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alt title(s): Maniacal Laugh 
You know you're in trouble when their laughter begins with 'Nya'.
"You don't understand a thing. Laughing is a very important aspect of being the Overlord." - Laharl, Disgaea
"Ha ha ha! Mine is an evil laugh!" - Wash's Tyrannosaurus rex, Firefly
Your Applied Phlebotinum doomsday device has been activated. The MacGuffin is within your grasp. The good guys are locked away in the Death Trap. Your circuitous Evil Plan is three-quarters complete! You know what, screw being the Evil Overlord of the world - you're already a god. There is only one thing left for you to do - but first things first:
Muahahahahaha... Muahahahahahaha... Muahahahahahaha !.
The Evil Laugh. Don't knock it 'til you tried it, folks.
The only way you get away with this in modern media is if you're A) a famous supervillain who's been doing this since it was cool, B) a very old wizard-type fellow for whom this just comes naturally, C) a bona fide psycho, in which case you'd better do some pretty impressive cackling or D) You're a Card Carrying Villain who does it because it's a classic villain maneuver.
In any case, it has since devolved to the occasional evil chuckle (which may or may not be a bit scarier) or so every once in a while, except in certain cases, and the trope of laughing while your victim is helpless is definitely dead, as modern villains usually laugh while they work (to much better effect).
A common subversion is to have a villain have an Un Evil Laugh, with snorting, chuckling and squeaking.
On the other hand, it's also an extreme Undead Horse Trope, and if you can pull it off, you're encouraged to go for it.
In Anime, haughty female villains (as well as some male ones) will overlap this with Noblewomans Laugh. Other villains, for reasons known only to themselves, go for the Giggling Villain approach. Often goes well with Drunk On The Dark Side.
It's even more jarring (and awesome) when the villain in question is an emotionless character.
Just remember, you Genre Savvy villains, the Evil Overlord List:
20. Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it's too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- One Piece not only has several characters performing the Evil Laugh but usually every character who performs the laugh has a unique and distinct version of it that only that character says. For example, Marshall D. Teach aka Blackbeard's signature laugh has a "Ze" sound to it, and Sir Crocodile's laugh is dry and monotone.
- Light of Death Note indulges in an Evil Laugh when at his most sinister. In fact, in the final story he struggles to hold in his imminent victorious laughter, and ultimately fails in a scene that cranks the full-blown psycho version of the evil laugh up to eleven. The English dub infamously added one to the potato chips scene. You know the one.
- Am I the only one who doesn't hear evil laughter as English Light eats a potato chip? Heavy, excited breathing, sure, but no laughter.
- Higuchi gets one, too. It's not used as often, but that may just be because he doesn't have anywhere near as much screen time as Light.
- Ryuk possesses one as well, written "Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk". It's more of an evil chuckle.
- For the protagonist of the series, Lelouch from Code Geass gets an inordinate number of evil laughs, usually when he's just pulled another utter pwnage on his enemies with some unexpected genius tactic. His most maniacal ones were in episodes 17 and 23 of season 1, and episodes 2, 7, and 9 of R2.
- Katekyo Hitman Reborn features two characters that fit the trope: Belphegor's "Ushishishi!" and Mukuro's "Ku fu fu~" - the latter character actually managed to score an Image Song titled "Kufufu no Fu". Both character's image songs feature solos of them doing their laughs.
- Birds, anyone? *shudders*
- Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing does this in the first episode but drops it after that, as well as Chief Engineer Tubarov just before his death.
- Friday Monday from Madlax is of the third category, perhaps even the epitome of the third category as he sometimes struggles to contain his evil laughter in times of victory and will cackle for quite some time.
- Many, many protagonists gone Ax Crazy in Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. Yes, it's creepy. Just listen.
- Katsuhiko Jinnai from El Hazard (particularly the OVAs). In the original Japanese he simply sounds like a megalomaniacal Evil Overlord [tm] when he laughs. In the dub he sounds - completely unhinged. It's both hysterically funny and extremely creepy at the same time.
