And There Was Much Rejoicing

"We are here as guests and Xinchub was a national hero...now put on your hats."

"Ding-dong, the witch is dead!"
"Which old witch?"
"The wicked witch!"
"Ding-dong, the wicked witch is dead!"

— The Munchkins, The Wizard of Oz

When a character's death (or at least general misfortune) is seen as a joyous occasion, even by characters of the same alignment.

Popular in horror, thriller, and disaster movies as it allows the threat to dispatch a character or two without hurting anyone who either the other Main Characters (namely Deadpan Snarkers) or the audience really cares about...and may in fact be better off without. The character can be (but need not be) All of the Other Reindeer, Too Dumb to Live, Hated by All, or The Millstone. Alternatively, the character is sometimes a straight-up villain, up to and including the Big Bad. It is only natural that the citizens oppressed by an Evil Overlord would celebrate their demise.

Note that this can be used in an unsympathetic light, if the one who kicked the bucket is a Nice Guy who is nothing but decent and likable, or someone who is sympathetic, this can make the character who cheered or relieved by that person's demise come off as an uncaring Jerkass.

The polar opposite of Antagonist in Mourning, Alas, Poor Villain, and Alas, Poor Scrappy. Compare and contrast Lonely Funeral. A staple of Black Comedy. See also Asshole Victim, a Sister Trope. See also Break the Haughty and Humiliation Conga. May include The "Fun" in "Funeral" and Last Disrespects.

Compare And Contrast Cheerful Funeral, where people are celebrating regardless of whether they were good or bad in life. Not to be confused with I Wished You Were Dead, where someone who wishes for that persons death only end up causing the wisher to feel regret instead (should the recipient died for real).

Not quite the same as And the Fandom Rejoiced.

For when the work's audience rejoices at a hated character being killed, see Take That, Scrappy!.

As a Death Trope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.

As the editors organized the page's category tabs, the Real Life examples tab was eaten by pigs. And there was much rejoicing.^note Yaaaaaaay. noreallife

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Chapter 157 of Brynhildr in the Darkness, has Machina meet his end as a direct result of his own actions, and the completely unhinged Onodera, a high ranking member of Vingulf, actually celebrates.
  Onodera: Well, look at that. For all the power that was given to him, this was the idiot's fate in the end.
  Sorcerian: Gross.
• Code Geass:
  • An example of this is in Season 2 when Luciano Bradley is killed in battle with Kallen. Suzaku's first action upon arrival is to fire at Lelouch, who's behind her, while telling her to move. Gino, who arrives shortly thereafter, is only concerned with her choice of sides and engages in friendly banter. Luciano's death gets exactly one mention, and it's only to compare just how pitifully easy he went down with how pitifully easy Suzaku is about to go down.
  • Also in R2, with Lelouch. As Nunnally cries over his dead body, the crowd in the background is chanting Zero's name in celebration. Then again, that was exactly what he wanted.
• In Death Note, after L's funeral, Light is given some time alone at his supposed friend's grave. Once he's sure no one's around, Light starts laughing maniacally and gloating about how he won.
• In Dragon Ball, after the evil Great Demon King Piccolo was destroyed by Goku, everyone across the world celebrated their liberation.
• Nisshi's death in Gantz Abridged is a parody of the treatment of his death in the original. He was a complete Jerkass, and while the characters try to mourn him, it doesn't really work since he had no redeeming qualities. The most successful attempt is to the effect that since Nisshi forgot to insult his eulogist when insulting everyone else, that makes him okay.
• In Hetalia: Axis Powers, America actually brings England back to life by loudly declaring to Death himself that they should drink and celebrate when England was finally offed.
• In one episode of Kodocha, Sana-chan briefly thinks her (then) nemesis Hayama might be dead. She launches into a traditional Japanese mourning ritual, with gusto and extreme cheer.
• In Laughing Under the Clouds, a huge picnic is held under the now unclouded sky after the Orochi's final death.
• Quite a few times in One Piece after the Straw Hats liberate an island, city, or group of people from a cruel ruler/leader:
  • When Luffy and Zoro defeat Marine Captain Morgan at the very beginning of the story, even the Marines who served under him celebrate the end of his tyrannical rule, and the entire town views them as heroes.
  • After the Straw Hats defeat the Arlong Pirates, liberating the island (including Nami's hometown of Cocoyashi Village) from his rule, the entire island celebrates and parties for several days straight.
  • In Skypeia, Luffy and crew bring down "God" Eneru and his followers, which also marks the reconciliation and end of a 400-year war between the Skypeians and the Shandorians, who party together with the Straw Hats for days.
  • The Straw Hats defeat Gecko Moria and retrieve everyone's shadows on Thriller Bark, which results in a several-days celebration with their new allies.
  • The alliance of the Straw Hats, Law, and the soon-to-be-members of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet brings down the entire Donquixote Family in a day. The citizens — who lived under Doflamingo's rule for ten years — are so grateful to finally be free of him that the entire chapter after Luffy defeats him is devoted to everyone's overjoyed reactions, including lots of Tears of Joy.
  • This was the general reaction to the Seven Warlords of the Sea system being revoked. Numerous Warlords had been abusing their privileges while hiding behind their Government pardons, so their return to being wanted criminals caused celebrations among normal citizens and pirates alike.
  • The Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance, against the overwhelming odds, emerges victorious from the Onigashima War after managing to kill Orochi and defeat Kaido of the Four Emperors, ending their twenty-year tyrannical rule of Wano Country. While the Flower Capital was in the middle of the Fire Festival, no less. Once the news spreads to the rest of the country, they wait for Luffy to wake up (which takes him one week) before throwing another festival.
• In Episode 6 of the 1988 version of Osomatsu-kun, the Sextuplets celebrate Iyami's "death" when a "mourning" Chibita isn't looking.
• Osomatsu-san: After hearing about Karamatsu's kidnapping during "The Karamatsu Incident", Ichimatsu starts dancing with a much happier mood than usual.
  Ichimatsu: (wiggling) Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, oh no...
  Choromatsu: Stop dancing, Ichimatsu. Don't celebrate your brother's disappearance.
• Rosario + Vampire: When Tsukune defeats Kuyou, who is the Head of the Disciplinary Committee, the entire student body celebrates and declares him their hero. Even the teachers (i.e. Ms. Nekonome) agree that Kuyou had it coming for a very long time.

Comedy

• Mark Steel's routine about flicking around the channels and seeing a newsreader appearing with the "Special Serious Face" with a picture of Margaret Thatcher behind them and how he must have been one of the millions of people in Britain who punched the air and shouted "DEAD!", only to be disappointed; "Aw, just a stroke!"
• One Mock the Week segment discussed this. Highlights include suggesting that Margaret Thatcher's funeral be held Oop North where there'd be a lot more people in the streets having a party, and most of the funeralgoers would only attend to make absolutely certain that she's really dead.
  Frankie Boyle: It'll be the first time that the 21-Gun Salute shoots the coffin!

Comic Books

• Fables: After Shere Khan is killed, the other Fables express their "sadness" by dancing on his grave. Bagheera, not much of a dancer himself, preferred to just piss all over the grave.
• Watchmen: When Walter Korvacs aka Rorschach was informed that his mother was killed by her pimp. He just uttered one word: "Good".

Comic Strips

• Dilbert: When the Pointy-Haired Boss apparently died in a plane crash, the only employee who wasn't sure about celebrating was Wally—because he didn't know whether to celebrate or go home early.
• Garfield: Ellen's reaction when Jon tries the sympathy angle by claiming he only has one week to live is an enthusiastic "Yeeees!"

Fan Works

• The 75: When Amandus Snow (a cousin and predecessor of the president for the main books) is assassinated, there are a lot of stunned (although hardly mournful) reactions, but at least one victor (a Career from District 2) whose suffered heavily under Amandus "squeals in delight."
• Crimson and Emerald: Dabi is ecstatic to see Endeavor, his father, pushed down a rank, especially since Hawks, whom Dabi's idol Stain complimented, was the one who took the number two spot from him.
• Discussed in The Cutting Edge. When attending the funeral of Malcolm Merlyn, Laurel affirms that she'd be dancing a jig over his grave if she thought she could get away with it.
• In The Dead Potions Master when Gibbs announces that Snape was murdered, the majority of the Hogwarts student body cheers, hugs each other and dances in the aisles.
• A Devil Amongst Worms: People across global celebrate Leviathan's demise, praising Makima for taking him out. Director Armstrong is described as being on the verge of singing and dancing on the PTR board room table at hearing the news.
• In A different weasel makes a difference, after Jorah Mormont releases Viserion from Volantis captivity, he's torn apart by elephants. It's mentioned that after the war was over, Winterfell sent a letter to Volantis thanking them for killing the Northern traitor.
• The Dragon and the Butterfly: After Hiccup and Toothless flee the archipelago, the Vikings of Berk celebrate as they believe that the two biggest threats to their survival (Hiccup due to his accident-proneness and Toothless because he's one of the most dangerous dragons in existence) are gone for good. Their happiness is short-lived, though, as the raids get worse, they have no weapons due to a grief-stricken Gobber refusing to work, and Stoic is working through a HeroicBSOD.
• Fantasy of Utter Ridiculousness: A group of fairies continue one of Megas XLR's Running Gags by cheering whenever Seija Kijin gets hit in the face by something.
• In Harry Is a Dragon, and That's OK, Dumbledore unceremoniously fires Dolores Umbridge by simply announcing at the end-of-year feast that, "The position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is now vacant," to widespread cheering.
• I'm HALPING: Upon realizing that Mama Mathers has disappeared from her Paths, Contessa throws a huge party in Cauldron base and gets drunk off her face. Alexandria first notices when there's a conga line outside her office.
• An Impractical Guide to Godhood: Hera's status as the goddess of marriage causes her to behave unpleasantly toward gods and goddesses who conceive demigods, making her Hated by All. Consequently, after Perseus engineers her downfall, he and his companions are showered with gifts by all of Hera's many enemies.
• Subverted in The Judgement of the World (5Ds). Many Duel Spirits look forward to seeing Judai get physically beat up or at least curb-stomped by Yusei and Aki in the Valentine's Day lovers tag team duel. Once the actual duel commences, everyone quickly finds it awkward and difficult to watch due to how much humiliation Judai's partner Asuka^note who has a crush on him and hoped to get his attention by being paired with him in the duel endures as Judai repeatedly tries to switch partners with Yusei.
• In Light and Dark The Adventures of Dark Yagami, this, surprisingly enough, happens to Dark the first time he dies; the girl who killed him is hailed as a hero and the only people sad are Dark's family and Misa. L is so widely hated that no one mourns his death.
• In Miracle Queen Aftermath, pretty much everyone in Paris starts celebrating when Chloé — who's long been a Karma Houdini due to her father's mayoral position — is arrested for willingly aiding Hawk Moth. The Ladyblog crashes after making the announcement, her school closes for a few days when the teachers party a little too hard, a guy hands out cupcakes to random people on the street, and Mr. Ramier organizes a "21-pigeon salute" on her rooftop.
• In My Mirror, Sword and Shield, Lelouch's death is celebrated as a national holiday.
• Once the news of Joffrey's unlamented demise reaches the Starks in the Alternate Universe Fic Ned Stark Lives, Arya is by far the most overjoyed of her family (and of the Northmen) and is hoping to learn more about how he died. For the record, Arya is a 10-year-old girl who just nearly had her father killed by Joffrey's family, was forced to abandon her pet direwolf Nymeria, and had a friend whom Joffrey killed for extremely petty reasons. Ned is actually a little creeped out by how happy she is.
  • There are similar celebrations from the Northmen when they learn of Tywin Lannister's death.
  • Played with for Myrcella's death. No one is happy, and several characters mourn the death of an innocent child, but they are all aware that one less claimant to the throne is a good thing.
  • Averted with Littlefinger's death. No one liked the man and several people wanted him dead, but the consequences of his death prevent anyone from celebrating it.
• The Pokémon Squad: In one episode, Sailor Pikachu inadvertently shoots Baloney the Dinosaur and kills him. Aside from Barney, absolutely no one is sad about his death. The police actually thank Sailor Pikachu once they realise who was killed.
• Discord's original defeat several thousand years ago in the Pony POV Series got this reaction from Equestria in the "Origins" arc, including a song celebrating Celestia and Luna's victory. Considering it was a prequel and Discord was an Evil Overlord whose entire reign can be summed up as For the Evulz, wiped out two of the five pony races, and generally put the entire country of Equestria through a living hell for 1000 years, this was to be expected.
• Robb Returns: When the innkeeper who was cheating Dacey Surestone, along with pretty well everyone else he dealt with, drowns in a slops bucket after being slugged by the wife of a merchant for sexually harassing her, everyone "had a moment of silence that might have been as much as a heartbeat long before proceeding to celebrate a great deal."
• Invoked in the Naruto Fanfic Roku Naruto when Naruto makes Sakura trip on a rock.
• In Supreme Champion Dolores Umbridge is dissolved by dragon vomit. When they identify what little is left of her months later, the Ministry throws a party.
• In the Miraculous Ladybug fanfic Teenage Rebellion, when Adrien shows up at school with a new all-punk wardrobe, Nino immediately assumes that his father died and makes plans to throw a party ending with "a conga line over the SOB's grave."
• Explored and deconstructed in Two Letters. After retiring, Marinette is pleased to see that her replacement is not only getting the job done, but has been making many of the Jerkasses and Ungrateful, Entitled Bastards who caused Marinette so much grief utterly miserable. At one point, she's practically shaking with glee as Mayor Bourgeois laments his lot in life. Problem is, Marinette was so worn down from her time as Ladybug that she came to see all of Paris as taking her efforts to protect them all for granted and resents everyone who ever got akumatized, regardless of the circumstances. This means that aside from Luka, she's pretty pleased to see just about anybody suffering, considering it all to be Laser-Guided Karma.
• Weight Off Your Shoulder: Adrien is displeased to see how happy his classmates are when Chloé's Karma Houdini Warranty runs out, chiding them for showing No Sympathy and not considering how she must feel about everything. Since Chloé was a completely unapologetic Spoiled Brat, all Adrien accomplishes is irritating his friends, as they collectively realize that Adrien considers her feelings to be far more important than those of her victims.
• With This Ring: When the Renegade kills Klarion the Witch Boy and then hands himself in to the police, Wonder Woman comes to express her disappointment at his violent action. However, one of his fellow inmates, upon hearing what he's done, is thrilled and calls the Renegade his hero, since Klarion's actions killed hundreds of thousands of children, including the inmate's sister. The leader of the Chinese Communist Party, who lost his young nephew, is very happy with the Renegade, too, and the president of the United States arranges a medal. Of particular relevance is that even the Light wanted Klarion dead, and in fact made it a condition of the Renegade joining them.

