Doc's mothers wasn't kidnapped she was rushed to the Zoo Hospital, he doesn't' know why, just that it's serious. Mork feels they have to get to Zoo hospital with Doc, but Exidor warns him there's a posse out looking for Doc, apparently some fool kidnapped him. A short while later at the Denver Zoo, Exidor, Mork and a 'disguised' Doc enter the hospital Infirmary. Knocking on the surgery door, the Vet comes out and says he can't talk he's in the middle of a complicated surgery. Mork asks to talk to Doc alone. He tries to explain about Animal Heaven and how Doc will always have her love for him to hold on, when the Vet comes back out surgery over, and is delighted to see Doc there. Doc's mother has had a tough time, but she's fine, and the Vet tells Mork to hold on when he goes to go, that he has a surprise for him. A moment later, a nurse carries out a baby chimp, Doc's new baby brother. Super happy, Mork grabs a banana as a cigar and goes to celebrate with the other animals in the room, before beating a hasty retreat when he annoys a skunk.

At home Mindy, her hair restored to normal, is on the phone to Glenda Faye, telling her, despite borrowing the wig, someone else got the job, thanking her for her help but has decided next time she goes on a job interview it'll be with her own hair. Finishing up she moves over to Mork where he's playing cards at the table and grumbling, pulling off a sock, playing Strip Solitaire and losing fast. Interrupting him she wants to hear the rest of his story, clarifying that he didn't get into any trouble at all? He tells her he just told them he found him, but didn't tell them where. Mindy feels like it seems everything has turned out for the best, she has her hair back, and Doc is back with his family, but Mork says he really misses having Doc around the place. He starts to say to her that he's been thinking...but she stops him sharply, seeing where this is going immediately and asking him not to do it to her. He says she's right and promises never to ever spring another animal from the zoo, that he's learned his lesson. At a knock on the door, Mindy gets up to answer it, opening it to an Orangutan with a suitcase and a violin case. Mork tells her he must've answered the ad, Mindy inhaling and closing her eyes long suffering, as Mork takes their house guest up to his room.

The episode ends with Morks report to Orson, this time on the status of animals on Earth. Orson assumes they are the respected elite, but Mork says that's only on Ork, on Earth they are called pets, just like Bebo. They have it great, Mork says, room and board a dish with their name on it and all the papers they can read. Some however live in Zoos, where they are protected. Some do roam free but they are called 'game', but Mork wonders how much fun the game with be if it was the animals with the rifles. Orson wonders if Animals will ever reach the status they have on Ork, Mork replies that he has faith, but feels it will take some time. He knows there are some humans who love and understand animals, and know that all living things have feelings even if they don't' have the words to express them. Wishing him a nanu nanu in Chimp, Mork swings away.

Trivia

General

• This is the second time Mork gets a lift home from the unseen Mrs. Rabozo (mother of the Rabozo twins who were in Mindy's class in college) (Mork in Never Never Land)
• Mindy refers to the chimp Mork took from the Zoo 'last year' in S1s Mork Goes Erk, which although two seasons previous, aired in 79 so was in fact only a year back from this S3 ep which aired in 1980.
• Following the 'Perfect' see Mindy Definition in the previous episode (Mork the Prankster) Mork uses another one of his 'Mindy Definitions' this time 'I bet in the Dictionary it says Merciful, see Mindy!'
• Orson confirms that on Ork, animals are 'the respected elite', as decreed by Prime Minister Fluffy.

