White Rock Road, (WRR) the Poet Laureate of San Juan County, California, was asked by a listener to his popular podcast, Talking Black, what the saying, “One monkey don’t stop no show.” meant. WRR responded with the following examples.
***
Slam 1-2-3-4 (Darren Oden), a popular West Coast rapper with a fanatical following, held his modest 500-guest, televised, and streamed wedding at fabled Pebble Beach. His bride-to-be was Sydney, the popular supermodel, and his companion for three years.
When it came time for Sydney to say I do, she said, “What the fuck am I doing here? I know you, and you know me. And our only business together is business. This is not a wedding, it’s a fucking publicity stunt.”
Slam 1-2-3-4 did not miss a beat. He turned to Goldie, the maid of honor, and Sydney’s younger sister, and said, “We gonna have a wedding. My guests and viewers are ready for a wedding, and I’m ready to get married. Goldie, will you marry me?”
Twenty years and three kids later, the couple is still happily married.
When interviewed about the dramatic changes in his wedding Slam 1-2-3-4, said, “Ain’t no hard feelings. Sydney was right about us, but it just goes to prove that one monkey doesn’t stop no show.”
***
Rocky Road (No kin to WRR), the fading Hollywood heartthrob, was having a difficult transition to the stage. Rocky rarely made it to rehearsals on time, was discourteous to the crew, and contemptuous of his fellow actors.
On opening night, Rocky showed up at the theater too drunk to take the stage.
His understudy, Modell Martinez, a relatively unknown Broadway player, amazed and bewitched the audience with his performance and was nominated for a Tony. This was the start of Modell’s long and illustrious career on the stage and the big screen.
The director of that Broadway show was quoted as saying, “The show must go on, and one monkey don’t stop no show.”
***
The State Medical Services Contracting Unit (SMSCU) hired its first Black manager, Omar Clark, against their will. The Layoff Rules required them to hire Omar.
Russell Truman, Omar’s supervisor, advised Omar to listen to his Data Processing Coordinator, Ann White, because she knew data processing backward and forward.
Omar reviewed the state of the SMSCU data processing projects with Ann and said, “We have 33 ongoing projects, some of them several years old, and others appear to be duplicative.”
Ann replied, “I have been here for three years, and no one has ever questioned my work. I have a great rapport with the data processing managers, and our work gets the highest priority.”
Omar nodded and replied, “Okay, that’s good to know, but I need you to take me through each of these projects so I can understand them.”
Ann pursed her lips and said, “I think that is a waste of time. I have a meeting with Truman now, and I will get back to you.”
The next day, Ann gave her two weeks’ notice and started her two-week vacation. Truman was furious with Omar for losing their vital connection to data processing services.
Omar picked an analyst from his staff to take Ann’s place, and within the next two weeks, the new analyst had reduced their projects to five and scheduled completion dates within the next two months for those projects.
The data processing people told Omar they hated know-it-all Ann. They were delighted to have a new person to work with.
Omar told Truman that we have a saying in our community that one monkey don’t stop no show.
Truman said, I’m not sure what that means, but all’s well that ends well.”
***
Two girl monkeys and a boy monkey were playing in the sand
The boy monkey jumped up and ran to play kick the can
One girl monkey says to the other girl monkey, “God, I wish you were a man.”
And the other girl monkey replied, “I ain’t no man, but I got a strong hand.”
“Ooh, your digits are divine and blowing my mind,” said the happy she monkey.
And later, they both said in unison, “Thank God, one monkey don’t stop no show.”
***
WRR welcomes your examples of one monkey don’t stop no show, and he will feature the best ones on Talking Black.
Image: A rather grumpy looking monkey from Pixabay.com
literally stories 
I’m glad this finished with real monkeys even if they were up to shenanagins! A different and entertaining read – thank you – dd
LikeLike
Fred
Congratulations on appearing again so quickly. I figure if there is a button that can end the world it wouldn’t matter how much brainpower was behind the finger that pushes it.
Leila
LikeLike
Hi Fred,
I enjoyed this.
The examples could have been more brutal but I reckon you judged this perfectly.
I think you did the same sort of thing with ‘Stagger Lee’. I enjoyed that one as well!
Another interesting piece from your pen!
All the very best my fine friend.
Hugh
LikeLike