History Main / LaughingMad

* Valentino descends to this after being tricked into killing her one and only friend from her (admittedly brutal) training during a side/origin story in the comic [[http://www.marilith.com/archive.php?date=20070712 Marilith.]]

* [[HarryPotter Sirius Black]]- after his best friend James Potter and his wife Lily Potter died, started laughing as he was arrested. [[spoiler: Although he was in fact innocent,]] so the laughter was probably a combination of all the emotions piled up on him, like[[spoiler: betrayal]], grief, hatred etc.

* In the famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment Milgram Experiment]], which was meant to test how far normal people would go when obeying the orders of someone in a position of authority, one of the subjects, and encyclopedia salesman, went into fits of hysterical laughter when he heard the screams of pain from his supposed victims, to the point where the session had to be discontinued. He wasn't a sadist, or insane; the laughter was a somewhat unusual indicator of the extreme emotional stress he was under. Ah, the things you could do before the invention of medical ethics review boards.

* In the famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment Milgram Experiment]], which was meant to test how far normal people would go when obeying the orders of someone in a position of authority, many of the subjects were recorded as giggling or laughing nervously as they heard the screams of pain from their supposed victims. They weren't sadists, or insane; the nervous laughter was an indication of the extreme emotional stress they were under.

More often extreme cases occur, causing a character to turn to complete madness, either going into an insane asylum or possibly [[HeelFaceTurn twisting them further]].

** Also, the deleted scene where Light stays in the graveyard after [[spoiler: L's funeral,]] starts laughing madly, proceeds to crawl on top of [[spoiler: L's grave]] and shouts "What do you think of that, L? This is my perfect victory! That's right—'''''I win!'''''" with a crazed look on his face... and looks suspiciously like he's humping [[spoiler: L's grave.]]

* ''DeathNote'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRtaRbj7FWI&feature=related anyone?]]

[[quoteright:350:[[DeathNote http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DEATH_NOTE_-_37_-_Large_10.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Light Yagami, in his moment of...[[VillainousBreakdown triumph?]]]]

* {{Batman the Animated Series}}: The Demon's Quest, when Ra's al Ghul comes out of the Lazarus Pit.

* LooneyTunes - Daffy Duck.

[[DeathNote http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DEATH_NOTE_-_37_-_Large_10.jpg]]
[[caption-width:704:Light Yagami, in his moment of...[[VillainousBreakdown triumph?]]]]

->''"Haven't you ever heard of the healing power of laughter?"''
->-- '''TheJoker''', ''{{Film/Batman}}'' (1989 film)

** What? No love for [[FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesRingOfFates Cu Chaspel]]?

* The trope namer (Sort of, the name is a reference to his [[CrowningMusicOfAwesomeVideoGames Crowning Music Of Awesome]] ''Dancing Mad'') is Kefka, the EvilClown BigBad of ''FinalFantasyVI''. His laugh is such a big part of his character, they had to make it a pre-rendered soundbit to play every time.
** Take the definition of this trope, then apply it to ''Dancing Mad'', then apply it to Kefka's character overall. Feel that? That's the awesome sinking in.
***It's also the closest thing to [[WordOFGod officially-stated]] motivation Kefka has.
**** Actually, the game states that Kefka went insane after being the first subject for magic infusion. Apparently they hadn't perfected the process yet.