Pop Culture

• Glenda Faye notes that every TV team has at least one blond on it, name checking top journalist Barbara Walters then at ABC's 20/20, gossip columnist Rona Barrett and ABC Anchor Frank Reynolds
• Glenda Faye picked up the Japanese word Sayonara from Shogun which was the big TV Mini Series hit on NBC that year (1980) starring Richard Chamberlain.
• Mork asks Mindy if they have any 50lb bags of peanuts lying around thinking they might now that Jimmy Carter lost. Carter having just lost the Presidential Election to Reagan, and Carter expected to return to head up his family's extensive Peanut growing business in Georgia.
• Mork jokes that Mindy has a life sized doll of Jackson Browne in her room. Browne's 'Running On Empty' Album is the most prominent of the framed album covers hanging in Mindy's apartment, right inside the front door (over the light switch). Browne was also a big voice in advocating for Clean Energy one of Mindy's (and Pam Dawbers) favorite causes.
• Mork sings a little snatch of Kenny Rogers' 'The Gambler' as he's playing Poker with Doc.
• After losing to Doc at Poker Mork refuses to show him his 'centrefold' of famed Chimp expert and primatologist Jane Goodall
• Mork tells Fred Doc is "the child that Fay Wray never talks about!", Fay Wray being the legendary star of King Kong (1933), intimating Doc is her child with the giant Ape.
• Mork says no one bothered to question Doc whenever he called him Don Vito, Marlon Brando's Mafia Don character in The Godfather.
• Morks asks Exidor 'Who was that masked man?' when the Vet appears and goes back into surgery. Which is the line often said of The Lone Ranger as he rides off.
• In telling Doc about 'Animal Heaven' he says Flicka (the Horse from the My Friend Flicka, TV Show, Movies and Books), Trigger (Roy Rogers Horse) and all Three Lassies are up there.
• Mork jokes the new baby chimp as having Charles Bronson's (quite broad) chin.
• Mork calls Orson Victor Huge-O, a play on author Victor Hugo

Quotes/Excerpts

• Mindy: I couldn't go to an interview looking like this. My hair feels....naked.
• Glenda: Well maybe that's why blondes have more fun!
• Mindy: I've been brunette all my life and I've had fun.
• Glenda: Have you ever water-skied the Amazon?
• Mindy:...No.
• Glenda: Have you ever danced with Sherpa guide on the slopes of the Himalayas? Gone ice sailing with an Eskimo Prince?
• Mindy: I can't say that I have.
• Glenda: Of course not! Brunettes aren't invited to those things!

_______________________________

• Mork: Oh no, Mind! Attack of the Bleach People! What have they done to you? They've turned you into Sandra Dee! They've sucked on your scalp! They've turned you into Swedish *Speaks in 'Swedish' gobbledygook*
• Mindy: Mork it's just a wig!
• Mork: Oh. I knew that Mind. May I see it for just a second?
• Mindy: Sure!
• Mork: *grabs it off her head 'wrestles' it across the room to the fridge throwing it in, casually walking back* Cold immobilizes them Min.

_______________________________

• Mindy: Mork I want you to tell me the truth. If I do this to my hair do you think I'll lose my....well y'know...my girl next door quality?
• Mork: I dunno Mind, you'll have to ask the guy next door. The one with the binoculars who drools a lot?

_______________________________

• Mindy: Wait a minute let me get this straight. You kidnapped the chimp, because you were afraid that the chimp was going to be kidnapped by the same people who kidnapped the chimps mother?!
• Mork: *salutes her* And they say Earthlings are slow.
• Mindy: *groans* How do you get involved in these things?!

_______________________________

• Mork: Oh Min Min Min Min Min MIn Min Min Mind!!! Now may I pose a hypothetical question to you? You are out strolling and lo and behold you come upon Bambi in the middle of a burning forest *does fire sound effects* Now here's the question! What do you do? You either lead Bambi to safety across the river...or...do you baste him in Barbecue Sauce and have Bambi in a Bucket?

_______________________________

• Mindy: Mork look at my hair it's terrible! It's supposed to be blonde but it's green! Ohhhhh!
• Mork: You're right instead of it being short and sassy it's short and grassy

_______________________________

• Exidor: *after Mindy takes Doc into her bedroom* Mork you're a fool! Don't you see what's going on right under your nose?!
• Mork: What? Am I growing a moustache?
• Exidor: You're going to have to grow a lot more than that if you're going to compete with him! Did you see the way she looked at him?! Mork they're in this together! They're going to rob you blind and run off to Rio!
• Mork: You don't understand really.
• Exidor: Has she ever carried *you* like that?! Think about it!

_______________________________

• Fred: Wait you're not going to leave me alone with this thing are you?
• Mork: Why? You're not going to hurt him.

_______________________________

• Exidor: *about Fred backing out of the house* Nice guy. My Dad used to walk backwards. Know what stopped him?
• Mork: No.
• Exidor: A '68 Pontiac.

Image Gallery

Cast

• Robin Williams as Mork
• Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell
• Conrad Janis as Fred McConnell
• Jay Thomas as Remo DaVinci
• Gina Hecht as Jeanie DaVinci (credited only)
• Jim Staahl as Nelson Flavor (credited only)
• Crissy Wilzak as Glenda Faye Comstock

Guest stars/Recurring cast

• Robert Donner as Exidor
• Joe Howard as The Veterinarian
• Gregg Berger (Voice) as Bebo