# Monkey washing a cat-Where did this come from?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-washing-a-cat-where-did-this-come-from/312479>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 14, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-washing-a-cat-where-did-this-come-from/312479 "2005-07-14T06:37:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-washing-a-cat-where-did-this-come-from/312479/1 "2005-07-14T06:37:50Z")

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The Daily show occasionally shows a Black and White clip showing Chimp washing a kitten, and I always get a kick out of it.

Does anyone know where this clip comes from and what the context for it is? It looks like it’s from the 1950’s but that’s just a guess.

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-washing-a-cat-where-did-this-come-from/312479/2 "2005-07-14T13:12:41Z")

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Possibly from one of Lew Lehr’s comedy shorts from the Thirties showing chimps and monkeys doing silly anthropomorphic things like that, all with the catchphrase “Monkeys is the cwaziest peoples!”.

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-washing-a-cat-where-did-this-come-from/312479/3 "2005-07-14T15:05:15Z")

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This first aired on a David Letterman show in the mid-late 90s. I saw it the first time he did it and liked it so much that I wrote those words as lyrics for my song [**Bipedal Faster**](http://www.mp3.com.au/track.asp?id=14722). Sorry I can’t find an esact date that it first aired.

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monkey-washing-a-cat-where-did-this-come-from/312479/4 "2005-07-14T15:07:17Z")

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> [@Snowboarder Bo](#):
>
> Sorry I can’t find an esact date that it first aired.

I can’t find an _exact_ date that it first aired, either. :smack:

Oh, and [here’s the clip in question](http://www.anyware.co.nz/monkey.html), in case you needed it.