Michelle Monaghan says Robert Downey Jr. taught her to keep up with Vince Vaughn in ‘Bad Monkey’

Based on Carl Hiaasen‘s New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, the mystery comedy series Bad Monkey hits Apple TV+ on Wednesday.

In it, Vince Vaughn plays Andrew Yancy, a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in Southern Florida who finds himself trying to unravel the mystery of a severed arm that was found by a tourist.  

The series was created by Ted Lasso‘s Bill Lawrence and also stars Michelle Monaghan, who starred in Shane Black‘s 2005 cult comedy classic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. 

The film that also starred Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer shares a pulpy sensibility with Bad Monkey, says Michelle, who plays Bonnie, a mysterious woman with whom Vaughn’s character has an affair. 

“Yes. I couldn’t agree with you more,” she said to ABC Audio. “Comedy was something that I wanted to revisit. … I was really looking forward to finding something funny and finding material that I could dig my comedic chops into once again. And who better to do it with than Bill Lawrence?”

In Bad Monkey, Vaughn brings his trademark motormouthed improv style for which he’s known — and again, Monaghan says, Kiss Kiss came in handy. 

“I improved for the first time with Robert Downey [Jr.] … and that was daunting, of course.”

She adds, “And also doing it with Vince Vaughn is daunting because he is … so fast on his feet. The guy is so quick. He’s so bright. He’s a really smart actor.”

Michelle adds, “You know, when you’re working with that level of talent … even if whatever you say isn’t that clever or funny, they’ll make it funny.”

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