- Mad Pierrot from the Cowboy Bebop episode "Pierrot le Fou" pulls off the truly unhinged version of this trope in a very disturbing fashion.
- Several characters from Hellsing indulge in this, but the most famous examples have to be Alucard and Anderson's laughs.
- And the best part? Their both part of the series's heroes!
- Hollow Ichigo from Bleach.
- Supervillains (Heel wrestlers) in Kinnikuman tend to have very distinctive laughs. There are many, MANY examples, but some of the best examples are those of Ditto Fighter Stecase King ("Kekekekekeke!") and Joke Character villain Kinkotsuman ("Muhyohyohyooo!")
- Ashuraman's laugh ("Kakakakakaka!") is so distinctive, it's actually used as a lyric in his theme song.
- On that note, Torpedo Girl from Bobobobo Bobobo laughs using the word "Torpedo" over and over again. It's really creepy.
- Desty Nova from Battle Angel Alita tends to enjoy this trope. The awesomeness of the laugh in this troper's mind may be somewhat borrowed, however, as he imagines Mark Hamill doing Nova's voice (see Western Animation entry below).
- Full Metal Panic. A teenage terrorist in his enormous Humongous Mecha unleashed a hysterical yet pretty normal laughter while devastating a city. However, megaphones in his mecha repeated his laugh all over the city, so it sounded sufficiently evil.
- The Vampire Princess Miyu OAV. Miyu is sometimes heard laughing in the end of each OAV and it's a soft, child-like, almost gentle laugh. Hoever, due to the circumstances and Miyu's own nature, such giggles potentially can be more Nightmare Fuel-ish than a typical Evil Laugh.
- Lampshaded in an episode of Digimon Adventure 02 (dub only) when the Digimon Emperor burst into a fit of evil laughter after expounding on one of his evil plans, then stopping and muttering "Eh, it's not that funny..."
- Jaeger of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's has a subdued yet equally sinister laugh of "Hi hi hi!". The dub version, Lazar, does not.
- No one seems to have mentioned Kiryu yet...
- Mega and Giga in Transformers Super God Masterforce occasionally indulge in evil laughter. Mega's evil laugh doubles as a Noblewomans Laugh.
- What about Justice from Afro Samurai, his laugh is just... ill.
- Professor Tomoe in Sailor Moon S. His laugh is just...insane.
- Of all people, Tuxedo Mask has one in an early episode, for no apparent reason. Maybe he was just happy to survive Jadeite's attempt to kill him.
- Sailor Galaxia does this a lot in Sailor Stars. Methinks she's just pleased as punch that it was so easy to cause a global apocalypse.
- Jail Scaglietti of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha uses a deliciously full-blown one when he broadcasts the triumphant return of the Saint's Cradle to the Time-Space Administration Bureau.
- Kururu from Keroro Gunsou tends to evilly laugh "ku-ku-ku!" when something unfortunate but amusing happens to another character, especially if he was the one responsible.
- Ran, Urusei Yatsura's resident Yandere, often does this when planning revenge on Lum.
- Hansel and Gretel from Black Lagoon should be the poster characters for Creepy Laugh, and they are very, very evil.
- Creed from Black Cat has a typical villain laugh. He mostly does it when Train is involved though.
- Hidan from Naruto has a very... distinct and psychotic laugh when he uses his voodoo ability.
- Eyeshield 21's Hiruma has his distinctive "ke-ke-ke-ke-ke!" even though he's one of the protagonists. He's still evil though.
- Yusuke has some fun with this one in Yu Yu Hakusho. After dying a second time and reincarnating as a half-demon, he does this along with a little speech to toy with the elite squad of soldiers dispatched to destroy his corpse and prevent said reincarnation. They fall for it, if only because it's what they expected to happen anyway, and he has a good normal laugh at their expense immediately afterward.
