TONY SHALHOUB had been having drinks with a friend in the ornate lobby of the Ritz-Carlton in Manhattan, so by the time a reporter arrived, his table was not exactly pristine.
Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, obsessive-compulsive detective. The role has won him three Emmy Awards.
“I’m sorry, it’s really a mess,” he said, wiping energetically with a cocktail napkin. This was a case of life imitating art, as he is the triple-Emmy-winning star of “Monk,” the USA Network series about an obsessive-compulsive detective.
“I think Monk has definitely infected me in some way,” he said cheerfully. “I was probably half as neurotic before the show.”
Mr. Shalhoub, 53, grew up in Green Bay, Wis., a son of a Lebanese immigrant who owned a chain of grocery stores. He had nine brothers and sisters.
“We shared neuroses,” he said. “They were hand-me-down neuroses.”
After college (the University of Southern Maine, the Yale School of Drama), he worked as a stage actor for 10 years. He met his wife, the actress Brooke Adams, when they were both in “The Heidi Chronicles” on Broadway. Television intervened, with a role on the comedy series “Wings.”
Now Mr. Shalhoub’s precise, respectful portrayal of Adrian Monk, who fears everything from dirt to milk to physical contact, has made him a champion of those with obsessive-compulsive disorder and an offbeat romantic hero. (Monk is a widower.) In public Mr. Shalhoub is constantly assaulted by “Monk” jokes.
“The only thing I can’t stand is when they want to shake hands and they pretend to hand me a sanitary wipe,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Like they’re the first person who ever thought of that joke. Makes me want to puke.”
Thinking up new “Monk” jokes is no easy task after six years. “It’s a contradiction, really, the idea of keeping it ‘fresh.’ There’s such a thing as over-freshness.”
Mr. Shalhoub says the show has “fermented” like a fine wine, a strong cheese — or a marriage. “I like that the writers are letting the characters finish each other’s sentences now.”
Mr. Shalhoub is now an executive producer of “Monk,” even as his performance continues to be the point of the series. “Monk” is a whodunit like “Columbo” or “Murder, She Wrote.” But its characterizations are complex, with emphasis on Monk’s struggles, as his assistant, Natalie (Traylor Howard), and his sometime employer Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) form an ad hoc family.
Mr. Shalhoub calls his acting style “subtlety takes a holiday.” Still, he is practically Shakespearean about the theme — “For a crime to occur, there must be disorder” — and deeply analytical about the details. When Monk studies crime scenes, for instance, he holds his hands before him, fingers splayed. “I’m looking between the fingers, because it actually isolates and cuts the room into slices, looking at parts instead of the whole.”
Mr. Shalhoub has his own back story for his character. “I’ve always thought of Monk as being a virgin. Prior to ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin,’ I thought that.” Monk, he theorizes, was about to consummate his marriage when his wife was killed.
Do female fans find all that misery appealing? “About five years ago I was featured in People magazine’s Sexiest Men issue. I was in the category of ‘Surprisingly Sexy’ or something like that, which is another way of saying ‘Not Sexy,’ along with Donald Rumsfeld and hot guys like that.”
Sexy or not, Monk has netted Mr. Shalhoub five Emmy nominations for best actor in a comedy, and three awards. His excellence seems to be contagious. Just this month Stanley Tucci won an Emmy for his guest spot on “Monk.”
“I think other actors know how hard the Monk role is, and that’s what they respond to in the academy,” said Andy Breckman, the show’s creator. “We get great guest stars, because everyone wants to watch this man work.”
If there is a point at which the Emmy becomes an embarrassment, Mr. Shalhoub hasn’t reached it yet.
“Candice Bergen won five and finally took herself out of the running,” he said, and paused. “What was she thinking?”
Not that Mr. Shalhoub ever expects to win. He predicted that this year the prize would go to Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock” when the Emmy show is broadcast on Sunday. But then, he said, “Everybody thought Steve Carell would win last year” for “The Office.” He didn’t; Mr. Shalhoub did.
If Mr. Shalhoub loses this year, will he assume an appropriately gracious expression for the reaction shots?
“I’ll probably pretend that I’m asleep.”
And what if he wins a fourth Emmy? “I’ve always wanted to go onstage with a cellphone” — he mimed talking on a phone — “you know, ‘I’m a little busy here, gotta call you back.”
