Why Adrian Monk Doesn't Wear Gloves

A joke doesn't work if you cheat. I bring this up because a lot of writers, especially television writers, seem to think it's okay. What do I mean by cheat? A standard punchline formula is:

Character #1: Question directed at Character #2?

Character #2: Response.

Character #1: Pun playing off Character #2's response.

A problem occurs when, in order to make the joke work, either Character #1 or Character #2 has to phrase their question/response in an incredibly awkward manner that no real person would phrase it like. This should immediately tip off the other character that they're being had, but the script doesn't allow this because the implausible joke must be facilitated.

Essentially, the problem is that all things cease to be funny when logic is abandoned. To my main point, why doesn't Adrian Monk just wear gloves?

In the television show Monk, Adrian Monk is a detective with OCD and germaphobia. Because he is involved in police work he has to go about crime scenes handling (often dirty) evidence. In addition, he often has to shake hands with others. Because of his germaphobia he frequently either can't do these things or must wipe his hands with sanitary towelettes. This leads to frequent "funny" encounters, such as when he wipes himself clean after shaking hands with a black man who then (of course) accuses him of racism. Instead of doing the obvious (explaining that he has germaphobia) he stutters and sputters and the black man and his friends give him dirty looks the rest of the scene. This is supposed to be hilarious but isn't because logic and common sense dictate that this scene shouldn't occur.

So next time you see writers trying to weasel a joke past rationality you can ask yourself "why doesn't Adrian Monk wear gloves"?