He's a Good Monkey was Chris Harding's very first attempt at an animated short. It was made many, many years ago, on a TRS-80 or something nearly as powerful. Chris Harding voiced both characters with the help of sound-mangling software.

The cartoon is about the conflict between impulse and reason that rages endlessly inside the director's brain.

The monkey and robot characters have been interpreted by some as visual embodiments of the Id and the Superego, but Chris Harding insists they are reading too much into the film, and that, "[It's] not a [expletive] metaphor. There are little people inside my skull, arguing and fighting incessantly, day and night. This is a documentary, not a fantasy. I wish everyone would stop laughing at my pain."

He's a Good Monkey has screened in several film festivals, including the 2004 San Diego ComiCon, and on the Happy Tree Friends & Friends show on G4TV.

view some stills

watch a clip

Interviews with Chris Harding about He's a Good Monkey:

G4TV Happy Tree Friends and Friends staff

local high-school newspaper,
the Pawnee Daily Warrior