"Little Monsters" is the eighth episode in the first season of Monsters at Work. It aired on August 18, 2021 on Disney+ and aired on January 28, 2023 on Disney Channel.
Synopsis[]
Tylor sees an opportunity to get promoted as Jokester during Mini-Monster Day at Monsters, Inc. when he is paired with Ms. Flint’s daughter. Can he get her to laugh?
Plot[]
After seven auditions of failure to do anything funny, Ms. Flint tells Tylor that he is incapable of being funny and therefore is banned from anymore tryouts. On Mini Monsters Day, kids are brought in to spend the day with the various factions of the Monsters, Inc. facility. Among them is Thalia, Ms. Flint's daughter who seems incapable of cracking a smile. She is assigned to MIFT, much to her displeasure and is paired up with Val. However, when Tylor learns she is Ms. Flint's daughter, he begs Val to switch kids with him, which she does so reluctantly.
Down at MIFT, each of the members gets along well with their paired up kid, except for Tylor who tries too hard to be funny around Thalia. They are suddenly greeted by Needleman and Smitty who tell them that their assigned child has disappeared. They spot him hanging onto one of the doors passing by and MIFT quickly jump into action to rescue him. During the whole ordeal, Tylor shows a competence that impresses Thalia as they successfully rescue the child. However, when Tylor tries to be funny again, Thalia is put off by him and becomes grumpy.
Tylor vents his frustration to Val about how Ms. Flint unfairly banned him from auditioning and says that Thalia should go and tell her how unfunny she is. Overhearing this, Thalia leaves to do just that and Tylor gives chase through Monsters, Inc. As Thalia is about to enter the practice room and Tylor speeds down, he crashes into a pastry stand and gets coated in them. This causes everyone nearby to laugh at him including Thalia. Tylor admits that he was wrong and just wanted another chance. Thalia reveals that other Scarers had done the same thing with her, but that he was the only one to openly come out and admit it. Because of this, she now respects him.
Back at MIFT, Thalia gives a speech to everyone about how she thought that MIFT was composed of freaks, but that she now sees how important they are to Monsters, Inc. Even though they do not get the same recognition as Jokesters, they keep the place running and therefore, she is proud to call herself a Mini MIFTer. As Thalia leaves for the day, she tells her mother how much fun she had at MIFT. When she mentions that she was with Tylor and that he was "funny", Ms. Flint is surprised to hear this.
Mike's Comedy Class[]
Mike brings Sulley in to explain the concept of the straight man and the comic foil. Mike tries to present himself as the former, but it quickly becomes apparent that he is the latter. He discovers this too late, much to Sulley's amusement.
Cast[]
- Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski
- John Goodman as James P. Sullivan
- Ben Feldman as Tylor Tuskmon
- Mindy Kaling as Val Little
- Henry Winkler as Fritz
- Lucas Neff as Duncan P. Anderson, Richard
- Alanna Ubach as Cutter, Carla Benitez
- Bonnie Hunt as Ms. Flint
- John Ratzenberger as Adorable
- Jennifer Tilly as Celia Mae
- Stephen Stanton as Needleman and Smitty, Chuck
- Christopher Swindle as Thaddeus Bile
- Bobs Gannaway as Otis, Chalooby
- Hadley Gannaway as Thalia Flint
- Devin Bright as Marcus
- Cooper Friedman as Alexander
- Lucian Perez as Oscar
- Isabella Abiera as Gurty
- Hiromi Dames as Kurtz, Josephina
- Michaela Dietz as Additional Monsters
Trivia[]
- This episode's title is a reference to the fanbase of the same name for one of the most popular singers, Lady Gaga and also the 1989 film of the same name.
- Instead of the typical theme playing during the credits, a toy piano rendition is performed.
- In the biggest case of irony, Tylor acts like he's Val's best friend rather than the other way around in order to swap kids.
- Hadley Gannaway voiced Young Anna in Frozen II and is the daughter of series executive producer Bobs Gannaway.
- The Little Monsters Day is most likely a reference to when Sulley brought Boo to work in Monsters, Inc..
- Not counting the Mike's Comedy Class sketch at the end, this is the first episode where Mike is completely silent.
- Cutter is revealed to keep personal mementos of past MIFT workers, some of which are still "alive".
- Despite Carla being an official Jokester, she still attends Mike's classes. This could mean that the comedy class segments take place in a different time.
- When Tylor crashes into the pastry stand, he gets two croissants stuck to his fingers and has them briefly imitate feet by making them dance. This is a reference to the famous "dancing forks" scene by Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush.
- The pastry stand monster is based on Tylor's earlier design.
- Smitty is revealed to be older than Needleman, as revealed in the episodic credits voiceovers.
- The scene where Ms. Flint tells Tylor that he's not suited to be a Jokester is similar to Dean Hardscrabble telling Mike he's not suited to be a Scarer in Monsters University.
- Credits Line: Smitty and Needleman wonder where production babies come from and, as revealed above, Smitty is revealed to be older than Needleman.
