Evil Laugh

You can't spell "slaughter" without "laughter".

Kent Brockman: Alright, let's go live to Bob headquarters now, for Mayor Terwilliger's victory speech.
Sideshow Bob: (approaches podium) Ahem. Heh, heh, heh. Hah, hah hah, hah hah! HA HA HA HA HA!!
Kent Brockman: And just look how happy he is!

—The Simpsons, "Sideshow Bob Roberts"

Your Applied Phlebotinum doomsday device has been activated. The MacGuffin is within your grasp. The good guys are locked away in the Death Trap. Your circuitous Evil Plan is three-quarters complete! You know what, screw being the Evil Overlord of the world -- you're already a god. There is only one thing left for you to do—but first things first:

Muahahahahaha... Muahahahahahaha... Muahahahahahaha!

The Evil Laugh. Don't knock it 'til you tried it, folks.

This has become an Undead Horse Trope long ago, and usually will produce nothing but pure Narm. There are only a few characters who are able to get away with this in modern media:

  1. A famous supervillain who's been doing this since before it was cool,
  2. A very old wizard-type fellow or Mad Scientist for whom this just comes naturally,
  3. A bona fide psycho, in which case you'd better do some pretty impressive cackling,
  4. A Genre Savvy Card-Carrying Villain who does it because it's a classic villain maneuver, or
  5. A truly Magnificent Bastard who may or may not be an Anti-Hero, but almost always a Large Ham.

In any case, it has since devolved to the occasional evil chuckle (which may or may not be a bit scarier) or so every once in a while, except in certain cases, and the trope of laughing while your victim is helpless is definitely dead, as modern villains usually laugh while they work (to much better effect). A common subversion is to have a villain have an Un Evil Laugh, with snorting, chuckling and squeaking.

In Anime, haughty female villains (as well as some male ones) will overlap this with Noblewoman's Laugh. Other villains, for reasons known only to themselves, go for the Giggling Villain approach. Often goes well with Drunk on the Dark Side.

It's even more jarring (and awesome) when the villain in question is an emotionless character, proving Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor every which way.

Just remember, you Genre Savvy villains, the Evil Overlord List:

20. Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it's too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly.

Truth in Television: Passionate laughter, like screaming, is a great relief for stress and adrenaline with the added benefit of embarrassing and taunting self-conscious opponents. Just don't take it too far in public.

Compare Noblewoman's Laugh, Evil Is Hammy, Evil Gloating, Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor, Laughing Mad, and Laugh with Me.

Examples of Evil Laugh include:

Anime and Manga

  • Parodied and lampshaded in Angel Beats! when Yurippe laughs during the baseball tournament she is told that she sounds like a villain.
    • Again in the DVD Bonus Episode Stairway to Heaven. This time she even mimics Lelouch, and seems glad to be lampshaded.
    • Tension Meter 200!!!
  • Justice from Afro Samurai. His laugh is just...ill.
    • "YEE-HA!"
  • Azumanga Daioh: While Kimura's laugh isn't a bona fide evil laugh, it sure is scary.
  • Desty Nova from Battle Angel Alita tends to enjoy this trope.
  • Alan Gabriel from The Big O is prone to this, though it's more of the maniacal giggle type; the fact that it's Crispin Freeman of all people doing it just makes it more creepy.
  • Creed from Black Cat has a typical villain laugh. He mostly does it when Train is involved though.
  • Hansel and Gretel from Black Lagoon should be the poster characters for creepy laughs, and they are very, very evil.
  • Hollow Ichigo from Bleach.
    • Grimmjow too, but only when he's fighting Ichigo.
      • Or killing Luppi...
    • Mayuri gives a truly spectacular one whenever he unleashes his Bankai in one of the games.
    • Chapter 458 gives us an awesome one, so much the two speech balloons that contain it occupy together a good half of the page. Who provides it, you ask? Ginjo, and this time it isn't an act.
  • Torpedo Girl from Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo laughs using the word "Torpedo" over and over again. It's really creepy.
  • For the protagonist of the series, Lelouch from Code Geass gets an inordinate number of evil laughs, usually when he's just pulled another utter pwnage on his enemies with some unexpected genius tactic. His most maniacal ones were in episodes 17 and 23 (quoted below) of season 1, and episodes 2, 7, and 9 of R2.

Lelouch: These hands of mine have been dirty for a long time now, Suzaku. Your coming to face me now doesn't matter at all. Hell, I welcome it even. I mean of course, you and I are friends.(starts laughing maniacally as the Tokyo Settlement collapses around him).

  • Mad Pierrot from the Cowboy Bebop episode "Pierrot le Fou" pulls off the truly unhinged version of this trope in a very disturbing fashion.
  • The title character of Cutey Honey (and its spinoffs) provides a rare heroic example at the start of her In the Name of the Moon speeches.
  • Light of Death Note indulges in an Evil Laugh when at his most sinister. In fact, in the final story he struggles to hold in his imminent victorious laughter, and ultimately fails in a scene that cranks the full-blown psycho version of the evil laugh Up to Eleven. Sanity's gone at this point. He cracks one during the infamous potato chip scene.
    • Now available in 12 different languages.
    • Not to overlook his more appropriately timed laughter, standing over L's grave. Ryuk is dumbstruck.
    • Higuchi gets one, too. It's not used as often, but that may just be because he doesn't have anywhere near as much screen time as Light. It's enough to scare Shinigami.
    • Ryuk possesses one as well, written "Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk". It's more of an evil chuckle.
      • It better be an evil chuckle. "Hyuk hyuk" sounds like something out of Goofy's mouth.
        • The original Japanese "Kukuku" sounds creepy enough for a character who's doing things out of boredom.
    • Beyond Birthday was practicing them at one point.
  • Lampshaded in an episode of Digimon Adventure 02 (dub only) when the Digimon Emperor burst into a fit of evil laughter after expounding on one of his evil plans, then stopping and muttering "Eh, it's not that funny..."
    • Myotismon has a pretty good evil laugh too particularly in the first season. Used so much in the dub that the other character's comment that they're "sick of that laugh". His laugh is so awesome, that the dub's editors rewind a clip of him giving a skyward cackle twice.
  • In Digimon Xros Wars, it's particularly hard not to find DarkKnightmon laughing whenever he talks.
  • Katsuhiko Jinnai from El Hazard (particularly the OVAs). In the original Japanese he simply sounds like a megalomaniacal Evil Overlord [tm] when he laughs. In the dub he sounds - completely unhinged. It's both hysterically funny and extremely creepy at the same time.
  • Eyeshield 21's Hiruma has his distinctive "ke-ke-ke-ke-ke!" even though he's one of the protagonists. He's still evil though.
  • Fairy Tail's Gajeel Redfox has a creepy enough laugh in the manga (Gi-hi-hi-hi!), but the anime voice actor goes above and beyond to make it positively psychotic.
  • Uighur/Wigul in Fist of the North Star (NGYA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA~!)
    • Hokuto no Ken is full of this; almost every major villain does this.
  • Even though he's an Anti-Villain, Greed of Fullmetal Alchemist has a distinctive evil laugh/chuckle, which is generally translated as something like "gwa-ha-ha-ha-ha". On a couple of occasions in which he's Laughing Mad, it can be kind of disturbing. The psychopathic Envy provides a straighter Evil Laugh on ocassion. Also, while generally a collected Affably Evil, early on, when he sees explosions and chaos going on, Mad Bomber Kimblee starts laughing insanely. Finally, toward the end of the series, Father does a really disturbing Evil Laugh while carrying out his master plan, which is particularly scary because he has Voice of the Legion at the time.
  • Garlic Jr. in Dragonball Z engages in this a fair bit.
  • Full Metal Panic!! A teenage terrorist in his enormous Humongous Mecha unleashes a hysterical yet pretty normal laughter while devastating a city. However, megaphones in his mecha repeats his laugh all over the city, so it sounded sufficiently evil.
  • Fushigi Yuugi's Tomo, surprisingly, does this more often than Nakago, who can't even match up to the former's signature laugh ("Kakakakakakaka!"). Mayo Sakaki, for a bratty 16-year-old emo has an evil laugh creepier than Nakago's.
  • Penchinon from GaoGaiGar has his "BREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
  • Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing does this in the first episode but drops it after that, as well as Chief Engineer Tubarov just before his death.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya does this at least twice in the light novels, both after her Heel Face Turn. The first is in "Snowy Mountain Syndrome", and the second is in "The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina".
  • Several characters from Hellsing indulge in this, but the most famous examples have to be Alucard and Anderson's laughs.
    • And the best part? They're two of the series' heroes!
  • Many, many protagonists gone Ax Crazy in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, including the one pictured above. Yes, it's creepy. Shion hands down though seems to erupt into evil laughter a lot, specifically the 5-8 episode arc. In fact, someone even made a ten-minute long loop of her laughing when Rika dies in a later arc. Have fun sleeping tonight, by the way.
  • Katekyo Hitman Reborn features two characters that fit the trope: Belphegor's "Ushishishi!" and Mukuro's "Ku fu fu~"—the latter character actually managed to score an Image Song titled "Kufufu no Fu". Both character's image songs feature solos of them doing their laughs.
    • Xanxus also had one, although it's less unique and well known compared to the other two previously mentioned. He tends to have it whenever he goes off ranting about how everyone else is trash.
  • Kururu from Keroro Gunsou tends to evilly laugh "ku-ku-ku!" when something unfortunate but amusing happens to another character, especially if he was the one responsible.
    • Keroro himself likes to think he has one, but it's just "devious" (KEEE Ero-kero-kero-kero).
  • Supervillains (Heel wrestlers) in Kinnikuman tend to have very distinctive laughs. There are many, MANY examples, but some of the best examples are those of Ditto Fighter Stecase King ("Kekekekekeke!") and Joke Character villain Kinkotsuman ("Muhyohyohyooo!")
    • Ashuraman's laugh ("Kakakakakaka!") is so distinctive, it's actually used as a lyric in his theme song.
  • Friday Monday from Madlax is of the third category, perhaps even the epitome of the third category as he sometimes struggles to contain his evil laughter in times of victory and will cackle for quite some time.
  • Jail Scaglietti of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha uses a deliciously full-blown one when he broadcasts the triumphant return of the Saint's Cradle to the TSAB. Any time we see Jail, he's laughing semi-maniacally.
  • Evangeline of Mahou Sensei Negima!, being a Noble Demon who repeatedly insists that she's a Big Bad, naturally releases a hearty Evil Laugh whenever she feels like it, such as when she was showing off her true power by obliterating a Demon God with little to no effort.
  • Neuro's evil laugh from Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, after he gains lots of demonic power from a big mystery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO-v_E98u1w
  • Hidan from Naruto has a very... distinct and psychotic laugh when he uses his voodoo ability.
    • Kabuto indulges in an evil little giggle at times.
    • And then there's Orochimaru.
    • Despite being called the "The Uchihahaha", Itachi's Motive Rant did not did not actually involve laughing (though it sort of looked like he did), just overacting. An event which truly lives up to that name comes nearly a hundred chapter later, but uttered by Sasuke. Not simply because he was feeling evil, but to mock Kakashi when he tells Sasuke to stop being so obsessed with revenge.
  • One Piece not only has several characters performing the Evil Laugh but usually every character who performs the laugh has a unique and distinct version of it that only that character says. For example, Marshall D. Teach aka Blackbeard's signature laugh has a "Ze" sound to it, and Sir Crocodile's laugh is dry and monotone.
  • Peacemaker Kurogane: Suzu gets one of these, after he goes Ax Crazy.
  • Rosario + Vampire: Inner Moka, while not evil, has a couple instances of this in Season II: in chapter 1, after dishing Tsukune punishment for touching her and telling him he has a slim chance of seducing her, and again at the end of chapter 6, right before curb-stomping the doppelganger that stole her face.
  • Rozen Maiden: While definitely far more mischievous than evil, Suiseiseki manages to pull this one off pretty well when playing pranks on the other characters, and once when playing the evil queen from Snow White in a rehearsal for a school play, she does it in an extremely convincing manner.
  • Sailor Moon has the demon-possessed Mad Scientist Professor Tomoe. Here's a good hearty laugh for you.
    • Of all people, Tuxedo Mask has one in an early episode, for no apparent reason. Maybe he was just happy to survive Jadeite's attempt to kill him.
    • Sailor Galaxia does this a lot in Sailor Stars. Methinks she's just pleased as punch that it was so easy to cause a global apocalypse.
    • No love for Zoicite or Esmarude?
  • The Brazilian version of Golden Saint Saga's laugh in Saint Seiya is worldwide known as awesome.
  • Saiyuki Reload has Zakuro the youkai, who is a walking evil-laugh lampshade. Sanzo and Co. make fun of him for it ("Who actually goes 'mwu ha ha ha ha' when they're laughing evilly, seriously!?")
    • Played straight with Dougan in the Requiem OAV. Okiayu Ryoutarou has an excellent utter-loony laugh (see also: Jinnai).
      • One of the creepiest antagonists in the whole series, Yisou, is made all the more so by the fact that he doesn't actually outright doom-cackle. he sort of giggles quietly into his sleeve. It's - yeah.
    • Ensui, the big bad from the first OAV (it predates the Gensoumaden anime), has a FABULOUS evil laugh. Who knew Miki Shinichirou could pull that kind of crazy?
  • Tadase Hotori's laugh in Shugo Chara (while he is in his "king" persona) may either be this or a male Noblewoman's Laugh depending on how you look at it.
  • Golg Bodolza lets out a hearty "Muahahahahahahaha!" as he watches his fleet glass the Earth in Super Dimension Fortress Macross.
  • Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo! delivers an impressive one during her duel with Tenchi in the first episode, particularly in the dubbed version.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's Lordgenome does this during his fight with Simon while he's tearing the Lagann apart with his bare hands
  • There are quite a few notable ones in The Slayers, the best one being either Rezo's or Phibrizzo's.
  • A Certain Magical Index:
  • Akira: Tetsuo lets out some memorable maniac laughs.
  • Mega and Giga in Transformers Super God Masterforce occasionally indulge in evil laughter. Mega's evil laugh doubles as a Noblewoman's Laugh.
  • Umineko no Naku Koro ni:
  • Ran, Urusei Yatsura's resident Yandere, often does this when planning revenge on Lum.
    • Since when isn't Lum a Yandere herself?
  • Niwe, The Caligula from Utawarerumono, is known by fans for his intensely annoying "GYAH KA KA KA KA KAT" laugh. He would occasionally use it more than once per episode. Apparently he was known for it by characters too, since just when Hakuoro thought they were rid of Niwe, his laugh returns with a vengeance in his dreams.
  • The Vampire Princess Miyu OAV. Miyu is sometimes heard laughing in the end of each OAV and it's a soft, child-like, almost gentle laugh. Hoever, due to the circumstances and Miyu's own nature, such giggles potentially can be more horrifying than a typical Evil Laugh.
  • Most villains in Yu-Gi-Oh!! tend to have an evil laugh, but Yami Bakura's stands out the most. He starts constantly laughing at the start of the Battle City Finals, and those laughs get more nightmarish in the Millennium World Arc. Bonus points for being voiced by Rica Matsumoto.
    • Jaeger of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's has a subdued yet equally sinister laugh of "Hi hi hi!". The dub version, Lazar, does not.
    • No one seems to have mentioned Kiryu yet...
    • Nearly all of the villains in the dub
    • Professor Cobra in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX as well as the appropriately named Brron, Mad King of Dark World.
  • Yusuke has some fun with this one in Yu Yu Hakusho. After dying a second time and reincarnating as a half-demon, he does this along with a little speech to toy with the elite squad of soldiers dispatched to destroy his corpse and prevent said reincarnation. They fall for it, if only because it's what they expected to happen anyway, and he has a good normal laugh at their expense immediately afterward.
  • Prince Sharkin in Raideen had an evil laugh that was extraordinary in its legnth, volume, resonance, and the sheer amount of scorn it conveyed. It was so epic that his voice actor got typecast as villains for the next decade.
  • In Princess Tutu, Drosselmeyer is very fond of his evil laugh. He's an old, insane character, which makes him a pretty good example of type #2. Mytho also starts letting out evil cackles in the second season after their Face Heel Turn.
  • Even though Aion from Chrono Crusade is often smooth and charismatic, in his more manic moments he can let out an evil, crazed laugh of epic proportions.
  • Oh man, how have we forgotten Ladd from Baccano!?
  • The title character of the Gregory Horror Show has a bit of more of an evil chuckle.
  • Berg Katse in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman is known for this, usually when he thinks he has the team or the world at his mercy.
  • Super Atragon: Avatar's raspy cackle[1] is used so much, it goes into Narm territory.
  • Say what you will about Muraki's VA in the English dub of Yami no Matsuei, he does an especially chilling, falsetto cackle which just adds to a certain mad scientist's general creepiness.
  • Lampshaded by the Duel Opponent of the Week at the end of one episode of Duel Masters: "I will now laugh at you with my hands on my hips like so. MWAHAHAHHAHAHAH!"
  • Although he isn't truly evil, self-proclaimed Mad Scientist Hououin Kyouma of Steins;Gate likes to do this before setting for one of his crazy plans to subvert the world order.
  • Gym Ghingham: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!! GEKKOCHOU DE ARU!!
  • Michio Yuki, the Villain Protagonist of Osamu Tezuka's manga, MW, does this a lot.
  • From the Sonic OVA, Robotnik lays out a rather loud and solid one. Hear for yourself. Mind the possible ads.
  • Meganekko Robot-builder Chie in Hyakko is introduced with intense Mad Scientist vibes, including the maniacal laugh — during a lightning storm. Then the guys with her in the school's robotics laboratory tell her to knock it off. Chie is about as evil as Winnie the Pooh.


