Monk, Season 2

[Monk inspects the propmaster's toolbox]

O'Dell:
Excuse me. What are you doing?

Monk:
Uh, I was just…nothing.

O'Dell:
Hey, don't fiddle with the props. I've got to know where these are in the dark, by touch, at a moment's notice. I've been juggling props for forty-four years. Ask me about the first prop I ever bought.

Monk:
What was the…

O'Dell:
The sword Richard Burton used in Camelot. I had to go to Scotland to get it.

Monk:
Really? Wow. I'm, uh, I'm Adrian Monk, and this is Sh-she's usually right here. This is a terrible week. I'll bet.

O'Dell:
Hey, that wasn't my fault. The cops had me under the lights all night long. I told them…I put the prop knife on the set. We use two knives on this show. A real one, and one like this: [O'Dell pulls out and stabs himself with a prop knife]

Monk:
Hey, whoa! [The knife retracts; O'Dell laughs]

O'Dell:
Don't wet yourself. The blade retracts into the handle. Gail must have switched the gag knife for the real one before the show.

Monk:
May I? [He holds the prop knife up]

O'Dell:
See? It doesn't feel like a real knife at all, does it?

Monk:
No.

O'Dell:
She had to know she was holding a real knife. What happened onstage Sunday night, that was no accident. That was a woman scorned. "Hell hath no fury," right?

Monk:
And you're sure you put a fake knife on the stage?

O'Dell:
I swear. I put it there myself, half an hour before curtain.

Monk:
And there was nobody else here?

O'Dell:
Nope. Except Jenna. Jenna Ryan, Gail's understudy. She was checking in. They check in before the show, see if anybody's sick.