Films — Animation

• Bébé's Kids: Robin starts his story at a funeral. And he summed up the general sentiment thus: "Everybody was there... 'cause everybody was glad he was dead."
• In The Black Cauldron, after the Horned King is absorbed by the Cauldron, his put-upon toadie Creeper, after a moment of mourning, starts laughing maniacally. Considering how the Horned King spent much of his time on-screen with Creeper abusing him both verbally and physically, it’s no wonder why he’s happy his boss is dead.
• Coco: The crowd responds with thunderous applause when Ernesto gets a bell dropped on him following him being outed as a fraud and a murderer. ...Well, except for that one guy returning from the concession stand.
  Guy: What'd I miss?
• In The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, everyone thinks the Were-Rabbit has been killed, and Lady Tottington mourns the rabbit's apparent death. The Vicar turns to Lady Tottington and reassures her that they feel her pain. The minute he turns his back, he and the rest of the villagers start rejoicing.
• Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy: When the castle explodes and Velma and her friends are believed to be killed by the explosion, everybody in town celebrates. However, it's seemingly only the villains who are happy about the gang's deaths; the townsfolk in general are more happy that the curse is over. One of the town women even expresses sympathy for Velma and her friends.
• Shrek:
  • At the climax of the first movie, the antagonist Lord Farquaad is swallowed by a dragon... and the entire town bursts into cheers. Then again, on the "Karaoke Party" DVD bonus feature, he's heard singing "Stayin' Alive" from inside the dragon, so it seems he's Not Quite Dead — until he was eventually digested, of course.
  • In Shrek the Third, the crowd witnesses the on-stage death of Prince Charming and proceed to treat it like the happy ending to a play (complete with an "Awww!" when Shrek and Fiona kiss). Of course, while Charming was the hero in the play, most of the audience still didn't really like him.
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: "It's been six weeks since Saddam Hussein was killed by a pack of wild boars, and the world is still glad to be rid of him."

Films — Live-Action

• In Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, when Ace decides to leave the Buddhist monastery, the monks are so overjoyed that he is finally leaving that they throw a huge celebration; complete with bottles of champagne, throwing rolls of toilet paper everywhere, and running around in their underwear.
• Blood Surf: After the whiny douchebag producer gets eaten by the killer crocodile:
  Guy: Man, that has gotta suck!
  Girl 1: Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!
  Girl 2: Amen!
• In Borat, hotel staff reluctantly break the news to the title character that his wife has just died, only to suddenly get hugged by him and watch him joyfully dance around the room.
• In the "Christmas Future" segment of A Christmas Carol (see Literature below), no one attends Scrooge's funeral, and two young debtors are relieved at his death. This gets played several ways in adaptations of the book:
  • Scrooge (1970): Everyone in Camden Town that owes Scrooge money celebrates his death by singing "Thank You Very Much" and dancing on his coffin.
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol shows a group of tophatted pigs discussing how glad they are he's gone: one cracks that he only plans to attend the funeral "if lunch is provided!" After seeing this, Scrooge walks in a nearby building to see Old Joe (a Giant Spider Muppet created for this film) buying goods stolen from Scrooge's house because there were no mourners there to stop him. After Joe remarks that he's not going to pay extra just because the blankets are still warm, Mrs. Dilber (Scrooge's housecleaner according to the novel) retorts, "You should, it's the only warmth he ever had!" to mutual hilarity.
• In the Netflix original film The Do Over, when Max fakes his and Charlie's deaths, Charlie's family, who were very disrespectful and pushy towards him, don't so much rejoice his death as not give a rat's ass that he is "dead". It's not until he finds his step-sons masturbating under their covers and his ex-wife going at it with her ex-boyfriend immediately after his funeral that Charlie decides that he's better off without them.
• In the film adaptation of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this the reaction to Joseph's supposed death by everybody except Jacob.
• In A Fish Called Wanda, Ken spends the movie trying to assassinate an old woman, who is the only witness to a crime committed by his boss. However, every attempt results instead in one of her pet dogs dying, much to Ken's horror as he is an animal lover. After the third try winds up crushing her final dog, Ken pushes his way through the shocked crowd to find that the woman had a heart attack from shock. He starts maniacally laughing in public.
• The Trope Namer is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The line was first used in a more expected sense when the knights were reunited, but then things got desperate for Arthur's company (though it's also a pun, by the way).
  "They were forced to eat Robin's minstrels... (eating sounds) and there was much rejoicing."
  "Yaaaaaay."
• In Natural Born Killers, when the warden (Tommy Lee Jones) learns Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore) is dead, his reaction is basically "Meh."
• Nicholas and Alexandra: Rasputin's death is met with cheers and celebration by all the members of the Duma...except for Kerensky who spells out that Russia's problems go beyond what killing one crazy monk will solve.
• No Holds Barred: After Rip (Hulk Hogan) knocks the movie's previously unbeatable Wrestling Monster Zeus from a high balcony, causing him to fall to the ring at least three stories below and the impact (presumably) killing him; the crowd cheers wildly that Rip has finally avenged Zeus' treachery, not to mention severe beating of his brother, Randy.
• Francine from The Odd Way Home shows nothing but relief at the death of her abusive husband, saying that he did the world a favor by dying.
• Invoked in Other People's Money, when Larry insists that he doesn't care about being despised.
  "And, by the way, it pleases me that I am called 'Larry the Liquidator' because at my funeral, you'll leave with a smile on your face and a few bucks in your pocket. Now, that's a funeral worth having!"
• Popeye: Practically the entire town rejoices when Popeye takes down the tax collector. And it was an accident, too. Popeye merely wanted to move him aside, and he ended up pushing him over an edge and down a slide that dumped into the sea. The trope applies only ephemerally, as the tax collector was all right if soaked, but it was the first time anyone had ever defied him like that.
• There may not have been literal rejoicing when the obnoxious Lucky Larry got squashed by the machinery in Poseidon, but none of the band of survivors was particularly broken up about it. Was one of the better SFX shots of the film, too.
• In Problem Child, the nuns throw a celebration at the orphanage when John Ritter's character decides to adopt the eponymous child.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark features a minor character version. At one point a swordsman in black challenges Indiana and starts swinging his sword around. However, Indy isn't in the mood for a fight and promptly shoots him. The crowd around the swordsman immediately starts cheering.
• Revenge of the Pink Panther involves Inspector Clouseau surviving an assassination attempt and then pretending to be dead in order to track down the mob boss who ordered the hit. At Clouseau's "funeral", his former boss, Chief Inspector Dreyfus, is assigned to give the eulogy... during which he keeps bursting helplessly into hysterical, gleeful laughter. He then tries to cover it by pretending to shed Manly Tears, causing everyone else to weep in sympathy.
• Scaramouche (1952). Upon joining the National Assembly, Andre Moreau is set upon by the aristocratic side of the assembly, to a series of duels. With each victory, the next day, he declares that his most recent opponent will be "Absent from the assembly", which proceeds to induce cheers from the commoner's half of the assembly.
• In the movie The Slipper and the Rose, a live-action musical based on Cinderella, Prince Charming at one point visits the royal crypt and sings "What a Comforting Thing To Know", describing his less-than-illustrious ancestors.
  And here lies old King Frederick
  He stole for forty years
  The day he died the people cried.
  They cried? They cried "Three cheers!"
• Starship Troopers: The cowardly General Owen is treated with utter contempt by the mobile infantry who find him hiding in a supply closet. So when he gets smeared across the ground by the shot-down corpse of a flying bug landing on top of him, the response is whoops and cheers from the nearby soldiers.
• At the end of the Special Editions of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, galaxy-wide celebrations begin as news spreads about the second Death Star's destruction and the Emperor's death. On the capital of Coruscant, unfortunately, the expanded universe indicated that the celebrations didn't last long before Imperial troops cracked down on them.
• The song "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" from The Wizard of Oz, after the Wicked Witch of the East is killed. Also, the Wicked Witch of the West’s guards and monkeys all celebrate once she’s been melted. Apparently they hated working for her and were just following orders. In fact, the original cut called for the guards and monkeys to sing a reprise called "Hail Hail the Witch is Dead", just to drive the point home.

Jokes

• There is a Russian joke with a punchline of "We were burying my mother-in-law, got two accordions torn". The punchline is so worn out that at this point that overused gags, links, and humorous stories are called "bayans" (accordions) in certain sections of the Russian internet.
• "He was dying to hop around and sing and dance...but his mother-in-law's coffin was just so damned heavy on his shoulders." There seems to be a pattern somewhere here, right?
• The trope is the base for the old joke: "Q: What do you call 10,000 lawyers on the bottom of the ocean? A: A good start."
• There's an old joke that goes: "I bet you'd like to see me dead just so you could spit on my grave, wouldn't you?" "Nah. I don't like to get in lines."
• The endlessly popular "[Hated Public Figure A] and [Hated Public Figure B] have a fight to the death. Who wins? Humanity."
  • Similarly, "If [Hated Public Figure A] and [Hated Public Figure B] fell out of a boat and you only had one life-jacket, what would you cook for dinner?"
• A joke that was (secretly) told in Germany towards the end of the Second World War:
  Hitler and Goering were reviewing the troops from the roof of a tall building. Hitler asks Goering, "What should I do to benefit the Reich?" Goering tells him, "Jump."
• Hitler had been getting some bad feelings and called in a soothsayer. The mystic looked in their crystal ball and stated "Mein Führer, you will die on a Jewish holiday." "Which one?" "Any day you die will be a Jewish holiday."