Comic Books

  • Batman's enemy, The Joker, is the archetypical example of the first type of exception (The Joker is also a bona-fide psycho, prone to impressive cackling). In fact, in the "Die Laughing" crossover with Judge Dredd, when Joker manages to join the Dark Judges, his power is a laugh so mighty it kills people.
    • See also the various Batman adaptations, below.
  • Appearances of superhero The Creeper in The DCU are accompanied by a high-pitched, manic 'Yamazaki is playing Stabby Needles' laugh with an unhealthy amount of girlish glee. Evil giggle works. In the later versions his laughter actually caused damage.
  • Green Goblin, from the Marvel Universe. One of them (Phil Urich, the only guy who was consistently a hero while wearing the suit) even used this as a sonic weapon.
  • Storm is one of the good guys, but in one issue of Marvel Adventures she gets to play the part of a weather witch. Maniacal laughter is part of the package.
  • Back in his Golden Age comics, Captain Marvel could tell which of his Rogues Gallery he was up against just by the sound of their specific evil laughter.
  • Spider Jerusalem is known to indulge in the occasional bit of evil laughter, usually when preparing a career-ending article.

"Moo hoo ha ha."


Fan Works

  • Lina Eastwood/Cure Western from Pretty Cure Hollywood Stars is a rare heroic example of this trope, and BOY does she make the most of it! She tends to laugh evilly in her hammier moments, such as in episode 12.


Films -- Animated

  • Villain Songs have a tendency to end with the villain laughing maniacally.
  • Tetsuo lets out some memorable maniac laughs.
  • Few villains rock the Evil Laugh harder than Evil Chancellor Jafar on Aladdin, especially at the end of his song. In the Crossover with Hercules, Hades calls him on it. When Jafar actually convinces Hades to give it a shot, the big blue guy admits that "It's cleansing."
  • In the final battle scene of Beauty and the Beast, Gaston does an evil laugh before he taunts Beast.
    • A prize example (not from a villain, but still quite scary) is given by the castle's stove.
  • In Flushed Away, the Toad and his henchrats (including Spike) do evil laughs repeatedly.
  • In Barnyard, Dag laughs evilly repeatedly.
  • Hexxus from Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest has a laugh at the end of his extended song, that ends with a dry cough. Can be seen as a satire, but actually justified, as Hexxus is the embodiment of pollution.
    • He indulges in some much more frightening laughter when he assumes his One-Winged Angel form.
  • Mad Scientist Dr. Cockroach of Monsters vs. Aliens has a tendency to do this on a whim, to which Susan asks if he could please stop doing that.
  • In Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung does an evil laugh at one point.
    • Speaking of Kung Fu Panda, Shifu pulls an absolutely epic one while threatening Po with the Wuxi Finger Hold.

Shifu: You know the hardest part? The hardest part is cleaning up afterwards, hrmhrhrhrhrhrhr...

  • Thrax from Osmosis Jones tends to pull this off in a way that appears either demented or schizophrenic—and still somehow really, really creepy.
  • Maleficent lets out many memorable evil laughs, notably when she turns into a dragon in Sleeping Beauty.
  • In Hoodwinked!, Boingo keeps doing evil laughs.
  • In Snow White and The Seven Dwarves, the wicked queen uses an Evil Laugh as an ingredient of her disguise potion.
  • Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective after his attack on Basil. Voiced by Vincent Price. Can't get much greater than that.
  • Ursula from The Little Mermaid lets out an evil laugh so friggin' scary while Ariel turns into a human that it shames the Wicked Witch, Jafar, and Maleficent put together.
    • She's also got this smug, snarl/chuckle thing going on in other scenes, too. It's wonderfully malicious.
  • In Hoodwinked Too! Hood VS. Evil, Moss does an evil laugh at the bridge scene after an 18-year-old Red tells him, "Bring it!".
  • In The Lion King, a young Simba laughs evilly after he says, "I laugh in the face of danger!" in the Elephant Graveyard. Also, Scar lets out a particularly great evil laugh at the end of his Villain Song "Be Prepared."
    • Well, when your henchmen of choice are hyenas, you've got a lot to live up to.
    • Surprisingly, Ed, the Cloudcuckoolander of the Terrible Trio who spent the entire movie laughing like a moron, actually had one of these at the end of the movie shortly after Scar denounced the hyenas to Simba. When Shenzi and Banzai ask Ed if they heard Scar correctly, Ed lets loose a disturbingly low chuckle punctuated by him licking his lips hungrily, looking intense for the only time in the whole movie. Then, the hyenas close in on Scar, all giggling murderously, and his desperate begging (and later screams) is eventually drowned out by the sound of their laughter.
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas has both straight and subverted use of the Evil Laugh. Oogie Boogie laughs evilly at the end of his Villain Song, and our hero, Jack Skellington, laughs evilly no less then 4 times in the film—just to remind you he's a member of Halloweentown. Dark Is Not Evil.
  • In grand Disney tradition, Dr. Facilier ends his Villain Song with a grand howling laugh in The Princess and the Frog. Later, his shadow gets one too.
    • this troper made a vid with every laugh of his here it is
  • One of the scariest from Disney is the Headless Horseman from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Don't ask how he laughs, though.
  • The Coachman from Pinocchio has a rather creepy evil laugh after he tells Foulfellow and Gideon "They'll never come back... ...as BOYS!!!" And yes, both Foulfellow and Gideon were extremely frightened by the Coachman as soon as they both hear him say "BOYS!!!"
  • In the DC Animated Universe films Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) possesses a terrifyingly insane laugh which puts Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson to shame.
  • In Open Season, Shaw laughs evilly repeatedly.
  • In Open Season 2, Fifi does an evil laugh when he is about to press the button to explode Elliot.
  • In Toy Story, Sid does one repeatedly.
  • In Toy Story 2, Al does one when he leaves his apartment in his chicken costume.
  • In Toy Story 3, Bonnie does one when playing with her toys as the "witch" (which is really Dolly).
  • Megamind, being a Genre Savvy Card-Carrying Villain, makes a point of practicing his evil laugh to get it right. After all, Evil Is Stylish.
  • Professor Z from Cars 2 can be heard laughing evilly during the scene where he and several Lemons blow up Rod "Torque" Redline.
  • The Blue Meanies from The Beatles film Yellow Submarine, especially the leader.
  • This part of the song "Pink Elephants of Parade" from Dumbo.