- The brazilian version of Saga's laugh in Saint Seiya is worldwide known as awesome.
- There are quite a few notable ones in The Slayers, the best one being either Rezo's or Phibrizzo's.
- Evangeline of Mahou Sensei Negima, being a Noble Demon who repeatedly insists that she's a Big Bad, naturally releases a hearty Evil Laugh whenever she feels like it, such as when she was showing off her true power by obliterating a Demon God with little to no effort.
- While Kimura's laugh isn't a bona fide evil laugh, it sure is scary.
- Gauron from Full Metal Panic. It's to be expected of a series' Ax Crazy Psycho For Hire.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's Lordgenome does this during his fight with Simon while he's tearing the Lagann apart with his bare hands
Comic Books
- Green Goblin, from the Marvel Universe, and the Joker, from the DCU, are archetypical examples of the first type of exception. (Of course, the Joker is also a bona-fide psycho, prone to impressive cackling.)
- See also the various Batman adaptations, below.
- Worth noting is that the Goblin's laugh is explicitly one of his super powers. It's a sonic weapon.
- Appearances of superhero The Creeper in The DCU are accompanied by a high-pitched, maniacal laugh. Depending On The Writer, he's either pretending to be a lunatic or the real thing.
- HAW HAW HAW
Film
Literature
- There are many villains with Evil Laugh on Discworld. One of them (in Maskerade) writes his evil laugh down. With five exclamation marks. Sure sign for insanity.
- A relatively minor character in Making Money has one of the best evil laughs seen in the series. His co-worker Igor laments that it is so unfortunate that he is neither technically insane, nor evil.
- Granny Weatherwax does not do this but her genteel chuckle when she is about to do the Right Thing has been described as far FAR scarier.
- Witches of the Discworld in general try to watch themselves and each other for excessive cackling, which is a sign of going mad and turning into a fairytale-style wicked witch.
- Doctor Impossible in Soon I Will Be Invincible declares in the narration that he will have the last laugh, "and I have a very good laugh." Damsel says to the other heroes "He's out there somewhere, probably half a kilometer underground. Laughing his freaky laugh. Talking to his robots." When he captures them, he lets it rip.
- Count Olaf in A Series Of Unfortunate Events has a distinctively wheezy voice and a laugh to go with it. In The Grim Grotto, he's doing his darndest to make it the most elaborate, obnoxious evil laugh ever. (This is great fun in the audio books with Tim Curry doing the reading.)
- In later books in the series, Olaf deliberately inverts this by shortening his laugh to a simple "Ha!"
- Used to chilling effect in the audio-book of The Rivers of Zadaa. Who would have guessed William Dufris had it in him?
- Lampshaded by Harry Dresden in Grave Peril. At Bianca's party, the lights go dark, and spooky laughter comes out of nowhere. Harry notes that it's tough to beat Vampires at the creepy laugh. They get a lot of practice.
- Harry points out an Evil Laugh again in Dead Beat when he encounters the vampire Mavra. He also gives a fairly apt description of what makes an evil laugh.
Maybe it was the atmosphere, but something about it, the way that it simply lacked anything to do with the things that should motivate laughter... There was no warmth in it, no humanity, no kindness, no joy. It was like Mavra herself - it had the withered human shell, but underneath it all was something from a nightmare.
- In the Harry Potter series, Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. Subverted with Sirius Black who had one, but turned out to be a good guy.
Live Action TV
Music
- Vincent Price ends his section of "Thriller" with a wry evil laugh, arguably doing more to relieve the tension than to amplify it. Man was creepy.
Professional Wrestling
- "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase's Evil Laugh was so important to his character that it was even part of his entrance music.
- Even after turning face, Kane is likely to do this at the end of his promos. He didn't become a true bona fide psycho until he was unmasked, though.
- Since unmasking, "The Big Red Machine" Kane has taunted and tourmented his targets, often laughing after describing or inflicting torture.
- