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John Wurster is a patient at the Medford Psychiatric Institute. He claims to be a former police officer from Sonoma County, and tells Monk about a murder four years ago at the institute, prior to the episode "Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum". He is portrayed by Kevin Nealon.

Wurster's claims of having once been an officer seems to be dubious as he seems to have problems with over-empathizing; this can be observed when he attempts to take Morris Lancaster's role during the group therapy session and when he is involved in Monk's investigation of the asylum to the point that he is even dressed in exact likeness of Monk. Because of this, it's possible that he never actually has been a police officer.

The character is named after the comedy partner of "Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum" co-writer Tom Scharpling. The real John Wurster would go on to write season 6's "Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece."

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