I can stand the sight of worms
And to look at microscopic germs
But technicolor pachyderms
Are maybe too much for me! Muhahahahahahaha!!!


Films -- Live-Action

  • The ending sequence in Audition, when Asami Yamazaki is playing Stabby Needles with an unhealthy amount of girlish glee. Evil giggle works.
  • Parodied by Dr. Evil and his minions in Austin Powers. Lampshaded when the camera fails to make the expected cut and the evil laughter just becomes awkward.
  • Unforgetable evil laugh from Fantomas as played by Jean Marais BUT voiced by Raymond Pellegrin in the 3 french movies made in the 1960s. Really unforgetable.
  • Fergie as Saraghina gets a fairly evil one during "Be Italian" in Nine
  • In Blazing Saddles, Hedley Lamaar gives an Evil Laugh when he comes up with the diabolical plan of sending a black sheriff to the town of Rock Ridge.
  • In Dirty Harry, the Scorpio Killer has a sort of gibbering, intensely self-satisfied laugh that is in no way appealing. His final moments are even characterized by one last split-second of this laugh when he decides that yes, he does feel lucky.
  • Captain Seas gives an evil laugh for his guests in the Camp movie Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.
  • Dracula doesn't have much of a laugh, but Renfield, as played by Dwight Frye, has a variation all his own. Since Frye's portrayal, a creepy laugh is a must for any future Renfield.
  • The title character in Dr. Strangelove has a broken way of laughing on occasion that sits comfortably between Un-Evil and just plain Evil.
  • The Kurgan of Highlander is the undisputed King, nay, Emperor of this trope. This clip shows why.
  • In Independence Day, David Levinsen's Jolly Roger computer virus is polite enough to let the aliens know that they are completely boned by letting out a distorted evil cackle.
  • Subverted in Inglourious Basterds: Shoshanna does this after delivering her message to the Germans (that they are all going to die). It fits the trope in every respect... except for the part that Shoshanna is a hero.
  • J-Men Forever! (1979). The Lightning Bug gives a good evil laugh, but that's hardly surprising as his voice is that of legendary radio DJ "Machine Gun" Kelly.
  • Whenever Jim Carrey plays a villain he sometimes does a laugh like this, most notably the Grinch and his performance as Olaf in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. On the Interactive Olaf DVD feature he does do an Evil Laugh in one part.
    • As Olaf, he actually goes through several different Evil Laughs at one point, trying to find his favourite.
    • Also, he has a pretty sadistic laugh as Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber after he tricks Harry into drinking hot chocolate with a laxative - complete with Wicked Witch of the West theme. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onVf8jtQiLM#t=2m8s
  • Daryl Hannah does a quite sinister one as Elle Driver in Kill Bill Volume 2 after revealing that she killed Pai Mei by poisoning his fish heads.
  • In Jet Li's Last Hero In China (one of many, many names for this movie), the main villain has a ridiculously good evil laugh. Actually, it's more like an utterly psychotic laugh, at entirely wrong moments. "Wong Fei Hong! Help me! He has broken loose! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" "Our evil master will not be pleased! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
    • In the movie finale, he got his knee broken (after trying to attack Jet Li's character from behind). Then Jet Li's character says: "Now you can laugh,". He sobs like a little child.
  • In Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, this is one of the things Eddie remembers about the toon who murdered his brother, a horrible laugh. When the killer is revealed to be Judge Doom, the villain uses it again, taunting him while doing his best to finish the job.
  • Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean rocked a magnificent, rum-laced Evil Piratey Laugh. I mean come on, he even went "arr!"
  • The Predator managed a rather decent version when he was all set to blow Arnie and half the countryside to oblivion. (It was a recording of Billy's laughter from earlier in the movie, albeit in a creepy, distorted manner.)
    • For bonus points, that laugh was recorded by Peter Cullen.
    • This is almost an inversion, since it's not really an evil laugh, it's a normal laugh that just sounds insanely evil because of the context and the way that it becomes distorted.
  • Raul Julia, in every villainous incarnation. His subtler chuckles only need the broad, manic grin to crank up the menace (or hamminess).
  • Jimmy, the #2 thug from Road House, lets out a sinister cackle as he rides away after blowing kindly ol' Emmett's house to smithereens (luckily, Emmett is rescued). Mike Nelson is quick to hang a lampshade this in the Riff Trax commentary:

Mike: It only now struck him as funny; now that he's got some distance behind him.

  • Emperor Palpatine of Star Wars is of the second sort.
    • Jabba the Hutt is a good example. Ho ho ho ho ho ho...
  • Brad Pitt, of all people, lets out a truly impressive cackle as Jesse James, in The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, after quasi-threatening Ford at knife-point.
  • The Boondock Saints. Russian Mafia goon Ivan Checkov gives an evil laugh as he's about to execute one of the protagonists; it's interrupted however by a toilet dropping on his head courtesy of the other protagonist.
  • The Joker in The Dark Knight seems to be mocking the trope the first time we hear him doing it (when he walks into the meeting of the gang-leaders). Later he indulges in plenty of straight uses, up to the point of doing it while falling off a skyscraper.
    • He's certainly mocking it when he gets a kidnapped newsreader to read his threat to Gotham City from cue cards, including the words "Ah-ha-ha-ha".
    • Jack Nicholson's impressive cackling as the Joker from the 1989 Batman film. Nicholson's Joker keeps on laughing... even after he's dead. Sure, it was prerecorded and looped, but still....
    • Top honors have to go to Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones as Riddler and Two-Face in Batman Forever.
  • Subverted in The Fifth Element: Zorg has grabbed the Cosmic Keystone-filled box and laughs... and then bursts into tears, as the box is empty.
  • The Last Starfighter. Xur does one at the end of his speech to the Starfighter base personnel.
  • Scaramanga from The Man with the Golden Gun has some recorded ones set up in his funhouse for when someone shoots at a picture of him. Oddly, Scaramanga is played by Christopher Lee who, while known as the quintessential villain actor, doesn't usually have an evil laugh.
  • In The Matrix Revolutions, after Agent Smith absorbs the Oracle, he lets out an eerie, utterly out of character evil laugh, representing his newfound randomness.
  • In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West has a very frightening cackle.
  • Pick a character, any character, played by Vincent Price. Even when the Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris re-recorded a good chunk of his narration, they left in his laugh because it was that distinctive.
  • John Jarret worked on the evil laugh for six months when he was cast in Wolf Creek.
  • In Tower of Terror, Emmiline gives out one in Abigail's flashback. It turns out to be a lie though.
  • Maltazard gives a pretty good sample at the end of Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard.
  • Vizzini in The Princess Bride. He believes he has outwitted the Man in Black, and in the middle of his laugh, keels over dead, grin still plastered on his face.
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark. Belloq has a triumphant evil laugh right after he sends the Hovitos to kill an escaping Indiana Jones.
  • The demon from The Exorcist does one at one point.
  • Legend. Both Darkness and Meg Mucklebones have one.
  • You cannot actually hear Lon Chaney laugh in The Phantom of the Opera, but he looks utterly terrifying as he does it, making this the scariest laugh you've never heard.
  • King Ghidorah, Godzilla's Arch Enemy has a high-pitched Joker-esque cackle as his trademark. The laugh actually serves a purpose in his case, as it helps to demonstrate that unlike most of the other monsters in the series, Ghidorah is fully aware of what he's doing and thoroughly enjoying it.
  • Brad Pitt gives us some creepy giggles when he's being beaten up by Lou in Fight Club. Though it's more of a Neutral Laugh...
  • Parodied in The Master of Disguise. A Running Gag was that every time Brent Spiner's villain character started cackling, he would fart. (They actually switched it out at one point, allowing him to finish the laugh, then fart.) Truly, humour for the ages (specifically, the ages between six and nine).
  • Scut Farkus of A Christmas Story has an incredibly hammy Evil Laugh.
    • Also, in the scene where Ralphie gets a C+ on his essay he imagines Ms. Shields (dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West) and his mom (dressed as a jester) singing "You'll shoot your eye out!" and then laughing evilly.
  • Tex Richman from The Muppets is unable to laugh, so he says "Maniacal laugh!" instead. When Uncle Deadly does his Heel Face Turn, he rubs his own glorious maniacal laugh in his face right after himself delivering the most spectacular Evil Laugh of the entire film.

Uncle Deadly: How's that for a maniacal laugh?

  • In the film Hook, the titular character gets a particularly nice one that's sort of segmented: "Wah ha, wah ha, wah ha ha ha ha ha ha". He does this after coming to a decision, and it works beautifully.

Literature

  • Count Olaf in A Series of Unfortunate Events has a distinctively wheezy voice and a laugh to go with it. In The Grim Grotto, he's doing his darndest to make it the most elaborate, obnoxious evil laugh ever. (This is great fun in the audio books with Tim Curry doing the reading.)
    • In later books in the series, Olaf deliberately inverts this by shortening his laugh to a simple "Ha!"
    • In the movie Olaf kind of experiments with it near the end. On the DVD feature Interact Olaf he demonstrates an evil laugh at one point.
  • There are many villains with Evil Laugh on Discworld. One of them (in Maskerade) writes his evil laugh down. With five exclamation marks. Sure sign for insanity.
    • A relatively minor character in Making Money has one of the best evil laughs seen in the series. His co-worker Igor laments that it is so unfortunate that he is neither technically insane, nor evil.
    • Granny Weatherwax does not do this but her genteel chuckle when she is about to do the Right Thing has been described as far FAR scarier.
    • Witches of the Discworld in general try to watch themselves and each other for excessive cackling, which is a sign of going mad and turning into a fairytale-style wicked witch.
    • Lampshaded with Lord Hong, who would only have laughed maniacally if he were the traditional type of Evil Grand Vizier.
  • Lampshaded by Harry Dresden in Grave Peril. At Bianca's party, the lights go dark, and spooky laughter comes out of nowhere. Harry notes that it's tough to beat vampires at the creepy laugh. They get a lot of practice.
    • Harry points out an Evil Laugh again in Dead Beat when he encounters the vampire Mavra. He also gives a fairly apt description of what makes an evil laugh.

