National Gorilla Suit Day Date in the current year: January 31, 2026

As its name suggests, a gorilla suit is a type of creature suit that resembles a gorilla. Although gorilla suits are primarily associated with the film industry, they had been used long before movies were invented. For instance, P.T. Barnum’s circus sideshow featured an actor portraying an “ape-man” in a fur suit as early as 1846.

However, it was the film industry that helped gorilla suits break into the mainstream. The first known instance of an ape suit in cinema was in the 1918 silent film Tarzan of the Apes. It was worn by an uncredited actor portraying Tarzan’s foster mother, an ape named Kala.

Filipino-American actor and makeup artist Charles Gemora created the first accurate and complex gorilla suit for the 1925 film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World. To design an authentic costume, Gemora studied gorillas at the San Diego Zoo. After The Lost World, he created increasingly complex gorilla suits for other films.

Outside of the film industry, gorilla suits are used for various purposes, often as a source of humor. For instance, the Great Gorilla Run, an annual 8K race in London, featured runners in gorilla suits. The run was held to raise money for gorilla conservation.

In 2016, American astronaut Scott Kelly donned a gorilla suit aboard the International Space Station. The suit was sent to him by his twin brother and fellow astronaut, Mark Kelly, during a resupply mission. A video of Kelly in the suit, chasing British astronaut Tim Peake around the station in zero gravity, went viral in 2022 after filmmaker Todd Spence shared it on Twitter.

Gorilla suits can also be worn to disguise their wearer. For example, members of the feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls wear gorilla masks to remain anonymous. In 2005, baseball manager Theo Epstein famously wore a gorilla suit to avoid reporters after announcing his resignation from the Boston Red Sox.

National Gorilla Suit Day was born thanks to Don Martin, an American cartoonist best known for his work with Mad magazine from 1956 to 1988. The story “National Gorilla Suit Day” appeared in Martin’s 1963 cartoon collection Mad’s Maddest Artist: Don Martin Bounces Back. In the story, the protagonist mocks the fictitious concept of National Gorilla Suit Day and is attacked by gorillas and other beasts in suits.

Martin conceived the story as a satire of the greeting card industry and holiday commercialization. However, his fans liked the silly concept so much that they started celebrating National Gorilla Suit Day on January 31 in tribute to the cartoonist. They typically celebrate by wearing gorilla suits, re-reading their favorite Don Martin cartoons, and watching movies featuring characters in gorilla suits, such as Blonde Venus, Trading Places, and Griffin & Phoenix. They also post about the holiday on social media with the hashtags #GorillaSuitDay and #NationalGorillaSuitDay.