This is creepy, but funny. The first noise it makes is really creepy. But maybe there is some anthropological reason monkeys are always funny. Futurama, Family Guy, and The Simpsons have tapped into it, though.
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
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October 16th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Penn Jillette’s radio show includes a weekly “Monkey Tuesday”. And, somehow, it’s always funny!
October 16th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
That’s not creepy. It’s totally cool. I want one.
October 16th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Ah I was gonna mention “Monkey Tuesday”, but I was too late.
Yes it was creepy indeed, If I came home and found that thing skating around on the living room floor, there would be some cleaning to do…..
October 16th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
I found the whole thought of a disembodied apes head rolling around the floor sucking up garbage totally . . . disturbing!
Or annoying – sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.
jbs
October 16th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
I don’t find those monkey things on The Simpons or Family Guy to be funny at all. It actually confuses me that other people find them funny. And it isn’t cause I don’t find OTHER stuff on the shows funny. I love Futurama, and I watch Family Guy and American Dad. The simpsons kinda fizzled out 10 seasons ago or so in my opinion;). Monkeys just aren’t funny:P.
October 16th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
I am not a fan of monkeys. That’s all I have to say.
October 16th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
Disturbing indeed! Kinda like Terminator meets Planet of the Apes.
October 16th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
I never cared for The Monkees, either. When they tried that comeback in the mid-1980′s, I just ignored it, like almost everyone else…. oh, wait, monkeys, not The Monkees. Um, carry on.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:56 am
Now, isn’t it just like a bunch of naked apes to find monkeys funny?
GAry 7
October 17th, 2006 at 11:13 am
Yes, very creepy. The sounds are great too. However, it’s the head of a chimpanzee, NOT a monkey. Chimpanzees are apes and are much more closely related to you and me than they are to any monkey. Apes are not monkeys. Rabbits are not squirrels.
Using the word monkey to refer to an ape is just as bad as using “light-year” to refer to time.
October 17th, 2006 at 11:59 am
Agree with Karnalis. Each to his own, I suppose. I hate monkeys when they show up in movies or TV shows (with the exception of a documentary *about* monkeys). And I use the term “monkey” here really generically.
October 17th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Perhaps it because they look like human caricatures. For the same reason, despite their bleak environment, penguins are also humorous
October 18th, 2006 at 9:18 am
“And I use the term “monkey†here really generically.”
Why? Do you use “moon” to refer to Jupiter?
If you want to refer to chimpanzees generically, you’ll have to say “pan”, their genus.
Chimpanzees are not monkeys. They’re not even close to being monkeys. They are apes. Apes are not monkeys. Apes are very, very different than monkeys. Why is this so hard to understand?
I also hate seeing apes in movies and TV when they’re trained to act like something they’re not. In the past, zoo chimpanzees were trained by savage beatings. Often handlers would strap them down and hammer their teeth out, no anasthetic of course, so they couldn’t bite anyone. The worst is when chimps pull back their lips and “smile”. Among humans, showing the teeth indicates pleasure. Among apes, showing the teeth is a threat.
Chimps in the wild are fascinating. Trained to be clowns, they’re tragic.
October 23rd, 2006 at 5:46 am
I agree that this video is creepy, but also funny in a “Tales From the Crypt” kind of way. I think that we have an innate attraction/repulsion reaction to disembodies heads, especially when they closely resemble humans. Marrying an electronic chimp head to a Roomba is a stroke of genius . . . or the sign of a very disturbed mind. Anyway, I liked it!
November 6th, 2006 at 11:00 am
I completey agree with the comments.
I am sick to death of TV shows called apes “monkeys”
even hollywood does it. The film “planet of the apes” (newer version). The actors are supposed to be scientists in space, refer to their chimps as monkeys
it gets me so freaking riled!