History Series / MyWorldAndWelcomeToIt

*** Cousin Horace, who consults what he thinks is a ghost in his bedroom to get horse racing tips.

*** Aunt Hester, who is also afraid of burglars and piles all her valuables outside her door before bedtime, attaching a note telling the robber to take everything and not pipe chloroform under the door.

* BadSanta: In "Rally Round the Flag," John meets his match when encounters a snarky, bad-tempered bell-ringing Santa on a Manhattan sidewalk.

* PatrioticFervor: Played with in "Rally Round the Flag." [[ParentalObliviousness John has no clue what sort of gift a girl Lydia's age would like for Christmas]] (his wife normally does the shopping), so he settles on buying a large American flag. Lydia is surprised and disappointed when she opens the present, but decides not to make a fuss about it. The girl makes the best of things by conspicuously flying the huge flag outside her window -- which gets their neighbors in an uproar. They become the source of intense gossip from townsfolk thinking John and his family have something to hide. Several of John's neighbors cancel their subscriptions to ''The Manhattanite'' over this issue. And John gets visited by a group of Revolutionary War battle descendants who pressure him to take the flag down because he's neither a war veteran nor a member of their organization.

* DeadpanSnarker: John's dialogue (as well as his cartoons and stories) is crammed with wry wit and withering criticism.
** A dialogue example from "Dear Is a Four Letter Word" addresses how best to convey affection to daughters and wives:
--->'''Ellen''': ''[giving John advice about how to show affection to his daughter]'' And chuck her under the chin.\\

** "The Mating Dance" opens with this mordant, misogyny-tinged soliloquy on his daughter's transformation from girlhood to pre-teen status:
--->'''John''': I'm not much in a hurry to get home today. Last night, I discovered my daughter Lydia at the ripe old age of ten trying on her mother's lipstick. It suddenly dawned on me that our little bundle of joy is about to emerge from her somewhat transparent disguise of being a child and reveal herself as man's basic enemy, the Eternal Female. Now -- now, the mating dance begins, and some poor male is going to end up trampled to a pulp. And please, none of you Pollyannas out there can convince me differently -- I happen to know her mother.
** This exchange from "The Shrike and the Chipmunks" concerns John's extreme irritation about having to draw illustrations for a children's book -- something his wife thinks is a good idea.
--->'''John''': I've done some shameful things in my time, but I have never illustrated a kid book!\\

** The episode "Rally Round the Flag" sees John snarkily criticizing his milkman, who atypically greets him in cheerful fashion around the holidays:
--->'''John''': One of the first signs that Christmas is upon us is when your basic, garden-variety milkman, barely civil for fifty weeks of the year, becomes a fawning hypocrite -- a milk-bearing Uriah Heep. A sudden expert literary critic, founder of the John Monroe Fan Clubs of America. Yes sir, Christmas is at our throats again.

** The episode "Rally Round the Flag" sees John snarkily commenting on his milkman atypically greeting him cheerfully around the holidays:

** The episode "Rally Round the Flag" sees John snarkily commenting on his milkman atypically greeting him cheerfully around the holidays, comparing him to the character Uriah Heep from ''Literature/DavidCopperfield'' by Creator/CharlesDickens:

* RidiculousProcrastinator: In "The Shrike and the Chipmunks," John and author George Lockhart are assigned to produce a children's story with illustrations for an edition of ''The Manhattanite'' that is supposed to be released in two weeks. They spend almost the whole time together procrastinating while reading, swapping stories, and drinking copious amounts of bourbon. It turns out that Lockhart is loathe to write yet another sugarcoated book for young readers, and when he finally manages to dash the story off, it's DarkerAndEdgier than his usual output.

** In "The Shrike and the Chipmunks," George Lockhart is a veritable fountain of quotes, citing lines from ''Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop'' by Creator/CharlesDickens, ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' by Creator/WilliamShakespeare, the poem "Casabianca" by Creator/FeliciaDorotheaHemons, and the 1890s song "Elsie from Chelsea."

** In "The Shrike and the Chipmunks," George Lockhart quotes lines from ''Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop'' by Creator/CharlesDickens, ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' by Creator/WilliamShakespeare, and the 1890s song "Elsie from Chelsea."

'''George''': No -- a mistake, not a joke. Nature, my boy, has no sense of humor. Nature goofed.

** In "The Shrike and the Chipmunks," George Lockhart quotes lines from ''Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop'' by Creator/CharlesDickens and and ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' by Creator/WilliamShakespeare.

* RidiculousProcrastinator: In "The Shrike and the Chipmunks," John and author George Lockhart are assigned to produce a children's story with illustrations for an edition of ''The Manhattanite'' that is supposed to be released in two weeks. They spend almost the whole time together procrastinating while reading, swapping stories, and drinking bourbon. It turns out that Lockhart is loathe to write yet another sugarcoated book for young readers, and when he finally manages to dash the story off, it's DarkerAndEdgier than his usual output.

* RidiculousProcrastinator: In "The Shrike and the Chipmunks," John and author George Lockhart are assigned to produce a children's story with illustrations for an edition of ''The Manhattanite'' that is supposed to be released in two weeks. They spend almost the whole time together procrastinating while reading and swapping stories. It turns out that Lockhart is loathe to write yet another sugarcoated book for young readers, and when he finally manages to dash the story off, it's DarkerAndEdgier than his usual output.

** One of John's dogs (a bloodhound named Irving) is [[RunningGag depicted several times to be attacking his master's pants leg]], in episodes such as "Man Against the World" and "Dear Is a Four-Letter Word." The act is never shown overtly, though -- normally, John is seen from chest-up, looking down at his right leg and making motions to shake the pooch off while canine growling and snarling is heard.

-->'''Cecily McGraw''': How nice to have met the famous, famous John Monroe! I was having a demitasse -- won't you join me?\\

* MeaningfulEcho: In "The Fourth Estate," John first confronts Hamilton Greeley (managing editor of ''The Manhattanite'') and then Patrick McGraw (managing editor of Lydia's school newspaper) over their rejecting cartoons he submitted for publication. Neither editor likes the cartoons and blows John off with stretches of dialogue that echo each other.

'''John''': Well that's very nice of you to notice.

* OralFixation: John's new neighbor Paul Morton is a character with an accent and demeanor that suggests rural Southern or Midwest origins, and he's initially seen chewing on a piece of straw. Occurs in the episode "A Friend of the Earth."

** In "Native Wit," Phil Jensen refers to John's hayseed wit rival Zeph Leggin as "Aaron Slick from Punkin' Crick." It's a reference to the hillbilly title character from the film of the same name.