Get an exclusive look at 'My Monkey Grifter,' the Documentary Now! parody of My Octopus Teacher
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If you're a documentary filmmaker, there are two major accolades you can receive. One, of course, is winning the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and taking home that iconic gold statuette. The other is being parodied on Documentary Now!, IFC's absurd comedy series that lampoons some of the most iconic docs of all time. The Netflix film My Octopus Teacher became an Oscar winner in 2021, winning for its intimate (and occasionally unsettling) exploration of a man's friendship with a wild octopus. Now, it's landing that second honor, with a parody episode in Documentary Now!'s upcoming season.
As part of our Fall TV Preview, EW has an exclusive look at "My Monkey Grifter," an upcoming episode in Documentary Now!'s "53rd" season. Since premiering in 2015, the show has poked fun at dozens of iconic docs, always hosted by a very serious Helen Mirren. The new season, premiering Oct. 19, parodies everything from the fashion doc The September Issue to the legendary Burden of Dreams, about the disastrous making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo.
But co-creator Seth Meyers says it was a particular joy to write "My Monkey Grifter," poking fun at one of the buzziest documentaries in recent memory. "We make a lot of these about very old documentaries that maybe a few people have seen," he explains with a laugh. "So we try at least once a season to do something that's a little more current."
Will Robson-Scott/Broadway Video/IFC/AMC Jamie Demetriou and Fred Armisen in 'Documentary Now!'
The episode centers on a fictional British filmmaker named Benjamin Clay, played by comedian and The Afterparty star Jamie Demetriou. Over time, he finds himself forging an intense connection with a monkey at a nearby zoo — a connection that may have consequences both emotional and financial. Co-creator Fred Armisen also stars as a detective who gets swept up in the affair, and the result is a pitch-perfect parody that's part con artist tale, part absurd pastiche.
One of the joys of Documentary Now! is how meticulous each episode is, imitating key details as they parody everything from Grey Gardens to Original Cast Album: Company. With "My Monkey Grifter," directors Alex Buono and Rhys Thomas took particular care to study My Octopus Teacher's dreamy style.
"There's something so wonderfully ponderous and self-reflecting about My Octopus Teacher," Buono explains. "It feels like it's all in slow motion, and it's all beautifully sun-flared. It really was a great blueprint for what this should feel like."
"I somehow hadn't noticed in Octopus Teacher how much they'd done in slow motion, until I watched this [episode]," Armisen adds. "I was like, Why is there so much slow motion?"
Broadway Video/IFC/AMC Jamie Demetriou in 'Documentary Now!'
"One of the trickiest things about writing a 22-minute episode based on a full-length documentary is sometimes, there's so much plot and it's [hard] to break it down," Meyers says. "Adapting Octopus Teacher was the easiest because you realize if they played it in regular motion, it's like a 23-minute documentary."
A rhesus macaque named Rosie plays the titular grifter, and the Documentary Now! team all praise her for her expressiveness and her ability to mimic hand movements. Still, there was at least one incident of behind-the-scenes drama: Buono remembers one day where the monkey trainer was working with Rosie, and suddenly, all the other macaques jumped on her.
"[The trainer] was like, 'Ugh, I f---ing hate monkey politics,'" Buono recalls. "I was like, 'What are you talking about?' She's like, 'Well, Rosie is not high enough on the monkey hierarchy to get this much attention. Conga is the leader of this little tribe, and he's the one who should be getting attention. So, all the other monkeys are pissed off at Rosie right now.' I was like, 'That can't be true.' Then I looked over, and Conga was just lying on his back, and all the other monkeys were just picking fleas off him and grooming him."
"We've had similar things happen with Fred and Bill [Hader] in the past," Meyers jokes.
Documentary Now! returns Oct. 19 on IFC and AMC+.
Make sure to check out EW's Fall TV Preview cover story — as well as all of our 2022 Fall TV Preview content, releasing over 22 days through Sept. 29.
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