Maybe it was the atmosphere, but something about it, the way that it simply lacked anything to do with the things that should motivate laughter... There was no warmth in it, no humanity, no kindness, no joy. It was like Mavra herself -- it had the withered human shell, but underneath it all was something from a nightmare.

  • In Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Gods of Mars, when John Carter and Tars Tarkus enter a chamber, the door closed behind them and "And then, from unseen lips, a cruel and mocking peal of laughter rang through the desolate place."
  • In the Harry Potter series, Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. Subverted with Sirius Black who had one, but turned out to be a good guy. Voldemort's "high, cold, cruel laugh" is one of Harry's earliest memories (immediately after the flash of green light that killed Lily).
    • Quirrell does one after being revealed as a villain at the end of the first book.
  • Doctor Impossible in Soon I Will Be Invincible declares in the narration that he will have the last laugh, "and I have a very good laugh." Damsel says to the other heroes "He's out there somewhere, probably half a kilometer underground. Laughing his freaky laugh. Talking to his robots." When he captures them, he lets it rip.
  • Saint Dane, of The Pendragon Adventure fame, has a trademark laugh that Bobby hates having to listen to—probably in part because half the time, it means he's about to hear how he's been outsmarted this week.
    • While it is normally left to the imagination, there is a spectacularly chilling example from the audio-book of The Rivers of Zadaa. Who knew William Dufris had it in him?
  • In Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian story "A Witch Shall Be Born", when Salome's Evil Gloating reveals Taramis' helplessness, both she and her flunky Constantius laugh mockingly.
    • In "The Scarlet Citadel", Pelias' laughter at a dead man is not pleasant. Even his comment that the dead man tortured young men to death doesn't keep Pelias from creepiness—especially since he then proceeds to raise the dead man as a zombie to open the door that he and Conan need to get out. Even when they're on your side, sorcerers in the Conan universe are creepy.
  • Darkness Visible has one rather creepy example, when the heroes have finally captured the villain at the end:

Sir Michael threw back his head and laughed and laughed. The sound set my teeth on edge, for there was little sanity in it, and it was a twisted mockery of the laugh I knew so well.

“a hearty and insane laugh, about as far removed from polite after dinner laughter as you can get. That was the kind of insane laughter even the truly insane have to practice for years to get right.”

  • Sherlock Holmes provides a rare example of the hero doing this in The Hound Of The Baskervilles, when he laughs at the thought of catching the criminal. Watson Lampshades this when he notes that on the very few occasions that he heard Holmes laugh that way, it never boded well for someone...


Live Action TV

  • The nerd trio in season 6 Buffy: "We're like... supervillains. Mwahahahaha!"
    • The most complete counter-example is the Buffy season 3 ubervillain, the Mayor. His chuckles and general good humour are completely sincere and natural.
  • Spoofed in an episode of Angel when Lorne describes a scene where the Big Bad "mwa-ha-ha'd at us."
    • Played extremely straight (and sinister) when the episode "Awakening" ends with Angelus opening his eyes and...smiling. Then chuckling, softly but continuously until the credits.
  • Jim Keats of Ashes to Ashes has a seriously creepy giggly one. And in the finale, when he's implied to be none other than Satan himself, he combines it with a weird hissing noise that's pure Narm Charm.
  • Frank Gorshin's evil high-pitched chuckle as The Riddler in the Adam West Batman series.
  • The cop/writer TV show Castle had an awesome evil laugh moment in the Halloween episode. The main character, Castle, has an impressive go at it with a running pumpkin drill in his hand and a mild threat to go after any boys who hurt his daughter. Impressive, that is, until he has a coughing fit.
    • He has a more successful one when he suggests building a weather machine out of liquid nitrogen so that Alexis won't have to choose between staying at home to study and going with her friends out of the city.
  • On Firefly, Wash gives us an example of a good guy doing this in the pilot episode 'Serenity', as a conversation between...two toy dinosaurs. "I think we should call it your grave!" '"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!", "Hahaha! Mine is an Evil Laugh! Now die!"
  • In the Cheers episode "The Executive's Executioner". Norm gets saddled with the soul-crushing job of "office hatchetman"; in the end he uses his new boogeyman-status to get revenge on the executive who inflicted it on him: "This is NORM PETERSON! MUHAHAHAHA!"
  • Parodied in Chuck Versus The Subway by Daniel Shaw after he has captured Sarah and Casey. And then in Chuck Versus the Ring by Chuck, after he has revealed to Daniel Shaw how he beat him and took down the Ring.
  • Some, no, any incarnations worth their salt of the Master from Doctor Who have a penchant for dramatic mad laughter.
    • Jonathan Pryce's Master from The Curse of Fatal Death deserves a special mention. His Laugh is so Evil it causes thunder and lightning to strike inside his TARDIS.
    • Davros combines this with a touch of Robo Speak at high volume for a memorably batshit insane Evil Laugh. If you're really lucky, it's probably the finishing touch on a spectacular Motive Rant.
    • The Black Guardian's version is good, if rather traditional; it goes something like "nyaaaaahahaha". Captain Wrack, meanwhile, seemed unable to function if she didn't cackle evilly every two minutes or so. The episode Enlightenment, where they both appear, makes for some interesting watching.
    • The Rani plays this trope straight in Time and the Rani, but in the mine shaft scene with the Master and Peri in Mark of the Rani, she starts choking and knocks Peri out with her poison gas capsules.
    • The End of Time has John Simm's Master, having just turned the entire of humanity into copies of himself, go to an Evil Laugh that lasts 45 seconds, is echoed by all his copies and gives us the sight of John Simm in drag.
    • "Flesh and Stone" has the Angels making a very alien sound that is an approximation of laughter.
    • In The Masque Of Mandragora, the Helix does this, often when there is no other sign of its presence.
  • Appears in Friends under the name "The Plan Laugh", employed by Phoebe—Joey tries to imitate it, but can't get it right.

Phoebe: Muahahahahaha!!!
Joey: Ho, ho, ho!
Phoebe: It's not Santa's plan!

  • Alton Brown of Good Eats does it occasionally, usually when subverting a food trope. Most recently used when getting his veggiephobic niece to eat vegetables (specifically the parsnip).
  • Strangely enough, Jen from Hells Kitchen season 4 actually does a Laughing Mad version of this after her former team lost. Check it out (1:43).
  • In I, Claudius, Livia, awesome schemeing mega-bitch that she is, gets an epic evil cackle at the end of the episode "Poison is Queen". Starts here, at 3:58.
  • Remember when Tommy was evil during the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers? He tended to do this quite a bit during that particular arc, and it got hilarious very quickly.
    • "I'll be back! You haven't seen the last of Rita Repuls-ah-AH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" Hear it yourself here, starting at 1:36.
    • Almost all of Lokar's lines are just evil laughs.
  • John Cleese does a surprisingly evil cackle of the psycho variety at the end of the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch "How Not to Be Seen" (immediately following the explosion of a man, his wife, his neighbour, his house, and the building in which he was born).

Ahhahaha hahaha hahah- * cough, pause* And now for something completely different.

  • NCIS ("Bikini Wax"). Tony DiNozzo gives us a truly epic one when he sees his co-worker Kate's picture on the "The Wet T-Shirt Hall of Fame" as the screen fades to black.
  • Jerry does an epic one of these, while smoking assholish cigars, in an episode of Seinfeld when Elaine is paying him money, having repeatedly lost her bet with him about not sleeping with David Puddy.
    • The blooper reel has several outtakes of Jerry doing his evil laughing while Julia Louis-Dreyfus keeps cracking up at him and ruining the take. Jerry eventually starts choking on all the cigar smoke on set in the middle of one of his evil laugh takes. It's hilarious.
  • Tim Bisley of Spaced does a magnificent one in S1E4. He finishes the laugh with a Villain Exit Stage Left, diving through the closed window. Then the scene returns to reality.
  • Doctor Chaotica in The Adventures of Captain Proton, Star Trek: Voyager's homage to Flash Gordon. Most noticeable when Chaotica has Constance Goodheart tied up as a supreme sacrifice to Queen Arachnia, and later after Arachnia has agreed to marry him. There's even an The End - or Is It? laugh at the conclusion of the episode.
  • In the Supernatural episode "Born Under a Bad Sign," Meg!Sam gets to indulge in a chilling (and strangely hot) evil laugh.
  • The Crypt Keeper's famous evil cackle at the intro of Tales from the Crypt.
  • Sheldon Cooper, from The Big Bang Theory, described by Leonard as "One lab accident short of being a supervillain" has a rather droll one used during an escalting prank war with Penny.
  • Played terrifyingly straight by Papa Lazarou on The League of Gentlemen, who has an absolutely nightmarish cackle on him.
  • Vlad the Impaler has a very low-key, sinister laugh during the final sim of the Vlad the Impaler vs. Sun Tzu Deadliest Warrior episode.
  • Gregory House has one, perhaps unsurprisingly. He's not evil, though. He's just Dr. Jerk. Watch the BWA-HA-HA-HA! here.
  • The Mighty Boosh. One of the most underated antagonists in history; The Hitcher, provides an interesting subversion. Wheras most villains contain their evil laughter until the final moment, releasing in in one guffaw. The Hitcher laughs eavily AS HE TALKS!!, spreading it out through his dialogue
  • Liz Lemon on 30 Rock when she deceives her crush to get him to hang out with her.
    • This was mirroring the behavior of evil laughing Spanish-language soap-opera character 'El Generalissimo', a dead-ringer for Jack.
  • There is no doubt Gackt was having a lot of fun playing the role of a cannibalistic serial killer in the TV series Mr. Brain.

"I will kill you all and feast upon your flesh! I will...be reborn! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

  • Barney from How I Met Your Mother does an evil laugh at times (notable in season 6 episode 23), then again he has been working with a vocal coach.
  • Senor Chang gets a couple good ones in durring Community episode Modern Warfare. Once when detonating his paint bomb, also he shares a less cackling one with Dean Pelton at an earlier point.
  • In the Blackadder episode "Potato" we see, in turn, Captain Rum, Blackadder himself and Baldrick try out what are definitely evil cackles of the pirate variety. They then stop as the line gets to a disconsolate Percy, asking him if he is not going to join in the "Ha Has".
  • Baltan's trademark laugh is widely known in the Ultraman series.


Music

  • The beginning of the song "Bump In The Night" by Allstars has a talking section similar to the Thriller example above which is followed by an evil laugh.
  • Near the end of Arthur Brown's "Fire". "You're gonna burn! Burn! Burn! Buuuurrrn!!! Ah-hahaha!!!"
  • Peter Murphy's cackle two-thirds of the way through Bauhaus's cover of John Cale's "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores" definitely counts. Crowning Moment of Awesome ensues.
  • Cradle of Filth's song A Gothic Romance features a more rarely-heard female Evil Laugh.
    • The last track on their album Damnation and a Day features an evil laugh at the end.

"And the Earth...was without form...and void. And Darkness...was upon the face of the deep. Mmm hmm hmm heh heh ha ha. AH HA HA HA HA HAA!"