Literature

• Angry White Pyjamas by Robert Twigger. During their Training from Hell the students receive a call informing them the founder of their aikido school has died, so the dojo will be shut down for a week in mourning. They carefully put down the phone, then start dancing around the room, calling for champagne.
• Bazil Broketail: Glaves' subordinates don't even try to hide their glee whenever he gets his comeuppance. They openly cheer when a Teetol who challenged Glaves to a duel (after getting insulted by him) publicly beats the living crap out of him. When they get word that Porteous was wounded during the battle at Salpalangum, it actually improves their morale and makes them charge at the enemy with even more verve.
• Venandakatra is nicknamed "the Vile One" by his own side in the Belisarius Series, and no one in the Malwa hierarchy sheds a tear over his utter humiliation at the hands of Belisarius. His rather long, painful, and torturous death at the end is a cause of much rejoicing.
• Beware of Chicken: The whole of the Azure Hills celebrates the death of Sun Ken, the Whirling Demon Blade, holding theatrical reenactments and showering accolades on the "Demon Slaying Orchid". (Which is exactly why Jin allows Xiulan to take the credit for it; he likes his privacy, but wants people to know the menace is gone.)
• Ogden Nash's poem "The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus" relates the morality tale of Jabez Dawes, an unrepentant brat who denied the existence of Santa Claus, until Kris Kringle turned him into a jack-in-the-box in retaliation. Which leads to the following stanza:
  The neighbors heard his mournful squeal;
  They searched for him, but not with zeal.
  No trace was found of Jabez Dawes,
  Which led to thunderous applause,
  And people drank a loving cup
  And went and hung their stockings up.
• Older Than Radio: In the original novella A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Future shows Ebenezer Scrooge a young couple who have been saved from financial ruin by the recent death of their creditor (Scrooge himself, unbeknownst to him). Since the man only needed a few more days to secure needed funds to pay off the debt, days which "old" Scrooge would most likely not grant, the "float time" to when the debt is transferred to its new owner gives the couple financial security, presumably for the rest of their life. The young bride even mentions that to feel joy at another's death should be wrong, but she can't help herself. (This scene is not usually included in adaptations.)
• In The Curse of Chalion, the two brothers who are the powers behind the Chalionese throne have repeatedly raped the queen; when one of them dies, she shows up at his funeral in every piece of festival garb she owns. Everyone pretends not to notice.
• In The Discreet Princess, when Rich-Craft is about to die from his injuries, his immediate family are the only ones sad about it. The people are all very happy that his Prince Charming brother is about to inherit the throne.
• Discworld
  • Referenced by Granny Weatherwax in Carpe Jugulum, when she's in a self-doubting mood: "It was a terrible thing to think that the only reason people would go to your funeral was to make sure you were really dead."
  • Actually happens in Witches Abroad, when Greebo eats a vampire (in bat form) and the locals all celebrate. The witches think that the reason they're all celebrating the death of someone in the castle is that it was the landlord ("Bit of a bloodsucker, I think he was saying.").
• Dragon Bones: When Ward's abusive father dies, nobody celebrates in an inappropriate way, but almost no one is sad, either. The house ghost Oreg (actually a magically-bound immortal slave) gives Ward and his younger sister Ciarra new clothes for the funeral. While the clothes are an appropriate dark blue and might be an attempt to ingratiate himself with his new master Ward, they are also very beautiful and would have made a nice present for a more conventionally joyful occasion.
• The Elemental Trilogy: Following news of the Bane's demise, the Domain spends the next 48 hours in celebration.
• Fire & Blood: When Aegon II dies very suddenly, the citizens of King's Landing break out in a sudden plague of celebration that one Maester, recounting afterward, couldn't figure out. Court jester Mushroom has his own theory; drunken jubilation (Aegon's death meant the technical end of the Dance of the Dragons, after all).
• A room full of telemarketers are reduced to skeletons by a demon in Good Omens. This means that all the people they were due to call didn't get a little angrier, didn't curse them, or spread this annoyance onwards. So in balance, these hideous deaths made the world a little better. Although not so much better that Terry didn't insist it be undone by the end of the book.
• Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi opens with the cultivation world's celebration of Wei Wuxian's death and exposition of exactly why they're celebrating it, setting up the Description Cut for his revival.
• When Voldemort is finally killed near the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, everyone celebrates. Even Peeves, the annoying poltergeist who inhabits Hogwarts, is pleased and cracks a joke at his death.
• Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky ends with everyone celebrating the death of the Jabberwock itself.
• In Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, the death of Lawrence Strange, a miserly old sadist who accidentally killed himself through exposure trying to torment a feverish manservant, is greeted with general relief and admiration for the man who prompted it. His son simply considers the minimum socially acceptable period for him to be in mourning before he can propose to Arabella now that he's out of the way.
• The Left Behind series: The Dramatic Audio presentation of Glorious Appearing has the sound of a crowd cheering wildly as Michael locks Satan away in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. However, Satan does get out in time for the Final Battle.
  • Prior to that, in the middle of the Tribulation, there were 3 1/2 days of rejoicing when the two witnesses were killed by Nicolae at the start of the Global Gala, which abruptly ended when they were resurrected and taken to heaven in a cloud, according to The Word of God.
• Older Than Radio: The reactions of the villagers after Max and Moritz have been ground alive into pellets and eaten by the geese.
• In the Night Watch (Series), in the novel Twilight Watch, Witezslav, an unpleasant vampire on the Inquisition is killed, and besides the obvious lack of sympathy from those on the side of Light, his Dark colleagues were also indifferent, and for both sides, the greater concern was how someone was powerful enough to destroy him. This makes sense since besides being a cold, unlikeable person, he gained that level of power by killing children.
• In The Shining Ones, Thalesian nuisance heir and The Napoleon Avin Wargunson was summarily knocked off in a particularly insulting way (stuffed in a barrel of wine with the lid nailed shut). Given his 0% Approval Rating, when they finally held his funeral, the congregation tried (and failed miserably) to contain their mirth. The entire country then spent the next week celebrating his death; his death was both the best thing to happen to them and a great memory to get through the cold winter there. One character, however, wonders if there was any way to save... the wine (which was a particularly good vintage), and is saddened by the fact that Avin pickling in it for a week made it unsalvageable.
• In Star Wars: Fatal Alliance, the Dark Council isn't exactly torn up about the death of Darth Chratis. One goes so far as to promote his killer.
• In the third book of The Stormlight Archive, after the backstabbing Brightlord Sadeas is murdered, some of his peers manage a few halfhearted regrets before one of them comes out and says "Good riddance". Dalinar insists they should not insult his memory, but quickly realizes that, while the people gathered wouldn't have murdered him themselves, they see his death as a net positive. Even he can't manage much more than saying that they used to be friends and that his death is "inconvenient", both because of Sadeas' skill and knowledge would have been valuable for the upcoming Desolation, and the fact that Dalinar is the most logical suspect.
• At the end of The Twits, when the Twits disappear.
  • In another Roald Dahl novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there are several "general misfortune" examples with regards to the naughty kids, as the Oompa-Loompas' Crowd Songs about Augustus, Veruca (and her parents), and Mike claim that they're pretty much getting what they're due for their greed, sloth, etc. and that in Augustus' case the prospect of him becoming fudge is a wonderful one because then people will at last have reason to love him! Their boss Willy Wonka claims to the rest of the tour group that they're just joking, but Grandpa Joe and Charlie are not entirely sure about that. In the 2013 stage musical adaptation, "general misfortune" escalates to possible Death by Adaptation in several cases—but this trope still applies.
• Ultramarines. Done with a building. The Tau blow up an Administratum tax bureau and the guardsmen cheer. Keep in mind these are people taught from birth that aliens are evil and want to sacrifice their babies to the Dark Gods.
• The Woman in White: The last paragraphs of the novel are Walter finding out from Marian and Laura that Frederick Fairlie has passed away. They don't even pretend to be upset about it, because was a selfish insufferable man who no one liked, and more importantly, his death means that Walter and Laura now control the sizeable Fairlie estate on behalf of their infant son.
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  • When Dorothy Gale arrives in the Munchkin village, she is appalled and apologetic to discover that her house has landed on and killed an inhabitant of Oz. The Munchkins respond by breaking into a song and dance about how happy they are that the witch, is in fact, dead, and make Dorothy a national hero. In the film version, Judy Garland's shocked expression throughout most of this is priceless.
  • The same thing happens later when she accidentally kills the other witch, and the guards respond by thanking her.

