Launching Monday. Any title comments?

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There are some unique laughs that, when imitated by anyone, immediately bring to mind a single person. It may be an Annoying Laugh (even a Most Annoying Sound) or an Evil Laugh, it may be the sounds/words used, or the fact that it's at a terribly inappropriate time, but everyone knows who it's connected to. When this happens, this person has a Signature Laugh.

It doesn't count if it reminds you of a type of person (like the Noblewoman's Laugh), nor just a type of laugh (like The Hyena). It must be an individual who springs immediately to mind when it's heard. Can overlap somewhat with Verbal Tic.

Some of these sounds are difficult to translate onto a page, but when you hear them, you know.

Compare Annoying Laugh, Evil Laugh, Laughing Mad.

Examples

Advertising

• The Jolly Green Giant's "Ho ho ho!" Spelled the same as Santa's but very different.

Anime & Manga

• Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT: Master Roshi.
• Every major villain in One Piece has a unique laugh.
• Ryuk from Death Note: "Hyuk hyuk hyuk!"
  • Light Yagami's typical Evil Laugh even became a Memetic Mutation.
• Tsuruya from Suzumiya Haruhi.
• Ashuraman's "Ka ka ka ka ka" laugh is so deeply associated with him that it's featured in his Villain Song.
• Prussia from Axis Powers Hetalia has the rather unique "Kesesesesese".
• Kururu in Keroro Gunsou.
• Ranma ½: Kodachi Kuno's (high pitched in the anime) "ohohohohohohohoho". Her appearance is always accompanied or heralded with that laugh.

Comic Books

• The second Blue Beetle Ted Kord always has his laughter written as "BWAH-HA-HA-HA"
• "Fnarr, Fnarr, Fnarr!" will forever be associated with the Viz character Finbarr Saunders. Usually it was unleashed whenever he noticed a Double Entendre, however convoluted.

Film

• Louis from Revenge of the Nerds.
• Tommy's signature "haha" from The Room. Often used at inappropriate times.
• Sid James's dirty laugh was a staple of the Carry On films.
• John Wayne, in many of his roles. "Dah-Haa, dah-haaa, da-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
• Pee Wee Herman had a very distinctive laugh.
• Axel Foley has a distinctive laugh, to the point where it was featured in the promos for Beverly Hills Cop.

Literature

• Terry Pratchett seems to love these:
  • "Hat. Hat. Hat." from Mr. Cletes
  • Dragon-King-of-Arms and his "ah-ha".
  • The Death of Rats and his "Snh-Snh-Snh".

Live-Action TV

• Curly's "Nyuk-Nyuk-Nyuk"
• The Muppets have plenty:
  • Stadler and Waldorf use "DOH-ho-ho-ho-hoh!"
  • Ernie's hissing "hee-hee-hee"
  • The Count's "ONE <insert noun here>, Ah-ha-ha..."
  • Elmo has one of the most distinctive laughs in children's television, as anyone who has ever owned a Tickle-Me-Elmo doll can attest to.
• Arnold Horshack from Welcome Back, Kotter had two signature lines: "Oooh, Oooh, Mr. Kotter," and his Signature Laugh.
• Tim Allen's grunting laugh from Home Improvement (it actually started in his standup routine).
• Fran Drescher's nasal, snorting laugh in The Nanny
• Kitty on That '70s Show. Both how she laughs, and how often she laughs.
• Sybil Fawlty, anyone?
• Janice from Friends, with her nasally "nghanghanghangha"
• In-universe example: In an episode of Sister Sister, Tia has a boyfriend whose laugh is very hard to miss, and it ends up being the way she finds out that he is on a date with another girl.

Professional Wrestling

• "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase has such an iconic Evil Laugh that it's been incorporated into his theme music.

Radio

• Difficult to type, but the radio version of The Shadow had a very distinctive laugh, at least when Orson Welles was in the role.
• Carolina Bermudez (of Elvis Duran and the Morning Zoo) has a quite a distinctive laugh, a "Ha ha ha ha!" that is almost like a fusion of an evil cackle and Elmo's laugh.
• Live-Action TV: The Great Gildersleeve... Again, impossible to spell out. Also crosses over to Live-Action TV.

Real Life

• Drew Carey, mostly in Whose Line Is It Anyway?, whenever the laughs got out of hand.
• Ed McMahon from The Tonight Show had a distinctive, deep belly laugh.

Video Games

• Amagami: Miya's "Nishishishi"
• Final Fantasy VI: Kefka' "Uwehehehe!"
• Final Fantasy VII: Heidigger and Scarlet are at one point referred to as "Gya-Ha-Ha" and "Kya-Ha-Ha" by one of the party members.
• Resident Evil: Code: Veronica: Alfred Ashford is known for his hideous laugh.
• Fassad's "Nwehehehehehe!"
• The dog in Duck Hunt, as well as the pose he makes.◊
• The Pokémon Croagunk and its evolution, Toxicroak, both have distinctive high-pitched, cackling cries.
• Donkey Kong, in the arcade game: AAH. AAH. AAH.
• Exit Fate's Those Two Bad Guys: Trevor's "Hohohohoho" and Sick's "Hihihihihi".
• Larxene's laugh as well as Vexen's laugh and death cry are pretty well known around the Kingdom Hearts fandom.
• Banjo of Banjo-Kazooie fame has a Goofy-like but still distinct "guh-hyuck".
• In Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon's ending, The King has a rather well-known "OAHOHOHOHOHAHAHAHA!" partnered with Zelda's "Eh heh heh... Ehehehehe!"

Western Animation

• Scooby-Doo has his "heHeHEHeHehe" chortle, often followed by, "Rooby Roo!"
• The Simpsons: Nelson has very distinctive laugh.
  • Also, Ms. Krabapple's single "HA!"
• In Avatar: The Last Airbender , Toph's laugh was what tipped Aang off that she was the girl from his vision.
• The Proud Family has Papi's nigh-irreproducible laugh. It was a plot point once, when an imposter actually managed to get it down perfectly.
• The distinctive throaty snickering of Dick Dastardly's canine sidekick, Muttley, in The Wacky Races, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines and Stop The Pigeon.
• Several Batman villains:
  • The Penguin's "wah wah" squawking laugh
  • Riddler's high pitched giggle
  • Joker's maniacal cackle (particularly Mark Hamill's interpretation)
• Harvey Birdman: HA-HA! Phil Ken Sebben!
• Goofy's distinctive "Ah-Hyuk!"
• Elmer Fudd's "Hehehehe".
• Mickey Mouse's high-pitched giggle from when Walt Disney was voicing him. Wayne Allwyne's short "He-He!" from more recent times is almost as memorable.
• Other SpongeBob characters have distinctive laughs: Squidward's nasal chortle, Mr. Krab's pirate-accented "Ar-ar-ar-ar", Plankton's Evil Laugh, and many others.
• Dishonest John's "Nya-ha-HAH!" from Beany And Cecil.
• Popeye - "Ug-ug-ug-ug-ug!"
• Mandark from Dexter's Laboratory has his "HA haHA! HA haHA haHA!" In fact, one episode has no dialogue apart from this, Dexter's laugh and a few other sounds.

Other

• Santa Claus, in all his incarnations (I don't need to say it, do I?).

Rolling Updates, Do We Need This, etc.

Index: Laughter Tropes