Rule number one in comedy – whatever is funny can be made substantially more hilarious by the use of monkeys. Even a gem of a television series like Get Smart can only get funnier when you reproduce the premise with an all-simian cast. Right?

Right?

And such was the premise of Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, which debuted on Saturday mornings in 1970 on ABC. This was no animated series either; these were real live monkeys (and an orangutan, for good measure,) who could actually talk (sort of) thanks to human voiceovers.

A battle of good versus evil, the side of good was represented by APE (Agency to Prevent Evil) while the bad was represented by CHUMP (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan.) Lancelot Link was the undercover operative for APE, and accompanied by the ever-beautiful Marta Hairi. Together they fought against CHUMP leader, the monocle-wearing Baron von Butcher, his chauffer Creto, and a number of henchmen that included, Ali AssaSeen, Dragon Woman, Dr. Strangemind, the Duchess, and the ever-drowsy Wang Fu.  

Episodes from the first season were an hour in length. For filler material, Daffy Duck cartoons were frequently shown, and audiences were treated to performances by chimp television host Ed Simian and his all-chimp band, the “Evolution Revolution.” In the following season, this extra material was trimmed away and the show was whittled down to a half-hour. Perhaps one of the reasons is that it was the most expensive show produced at the time, thanks to all the animal handlers, costumes, location filming, etc. needed to pull of this simian extravaganza.

In the 80s, Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp would appear occasionally on Nickelodeon and in 2006, the entire series was released on DVD, allowing everyone to go ape over this one-of-a-kind series.