Live-Action TV

• A 3rd Rock from the Sun episode has a loathsome, universally despised professor (played by John Mahoney of Frasier fame) suddenly dropping dead at a party being given in his honor.
  Dick: (cheerfully) Dr. Albright! You got your wish!
  (Harry begins clapping, stops when nobody else joins in)
• This has happened several times on The Amazing Race, with the remaining teams all celebrating the elimination of a hated/feared team:
  • Rob & Amber's elimination on Season 11.
  • Brandy & Carol's elimination on Season 16 was initially played as this, until Dan & Jordan pointed out that the U-Turn could have just as easily been used to eliminate the more dangerous Jet & Cord.
  • On Season 19's penultimate leg, the Final 3 teams celebrated on the mat when they realized that, due to their cab drivers being in contact the entire leg and giving each other directions, they had finished ahead of Andy & Tommy, and wouldn't have to face them and their insane luck in the finale.
• One episode of Angel has the gang go to Lorne's homeland, the demon dimension, Pylea. When Lorne asks his mother if she noticed anything odd when he disappeared 5 years prior, she remarks "we noticed feasting and celebration" and that his brother Numfar did the dance of joy for 3 moons. She then has Numfar demonstrate said dance.
• Briefly mentioned in the Babylon 5 episode "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" for a comedic effect. Londo Mollari looks upon a wedding celebration and sneers, noting that Centauri weddings are somber, sad affairs. This kind of merriment is normally reserved for Centauri state funerals.
• While the character doesn't actually die because the poisoning was discovered right before it killed him, the attempted murder of the Commodore in Boardwalk Empire is treated this way by the other characters on account of his being a lecherous racist and total jerkass. When Jimmy thinks his mother (who was impregnated by the Commodore at 14) is the poisoner, he makes a comment to the effect that he doesn't really have a problem with the Commodore being murdered, but if she's doing it for financial reasons, he doesn't want the Commodore's money. When the poisoner is discovered to be the Commodore's put-upon maid, Nucky tells her that she did wrong in actually attempting what others would only think about and gives her money to leave town and start a new life.
• This has happened on Bones:
  • In "The Crank in the Shaft", the victim, an office manager, is seemingly mourned by everyone until Booth and Bones find out that the victim was so hated by everyone that not only was there a celebration of her death, but nearly everyone she had ever met had a motive.
  • Happened with Arc Villain characters too. Everyone was happy when Heather Taffet, the Gravedigger, was killed, and they were even happier when Booth finally killed Pelant.
• The Brittas Empire: The first time Brittas was announced to be dead, 1200 people are stated to have come to his funeral, with the heavy implication that they came because of this trope. The cast doesn't seem too bothered by the death either, with Tim and Gavin at least being remarkedly pleased once they hear of it.
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: ZigZagged in "Ding Dong" after Holt's longtime nemesis Madeline Wuntch dies unexpectedly. While Holt and Rosa start out as this (with Holt gleefully passing out bagels to other officers in celebration) he is forced to suppress it when he is instructed by Madeline's will to speak at her service. By the end, however, this is subverted into Alas, Poor Villain, as Holt realizes he will miss their battles.
• When Buffy announces that she killed Caleb in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow's reaction is "Well, all right!". Then again, he was a Sinister Minister in the service of the First Evil.
• Canada's Worst Driver: Non-fatal example. During Colin's expulsion in episode 4 of Season 2, many of the contestants and their nominators were happy to see him get kicked off, with one of them emitting a soft "woo hoo". This would be confirmed with Confession Cam clips done after that event.
• Charité at War: Both Sauerbruchs, their colleague Jung, their secretary Miss Fritsch and her boyfriend, an American spy, are up for toasts and dancing on 20 July 1944, thinking that Stauffenberg's attempt on the life of Adolf Hitler was a success. They're in for a bitter disappointment.
• An episode of The Commish had two police officers agonizing endlessly over the best way to break a death notice to a man's family, only to find they're overjoyed about his death.
• Coupling had an episode where Steve gave this impression by accident: he was expecting a call at a restaurant, and made up a lie to a waiter saying that it was about a dying relative not expected to make it through the night. This is right after having ordered champagne. When the call eventually came, he couldn't leave the table because of an erection and told the waiter calling him to the phone that he wasn't interested in taking it anymore in a way that sounded as if he couldn't be bothered.
  • An earlier episode was set at Jane's aunt's funeral, with one attendee (Jane's other aunt) making no secret of her joy at the dead woman's passing.
• This is a regular occurrence on Copper:
  • Elizabeth Haverford is quite overjoyed when her husband is murdered since she recently discovered that the man was a pedophile and child murderer.
  • When a racist and troublemaker is found dead, the police officer only bothers to investigate his death because the man's daughter has incited a Powder Keg Crowd and they need to avoid a riot. However, the daughter is only doing so out of family obligation and she quickly stops her protest when told that a convenient buyer was found for her father's property and she can get the money as soon as the case is closed.
  • When a dentist is poisoned his wife is overjoyed because the man was extremely abusive and cheated on her regularly. When Sgt. Byrnes accidentally kills himself by eating the same poisoned cake that killed the dentist, Det. Cochran and most of the other coppers don't shed a tear and burst out laughing when they find out the ironic way the sergeant died. The man was extremely corrupt and liked to steal the belongings of dead people. Even his nephew does not mind when the coppers make jokes about the way his uncle died.
• CSI: NY: In "Happily Never After", a crowd gathered around a scene where a dead woman wearing red shoes was found underneath an ice castle, upon confirming who the victim was, applauds. Then Stella gives a Quip to Black about finding someone without a motive being the hard part. Bonus points for all the similarities between the victim and the Wicked Witch of the West, and various other references to The Wizard of Oz throughout the episode.
  Hawkes: Are they applauding?
  [Applause grows louder]
  Hawkes: They're applauding.
• Dr. Romano of ER died quite horribly, but he was such a Jerkass only one character really gave a damn. Another even twisted the knife posthumously by naming a wing for LGBT patients after the notorious homophobe.
• Family Matters: A non-death example comes early in Season 2, when Steve Urkel had by now become an established part of the series. Urkel annoys the neighborhood once too often — he serenaded Laura with his "rendition" of Morris Albert's "Feelings"... late at night! — and is sent to a relative's house in the south to live for a few weeks, to give the neighbors time to get over their anger with the nerd. The Winslows rejoiced long and loud that they would have two weeks without Urkel... and then, as if on cue, in walks "Cousin Urkel"... the even-more-annoying southern-belle-wannabe Myrtle!
• Subverted in Fawlty Towers. The episode "The Kipper and the Corpse" has the doctor walking into the dead man's room and seeing Basil Fawlty jumping up and down and crying, "Oh, joy! Oh, I'm so happy!" Of course, the real reason Fawlty was so happy was that the kippers the man had been served with his breakfast were out of date, and he had just learned that the kippers were untouched, making it not his fault.
• Played with in Frasier, when Frasier's hated and mean-spirited aunt passes away; while Frasier, Niles, and Martin express no grief at her death, it's not exactly an opportunity for celebration either as Frasier's been burdened with writing the eulogy for the memorial service (which gives him no end of grief as he tries to find some genuine virtue he can extol about her, having stubbornly refused to lie and invent virtues the woman didn't have) and Niles has been burdened with finding a place to dispose of her ashes.
• In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Will blamed himself for his uncle's political opponent having a fatal heart attack (he told him he could "drop dead" right before it happened). After spending the episode feeling guilty, he showed up at the funeral to discover that everyone else was just there to make sure he was really dead and was moved to give a defense of the man's life. When indignantly asked who he thought he was he said "I'm the dude that killed him" and was given a standing ovation.
  Will:...Tough room.
  Uncle Phil: Yeah.
• Friends
  • In "The One with the Dollhouse", Ross informs Monica that one of their aunts died only to find Monica screaming with joy saying that the woman was a 'cruel cranky old bitch' and then eagerly asking Ross if she gets their aunt's dollhouse.
  • When Rachel's boss Joanna dies, she's sad, but mostly because Joanna was about to recommend her for promotion. Joanna's other assistant Sophie, on the other hand, looks happier than she ever has before.
    Rachel: Ohh, Sophie, I guess you didn't hear about Joanna.
    Sophie: (smiling) I sure did!
• Even Full House wasn't immune to this. Jesse inherited a local club from its previous owner, who died of heart failure. The funeral was (by character narration alone) done this way, but justified because that was what the deceased owner wanted.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Jaimie Lannister offed The Mad King seventeen years before the beginning of the series. As The Mad King's idea of fun included burning people to death, no one much minded. (Although Lannister was stuck with the reputation of being an oathbreaker, as he had once promised to guard the king with his life.)
  • Later on, we have the event that the fandom dubbed "The Purple Wedding". The much-loathed, in-universe and out, Joffrey Lannister is fatally poisoned at his own wedding.
  • And in Season 6, the Invincible Villain Ramsay Bolton finally meets his end in a satisfyingly gruesome death.
  • The following season Littlefinger meets an equally satisfying death delivered by Arya Stark.
• Played with on The Golden Girls. When the group's hated next-door neighbor died, possibly from Rose's harsh words, they throw a cheap funeral for her since the woman had no friends or relatives. Then an old friend shows up and gives a heartfelt eulogy about how the deceased spent all her life doing charitable work. However, the "friend" turned out to simply be in the wrong room. When she realized who was actually in the coffin, she expressed joy, then kicked the coffin for good measure.
• Invoked in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys when a time-traveling King Arthur is deposited in Hercules' time. This version of Arthur is an evil, murdering, asshole and he goes through an eventual heel-face turn after Hercules points out that tyrannical kings are usually remembered like this.
• iCarly:
  • At the very end of "iHave a Lovesick Teacher", after Ms. Ackerman gets arrested by the FBI for illegally downloading music, which Carly, Sam, and Freddie secretly set her up with using the PearPod she gave Spencer as proof and that she admitted it on iCarly the night before, all of the students in the classroom break out in cheers and applause now that their Sadist Teacher is finally out of their lives.
  • Another episode had Nevel, who'd been harassing iCarly for the show's whole run, ruin his own reputation when a video of him yelling at a little girl goes viral. The teens, are stunned for a moment at the video...before they start cheering at their enemy's downfall. They take it a step further by celebrating with a "Karma Party" with their friends/fans, where they eat karma-themed foods ("Chicken Karma-sean", "Karma Corn", "Karma Apples", etc), throw darts at defaced pictures of Nevel, and even give a toast to his misery. ^note  It sounds cruel, but remember that Nevel once set Carly up in a fight with Shelby Marx that (had things gone differently) might have ended with Carly being seriously hurt.
• An episode of Law & Order had the (first) victim of the week get chased into oncoming traffic by a particularly amoral paparazzi who wanted her opinion on her husband's affair. Once he was found to not be complicit in her death, he got shot; when his death is announced at a restaurant frequented by the rich and powerful, everyone applauds.
• Lost provides an example of this with the introduction of Arzt in the finale of the first season. He was blown up while he condescendingly lectured the main characters on how to handle dynamite safely. Right after it happens Hurley does get quiet and even goes so far as to say, "that was messed up" but he seems to have been more concerned with his own streak of bad luck and the gibs scattered about. No one else cared.
• In an episode of Louie there is a much rejoicing moment when Louie and Robin Williams, being the only two men at a burial, discover that each other both hated the man, and share a hearty laugh.
• In one episode of Malcolm in the Middle, a stuck-up critic reviews the hotel Francis and Piama work at in the cruelest, most condescending way. When said reviewer insults Piama, Francis and hotel owner Otto beat the crap out of him. The day said review is to go in the paper, instead there is an article about how the guy was beaten up, with the hotel getting sent tons of thank you notes from other victims of his "critiquing", along with reservations from other booked hotels.
• According to Marcy in a Season 5 episode of Married... with Children, after everyone in the neighborhood thought that Al died, they were all dancing in the street and singing "Ding Dong, the Shoe Man's Dead".
  • In a later episode, when Al moved out of the neighborhood, they held a parade to celebrate.
• Not a death, but the news of Frank Burns getting arrested, held for psychiatric observation, and transferred from the 4077th inspires whoops of joy on M*A*S*H.
  B.J. Hunnicutt: This reduces the enemy to just North Korea!
  • ...At least until they discover he's been cleared, promoted, and stationed back in the States.
• Subverted rather tragically on Merlin. You'd think that, since Uther was a genocidal dictator who has single-handedly been responsible for the death of hundreds of sorcerers and their persecution in the Five Kingdoms, this would be the reaction to his death. However, the circumstances turned his son against magic, and thus nothing was won by it.
• An episode of Murphy Brown plays with this trope when Murphy's hated nemesis dies and leaves her in charge of the eulogy. First she plans to give an awful speech, then a heartwarming one, then an awful one when she finds out his own mother didn't like him when finally the guy makes himself look like the Jerk with a Heart of Gold from the GRAVE with the sole purpose of humiliating her.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000
  • In Hercules and the Captive Women (billed at the time as the show's last Hercules movie, although they ended up with one more later), Joel and the Bots held a funeral for Hercules, which quickly became a party. Crow at one point declared, "He's dead as a doornail and I'm gonna party like it's 1999!"
  • Warrior of the Lost World has the "hero" using a very annoying talking motorcycle. When a monstrous vehicle called Megaweapon crushes it, the guys react in sheer joy.
    All: Yeeeeeeeeees! MEGAWEAPON MEGAWEAPON MEGAWEAPON!
    Crow: Make it last!
    Tom: Yes, yes, make it slow, Megaweapon, yeeeeeees!
    Joel: Our long national nightmare is over!
    Tom: I can't tell you how richly satisfying this is.
    • In the same episode, the main character (who didn't due anything but ride a motorcycle and mumble) appears to be shot. Joel and the bots all cheer.
  • In-universe example: In Red Zone Cuba, Dr. Forrester is beaten up by mobsters and ends up in a full-body cast. TV's Frank accepts calls from former President Jimmy Carter ("Is he dead yet? Call me, you hear!?") and a wreath of dead flowers from Mother Teresa with the note "Hope You Die".
    TV's Frank: It's true what they say, one life can touch so many others.
  • In The Mole People, after The Load gets killed:
    Crow: Is the first stage of grief pure, unbridled joy?
  • In Time Chasers, when a character gets crushed by the wreckage of a plane:
    Mike: Oh!... Well, thank you, movie!
  • Mike and the Bots have this reaction to the death of Russell Johnson's character, a drunken, abusive parent, in The Space Children. After the man gets his mind fried by The Blob That Came From Heaven and the paramedics are wheeling his corpse out of his trailer in front of the rest of the cast:
    All: [as crowd] Hooray!
    Crow: Are you sure he's dead?
    Mike: [as paramedic] Oyah.
    All: Hooray!
• Northern Exposure has Holling Vincouer, who is decidedly not proud of his ancestry. He once told his girlfriend Shelly that the death of his grandfather is still celebrated as a national holiday in France.
• Oz
  • In the final episode, Beecher unknowingly kills Vern Schillinger, in a staged performance of Macbeth. When the audience of prison inmates finds out, everyone immediately starts cheering to high heavens and pumping their fists. Granted, Schillinger was a malicious Nazi rapist who performed a good deal of horrible actions throughout his lifetime.
    • "THAT MUTHAFUCKA'S DEAD!!" followed by a thunderous mix of cheers and ovation pretty much sums it up.
  • This appears to be the response to any act of violence witnessed by the inmates. A notable exception is when Simon Adebisi, a feared Nigerian gangster who's been ruling Em City as a trustee, is killed — the initial reaction is a shocked gasp of disbelief from both inmates and guards, as Adebisi seemed so badass he couldn't be killed by anyone.
  • Also notably averted with the death of Augustus Hill. Burr Redding is overcome with grief, and most of the prisoners are shocked. McManus actually breaks down crying. Mainly this is because more so than anyone else in Em city, Hill had become the most philosophical and accepting of the bad things that he had done.
• In the first scene of Red Band Society, Kara, an insufferable Jerkass cheerleader, loses consciousness right in the middle of cheer practice. The rest of the squad then form a circle around her... and whip out their phones to take pictures and gossip about it.
• In Red Dwarf, whenever terrible things happen to Rimmer, Lister and Kryten at least feign sadness (unless it's directly his own fault, which it often is). Cat ... not so much.
  Cat: We're all really sorry, bud, except for me and him and him.
• In an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch where Sabrina uses these products to make Harvey more ambitious, to the point where he's alienated from Sabrina and only cares about his ambitions of being a money-making businessman, she shows him what could happen if he continues (a la A Christmas Carol). At the end of the montage, they see a party which is Harvey's funeral. They're happy because he was a jerk who didn't spend time with his family and cut down all of the trees (except one) in Westbridge.
  • In another episode where Mr. Kraft announced he was retiring, the students actually threw a bacchanal.
• Scrubs
  • One episode sees Dr. Kelso's portrait, hung in a hallway just before he goes on vacation, turned into a memorial to the deceased as a prank by Dr. Cox. Almost everyone in the hospital walks past it and celebrates, but Ted the Lawyer later comes back to it to dance and laugh in front of it. Twice. This helps to prove Cox's point that Kelso really does care when he is hurt by the reactions.
    Kelso: You think it's funny that one of the surgeons paid his dwarf cousin, Lance, two hundred dollars to show up at rounds and sing, "Ding dong, Kelso's dead!"?
  • Ted has a similar reaction upon learning of Kelso's retirement.
  • In one episode J.D. gets exposed to Hepatitis. The Janitor appears humming Chopin's Funeral March and speaking through a puppet made out of a Hazmat suit.
    Puppet: Gee, is he gonna make it?
    Janitor: Eh, it doesn't look good.
    Puppet: Yay!
• Seinfeld: When George's fiancée Susan dies, he is more relieved than anything else. This is later used as evidence against him at the trial in the series finale.
  • Speaking of the series finale, in a non-death example, everybody cheered when the four main characters were sentenced to a year in prison.
• From the pilot episode of Six Feet Under
  Mourner: (viewing his dead wife) You did a real good job on her.
  David Fisher: Well, we do our best.
  Mourner: If there's any justice in the universe, she's shoveling shit in hell right now.
• At Livia's wake in The Sopranos, no one can come up with any touching memories to share. They endure a long awkward silence before Carmela finally chimes in.
  Carmela: This is such a crock of shit. On one hand, I want to protect my children from the truth. On the other, I'm saying, "What kind of example am I setting?" Evading and smiling, passing out cheese puffs, over a woman who was terribly dysfunctional. Who spread no cheer at all.
• Southland: In one early episode, Officers Cooper and Sherman are tasked with going to a large, upscale mansion to inform the man of the house that his wife has been killed by a hit-and-run driver. After stumbling a bit with the language barrier, it seems that the man has burst into tears... but then it turns out he is laughing maniacally, and he turns to the household staff who have gathered in the hallway behind him and explains in Spanish that "The witch is dead!", at which point they start cheering. Cooper and Sherman's expressions are priceless.
• This never actually happens on über-idealistic Star Trek, at least not in the Federation.
  • But there is at least one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where an imminent invasion of the Ferengi Alliance was met with near-indifference.
    Rom: Think of the terrible repercussions to the Alpha Quadrant!
    Worf: I cannot think of any.
  • When Garak learns that several of his former buddies from the Obsidian Order recently died in "accidents," he mentions that he'd be celebrating if his life weren't in danger as well.
  • In the seventh season, Worf treats the current clone of Weyoun to a Neck Snap while imprisoned on Cardassia. Damar's reaction is to kneel beside the corpse and laugh his ass off, before offering up a mocking tribute from his bottle of kanar (said bottle also has a twisted neck). He's sniggering about it even after the next Weyoun clone comes along.
  • Near the end of the series, after the destruction of the Dominion cloning facilities, a later Weyoun clone dies, prompting the Changeling Leader to express her (mild) disappointment because "That was Weyoun's last clone". The good guys present are too professional to do any outright rejoicing, but they're clearly not terribly broken up by the news.
  • In "Business as Usual", when Quark screws over a weapons deal with a genocidal warlord preparing to kill 28 million people with a biological weapon, neither he nor Sisko has a problem with the warlord's eventual demise:
    Quark: The Regent's dead?!
    Sisko: The Purification Squad caught up with him this morning.
    Quark: I can live with that too. And I can think of 28 million other people who won't mind either.
    Sisko: 28 million and one.
• Taboo: Horace Delaney was such a nice guy that his passing is largely a matter of happy business to many both of the great and the "good" of London, as well as the small and tattered on the dockside. Including his daughter.
• A Numberwang episode on That Mitchell and Webb Look contained an instance of no Numberwang being scored for over three days! So they went to Sudden Death: The first person who dies from the poisonous Number Gas wins!
• Time Trumpet: The death of Geoff Hoon in 2009 was this, with everyone celebrating and cheering loudly in response to his death. There was even a New Year's Eve-style countdown to it.
• The Twilight Zone (1959):
  • In "The Grave", the only people in town who are sorry about the outlaw Pinto Sykes' death are his sister Ione, their father, and Conny Miller, who wanted to kill him himself.
  • In "The Little People", after their "god" Peter Craig is killed by a giant spaceman, the little people gleefully pull down the statue of Craig, which he had forced them to make, on his body.
  • In "The Masks", Jason Foster's relatives Emily, Wilfred, Sr., Wilfred, Jr., and Paula Harper are absolutely delighted when he finally dies as they are the sole heirs to his vast fortune. However, their happiness is short-lived as they soon remove their masks and discover that their faces have been transformed. Subverted with his doctor and his house staff, who all seemed very sad at his passing.
• The Twilight Zone (1985): In "Shelter Skelter", Sally Dobbs smiled at the thought of her abusive husband Harry having been buried alive when their hometown of Dunston, Kansas was destroyed by the accidental detonation of a nuclear cruise missile. Justified in that she likely knows that her husband (with his bunker and supplies) is still alive, and will now live the rest of his life away from all of the people in his life who bother him. Just like he wanted.
• In The Vampire Diaries the gang has a party after Klaus is defeated.
• The White Queen: When Margaret Beaufort receives news that her mother is dying, she instantly praises God. When Lady Beauchamp demands that Margaret forgives her before she passes away, the latter refuses, saying her death will finally free her and make her a new person. Margaret then leaves her mother's bedside so she will die alone, without her daughter's forgiveness.
• In Wizards of Waverly Place Alex freezes Stevie and Max shatters her. No one really seems to care and eventually Alex and Harper go to celebrate their friendship while Justin takes pictures of an unconscious man's body with Stevie's "pieces" all over him while Max draws a moustache on him.
• In Yes, Prime Minister, Prime Minister Hacker's predecessor in that office is writing his memoirs, which will be very embarrassing for Hacker, when he suddenly drops dead from a heart attack. When Hacker learns the news, and just before he remembers that he's supposed to act with dignified shock and grief, for a moment he has the biggest, happiest grin we've ever seen on his face. This episode ("A Diplomatic Incident," Series 2, Episode 3 of Yes, Prime Minister) is widely considered to be the best of the entire series (i.e., including Yes, Minister), partly because incidents like this, where Paul Eddington expresses several lines' worth of dialogue with a single facial expression, occur rather frequently. Watch it!