  • David Draiman's laugh at the beginning and end of "Inside the Fire". He does this perfectly live. He also does one in the beginning of "Asylum". From the same album comes "The Infection", which has a more amused, mocking laughter laying parts of the track ("And a thousand voices share their laughter at my demise").
  • Iron Maiden's "Fear of the Dark" usually gets this in live shows.
    • And it has absolutely nothing on the laugh at the end of "Moonchild". Now that's textbook evil laughter.
  • At the end of Metallica's Master of Puppets a fairly sinister laugh could be heard.
  • Vincent Price ends his section of "Thriller" with a wry evil laugh, arguably doing more to relieve the tension than to amplify it. Man was creepy.
  • "These Hands" by The Damned tells the story of a demented circus clown, ending with the clown throttling someone and a rather fitting evil laugh. And then a slightly irritated "STOP LAUGHING!"
  • Averted with, of all people, The Protomen's version of Dr. Wily. While he does his fair share of Evil Gloating, he never once laughs.
    • Protoman, however, has a particularly good Evil Laugh in the live shows.
  • Ozzy Osbourne does a great evil laughter in "Bark at the Moon" and a smaller one in "Crazy Train".
  • Gorillaz; De La Soul's manic laughter in Feel Good Inc.
  • Genesis's "Mama"?
  • In Nightwish's "Kinslayer", Marco lets out a classic evil laugh.
  • The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK" begins with one of these.
  • A trademark of Jon Oliva, lead singer of Savatage and Jon Oliva's Pain.
  • Till Lindemann doesn't do this often, but when he does, it's enough to make skin crawl.
  • "Giants" by Five Iron Frenzy opens with one.
  • Ian Gillan lets off a sinister chuckle near the end of Deep Purple's "Speed King".
  • "Easy Money" by King Crimson ends with a rather grotesque evil laugh.
  • The teacher from Pink Floyd's The Wall does one in "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives".
  • Doctor Steel can be heard engaging in one near the end of his self-titled song, "Dr. Steel."


Pro Wrestling

  • Even when shown as the good guy, Kane is likely to do this at the end of his promos. He didn't become a true bona fide psycho until he was unmasked, though.
  • "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase's Evil Laugh was so important to his character that it was even part of his entrance music.
  • Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart had an Annoying Laugh that sometimes terrified opponents. His daughter's laugh is almost identical.
  • The Undertaker has been known to do these before, mostly when he was in his Ministry of Darkness phase. He laughed evilly when abducting Stephanie McMahon for example.
  • Vickie Guerrero began a habit of doing this during her feud for the Miss Wrestlemania title and was practically her second catchphrase as Smackdown's official consultant.
  • Awesome Kong, or Kharma now she's in WWE. It's now her Leitmotif
  • Larry Sweeney had a naturally boisterous laugh that he used to great effect when playing the Heel.


Puppet Shows

  • On Sesame Street, The Count would famously laugh in a somewhat sinister fashion after counting things out, accompanied by thunder and lightning. "I will now count these letters to myself! One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Five letters! Ah ha ha!"
    • It was originally a lot more maniacal, but was toned down to avoid frightening children away from learning to count.
  • Mr. Meaty.


Radio

  • Adventures in Odyssey: Dr. Regis Blackgaard has a memorable evil laugh that was quite effective in small doses. When he appears in the "Darkness Before Dawn" arc, you can hear bits of it trying to escape at certain points, but he holds it in until he finally takes over Whit's End.
    • A minute before the scene in question, he and his underling Mr, Glossman actually share a laugh together. The contrast makes him sound positively demented.
    • In a later episode, we learn that while his twin brother Edwin may be merely a hammy actor with an inflated ego, he has the laugh in his repertoire, as well.
  • The Shadow, of radio, pulp, and Alec Baldwin fame, is another example of a hero using the evil laugh—in his case, as psychological warfare. After all, maniac laughter from nowhere is unnerving, and criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot...
  • The French summer radio show Les Persifleurs du Mal (Deadpan Snarkers from Hell) uses the Evil Laugh in its opening credits. It fits the show's general tone, and what they do to some of the people they invite...


Tabletop Games

  • Dungeons & Dragons has "Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter", a spell that can give any character the opportunity to let one of these fly. Also a monster called the Gibbering Mouther has the evil laugh threaded through the cacophony of its constant utterances.
  • Chaos in Warhammer 40,000 specializes in this; most Traitor Marines having been turned batshit insane over ten thousand years of war and slaughter, and the mind-warping effects of the Immaterium. Dawn of War has Chaos Marines randomly break down and cackle occasionally.
  • Mwahahaha!, naturally.

Theater

  • Damn Yankees has Applegate sing the Villain Song, "The Good Old Days", which while sounding a lot like an inspirational song in the way it is sung, has Applegate laughing evilly in between stanzas.
  • The title character in Mozart and Da Ponte's Don Giovanni has a very unsettling laugh in the beginning of act two.
  • The aria "Vous qui faites l'endormie", from Faust by Charles Gounod, has a number of evil laughs written into the score. This is perhaps unsurprising, as it's sung by Mephistopheles, but it does mean that this trope is Older Than Radio.
  • The title role in Gilbert&Sullivan's "The Mikado" has some improvised Evil Laughs in between verses in his song about the Cool And Unusual Punishments he's concocted.
  • In Act One of the The Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom breaks out in evil laughter when he ruins Carlotta's performance and later crashes the chandelier. Michael Crawford really makes the most of both occasions on the original cast album.
  • Though the Wicked Witch of the West is portrayed sympathetically in Wicked (and given the name Elphaba), she still gets her trademark cackle when Glinda slaps her.
  • Alberich in Richard Wagner's Ring cycle lets loose with an Evil Laugh occasionally, particularly in Siegfried when Mime gets killed. Gustav Neidlinger pulled off a memorable one at the end of scene one of Das Rheingold on the classic Decca recording with Sir Georg Solti.
  • Iago traditionally lets out an evil laugh at the end of his Villain Song "Credo in un dio crudel" in Giuseppe Verdi's Otello, even though the laugh isn't written in the score or script.


Theme Parks


Video Games

  • Kira Daidohji of Arcana Heart. A pre-pubescent Large Ham Mad Scientist with dreams of World Domination? This trope is practically required!
    • Actually, as with the Wicked Witch, an evil laugh is also traditional for a Mad Scientist character (though not all of them).
  • What?! The Joker is featured largely in a video game and doesn't get a mention?! Shame on you, TV Tropes! Granted, it's more similar to Laughing Mad.
  • In Baldur's Gate, Sarevok from the first game is available in the final expansion as an optional party member. His maniacal laughter is one his battlecry and he'll sometime throw his evil laugh when you give him orders.
  • Gruntilda in Banjo-Kazooie. She gave out a rather impressive evil cackle whenever you hit the "Save and Quit" option in the menu.
  • In BioShock (series), Atlas/Frank Fontaine bursts into an Evil Laugh once you have killed Andrew Ryan and shut off the self-destruct. Arguably, this is also a moment of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, although one built into the game's plot.
    • In what is probably the strangest example ever seen, the vending machines have a truly unsettling evil laugh.
      • Wait till you see one in Hephestus that is broken and lobs grenated at you.
  • Any appearance of Big Bad Dr. Goldfire in the Blake Stone series is accompanied by his trademark "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!"
  • Bagular's evil laugh in Bomberman Hero is...Well, it's weird, creepy and strangely awesome at the same time. Seriously.
    • Then there's Rukifellth from Bomberman 64: The Second Attack whose evil laugh can probably be considered a Verbal Tic.

Rukifellth: Once I regain my earthly body, I shall create a new cosmos. MY Cosmos. A cosmos of chaos where only the strong shall survive! Ha ha... Ha ha... Bwah ha ha ha ha ha!\

(5 second pause) It's not much fun making speeches about my plans without an audience...(pause) Ha ha...Ha ha...Bwah ha ha ha ha ha!

      • Verbal tic or not, his laugh is still awesome.
    • Zoniha also gets into the laughing game.
  • Castlevania's version of Dracula loves doing this, and since he's voiced by Norio Wakamoto, it makes it all the more enjoyable. It's also apparently a mandatory thing for the Lord of Darkness, because Soma Cruz does it, too.
    • Order of Ecclesia has one too in the form of Albus, who laughs maniacally at complete random during the fight.
    • Curse of Darkness has Isaac, who has an amazing crazylaugh in both the Japanese and English voice tracks. The one in battle is bad enough (because he's about to kablam you across the arena with a certain attack) but in a particular cutscene (when Dracula brainjacks him and shanks Trevor Belmont), it's just - yeah. Don't play the game in a dark room when you approach that point. Isaac's English voice actor is, incidentally, Liam 'Also Lezard Valeth' O'Brien.
      • Dracula has a wicked snarly cackle in that game too.
    • Barlowe's laugh, especially when he frees Dracula's soul.
    • Patrick Steward, playing as Zobek the Necromancer, did a rather hilarious Evil Laugh in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, probably due to his not being accustomed of playing a bad guy.
  • In Cauldron 2 for the Commodore 64, the witches have a good, hearty, and by today's standards, painfully artificial sounding laugh each time the player dies. And it happens quite a lot, this being a Nintendo Hard game.
  • In Chrono Trigger, if you choose to sit down on the evil-looking throne in the Giant's Claw, really the Tyranno Lair long after Azala's defeat, the character in the front of the party do an Evil Laugh.
  • Wannabe mad scientist Vernon Von Grun frequently does this in City of Villains several times when you report back to him after a mission. It is made funnier by him asking you if you can tell that he's been working on the laugh, the laugh changing a few times, him asking you to join him in the laugh, and once breaking into a cough mid-laugh.
    • There is also an evil laugh emote for the players, though it lacks sound it does go through physical motions that would make Doctor Frankenstein proud.
  • Parodied/subverted in Clue Finders 4th grade adventures:

Alistair: AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! AAAHAHAA-* cough choke gag* I swallowed my mint.

General Tao: Heh heheh-heh heh-heh...

