Randy Disher - Personality

Personality

Disher is Captain Leland Stottlemeyer's second-in-command and employed at the San Francisco Police Department. He is usually portrayed as loyal and tenacious, but with a comical lack of insight and given to far-fetched theories, which were a running gag of the series. Aside from his truly ridiculous theories, which often involve defying the very laws of physics (like for instance astral projection), he is competent within his own range of abilities.

Another running gag in the series is the rather awkwardly ceremonial way in which he delivers news to Stottlemeyer, asking him to guess what it is or sit down for it (or to in one case put down his coffee cup); this method mostly annoys others who would like him to get to the point. His feelings towards Monk change from the pilot episode of the series. In the pilot, he was not only skeptical of Monk, but he seemed to find Monk a joke. Disher calls Monk "the defective detective" to his captain upon meeting Monk. What appears as his jealousy of Monk in the beginning becomes admiration as their relationship develops.

In the book, Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu, Captain Stottlemeyer, in a covert meeting with Monk and Natalie, reveals that Randy has a high clearance and conviction rate. While teaching Monk how to be a Captain and delegate, he tells them how Randy is a people person, who gets people to say things they wouldn't have said otherwise. They aren't high profile or unusual like the cases Monk gets, but it is how Stottlemeyer delegates cases. The implication is that Stottlemeyer is a good captain for matching staff to cases, and Disher, while incapable of solving a weird case, is good at others, which is his gift.

One of Randy's other gifts is that he is an excellent female impersonator. In "Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny", he dresses up as a homeless woman by wearing a big wig and some "dirt", although Sharona sees through his disguise, and the disguise even fools several cops. And in "Mr. Monk and the Three Julies", Randy is disguised as Matthew Teeger's deceased mother in a trap to lure Matthew out of hiding, which succeeds thanks to Randy's ability to speak falsetto.