List of Monk Characters - Secondary Characters - Benjy Fleming

Benjamin "Benjy" Fleming is Sharona's son. He is played by Kane Ritchotte in the pilot, season two, and the first half of season three, and by Max Morrow in the rest of season one. It was necessary to have two actors play the role because Ritchotte lives on the west coast, while the pilot was filmed (in Vancouver) and the second and third season (in Los Angeles). Morrow lives on the east coast, where the remainder of season one was filmed (in Toronto). Benjy eventually returns to New Jersey with his mother to reunite with his father, Trevor.

Over Benjy's tenure, Monk bonds with him but has his problems in relating since he never did most of the things that kids do while growing up. As a result, he is clueless in giving Benjy a pep talk about baseball in "Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame", as Benjy has to show him how to hold a bat. In "Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy", Sharona tells him of her less than reputable past. This is nearly revealed by playboy Dexter Larsen if Monk had persisted in his current homicide investigation. She confesses, knowing Benjy would be open to ridicule and perhaps lose respect for her. Benjy reassures her that he can handle it.

He is in little league in "Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame". He is a sixth-grader and wants to be a writer in "Mr. Monk Takes a Vacation", in which he witnesses cleaning maids murdering one of their own while pulling off an insider trading scheme.

His first appearance in any Monk-related material after he and Sharona left the television show is in the Lee Goldberg novel Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants, where Sharona returns to San Francisco because Trevor has been accused of murder. Since Sharona is working as a nurse, Benjy is living with her sister Gail. Over the course of the novel, Benjy develops a friendship with Julie Teeger. Benjy and his mother are mentioned in "Mr. Monk Is On the Run (Part Two)", having sent flowers for the "deceased" Monk and flying in to attend his "funeral".

In the season eight episode "Mr. Monk and Sharona", Sharona mentions that Benjy is making plans to attend college, and he plans on using money from her lawsuit against a country club for the death of her uncle, Howard Fleming. However, Monk thinks that Howard's death was foul play, irritating cash-strapped Sharona. At the end of the episode, Sharona trips and breaks her arm on one of the country club's steps, meaning she will get the money after all.