  • Jedah of Darkstalkers is normally unflappable and very polite, but occasionally will indulge in a bit of mad laughter; most notably in one of his supers when he drags you underground and has hands of blood beat the crap out of you.
  • Parodied in Day of The Tentacle for uncontrollable laughs. "Ha. Ha. Ha."
    • Subverted with "Chuckle chuckle", spoken out loud by Old Purple Tentacle.
  • Laharl from Disgaea, as quoted above. Upon officially becoming an Evil Overlord (well, mostly evil), he even spends the next few days perfecting it.
    • It comes to the point that this is whenever Laharl shows up in the sequels, the first indication you have that he has appeared is his (very recognizable) Evil Laugh piercing the air.
    • Badly attempted by evil clones of Kurtis in the sequel, Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. Given the fact that their speech is more stilted than William Shatner, it comes out as a robotic "HA hee HA HA."
    • Like Laharl, Mao, the main character of Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice will actually begin his respective turn with a humorously quick but evil "Mwuhu-haha!" What make it more funny is hearing it from the same voice actor that does Edward Elric in the English dub of Fullmetal Alchemist, Vic Mignogna. In the Japanese, it's loud but simple "HA HA HA!"
    • Appropriate for one seeking to be a final boss, Desco of Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten uses a short, simple "Fuhahaha!". The evil factor of is it watered down a bit by her cutesy voice, though. There's also Valvatorez, who uses a calm "Hm hm hm...".
    • Honestly, anyone with a good enough title will be subject to this trope, especially the Overlords in the Disgaea series and Makai Kingdom.
  • Although he's pretty completely Lawful Good, Alistair of Dragon Age Origins can do an impressive Evil Laugh anyway. (Unless he spoils it by coughing in the middle, as he does once.)
    • Played much straighter, some of the darkspawn have extremely deep, growling, guttural laughs.
    • The Mother does this at the tail end of her first cutscene in Awakening.It's definitely Fan Disservice and Intentional Nightmare Fuel because her bare breasts jiggle while she does it. All eight of them.
  • As expected, the Evil Genius has one.
  • In Fable I, your character can perform an evil laugh as an expression if he's renowned enough.
  • Predating KOF, Fatal Fury had Geese Howard, whose evil laughs ranged from small chuckles to even pulling off maniacal laughter when he lost (see around the 6:19 mark).
    • While it still feels evil, 2002 UM Rugal's evil laugh sounded like it came from an aging man.
      • It's not as great as it was back in '98, but you also have to remember that the sound team added a few extra effects to Rugal's laugh back then.
  • Kefka of Final Fantasy VI had a grand evil laugh of his own, instantly identifiable by anyone that's heard it. This is especially impressive as the game has no vocal track. In fact, his evil laugh was so well-known, that he actually named one of the subtropes for an evil laugh: Laughing Mad.
  • Hojo from the Final Fantasy VII games comes from the "sick psycho" school of evil laughter. Here's a sample. And then there's "Kya ha ha" (Scarlet) and "Gya ha ha." (Heidegger)
  • Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII has an evil laugh when you finally encounter her in her Ominous Floating Castle, and lets out another one when you fight her soon after.
    • The eleven sorceresses the player must fight during 'Time Compression' also have evil laughs. The second group of sorceresses, in particular, have laughter that is eerily warped and inhuman.
  • The final boss of Gradius Gaiden is the only one in the series to possess one. He laughs at the player while taunting him, though he's as powerless as every other final boss.
  • Destoroyah in Godzilla Unleashed will start laughing after he defeats his enemies.
  • From Halo, there is but one maniacal laugh, but considering who it comes from, it's creepy. Y'know how, villainous as he was, the Gravemind always seemed fairly calm, and convincingly sane for monster in any previous talks or encounters? Well all of that is thrown down right after the final obstacle to his plan dies, and it lets rip a spectacular one. It's even worse when you remember (and hear) that even his VOICE is composite in nature. Listen to it here, and crank up the volume after the 'obstacle' dies.
    • He has a knack for doing this when his victory is (supposedly) assured. The Librarian mentions that, at the climactic final point in the war against the Flood, the Flood were... flooding every channel they could find with laughter. Imagine... trillions and trillions of assimilated aliens of countless species all laughing with the distorted, horrific voice of the Flood.
  • Leopold Charles Anthony Weasleby the Third from Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure is unique in the fact that his Simlish Speak is mostly compromised of variation of his maniacal cackle and sneer. Cole actually has a similar one, not surprising since Weasleby is actually a robot that Cole created to antagonize Henry.
  • The Commodore 64 port of the 1984 computer game Impossible Mission is one of the earliest examples of digitized speech in a game. The villain's evil laugh signified that the clock had run out and the game was over. (Conversely, if the player successfully completed the game, he gave a kind of Big No.)
  • Killer7. Every single enemy in that game has a nightmare inducing evil laugh. Creepy, twisted; truly completely insane. Even their boss Kun Lan has a bit of the more megalomaniacal variety.
  • Vexen from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Expected, as it's the voice actor of the aforementioned Hojo.
    • Larxene, Repliku, and Vanitas also have pretty impressive laughs.
      • Vanitas' laugh deserves a special mention for being especially terrifying, since he shares his voiceactor with series protagonist, Sora, the personification of good hearted.
    • Zexion, too.
  • Shao Kahn of Mortal Kombat! I rule this world MWAHAHAHAHA!!!
  • Darth Malak in Knights of the Old Republic gets into near the end of the game. Got kind of cheesy though as the laugh is played along with an animation where he actually holds his hand on his stomach like a bad actor trying to simulate gut busting laughter.
  • Gongora, the Big Bad of Lost Odyssey indulges in evil laughter when his plans are going well. Though being a Villain with Good Publicity he generally only indulges in it when alone for most of the game.
  • Kain from the Legacy of Kain series. Ever the maniacal genius, this laugh from Soul Reaver embodies all that he is.
  • Ghaleon in the PS 1 game Lunar: Silver Star Story. Tell me this isn't the coolest laugh ever.
  • Mega Man ZX
    • Prometheus. Sure you can only hear it in the Japanese version of the game after losing his battle, but STILL !
    • Siarnaq laughs like a demented clown, and he's supposed to be a freakin' emotionless ninja! Only in the Japanese version. His English laugh somehow manages to be a Creepy Monotone Evil Laugh.
    • Dr. Weil, from Mega Man Zero, counts as well.
  • A lot of Ace Attorney villains have an evil laugh, either upon their reveal or during their breakdown. Special points go do Damon Gant, whose evil laugh precedes his reveal as actually evil.
    • And then there's Calisto Yew, who won't stop laughing.
  • Richard Hawk makes a habit of this in Metal Wolf Chaos.
  • Dark Samus in Metroid Prime 2 and 3 is an Evil Twin made of Toxic Phlebotinum and has an appropriately distorted laugh.
  • Recurring Boss Fassad in Mother 3 has an especially unique one, indicated in his text boxes to be, "NWE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HEEE!"
    • "That's one 'Nwe', and eight '-he's."
    • He's also got a second one: "NWAHAHAHAHA!"
  • In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, most of the villains have a unique Evil Laugh.
    • Zubat: "Heh heh heh"
    • Koffing: "Whoa ho ho"
    • Skuntank: "Chaw haw haw"
    • Dusknoir: "Uwhoo hoo hoo"
    • Sableye: "Weh heh heh"
    • Darkrai: "Muhehehehehahahaha HAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAA!!!"
  • Although he mostly avoids this in all his other appearances, Albert Wesker can't resist letting fly with this in Code: Veronica. He's definitely outclassed by the Ashford twins, though; both seem to have a rather serious, nay, terminal case of the sillies.
    • He lets out another villanous laugh in Resident Evil 4's Assignment Ada ending. In part 5, he lets out a derisive chuckle or two early on, but in the final battle he's too busy having a Villainous Breakdown to indulge in this, preferring instead to growl like a madman and go on a Motive Rant.
  • Kurow Kirishima, master of the Slasher Smile, sneaks sinister laughter into his winposes.
  • Grandmaster Meio does this in Strider (the arcade game) both when you start the game, AND when you lose all your lives.
  • Dr. Robotnik of the Sonic the Hedgehog series has a peculiar Santa-esqe chuckle in his Japanese incarnations (which has only been done successfuly in English once, during Sonic Rush Series), but he also has a more traditional Evil Laugh that he uses when he's feeling particularly good.
  • Lampshaded in Splinter Cell 2: Pandora Tomorrow, where a terrorist typing a speech by his boss includes the following footnote: " {note: ironic, not maniacal}".
  • Luca Blight from Suikoden II had an evil laugh accompanied by an enormous amount of exclamation marks.
  • Here's a fun fact: when you speed up Bowser's Super Mario 64 laugh, it sounds like Boo!
    • He let out a particularly infamous one at the very beginning of Hotel Mario ("It's dat creepy Bowsuh's laugh!"), which has been mocked and re-mocked in YouTube Poop videos about 50,000 times now.
    • In Super Paper Mario Count Bleck has his own weird laugh, "Bleh heh heh heh heh...".
      • "BLECK!"
      • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has five villains with their own distinct laughs. Emperor Grodus's is something like "Gaaack aaack aaack aaack aaack"; Lord Crump's is a "Buh! Buh huh huh huh huh!"; and Beldam's is "Mwee hee hee hee hee".
      • Also Doopliss's "hyuk hyuk hyuk".
      • And the Shadow Queen's "Muh huh huh huh huh".
    • Being who he is, Wario has been known to do this. He even does this in his first appearance (Super Mario Land 2), or at least that's what it's supposed to sound like.
    • Cackletta and Fawful in the Mario & Luigi series take every opportunity they can to let out an evil chuckle.
  • Master and Crazy Hand, with MH's being deeper and more serious, and CH's as the Laughing Mad variant. Here's an example.
    • Actually, in Melee, Crazy Hand's laugh was a reversed version of Master Hand's for extra-creepiness. See here.
    • This all becomes even creepier when you realize that in every game (even in the original) that Master and Crazy Hand share their voice with The Narrator.
  • In System Shock 2, SHODAN lets out plenty of these in the boss fight with her along with Boss Banter, and in the ending where she shows her "new look".
  • Mithos Yggdrasill of Tales of Symphonia manages the third kind in a spectacularly creepy fashion in at least one scene... another is debatable.
    • On one of these occasions he is kicking Yuan on a potentially endless loop (that is, until you can drag your eyes away from the train wreck and press A).
    • The sequel had Emil doing this during his Mystic Arte.
  • Team Fortress 2
    • The Engineer has one as a taunt.
    • The Medic's laugh command alternates between this and some very Un Evil Laughs.
    • The Announcer.
    • The Heavy, the Pyro, the Spy... Actually, it might be easier to list who DOESN'T have an evil laugh. Though when the Spy starts laughing really hard it comes out on the other side of evil with something like a snorting nerd laugh.
  • Bryan Fury in Tekken has a particularly disturbing one, thanks to the mechanical effect on his voice (due to his being a cyborg).
    • Then there's Devil Jin, who has a Jokeresquely high evil laugh after winning in a fight, complete with an evil grin, showing off his pearly white fangs.
  • One of Iori Yagami's more beloved traits in The King of Fighters series is his habit of breaking into maniacal laughter when he wins a match. This is a bit odd, considering he's also a protagonist. Sample (The AMV Hell project mixed this with footage of Light Yagami, whose name is pronounced the same way).
  • Ganondorf has his fair share of laughs. Sometimes it is a simple, self-satisfied "Hm-hm-hmm...", other times it is used in a mocking tone after he has succeeded in an attack. One of the most flamboyant is in The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker where, after the King of Hyrule uses the Triforce to wish for "hope" for Link and Zelda and the old Hyrule begins to flood and vanish under the water, Ganon starts to laugh madly, his sanity broken at seeing all his dreams smashed before his eyes. The laughter continues to grow until he is eventually practically shrieking. Some found it quite silly, others thought it was pretty awesome.
    • To say nothing of what he was like in Zelda II the Adventure of Link. You can hear the same laugh in Ocarina of Time, but it doesn't quite have the same context...
    • Then there's his laugh in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Specifically, in Subspace Emmisary. He's laughing from across a very shaky holographic interface, so his laugh dissolves into the most malevolent sounding static you've ever heard in your life.
    • In another game, Chancellor Cole in The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks. He laughs before his near enough every action.
  • Lampshaded in The Curse of Monkey Island. During Guybrush's first encounter with Murray, the Demonic Talking Skull, Murray busts out a laugh and Guybrush asks him about it. Murray (whom Guybrush had just blown apart) says that there's a fish nibbling on his foot somewhere, and it really tickles.
    • Above lampshading happens in the first few minutes of the game. The trope is played straight in the rest of the game. He really likes to let us know who he is.