Music

• "The Night Patty Murphy Died" is a traditional Newfoundland folk song, recorded by, among others, the Canadian-based Celtic-rock band Great Big Sea. In the song, the eponymous individual's funeral/wake becomes a rowdy party, with a long stop at the local pub for everyone to get hammered. Nevertheless, the lyrics are open to interpretation in regard to what the attendees actually thought of the deceased, except for the versions which include this final verse:
  It was twenty years ago me boys that old Pat was put underground
  And every year to celebrate they all push the jug around
  They gather at the graveyard and pour vinegar in his ditch
  Cuz everybody hated that lousy son-of-a-bitch!
• The Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl", about a woman who, with the help of a high-school friend, kills her abusive husband Earl. In the video, the whole town celebrates Earl's death.
• In French, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was translated as "Le lion est mort ce soir", which means "The lion died tonight". So the lyrics' tone changed to somewhat fit this trope...
• Dos Gringos, a band comprised of United States Air Force fighter pilots, has a song called "The Predator Eulogy" celebrating the fact that a Predator (an unmanned airborne vehicle) was shot down. Fighter pilots hate UAVs because they might wind up getting completely replaced by them if UAV enthusiasts have their way.
• Steam's "(Kiss Him) Goodbye" (Na Na Na Na/Hey Hey/Goodbye) is often used as such. On occasion, Ray Charles' "Hit the Road, Jack" as well.
• Elvis Costello's "Tramp The Dirt Down" is about how he'll celebrate when Margaret Thatcher dies.
• As is Hefner's "The Day That Thatcher Dies", complete with a children's choir singing "Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead!"
• There's also the similarly titled "The Day That Margaret Thatcher Dies" by Pete Wylie.
• Another song about celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher is Morrissey's "Margaret on the Guillotine". The lyrics include "The kind people/Have a wonderful dream/Margaret on the guillotine" with the repeated chorus "When will you die?"
• "Ringo", by Lorne Greene (of Bonanza fame). The spoken-word narrative, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964, has nothing to do with The Beatles' drummer but is instead a first-person account of an ex-outlaw-turned-Western lawman, and his encounters and relationship with the title character and antagonist, a notorious gunfighter who spread terror as he engages in a crime spree in the Old West. Toward the end of the song, the two meet (for the first time in several years) and engage in a gunfight. Ringo — remembering a time the main protagonist saved his life — shows a rare ounce of mercy to his old friend, but when he turns to walk away, he is met by a spray of gunfire and killed. As the trope-fitting lyrics point out after Ringo is declared dead, "The town began to shout and cheer/Nowhere was there shed a tear for Ringo."
• "Ha Ha You're Dead" by Green Day is this to a T:
  Ha ha, you're dead
  The joke is over
  You were an asshole
  And now you're gone
  As your ship is going down
  I'll stand by and watch you drown
  Ha ha you're dead, ha ha you're dead, ha ha you're dead
• They Might Be Giants anticipate this kind of end - up to and including bank holidays - for the unnamed "you" of "When Will You Die" from their Join Us album.
  On that promised morning, we will wake and greet the dawn
  Knowing that your wicked life is over and that we will carry on
  We'll exhale, we'll high five
  We will know at last how great it is to be alive
  We'll be lining up and buying tickets
  And then we'll be jumping up and down on your grave
  • The narrator of their song "Dead" worries about this happening to the protagonist:
  Did a large procession wave their torches
  As my head fell in the basket
  And was everybody dancing on the casket
• "The Hell of It" by Paul Williams, which plays over the closing credits of Phantom of the Paradise, is mostly this trope as well (when it's not being the "Reason You Suck" song);
  Good for nothing, bad in bed,
  Nobody likes you, you're better off dead,
  Goodbye, goodbye, we've all come to say
  Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.
  Born defeated, died in vain,
  Super-destructive, you were hooked on pain
  And though your music lingers on,
  All of us are glad you're gone!
• Brazilian samba song "Sequestraram Minha Sogra" ("They kidnapped my mother-in-law") by Bezerra da Silva isn't as deadly (instead it veers more towards Pity the Kidnapper). Translated:
  They kidnapped my mother-in-law,
  It serves the kidnapper right,
  Instead of me paying the ransom,
  He was the one who paid me! (To take her back...)
• "Tô Feliz, Matei o Presidente" ("I'm happy, I've killed the president") by Brazilian rapper Gabriel O Pensador. The protagonist kills president Fernando Collor de Mello (then dogged by corruption allegations) and the whole country explodes in celebration.
• Irving Berlin's "When That Man Is Dead and Gone" is about Hitler.
  When that man is dead and gone
  When that man is dead and gone
  We'll go dancing down the street
  Kissing everyone we meet
  When that man is dead and gone
• In George Frederic Handel's "Zadok the Priest", there is one part with the lyrics "and all the people rejoiced".

