what is detective chimp? I know he less of a superhero and more detective(as in the name) but he affiliated with superheroes enough I sure you might know his deal. Is he a human turn chimp? A chimp turn sentient by magic? or was just born like that?
He's very much not a superhero in the strictest sense. While he does fight crime, and while he does have abilities and skills beyond those of normal folks (obviously, because he's not a human being at all and not in the normal way some superheroes aren't human) he DOES all of his crime fighting under his own name. Which just tells you how wild this story is going to get. All of this information is a matter of public record. Not only is he an actual, working PI but he has a website at www.chimpanzeeinvestigations.com AND he's written a book on his life. Not to mention several best sellers just on his most interesting case files.
This is just going to be a summary of the story. I wholeheartedly recommend the audiobooks of both his case files and his biography, or one of his many, MANY podcast appearances and online interviews. He's very eloquent and clever, side splittingly funny in that dry intellectual way, and there's just no replacement for seeing a chimpanzee on Hot Ones.
Plus, bonus, if you're in Florida and need a private eye he's got hundreds of positive reviews and what I understand are VERY reasonable rates.
(One of the MANY impossibly hard looking pictures posted to his professional website. Yes that IS the Swamp Thing behind him)
Obviously no one knows exactly where or when Bobo T Chimpanzee was born, though he was discovered in 1953 in what was at the time French Equatorial Africa but is now the nation of Gabon. Taken back to America he became a circus attraction under the stage name of "Detective Chimp". Showing off his above average intelligence even then he was able to use a complex series of hand signals and treat responses from his owner, animal trainer Fred Thrope, to "deduce" the position of various hidden objects in the audience. Even to the point of seemingly identifying individual audience members (where in actuality Thorpe was using hand gestures to direct Mr. Chimpanzee up a certain row and inward a certain number of guests in a simple grid pattern).
While morality concerns can certainly be raised about how he ended up in this situation it should be noted that Mr. Chimpanzee himself states he was taken in by humans only AFTER the death of his entire troop to poachers, a position no young chimp is in a position to survive without human intervention. This is a specific case, however, by Mr Chimpanzee's own admission. He is VERY open about the stress and abuses he suffered as a circus animal from the majority of circus staff and has spoken out against the use of apes or other wild animals in entertainment acts ever since. His argument is simply that in his case SOMEONE needed to take care of him without a troop to come back to and that despite the deficiencies of the rest of the circus lifestyle, Fred Thorpe was the best caretaker a high maintenance animal like a young chimpanzee could ever ask for. When not on the road with the circus, Thorpe took care of Mr. Chimpanzee at his personal home in Okaloosa County, Florida. He is always strenuous in repeating that Thorpe took good (if slightly indulgent) care of him as a younger ape and both his personal home and his business are still located in Thorpe's Florida home to this day.
I only warn people because some...enthusiastic young activists have caught the business end of Mr. Chimpanzee's rather advanced vocabulary by sensationalizing this story with the implication or accusation that Thorpe was either abusive or neglectful. It was the 1950s, Thorpe did the best he could out of a genuine love for an animal that had been left in his care regardless of imperfect circumstances. Mr. Chimpanzee is not shy about the fact that he would have lived a full primate life alongside Mr. Thorpe without complaint if not for Thorpe's murder that kicked off the young ape's extraordinary life in earnest.
Killed by small town deputy Pete Drummond who was attempting to cover up dirty criminal dealings Thorpe had stumbled into, only the young chimpanzee was witness to the crime. Taken in as "evidence" by the town's inexperienced sheriff, Sheriff Chase (no I did NOT make a typo. The man's NAME was Sheriff) he was astonished when the circus ape began to lead him toward clues pointing the finger directly at the Drummond who was otherwise not a suspect. Once the case was solved, it was then Chase who took the chimp in (another name to not impugn in his presence).
Chase and Mr. Chimpanzee would continue being wrapped up in oddball criminal conspiracy for several years until a vacation trip to the western Bahamas changed his life forever. Stumbling upon the actual, literal Fountain of Youth (alongside equally active animal crimefighter Rex the Wonder Dog) Bobo T Chimpanzee was not only endowed with immortality but also advanced intellect and the ability to speak! Which I'm sure was a real shock to Mr. Chase when he discovered his primate companion bouncing back out of the wilderness where he had gotten lost for the afternoon!
Chase and Chimpanzee lived out the rest of Chase's small town law career peacefully, though it was only after Chase's retirement that "Detective Chimp" became a more household name. Mostly because he started to become involved in the magical side of life. Consulting on cases for the like's of Batman and the Justice League and even becoming an active member of the magical hero group Shadowpact alongside such names as Blue Devil and the Enchantress.
Most of the time however, Bobo T Chimpanzee sticks close to home. His income helping to maintain his lifestyle after Sheriff Chase passed away in 2021, but also just because he LOVES to follow a mystery wherever it leads, the stranger the better. While the deerstalker cap might seem a cliche it's more like a marker, a north star he always seeks to follow. To find the unsolvable, especially when it places innocent people at risk and pull the cover off to reveal the truth.
Not to mention, as stereotypical as it may be. He DOES actually very much enjoy bananas. And money must be exchanged for bananas in this crazy mixed up human world he is stuck in.
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