Murray: I AM MURRAY, THE EVIL DEMONIC SKULL! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

      • King Andre, the smuggler leader of Skull Island, has a fairly impressive evil cackle that he breaks into for no apparent reason. Guybrush eventually asks him to stop, as it's fairly unnerving.
  • Klogg, the villain from the claymation Adventure Game The Neverhood, has a pretty awesome laugh, which not only appears in the Bad Ending (which manages to top it by having the hero, Klaymen, do an even better one of his own, after his mutation into a Klogg-like being) but in the opening credits as well.
  • Evil Witch/Warlock Sims in The Sims 2 had idle sequences in which they would cackle and Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive. In Sims the Third, if your character has the Evil trait, they'll cackle and wring their hands in the most satisfying way, point ominously at other Sims and gloat about... their impending doom?
  • The Guardian from the final Ultima trilogy had a particularly memorable bass-pitched resonating laugh, courtesy of Bill Johnson and a filter that made his voice progressively deeper in each of the games.
  • Valkyrie Profile 2's Lezard Valeth has a pretty maniacal laugh when he pulls off a special - more so when he teleports around during the final boss battle.
  • A-no-ther ex-am-ple is the Wi-zard of Wo-r in Wizard of Wor. Ha-ha-ha-ha.
    • Not only that, but an extended version occurs during one of the Wizards "Game Over" quotes:

Hee-hee-hee ho-ho-ho ha-ha-ha-ha. That-was-fun.

    • It also occurs in Gorf which also came out at around that time; it even has the exact same synthesised voice.
  • Every Undead character's /laugh in World of Warcraft.
    • Also blood elves, to some degree; the females especially sound rather psychotic. The male gnome and (ironically) draenei /laugh emotes (respectively a high-pitched cackle and a raucous guffaw) also sound a bit maniacal. And female trolls sound like the Wicked Witch of the West.
    • Due to the introduction of death knights, every race and gender can now have one, via an optional sound filter.
    • Many, many bosses in WoW invoke this trope.
      • Malygos: What could you hope to accomplish, to storm brazenly into MY domain? To employ MAGIC? Against ME? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
      • In a recently opened raid, Ulduar, the final boss Yogg-Saron gets a particularly nasty one whenever he casts a certain spell.
      • The Crone from Karazhan's Opera event is no slouch.
      • You face Jaraxxus and his Evil Laugh.
      • If you ever spend time in Naxxramas, you'll quickly come to dread this laugh whenever Kel'Thuzad manages to kill one of your team mates.[2]
      • The Blood Princes council when they get a buff, some of them at least.
      • The Headless Horseman has a good theatrical one. His helmet will allow characters to perform it, too.
  • Albedo Piazzola from the Xenosaga series had a particularly deranged Evil Laugh fitting with his overall character.
    • An evil laugh given so convincingly can make one worry about the mental stability of the voice actor...
      • His voice actor is Crispin Freeman, for those who are wondering. He's not insane, he's just that awesome.
    • His Japanese voice doesn't fail to impress either.
  • In Mega Man Powered Up, Dr. Albert Wily has a pretty good one.
  • Diablo's Mephisto and Baal have this that will surely make you scream to death for the malevolent laugh hits the ceiling.
  • Jedah, the main villain of the Darkstalkers series evokes this during one of his special attacks.
  • In the Street Fighter series, Sagat was the first to break out the evil laugh whenever he wins a match, which he still does to this day.
    • Street Fighter Alpha has Vega and Bison (especially Shin Bison in Alpha 3) following his example.
    • Gill and Urien both have evil chuckles.
    • Juri Han has a real evil laugh whenever she wins a match.
    • Oni laughs if his Meido Gohado knocks you out in Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition.
    • Subverted with Chun-Li, as her laughter is not evil.
  • In Iji, Assassin Asha and Iosa the Invincible both laugh gleefully while trying to kill Iji.
  • Crispin Freeman gets a chance to let out an over-the-top evil laugh as Heughes in Baten Kaitos Origins. He's not the only one, actually, quite a few of the villains in the series let out some seriously mad Evil Laughs.
  • In Donkey Kong 64, this is done by both the Big Bad King K. Rool and the insanely creepy third boss Mad Jack (who's laughter is part of the background music).
    • Oddly enough, it's also done by Bleak in Donkey Kong Country 3, when he's hit by one of the Kong's attacks (and then continuously until he EXPLODES).
    • The most infamously Nightmare Fuelish of Donkey Kong Country evil laughs is that of the aptly-named Kackle, the skeletal Kremling ghost from Donkey Kong Country 2.
  • House of the Dead: "Hm-hm-hm-hm-hmmmm. People of the AMS. I am Goldman!"]]
  • The Mother from Dragon Age: Awakening delivers an impressive evil laugh in her first scene. She is initially distraught over the loss of "her pets" at Kal'Hirol, but calms down at the urging of a follower. When asked what she will do next, she shrieks that first she will laugh.
  • Spoofed in Sam and Max: Culture Shock, where Brady Culture is heard practicing his evil laugh as he spies on the Freelance Police meddling in his plans, and it grows from weak to genuinely menacing.
    • Hugh Bliss lets out a rather creepy one in Bright Side of the Moon.
    • But, to no one's surprise the best example of this trope in these games comes from none other than Max in The Penal Zone.
  • The Fleshpound from Killing Floor will sometimes laugh as he's making his way to the players. Shooting at him will cause him to fly into an Unstoppable Rage and let loose a Roar Before Beating.
  • Clive from Professor Layton and the Unwound Future gets a very nice one upon his reveal as the game's Big Bad.
  • Dr. Curien, the staple Mad Scientist villain from the House of the Dead series, gets a rather memorable one in the third instalment. As the mid-chapter cutscenes up until that point had depicted him as a benevolent scientist seeking a desperate cure for his son's illness, once he lets the laughter loose, you know he's gone bonkers.
  • Wheatley in Portal 2 gets one, which seals his Face Heel Turn, and later comments on how exhausting that kind of laughter is.
    • Some of the defective turrets will do this when they make it past the quality control.
  • The main antagonist of Kirby Mass Attack does an evil laugh.
  • As it is a derivative of Fist of the North Star, Hokuto Musou does this as well—quite a few characters possess evil laughs, which is not unheard of for the series. However, what is notable is that Souther/Thouzer not only has a spectacular evil laugh which can be activated at will, but that it's also weaponized. Tapping the special move button makes him cross his arms in a Badass Arm-Fold and laugh evilly, while spontaneously making everyone within about ten feet of him explode into bloody chunks without actively touching them.
  • In Captain America and The Avengers, Red Skull has one. Like many voices in the game, it comes out sounding rather silly.
  • The Prince in the early parts of Rule of Rose has an Evil Laugh that varies from quick giggle to truly psychotic cackle as he has Jennifer in his power. He becomese much more subdued later on, however, as his role in the story becomes more ambigious.

The Prince: For I am the Prince, and the Prince rules! Mwahahahahaaa! This is your life, but you're playing by my rules! Hahahahahaaa!

Gol: Okay, sickly evil laughs. Hahahaha. That's too stupid. HahahaHAha! That sucks. What's an evil laugh? HA-- *cough cough* *giggles*


Visual Novels

  • M in Shikkoku no Sharnoth only ever emotes when he is destroyed one of the Metacreatures. When he does, he launches into a full blown evil laugh. Mary is quite disturbed.


Web Animation

  • In the "Mental Floss" web animation Be Amazing!, around 3:12 -- "Maniacally, I said! MANIACALLY!"
  • In the Halo 3 machinima, Deus Ex Machina, a villain starts laughing because he's supposed to be a robotic time-gasbomb, when it turns out to be a dud, he plays a looping laugh sound. Yes, it is creepy.
    • Another earlier villain chuckles to himself in a completely normal manner. Since he is laughing about the hero's imminent doom, it still feels very evil.
  • Although he's gone a long way since his villain status, Strong Bad from Homestar Runner has a pretty neat—if seldom used—laugh (seen in "dragon" and "Most In The Graveyard").
  • In Red vs. Blue the main antagonist O'Mally often laughs in an extremely over the top way, once with a bit of lampshading when he's trying to stay undercover by possesing a Blue.

O'Mally: Everyone has played right into our hands! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!!!1
Everyone Else: [Stares]
O'Mally: Okay maybe that was a little loud.

    • At one point after delievering one of his incredibly hammy evil laughs, he actually says this to his "comrades."

O'Mally: Now be careful. Don't give away our position with maniacal laughing.


Web Comics

Martellus: Aw... Seffie - I've missed that creepy laugh of yours.
Xerxephina: Hee hee! Isn't it good?! ...but I'm still working on the harmonics.

Web Original

  • Gordon does an amusing one, actually.
  • Dr. Horrible opens Act I with his unbelievably artificial maniacal laughter. Hey, he's working on it (with a voice coach).
    • For his views on the evil laugh, see the top page quote.
    • He gets it extremely right in Act III.
    • And then there's Bad Horse, the leader of The Evil League of Evil, with his "terrible death whinny".
  • From Gaia Online. Johnny. K. Gambino. Lampshaded in a later story update where Johnny, stuck in a rut, says he just doesn't have the passion for the Bwahaha stuff anymore.
    • Among the site's staff, Qixter, the main dev for zOMG! makes himself out as an Evil Overlord, complete with Evil Laughter. His trademark quote is "Can I get a Bwuhahaha?" This quote makes it into the description of the item at the end of the game.
  • Parodied by Adam in Maddison Atkins episode 9, and also demonstrated by Maddison in episode 38.
  • Mysteriously this article on That Other Wiki.
  • The best use of YouTube yet is broadcasting an Evil Laugh competition.
  • Jermaine of Awkward has one that's equal parts evil and douchey, in part because he copped it from Ganondorf, but mostly because, well, he's a douchebag.
  • Used for parodic purposes in the French MP3 series Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk by the dark wizard Zangdar. It does not help that he is incompetent and brutal towards his minions and servants.
  • After the Critic is defeated in Kickassia, The Nostalgia Chick and The Cinema Snob.

Nostalgia Critic: Hey, look, I found a credit card. (Beat) MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Dr. Insano: You can't just start laughing maniacally at the end of every sentence! You have to earn it! You have to say something dramatic, like "soon we will conquer Thailand, and tomorrow THE WORLD!"
Dr. Nye: (in movie) Today we conquer Thailand, and tomorrow THE ENTIRE WORLD! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
(Insano, Spoony and the Spoony Bum start laughing maniacally)
Dr. Insano: SHUT UP!!!

  • Played straight and lampshaded in the Whateley Universe story "Test Tube Babies" when the woman playing badguy in the holographic simulation turns out to be a real retired supervillainess who terrorized three continents during the Cold War.

"But of course, Herr Bardue. In the last sim, I didn't even haff time to give zem my evil laugh.” She clenched her fists and looked at the ceiling. “BWA-HA-HA-HAH!"

  • Played for laughs by Chester Cheetah here.
  • Members of the league of evil villains opposed to The League of STEAM engage in one at the end of "Dead End."