Professional Wrestling

• Every time a heel authority figure is taken down for good.
• After years and years of power abuse, Vince McMahon is finally put down from his place atop of the WWE by Triple H, following the events that began with CM Punk's "Pipebomb" promo and ended with Punk leaving with John Cena's championship at Money in the Bank 2011.
• The Authority, the heel authority, being ousted twice:
  • First at Survivor Series 2014, after Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins with the help of a debuting Sting, which led to the disbandment of the stable.
  • Then at the end of WrestleMania 32, when Roman Reigns defeats Triple H. The next day, Shane McMahon takes control of Raw with his sister.
• John Laurinaitis being ousted from his position at GM of Raw by losing the Steel Cage match against John Cena at No Way Out 2012 via AA on the announcer's table.
• Mike Adamle's announcement that he was stepping down as Raw GM engendered the biggest pop he has ever received in his WWE career. Adamle even botched that farewell by getting up from the announcement table too early.
• Bubba the Love Sponge was fired from TNA. Within 13 hours the notification of the termination of employment on Facebook got over 1800 likes. So much for his future endeavors.
  • Also a source of rejoicing was Billy Corgan managing to oust Dixie Carter from TNA's presidency.
  • Anthem finally bought out Dixie Carter at the end of 2016/2017, leaving her with only 5% stake and essentially kicking her out of the company. That the promotion had its best years since the event (especially 2018) speaks a lot about the damage Dixie did to the promotion.
• David Otunga FINALLY being dropped from The Nexus via getting punted in the head. Unfortunately, The Cat Came Back. In record time too.

Radio

• A sketch in Season 9, Episode 1 of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme features a musician for a funeral band on the phone, adamant that they do not play "Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead", they will reluctantly play other songs involving witches, they reserve the right not to play "Wicked Anabella" if it turns out the organiser is lying about the deceased not being named Anabella, and while they are more than happy to play "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", they are going to stick to the original lyrics, and not the ones the organiser wrote. While we never hear his half of the conversation, it seems pretty clear this trope is in play.

Religion

• In The Bible:
  • The Israelites are pursued through the Red Sea by Pharaoh and his army during the Exodus, while God keeps the waters held back and the pursuing army from gaining any advantage. Then after the Israelites have finished crossing safely, God let loose the waters of the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and his army are all drowned. The Israelites when they see this happening waste no time singing praises to God for the victory delivered through His mighty hand.
  • This is a partial subversion though, as the angels wanted to rejoice at the Egyptians drowning, but God reprimanded them, saying "How dare you sing for joy when My creatures are dying?"
  • Proverbs 11:10 states that when a righteous person prospers, it brings joy to the entire town. Just as much as when a wicked person dies.
  • Jehoram's reign ends in a violent and humiliating way — his entire family was wiped out by invaders save for one son and he himself was killed by a lethal disease of the intestines. According to the Second Book of Chronicles, he was hated throughout the nation of Judah, and he was even dumped in a random burial ground in Jerusalem (unlike his father and grandfather, who had both mostly followed the ways of the Lord and upon death were buried with full honors, including memorial bonfires after they were interred, in the royal cemetery) following his ignominious demise. Considering he had murdered all of his own brothers (all stated to be better men than he was) to become King of Judah in the first place (on top of all the idol worship he imported from the Nation of Israel), it was little surprise he went out the way he did.
  • In the Book of Esther, all the Jews rejoice when Haman is executed and his genocidal plans are thwarted. They still celebrate it annually more than 2000 years later.
  • In the last verse of the Book of Nahum, the prophet says to the doomed city of Nineveh: "All who hear news about you clap their hands over you, for upon whom has not your wickedness continually passed?
  • In the prophecy of the future seen by John the apostle in the Book of Revelation, the people celebrate the demise of the Two Witnesses who were killed by the Beast that arises from the abyss, even to the point of sending each other gifts, but this celebration is short-lived, as after 3 1/2 days the Two Witnesses are resurrected and taken up to heaven in a cloud, then an earthquake levels one-tenth of Jerusalem and seven thousand people die. Also in the same book, the heavens rejoice at the destruction of Babylon.

Tabletop Games

• Actual rule from the wargame Fear God & Dread Nought: "Shore Battery Critical Hit results: Admin Building: A support building associated with the battery, but not vital to its function, has been destroyed. If enough paperwork is destroyed, the battery's efficiency may actually improve."
• Forgotten Realms: During the Time of Troubles the god of tyranny Bane dies and many nations make holidays to celebrate. Unfortunately Bane comes back in the next edition.
• Warhammer:
  • Warriors of Chaos mentions a Chaos Champion (hulking, armored man who serves the forces of evil) named Gharad the Ox who challenged the much-hated Elector Count Wulfgang von Greidhart to a battle and claimed the man's skull for a trophy. Partway through the battle, the women of the town began to cheer the Chaos Knight on. "Obscurely pleased, he left the town intact."
  • This is actually how Norscans behave in funerals, because they view death as ascension to the realm of gods, and thus they think that in funerals, the dead should be celebrated, not mourned.
• The Khadoran Kommand in War Machine is relieved when Orsus Zoktavir one of their own kommanders is apparently killed in action. Considering how insane and destructive he was they weren't too sad to see him go. He didn't really die of course.

Theater

• In A Very Potter Musical, as in the book series it's based on, Voldemort's death is celebrated. The manner in which it happens, however, is much more casual and Played for Laughs:
  Cho: Well Chocolate Frogs, Harry Potter did it, y'all!
• In Molière's Don Juan, after the title character is dragged off to hell, his servant Sganarelle's only regret is that his master's death will mean that he won't receive his wages.
• In The Time of Your Life, though nobody really bursts out cheering when Blick is shot and killed offstage, they seem at least relieved, and it seems that the police aren't interested in investigating the Dirty Cop's death.
• Westeros: An American Musical: "The Red Wedding" is about the Lannisters reacting to an event in which many of their opponents died, resulting in it basically becoming And There Was Much Rejoicing: The song.
• The musical Wicked begins with the citizens of Oz celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. The rest of said musical is a long explanation about How We Got Here and why this is wrong: one, she's not that evil, and two, she's not dead.
• "Brand New Day" from The Wiz, after the Wicked Witch of the West is destroyed.

