| “ | Don't worry; not crazy, just a fan. | ” |
—Marci Maven | ||
Marci Maven (played by Sarah Silverman) was an obsessive fan of Brad Terry, Adrian Monk, and actor F. Murray Abraham, though she tended to quickly change the object of her obsession (once discovering Brad was a murderer and realizing it was wrong to cover for him and Monk was quite annoying - police work wasn't as fun as she thought it would be).
Because of her obsessive attention to every detail of Brad's life, she was the only person who had recognized a clue to prove how he murdered his ex-wife Susan Malloy. However, in her devotion, she chose to confess to the murder herself, rather than betray Brad. Since she had already memorized all the details of the case, it was easy telling the police her story, complete with motive: Susan broke Brad's heart, and with how much Marci loved Brad herself, she couldn't let Susan be hurting him anymore.
Given her personality, Adrian Monk still doubted she was capable of murder, and exposed Brad as the culprit. Marci immediately abandoned her devotion to Brad, and transferred it to Monk. Her attentions eventually forced Monk to request a restraining order that prevented her from coming near him. Undeterred, Marci started a Monk fansite on the Internet, composed songs to him on her guitar, and amused herself building dioramas of Monk's various cases. She also stocked her wardrobe and kitchenware with articles taken from his garbage (since he threw clothes and dishes out so frequently).
When Marci's neighbor, John Ringel, framed her recently-deceased dog, Otto, for the murder of Ringel's wife, she called on Monk for help. Since he refused to let her near him, she resorted to buying a date with him at a SFPD bachelor auction. Despite himself, Monk became interested in her case. Marci had secret fantasies of replacing Natalie as Monk's assistant, and during their brief partnership, Monk couldn't help but be impressed that Marci knew the catalog of his phobias and preferences backwards and forwards. Natalie, more cynically, said that Monk, who was "only human," couldn't resist the attentions of anyone who thought he was a god.
However, Marci abandoned her interest in Monk when she got a taste of what it was really like to be a detective's assistant: receiving a non-fatal gunshot wound from Ringel, and being taken hostage by him before she was rescued by the police. She sent all her memorabilia back to Monk, saying her new idol, actor F. Murray Abraham, "wouldn't understand." Monk, tremendously relieved to be rid of Marci, said a prayer for Abraham. Despite this, however, she did seem to keep enough of her Monk collection, as evidenced by her displaying it to John Novak in his In Focus special on Monk's 100th case.
Quotes[]
"Well, this one is probably my favorite, If I had to pick a favorite. This is actually real. It's not photoshopped at all. And it's from a case we worked on together, a homicide. It took a lot of clue hugs, but we cracked it."
— Marci Maven on her many pictures of Adrian Monk
Background Information and Notes[]
Marci was played by Sarah Silverman. Between the time of her two appearances, Season Two's "Mr. Monk and the TV Star" and Season Six's "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan," Silverman's career took off with the production of her own show. There was some doubt among the show's producers about whether she would be willing to play a guest star again for the second episode, but Silverman was actually delighted to do so.