Long before CGI or YouTube, the entertainment industry discovered that a monkey in a costume was a guaranteed ticket seller. Vaudeville circuits in the early 1900s featured "trained chimpanzee acts" that mimicked human behaviors—smoking cigarettes, riding bicycles, wearing dinner jackets. Audiences were delighted by the uncanny valley: the monkey was almost human, and that tension was comedy gold.

When film arrived, monkeys transitioned seamlessly. The 1915 short The Monkey’s Revenge featured a capuchin that outsmarted a villain. But the real star was Cheeta—though now controversial (multiple animals were used under the name)—who appeared alongside Johnny Weissmuller in the Tarzan series starting in 1932. Cheeta would slap Tarzan, steal food, and react to danger with exaggerated panic. In those moments, the monkey wasn't just comic relief; the monkey was the audience’s emotional proxy.

Why it worked: Monkeys allowed viewers to experience fear, laughter, and chaos without moral weight. A monkey throwing poop was funny; a human doing the same would be deranged.

From the silent era to the TikTok era, the monkey has never just been a background animal. In entertainment, the monkey is a mirror, a menace, a loyal sidekick, and often the funniest person in the room. Whether swinging through jungles or tapping typewriters, primates have secured a spot in our collective consciousness that no other animal can rival.

Here is a look at the wild, hilarious, and surprisingly profound history of monkeys in popular media.

We cannot write an honest article about "monkey had with entertainment content" without addressing the trauma. Until the 1990s, most performing monkeys were wild-caught infants whose mothers were killed. They were trained via fear—electric shocks, food deprivation, and physical abuse.

Documentaries like The Dark Side of Hollywood (1998) and undercover footage from trainers revealed that the "funny" behavior audiences loved—smiling, hugging, saluting—were actually fear responses (a chimp's "smile" is a fear grimace). The 2009 film The Cove opened people’s eyes to how primates were treated in media behind the scenes.

This led to a major shift. By 2015, after PETA filed lawsuits, most major studios banned great apes from commercials and sitcoms. The "monkey had" a fleeting golden age, and then it ended. Live-action chimpanzee actors were retired to sanctuaries like Save the Chimps in Florida.

Higginson, A. D., et al. (2016). Why are some animals more fun to watch than others? A matter of evolutionary history and brain structure. Scientific Reports, 6, 1-9.

Luczaj, L. J., & Hulsberg, W. (2017). The presentation of primates in popular culture: The example of King Kong. Anthrozoös, 30(2), 147-161.

In the 21st century, monkeys rule the internet.