Video Games

• In Borderlands 2, Dave is the resident asshole of the much-abused town of Overlook. He berates the Vault Hunters for bringing him life-saving medicine, is a misogynist to the kindly but put-upon town mayor, and is a big fan of Handsome Jack, the rich narcissistic sociopath who's been trying to kill you the whole game. Karima is quite relieved and noticeably happier when Dave gets blown up by a "stray" mortar shell during a Deflector Shield test, and the Vault Hunters' voiceovers when turning in the quest are as upbeat as ever.
  • Downplayed with Handsome Jack himself. While the city of Sanctuary doesn't throw a party or the like, you can hear random civilians expressing joy and relief that he's finally dead.
• Bug Fables: The Wasp King meets his end when the wilted Everlasting Sapling leaf's power turns unstable and transforms him into a harmless tree. Nobody mourns him, not even the Wasp Kingdom, and everyone is relieved that he is out of the picture. This is because his "loyal servants" were really just mind-controlled by him and he terrorized everyone else.
• Crying Suns: If you complete the optional quest to kill Dr. Landa during Chapter IV, the people he terrorized will be so overjoyed that they’ll flock to join your cause, netting you nine commandos as a reward.
• Dragon Age:
  • Dragon Age: Origins: After Arl Rendon Howe is killed, nobody seems upset about it. In the tavern, one noble asks another (who was a friend of the dead man's when they were younger) whether he's upset, and the former friend says the only tragedy is that the killing didn't happen a long time ago. The same conversation also mentions that the dead man's own family won't be coming to the funeral, and the expansion makes it clear that their non-attendance is not simply because of political considerations.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition: Should you choose to sentence Livius Erimond to death, no one in your party will disapprove of the decision.
• Killing the fake King in Dragon Quest III, in at least the English translations, causes the people in Samanao City to rejoice in the fake king's death.
• Dwarf Fortress
  • A halfway example: Although dwarves will never be happy that another one has died, they can still maintain ecstatic moods by having a decent dining room and nice walls to look at. Seriously. Although too many deaths in a while will result in them being extremely happy yet basically phoning it in with their entire life.
    "Urist McTraumatized doesn't care about anything anymore."
  • Played straight with fell moods. Sometimes, when an unhappy dwarf gets the urge to make an artifact, the raw materials for said artifact will be the nearest dwarf to the workshop. Making the artifact makes the dwarf happy, and nobody cares about the guy it's made out of.
  • Also, a dwarf will be happy if a dwarf he has a grudge with dies. And of course there is much rejoicing from the player if an annoying noble dies.
  • The players themselves are a straight example of the trope. The more bizarre and massively destructive an event gets in their game, the more cheerful and congratulatory the forum responses will be for achieving it. There's a reason the game motto is Losing is Fun.
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  • The first Dark Brotherhood quest involves killing a nasty old lady who runs an orphanage. You can kill Grelod the Kind right in front of the kids, and not only will they not report you to the guards, they'll cheer her demise. Hell, you can kill her in front of the guards and they won't even try to stop you - everyone in the city hates this woman. The only person who actually gets scared is her assistant, who while not particularly liking Grelod herself is still freaked out that she just got killed in cold blood.
  • Also, this is the general attitude of the Dunmer and Argonians of Windhelm after Ulfric Stormcloak is dead and replaced by Brunwulf Free-Winter due to the fact that Ulfric generally made their lives a living hell. The opposite is felt by the Nords, who not only saw Ulfric as a true hero of Skyrim but are generally not fond of non-Nords.
  • After Alduin is defeated, the other Dragons don't seem to be too sad about it. Ironically the only one who expresses regret over it is Paarthurnax, the Dragon who made Alduin's defeat possible.
• In Fallout 3, Three Dog will react positively to the death of President Eden should the player kill him.
  Three Dog: Ding dong! The sanctimonious, self-righteous, self-proclaimed Presidential asshole is DEAD!
• Fallout: New Vegas
  • Many characters will congratulate you if you kill Cook-Cook.
  • Many will also rejoice if the player kills Caesar.
  • A less positive example: When Carla Boone was kidnapped by the Legion, she was hardly missed by the citizens of Novac since she openly despised the town and its citizens (though they still believe this a horrifying fate for anyone) and Manny Vargas was pretty much overjoyed. This however led her husband Craig to bear a grudge against the locals and pretty much destroyed his friendship with Manny (who is heavily hinted to be in love with him).
• In the Final Fantasy series:
  • In Final Fantasy XIV's Shadowbringers expansion, the Ascian Fandaniel reacts to the death of his boss, the villainous Elidibus, with psychotic glee. Elidibus was the last of the three unsundered Ascians, and with him gone, there is no one left to hold Fandaniel to the Ascians' Well-Intentioned Extremist goals, leaving him free to pursue his own agenda.
  • In Final Fantasy XVI, when Hugo Kupka is killed in combat with Clive, the residents of the Hideaway celebrate his death as well-deserved comeuppance for storming the Hideaway and killing dozens of innocents five years earlier.
• Fire Emblem
  • In one of the early chapters of Fire Emblem: Awakening, the heroes are facing the Grimleal, the Obviously Evil religious group that rules the theocracy Plegia. Upon visiting some Plegian villages, the commoners thank the invading Ylisse army, claiming all the Grimleal are bad people they want dead. Double Subverted later where after the Grimleal's leader and a bunch of their men are killed, the lone female member claims that while the leader and the Grimleal weren't nice people, they were still the only family she had. Then it turns out this was only because she was kidnapped by the Grimleal from her non-Grimleal family and had a spell cast making her think they raised her. She then joins to kill the last of the Grimleal.
  • In Fire Emblem: Three Houses' Azure Moon storyline, when word of Lord Arundel's death at Derdriu reaches the Empire, Hubert (who hated Arundel for multiple reasons) considers it a small victory amid a string of setbacks despite Arundel's death signifying that the Kingdom Army is going to come after him and Edelgard next.
• In Grand Theft Auto IV, when Manny is shot in the face, Niko was rather amused.
• When you kill Eidolon in Hexen II, the ending text scrawl mentions millions of people around the planet celebrating.
• In Mafia III, after the host of the radio show Native Son and white supremacist Remy Duvall is killed by Lincoln Clay, the Voice, host of the pirate radio show The Hollow Speaks, celebrates Duvall's death in his broadcast, whilst mocking the residents of Frisco Fields and telling the truth about Duvall's racism and his involvement with the Southern Union.
• Mass Effect
  • In Mass Effect 2, after a mission where Corrupt Corporate Executive Nassana Dantius is killed, there's a news item that her company's stock has actually gone up since her death.
  • In the third game, this is pretty much Wrex's reaction if his brother Wreav meets an untimely end.
  • From the same game above, if the Geth were to be destroyed by the Quarian Fleet, the only people who feel saddened by this are Tali, Liara, and EDI.
  • At the end of Mass Effect: Andromeda, the Initiative and the angara celebrate the Archon's defeat by partying for days.
• In The New Order Last Days Of Europe, most countries that are not aligned with Nazi Germany celebrate Hitler's death with glee; for instance in Brazil, most political factions put their differences aside to celebrate his passing by getting drunk, the only person who's not happy about it is Wilson Passos.
• Protagonist Miles Upshur from Outlast is incredibly vengeful against Dr. Trager, especially after the man cuts off his fingers with the intention of selling them, so when he's crushed to death by an elevator, Miles understandably lacks sympathy.
  Miles: How to make Trager Juice: Step 1. Squeeze.
  • A Downplayed example in Outlast: Whistleblower can be seen if Waylon Park records the Groom's corpse.
    Waylon: He's dead. The amateur surgeon, father-to-be, husband. His guts shredded and pulled from his belly. I'm trying not to laugh. Oh, God, Lisa, I swear to you I'm trying.
• The Sims
  • In The Sims 2, mean Sims roll death-related wants for their enemies...such as drinking their life essence after they get eaten by a Man-Eating Plant. It really ups the ante on Video Game Cruelty Potential when you get aspiration points for it.
  • If your house is robbed, even a child Sim can roll the want "See Burglar's Ghost". So much for the innocence of the young.
  • Likewise, in The Sims 3, Sims with the "evil" trait will laugh at the suffering of others, up to and including their deaths.
  • In The Sims 4, this trope sometimes comes into play when a Sim witnesses the death of an enemy.
• "Klogg is dead and we wanna celebrate it, he's pushing up daisies, former and belated..."
• In StarCraft II, the anniversary of the start of Valerian Mengsk's reign over the Terran Dominion is a holiday. Said reign started when Kerrigan killed his father and predecessor, Arcturus, a fact the holiday also emphasizes. They took the saying "The king is dead, long live the king" to a whole new level.
• The Sharp Claws look rather happy about General Scales' death at the end of Star Fox Adventures, with one triumphantly holding up its former leader's belt for Fox to see.
• At least one webcomic author◊ has gone on record to say that seeing Jar-Jar Binks frozen in a slab of carbonite in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is well worth the price of admission alone.
• In Transformers: War for Cybertron, Optimus is the only one who really seems upset when Zeta Prime dies. The rest of the Autobots are happier about it since Zeta had become a pretty awful leader over the course of the war, and now Optimus has no excuse not to step up and become a Prime.
• Used in a number of Warhammer 40,000 games, especially in the Dark Crusade and Soulstorm expansions for the first Dawn of War. Typically runs along the lines of "Invading army ousts local sector's government; as the local government was horribly abusive, the conquerors were greeted as heroes". This is especially true for the generally benevolent Tau. The opposite tends to happen when the invaders are one of the more more obviously evil factions that just wipes the area clean off the map.
• At the end of the Cataclysm expansion of World of Warcraft, after Deathwing is finally destroyed by the Dragon Soul, all of Azeroth celebrates his destruction with fireworks exploding over Stormwind, Orgrimmar, and Dalaran. Alexstraza, the Dragon Queen who mourned the death of Malygos, doesn't even feel bad about her former ally's end, instead announcing the Age of Mortals beginning.
• In Yandere Simulator if the Delinquents and a (targeted) Spiteful student see you kill a bully, they will not turn in you to the police since they believe that they had it coming. In the case of Spiteful students though, there is a darker variation where they will have the same reaction to anyone with a low reputation despite being bully victims themselves.

Web Animation

• DEATH BATTLE!: In "Scooby-Doo vs. Courage the Cowardly Dog", the episode ends with neither dog dying, but Courage's abusive owner Eustace Bagge gets dragged into the Chest of Demons and sealed within. Both Scooby and Courage laugh over it, and show host Boomstick is also happy at this outcome.
• Etra chan saw it!:
  • When Azami quits her job because of an incident during a wedding day and her boss scolding her for it, everyone in the workplace sighs in relief that she is finally gone.
  • After everyone in the party puts Akane in her place by calling her out of her ungratefulness toward Katsura for saving her life from drowning as well as her boyfriend breaking up with her for her attitude, she leaves the party in anger. The party went quiet for a moment before erupting into cheers.
• GoAnimate:
  • Rarely is anyone shown being upset over a troublemaker being grounded, arrested, or even killed in some way. Sometimes a video will show everyone celebrating the fact that the trouble-maker is out of their hair with parties and trips to Chuck E. Cheese's and the like. Tropes Are Not Good, however: the "(troublemaker) Gets Executed" videos take this trope up to levels that are beyond disturbing, as they present the characters as openly celebrating the death of a troublemaker (who is often a child) to the point where the news reports on it.
  • On the other end of the scale, the videos where the troublemaker kills a disliked character, most frequently Barney. In many such cases, the troublemaker gets ungrounded.
• HourofPoop: When the Fat Controller dies at the climax of "The Trainkillers", everyone in London takes to the rooftops to celebrate his demise with a spontaneous fireworks show and dance party.
• In Magical Fun Time Now, Episode 2 ends when the girls just stand around and laugh that they killed someone.
• In Teen Girl Squad, the three other girls all cheer the first time that Cheerleader predeceases them, then go on to do the things that she would never let them do. Naturally, everyone dies as a result and they get reunited in the afterlife.

Webcomics

• Pretty much anyone in 8-Bit Theater is ambivalent, at best, about seeing allies (apparently) die. They usually don't stay dead, though.
• The cast threw a party to celebrate Kairi's death in Ansem Retort. They even had yummy "Hooray Kairi's Dead" cake.
• Arisdel in Dumnestor's Heroes. She wasn't killed, but nobody was broken up when she left the game.
• The Order of the Stick:
  • "Rumors of Her Death". The only subversion is that Miko was, in fact, still alive, and right behind the one celebrating. Maybe it wouldn't have been openly celebrated, but no one would've been sorry to see her go (she's routinely sent off on missions that keep her out of the country for years at a time, because not even her fellow paladins like her). Ironically, when she did die, no one celebrated.^note Granted, the only witnesses to her death were Soon Kim's ghost (who then passed on to the afterlife), O-Chul (who at least respected her enough to not speak ill of her after the fact), and Xykon and Redcloak (who had only met her once before, and were her enemies regardless). Later on, Haley, Belkar, and (unbeknownst to them) Roy learned of her passing from the Oracle, but they didn't dwell for long on the notion (and the former two couldn't even retain this knowledge due to the memory chasm around the Oracle's tower, anyway).
  • "End of Overtime" is a rare benign version. Kandro gets eaten by a summoned death worm in the battle to stop the mesmerized dwarven council, but rather than lamenting his passing, all his friends cheer out congratulations for his dying with honor in battle and thus earning his place in Warrior Heaven.
    Shirra: Wooo! Way to go, Kandro!
    Thirden: Good job, old man!
    Hoskin: Aye, way ta finally get got!
    Shirra: About time, too.
    Thirden: In under the wire, if you ask me.
    Sigdi: I know, right? Thought he'd nev'r get killed proper.
    Hoskin: I was hafway ta pickin' a fight wit 'im meself, just so 'e'd die wit an axe 'n 'is hand.
• In Schlock Mercenary, Tagon's Toughs had this reaction to Xinchub's death. He had spent several arcs as the personally nastiest of the Tough's rogues gallery (or, in his own words, "the biggest ace-hole in the game"), and his death caused happy-dances throughout the major cast. In fact, while at first they chastise Tagon for wanting to celebrate someone's death at their own funeral, they quickly changed their tune once he told them it was Xinchub's funeral. All of them; even the reverend.
• Sequential Art had this when Kat accidentally gives her old Sadist Teacher a fatal heart attack. Kids leaving the classroom were singing Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead.
• In Shortpacked!, Amber was still respectful enough to act appropriately at the funeral of her philandering, abusive father. Her fiancé Mike, on the other hand, attended in a Hawaiian shirt and party hat.

