The Series' Best Jokes
The Three-Headed Monkey
"Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!" — a distraction Guybrush uses throughout all six games, always successfully, despite everyone knowing the trick. The joke is that the trick always works.
"How appropriate, you fight like a cow."
The most famous comeback in the insult swordfighting system of The Secret of Monkey Island. Response to: "You fight like a dairy farmer!" Widely regarded as the single funniest line in adventure game history.
Guybrush can hold his breath for ten minutes
Mentioned early in The Secret of Monkey Island as a seemingly random fact. It pays off in a crucial late-game puzzle. Gilbert has cited this as a favourite example of foreshadowing that is funny on its own and also mechanically useful.
Murray the Demonic Talking Skull
Introduced in The Curse of Monkey Island, Murray is a skull of magnificent ambition and absolutely no physical capability. He threatens to enslave mortals, destroy the world, and generally cause chaos — while being able to do none of these things. He returns in every subsequent game.
The Grog
The legendary pirate drink. Its ingredient list is one of gaming's most memorised pieces of comedy writing. Try typing GROG on this site.
Hidden Details
- The SCUMM Bar name — a direct reference to the SCUMM scripting engine that powered all LucasArts adventure games of the era.
- Stan's Used Ships — Stan the salesman, introduced in MI1 selling ships, reappears in every subsequent game as a salesman of various goods. His jackets become increasingly garish.
- The Voodoo Lady — appears in every Monkey Island game, always omniscient, always cryptic, always suggesting that Guybrush's destiny is not quite what it seems.
- Tim Powers reference — Ron Gilbert has acknowledged the novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers as an influence on the series. The novel features a Caribbean pirate adventure with voodoo magic.
- George Lucas in MI2 — Guybrush encounters a wax figure of a powerful man on a desert island who complains about his "prequels." The figure resembles the LucasArts founder.
- LeChuck's curse variations — LeChuck is defeated in a different supernatural form in each of the first four games: ghost (MI1), zombie (MI2), demon (CMI), demon again but with a different plan (EMI).
Insult Swordfighting — Selected Lines
| Insult | Comeback |
|---|---|
| "You fight like a dairy farmer!" | "How appropriate, you fight like a cow." |
| "My handkerchief will wipe up your blood!" | "So you got that job as a janitor after all." |
| "I once owned a dog that was smarter than you." | "He must have taught you everything you know." |
| "I've spoken with apes more polite than you!" | "I'm glad to hear you attended your family reunion." |