Western Animation

  • The sheer creepiness of Megatron's Evil Laugh in the original animated series is in and of itself Nightmare Fuel.
    • The Quintessons during the "Five Faces of Darkness" arc were initially so overcome by their moment of triumph, they were at a loss as to how to go about celebrating it. Then one of them suggests a quiet chuckle. And so they do, and rather creepily.
    • Because of his normally almost emotionless demeanor, Soundwave very rarely laughs in the original series. When he does, though?with his flanged, echoing voice?it is awesome creepy.
    • Beast Wars has a number of the Predacons do this, including but by no means limited to: Megatron when he's feeling smug, Rampage when he's inflicting pain, and Tarantulas almost constantly... They're always the third sort, and always a pro at it.
      • Lampshaded near the end of "Other Visits Part 1", where both Megatron and Tarantulas begin cackling at the same time after coming together to work on the same Evil Plan. Hard to describe on paper, but plays out very nicely.
    • Almost every Decepticon in Transformers Armada indulges in this at least once, most often Psycho for Hire Cyclonus.
      • Megatron in Transformers Armada is the biggest offender, though: he laughs a lot, never passing up an excuse to do so, to the point that it becomes Narmish. As the Big Bad, he has that right, but the Cybertron version, played by the same voice actor, (who also played the Beast Wars Megs) doesn't laugh nearly as much.
  • Kim Possible: Señor Senior Senior views the Evil Laugh as a vital part of villainy. When Señor Senior Junior states this view to Shego (in "Two to Tutor"); she tells him that his father has "warped his mind."
  • The Simpsons
    • Bart Simpson's laugh is pretty evil, even when he's laughing about something innocent.
    • Mr. Burns has a pretty good one too.
    • Sideshow Bob.
    • Kang and Kodos also have their own, as well.
    • Lisa Simpson has her own share of evil laughter in a few episodes. In "Girly Edition", after elaborating a scheme against Bart, Lisa has an evil laugh which was comically followed by their monkey helper's own evil laugh, creeping out Lisa. Also, in "Last Exit to Springfield", after she has braces installed leading to a spoof of the Joker's laugh from the 1980's Tim Burton Batman film.
    • Marge Simpson has a more raspy one in "All's Fair in Oven War" in which she sabotages her opponents food with Baby Ear Medicine. Also, she gives one in the third segment of TOH IV in which she reveals that she's the head vampire.
    • Even Homer has one in a few episodes such as "Flaming Moe's", "When Flanders Failed", and "The Fat and the Furriest" when he makes a big cotton candy ball with caramel on it.
    • "Bart Sells his Soul": Milhouse has one in this episode when begged by Bart to give him his soul back, but with a price: Fifty bucks.
    • "Whacking Day": Skinner has one after tricking Bart, Jimbo, Nelson, and Dolph in receiving mountain bikes only for him to forget to turn off the microphone causing everyone to hear.
    • Groundskeeper Willie has one in the second segment of TOH VI "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace".
    • Hank Scorpio definitely gives one in "You Only Move Twice".
  • The Smurfs: Gargamel and ... his pet cat, Azrael. Usually, the two laugh – master first and cat next – after Gargamel consecrates his latest scheme to capture and/or kill the Smurfs.
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Skeletor, usually after announcing his latest plan to stop He-Man and take over Eternia.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Surprisingly, the one time that Firelord Ozai gets one of these it’s more like an evil chuckle. Instead, the biggest Evil Laugh of the series goes to Toph.

I AM NOT TOPH! I AM MELONLORD!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

  • A lampshade was hung on this in at least one episode of The Fairly OddParents, in which the arch-enemy of the Crimson Chin; the Nega-Chin looks at his watch and says "Oh. Time for my Evil Laugh!" He then engages in said evil laugh on cue.

Norm: That's my evil laugh. How is it, huh? I've been practicing.

    • Subverted by Gary, Timmy's former imaginary friend. He has a nasty laugh but he says "laughing maniacally, not cool".
  • Most of the Villains in The Herculoids had one.
  • The Evil Laugh of Culinary Quint on Timon and Pumbaa's Wild Adventures, which was "Le HAH! Le HAH! Le HAH!" He was French...
  • In The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, the barber, advancing on Flapjack with a knife to cut his hair, lets out a utterly emotionless evil laugh. It is genuinely chilling.
  • In Wander over Yonder; the dreaded and notorious Lord Dominator has two distinctive Evil Laughs, seeing as "he" is actually a she, posing as a he. In armor, her amplified voice makes her laugh deep, menacing, and intimidating, able to frighten even other villains. Without the armor and using her true voice, she has a maniacal cackle, suggesting some insane teenage girl.
  • The hooded Claw from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.
  • The Powerpuff Girls. Mojo Jojo. For shame!
  • In "The Tick (animation) Vs. Europe", the Breadmaster actually writes his evil laugh out, in a taunting letter to the Heroes. Which Arthur points out.
  • In the Tom and Jerry short Solid Serenade, Tom traps Jerry in Spike's doghouse and gives the audience an Evil Laugh as he closes the door. Then Jerry emerges, being safely escorted out of the enclosure by Spike himself...who utters an Evil Laugh of his own as he shuts the door again. Hilarity Ensues, natch.
    • In Jerry and the Lion, Tom traps Jerry in a closet and again gives one of these to the audience as he closes the door... not realizing that Jerry is accompanied by the escaped circus lion who he's befriended. Hilarity once again ensues.
  • Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races (and everything else he's been in for that matter). In this case though, it doesn't make him threatening at all.
  • Nox, the Big Bad from Wakfu, can sometimes get into a pretty demented Evil Laugh to conclude some of his monologues.
    • It's referred to as his "psychopath laugh" in this convention video with the voice actors (a demonstration is given 40 seconds in.)
    • Season 2 Big Bad the Eliatrope Qilby is no slouch in this department either. Since he actually has a visible face, unlike Nox, his Evil Laugh looks much more demented.
  • Jack Spicer's obsession with his evil laugh in Xiaolin Showdown.
  • Thailog from Gargoyles has a good one; the comic continuation of the series shows that he gets disappointed when he goes for long periods of time without a chance to indulge in this, and finally having an excuse to do so cheers him up immensely. When he is initially introduced and people wonder if it is Goliath (who Thailog is cloned from), Elisa doubts that the heroic and straight-arrow Goliath even knows how to laugh maniacally. Hudson even directly asks Goliath: "Do ye even know HOW t' laugh maniacally?"
  • Jonny Quest episode "The Werewolf of the Timberlands". Pierre (the "werewolf") has one.
  • Mandark from Dexter's Laboratory. Seriously. Dexter himself.
  • Invader Zim has Tak, Zim's far more competent and villainous rival, giving an evil laugh that lasts more than 10 seconds, followed by still more evil laughter as she goes over her evil plan. Zim doesn't quite get it, despite having his own evil laugh, and responds with "yes, yes, I'm a master of comedy".
    • Zim himself plays it straight; after a plan to get rid of Dib appears to be successful, he struggles to find a sufficiently evil way to end his monologue.

Zim: Now Dib, I leave you to your... eh...
GIR whispers "say 'moosey fate'!" Zim follows the suggestion, looks like he can't believe he just said that, then nonetheless bursts into explosive evil laughter.
"Muhahahaha! Mhahahahhaa! MUHAHAHAHAHAAAA! HA,HA,HA,HA,HA- *ahem*... I LOVE EARTH!"

  • Yet another Joker example, this time from Batman: The Animated Series, courtesy of Mark Hamill. Naturally.
  • In Thundercats, Mumm-Ra unleashes a very impressive one every time he transforms into Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living.
  • Heloise on Jimmy Two-Shoes has a strangely adorable one. Lucius gives one too.
  • The Monarch in The Venture Bros likes a good evil laugh. It may be because he actually works as a villain as his full-time occupation, but then he also loves his job. He's also Genre Savvy enough to know what he's doing.
  • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Nightmare Moon, Spike, and Fluttershy each pull off an evil laugh at various points in the first season. Discord also gets a few in the season 2 opening. Discord actually has two distinct ones—his normal, evil, and somewhat menacing laugh, and his sinister-as-all-get-out laugh. The latter happens more often when he's not onscreen.
  • Non-Evil Example: This absolutely glorious clip from Megas XLR.
  • Adventure Time: Princess Bubblegum pulls off a pretty insane evil laugh in "The Duke" when she thinks she finally has an excuse to lock up the Duke of Nuts. In "Mortal Folly" the Lich starts laughing when Finn is about to defeat him with a sweater.
  • In ReBoot, Megabyte and Herr Doktor do this frequently. With Megabyte being voiced by Tony Jay...
  • Green Goblin has a particularly psychotic one in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
  • DCAU likes giving this to Batman. The original scares Harley Quinn half to death with it, when Batman II/Terry MacGinnis does it in The Movie, taunting the Joker (The Joker!) into a Villainous Breakdown.
  • In Batman Beyond, Derek Powers gives an awesome Evil Laugh here when he finds out the side effects from his radiation treatment.
  • The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
  • 64 Zoo Lane.
  • In The Powerpuff Girls, many villains do evil laughs (even the Powerpuff Girls do them sometimes).
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars features numerous characters who thoroughly enjoy a good malevolent chortle.
    • When Anakin takes off on Dooku's speeder bike to save Ahsoka in the pilot movie, Dooku is said to be "(LAUGHING MALICIOUSLY)" according to the subtitles.
    • In the Mon Calamari arc, Riff Tamson seems determined to laugh evilly once for every 5-10 lines of actual dialogue he has. If not more.
    • In the Umbara arc, General Krell spends the first three and a half episodes as a gruff, domineering officer. However, once he admits that he is a traitor he laughs deeply in every following conversation.
  • Angelica in Rugrats has plenty of these.
  • Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy: "You've met your match, Melon Head! Prepare for... PROFESSOR SCAM!!" MUAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Edd:...He's lost it. Honestly?

Real Life

  • Tom Cruise, in his infinite wisdom, suddenly went bonkers in an interview with him that veered into a discussion of his place in the Church of Scientology. Amongst "pew-pew"esque noises directed at "SP's", the man began laughing crazily. Naturally, the Church tried to get the video taken down, however...
  • Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals unleashes a textbook example of this trope in a CCM Hockey skates commercial. See for yourself.
  • Jim Jones, infamous leader of the Peoples' Temple cult, was known to have a seriously disturbing laugh that sounded like something in between cackling and hyperventilating.
  • There are other real people who laugh like this. And people who usually have "normal" laughs may sound like this while hysterical.
  • Steve Carrel unleashes a good one Played for Laughs after someone ask the Daily Show panel he's on whether the interviewees know they are going to be laughed at later: Ha Ha Ha! THEY HAVE NO IDEA! WE JUST SCREW WITH THEM! HA HA HA HA HA!
    • And they watch it later and CRYYYYY!
  • Zhawq, a psychopathic blogger, suggests the stereotype of an evil laugh may have come from psychopaths like him, who love to laugh and may laugh at things that horrify most people.
  • Vincent Price was the master of the evil laugh, as demonstrated in any number of horror movies.
  • Internet trolls often think they sound clever when they write out laughter, an opinion not widely shared.

Muahaha...

  1. ↑ she is played by Tiffany Grant
  2. ↑ usually after said teammate stands still inside of a swirling vortex of shadowy death
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