Web Original

• Channel Awesome:
  • During his review of A Troll in Central Park, The Nostalgia Critic cheered when Stanley was Taken for Granite near the end of the movie.
  • When the Critic reviewed the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) Christmas Special he broke out the champagne at the mention that Orko might never be seen again.
  • Similarly, The Nostalgia Chick was so pleased by Andy Dick/Nuka's death in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride that she was about a second away from orgasming.
  • The cast of Kickassia cheer when they've beaten The Nostalgia Critic to death (he's really just unconscious), and then they fight over who gets his hat and therefore, get to be the ruler of the nation. Big on Grey-and-Gray Morality, that special.
  • When Phelous reviews House of Wax (2005), Paris Hilton's death scene prompts The Nostalgia Chick to start a Slow Clap that snowballs in a massive party with all the cameo reviewers celebrating her death.
  • In his Let's Play of King's Quest V, Paw Dugan lets out a squee of joy when Cedric the Owl gets snagged up by a harpy.
    Paw: (happily) Cedric's dead!!!
  • In Allison Pregler's review of Charmed's seventh season finale, she plays "Celebrate" when the Charmed Ones ostensibly die. Then, discussing the eighth season premiere: "Things start off swimmingly because the Charmed Ones are dead, but it quickly goes downhill." She also questions the large number of mourners in their house, because "surely they have no friends?"
  • In Bad Movie Beatdown, Film Brain cheers during Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen twice, first when one of the two most annoying robots nearly gets dismembered by Devastator, and then when Sam Witwicky is shot.
  • In History of Power Rangers, when Elgar is destroyed by the World-Healing Wave created from Zordon's death Linkara mutters "thank god."
• Dream SMP:
  • Whenever someone's death message pops up in the in-game chat, Technoblade's stream chat often spams "🦀🦀[X]🦀🦀 is gone", as a reference to the "Crab Rave" meme. What allows it to qualify for this trope is that Techno's stream chat is canonized and exists in the world of the Dream SMP as voices in Techno's head.
  • Played for Drama and Horror in the aftermath of Tommy's death, as the Brainwashed and Crazy Eggpire members throw a party in the victim's house — and after getting kicked out, rent a room in the hotel said victim built to continue their revelries.
• Escape the Night: Zig-zagged across the first three seasons, where each season has one character who is Hated by All.
  • Season 1 plays this straight with Matt, who was a Dirty Coward and Know-Nothing Know-It-All whose biggest contribution was insulting his teammates' lack of effort. Everyone cheers upon learning he died.
  • Season 2 subverts this with arguably the biggest Asshole Victim in the show, DeStorm. Despite acting like a Jerkass to everyone until the end, the group is still horrified at his death and even briefly mourns him.
  • Season 3 plays with Teala's case, who had been The Load for the team. After her death, the group never mentions her and pretends that she never existed. They do cheer upon learning about her death, but mainly because it meant that Rosanna was still alive, and not necessarily anything against Teala herself.
• Looming Gaia: At the end of "Evangelites Skip, Matuzans Sway", Lukas and Jelani's abusive mother Moswen dies, with the implication that Lukas poisoned her, and Jelani tells Dr. Asha to send Lukas a thank-you card and a bouquet for his deed.
• SF Debris: There are several ways to make Chuck Sonnenberg happy with a Star Trek: Voyager episode. These include good performances, sensible plots, coherent continuity, scientific accuracy, and the imminent death of Neelix. For example, his reaction to Neelix's transplant incompatibility in "Phage":
  Chuck: I'm so heartbroken I can barely continue dancing.
• Sorry (2023): In one video, the gang holds a funeral for Tommy, while they act somewhat sad about it, the rest of the Sorry boys are happy to see Tommy go, with them poorly handling his body and burial, listing off things they hated about him, discussing his "death" as a hilarious joke, and even trying to ensure that he goes straight to hell by paying off the priest. It doesn't help that the very alive Tommy hears all of this while they all ignore him.
• In Smosh Games' Game Bang, the cast would almost invariably cheer for the other players to get killed. This was particularly pronounced in the Blindfolded Super Mario Maker game, where the group pretty much agreed to shout with joy whenever a death occurs, with phrases like "Good death" and "Sugoi" being thrown around when it happens.
• The "RIP Bozo" meme is used to express this attitude towards people or organizations.
• SuperMarioLogan: At the end of "The Call Of Duty Blackout", Black Yoshi shoots and kills Brooklyn Guy's annoying 5-year-old son... and Brookyln Guy happily proclaims that he's free.

Western Animation

• Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Downplayed, but whenever resident Jerkass Master Shake gets killed, either by his own stupidity or some outside force, Frylock, Meatwad and Carl couldn't be bothered to care, since they all share a mutual dislike for him. Meatwad, the target of his abuse the most, is the only one to at least show relief.
• Beavis and Butt-Head: In "Beavis and Butt-Head are Dead", it's the entire school faculty's and student population's reaction (minus Mr. Van Dreissen and Stewart) to the titular duo's "death."
• Bromwell High: In the episode "No More Teachers", a teacher named Dave Anderson finds musical success and goes on to live a life of Sex Drugs And Rock N Roll. Naturally, the other teachers are very jealous of him. Martin later informs the staff that he suffered a massive drug overdose and died at the end of the episode, and the entire staff breaks out into cheers and forms a conga line.
• Downplayed in The Crumpets episode "Going Viral". Caprice, a bratty teenage girl who is generally disliked by her Massively Numbered Siblings, didn't die after all in spite of her suicide attempts. Near the end, Granny is revealed to have produced a memoriam of her living granddaughter, which the siblings shout "bravo" and Caprice breaks down to watery sobbing. Ma and Pa are excluded from rejoicing as they're their saddened daughter's defenders.
• In Danny Phantom's Bad Future, most of the memorial statues say "Gone but not forgotten". Mr. Lancer's just says "Gone". Considering he is the one to actually cause the Bad Future, this isn't so surprising.
• The Season 2 premiere of The Dreamstone had the protagonists throwing a celebration party after seemingly defeating Zordrak for good. Only the Dream Maker doesn't join in, worrying that he may still return and they might be letting their guards down. He is shortly proven correct.
• Family Guy:
  • When Peter gets word that his father Francis has died, Lois and Brian step outside...and can be seen through the window dancing with joy on the front lawn. The celebration ends when Brian grabs Lois's chest and she slaps him.
  • In a cutaway scene with Peter as a knight who slew a dragon (read: actress Cybil Shepard), upon announcing to a village of people it had enslaved they were free, they immediately came out of hiding and celebrated while festive bells rang.
• In the Futurama episode "The Silence of the Clamps," Bender goes into Witness Protection after testifying against the Robot Mafia. His friends find him apparently living under a false identity with a wife and a child. This robot is shot to death, and they mourn Bender only to find that he's actually working at a pizza parlor across the street.
  Leela: So that moon hillbilly who got murdered was just an innocent husband and father!
  (Beat)
  All: YAYYYYYYYY!
• In Gargoyles, when Gillecomgain informs Duncan that Findlaech is dead, Duncan is extremely pleased, calling this "cause for celebration." Of course, Duncan ordered his assassination in the first place.
• In Season 3 of The Legend of Korra, when Zaheer murders the Earth Queen, it seems that all of her citizens celebrate and no one mourns her untimely death...except for Mako and Bolin's grandma and the Queen's great-nephew, more because of the brutal nature of her death. The rest of the world was afraid of the implications this has for their home nations.
• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: An unstated but virtually a staple of many of the classic cartoons. For instance, the Road Runner can be seen "beep-beeping" for joy after Wile E. Coyote dies for the final time. Other cases give the main protagonist the opportunity to sneak in a one-liner, such as when Bugs Bunny has his own run-in with the Coyote ("And remember, mud spelled backwards is 'dum'," which Bugs says after Wile E. passes out for the final time in "Operation: Rabbit").
• A deathless version occurs in Miraculous Ladybug; in the episode "Malediktator", resident Alpha Bitch and common source of akuma attacks Chloé plans to leave Paris to live with her mother, prompting all her classmates (minus her childhood friend Adrien) and teachers to celebrate.
• The Patrick Star Show: In "A Root Galoot", a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing named Shmandrake moves into the Star house and bosses them around. Patrick accidentally kills Shmandrake by putting him in a tanning bed, and the Stars fall asleep out of exhaustion. They are initially sad at cooking Shmandrake to death, but then they smell how good his body is. They promptly devour him whole, since Shmandrake was such a Jerkass to them that it's a relief to have him gone.
  Cecil: Mmm, kind of nice having him feed us for a change, ha ha.
• In the Robot Chicken Bitch Pudding special, the rest of Pastryville hold a "Bitch Pudding Is Dead Festival" after they bribe their mailman into dropping Bitch Pudding into a volcano. Unfortunately for them, he missed and Bitch Pudding was alive. She shoots the entire town with a machine gun.
  "Blam."
• In Samurai Jack, Jack finally manages to return to the past and destroy Aku once and for all. All his allies and mentors from across the world sail all the way to Japan to celebrate his demise, and even Aku's own daughter Ashi is happy to see the monster meet his end...until she realizes with him dead thousands of years before she was born, she never existed.
• The Simpsons
  • In "Selma's Choice", the family is driving to the funeral of Marge's great aunt Gladys. Naturally, Homer and Bart treat the situation with great dignity and tact:
    Homer: Ding dong, the witch is dead!
    Bart: Which old witch?
    Homer: The wicked witch!
  • Also, Patty and Selma's reaction whenever Homer is believed to be dead — to the point where they've already ordered a tombstone for him and use it as their tea table. It reads: "We are richer for having lost him."
  • When everyone believed Mr. Burns had been killed by some falling rocks, Kent Brockman publicly thanked them for it. Homer, Lenny, and Carl even planned to dance on his grave.
  • Again with Mr. Burns, when he disappeared and was believed dead, so many people decided to spit on his grave it became a pool of spit. Among them were a nun and a Buddhist, specifically Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama.
  • During the funeral for Homer's mother, Abe commented that he'd imagined himself dancing on it but no longer had the mood. (He was wearing tap shoes during the funeral.)
  • In the Season 8 episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show," the introduction of the character Poochie (a dog "with an attitude") as an attempt to regain falling viewership is universally panned, save for Homer (who coincidentally is Poochie's voice). The Poochie character is such a spectacular failure that the production company is forced to immediately abandon the character and hastily write him out before his second cartoon. When that cartoon airs, another voiceover artist inserts the line "I have to go, my planet needs me" into a poorly-edited cartoon. Krusty the Clown (on whose show the "Itchy & Scratchy" cartoons air) gleefully announces that Poochie died on his way home, to which the audience wildly cheers. (Incidentally, the edits are made after Homer deliberately goes against the script, instead improvising a plea for the character's reprieve.)
  • Also when Burns had amnesia and his mind was reduced to an infantile state, the people of Springfield decided to use Burns as their personal plaything.
  • In "Who Shot Mr. Burns Part 2", when Burns' sun-blocker is torn down, it slides down the mountain.
    Krusty: Um, what town did we just crush?
    Skinner: Shelbyville.
    People: Hooray!
  • In "Homer's Triple Bypass", Merry Widow Insurance Company has a neon sign featuring a widow happily dancing on her husband's grave while holding money.
• Smiling Friends: The end of "Mr. Frog" has the titular character murdering his micro-managing producer Rex, with his audience celebrating in response.
• The Smurfs (1981)
  • In the episode "For the Love of Gargamel", Gargamel and Azrael get turned to stone by the very potion the evil wizard intended to use on the Smurfs. The Smurfs take advantage of Gargamel's demise by having a celebration. Papa Smurf, believing that they would be no better than Gargamel for leaving him and his cat in such a frozen state, does not join in the celebration, but rather has the Smurfs gather ingredients for a potion to unfreeze Gargamel and Azrael. Of course, Gargamel still rants and raves about getting even with the Smurfs after he and his cat are de-petrified.
  • In the Season 2 intro, the Smurfs do a merry circle dance around a staked-down Gargamel and Azrael.
  • In the Season 7 episode "Gargamel's New Job", the wizard decided to move away, seemingly for good. The Smurfs were, naturally, overjoyed when they found his empty house and were able to make up a new song on the spot:^note Sadly, to stop a worse villain, they had to make sure he came back.
  Farewell to Gargamel, Gargamel is gone!
  Oh what a happy day to sing our smurfy song!
• South Park
  • Done a few times, when the usual "They killed Kenny!!"-"Bastards!!" routine was subverted and Kenny's death was met with amusement.
    Kyle: (laughing) That was a good one!
  • This is pretty much Cartman's reaction to arranging Scott Tenorman's parents being killed and ground into chili to get even for being swindled out of $16.12.
  • At least a few times the boys think Cartman has died, they are either apathetic or downright joyous. When Kyle finds out Cartman is supposedly terminally ill in "Tonsil Trouble", he bursts into uncontrollable laughter.
  • In "Season Finale" Randy is locked up because A) The mayor has concrete evidence that he destroyed the neighbours' homegrown weed and then blamed it on Mexican Joker so everyone would have to buy his weed (which happened a few episodes earlier), and B) because everyone is sick of his Tegridy Farms. When the news reaches Randy's family, who are just as sick of him as the rest of the town, they take down all of the pictures of Randy and his weed and throw a party, hoping that he gets locked up for good. Sadly for them, Randy comes back at the end.
• Tom and Jerry: In "Kitty Foiled", Jerry and a household canary believe Tom has been shot to death, and dance a jig in celebration.

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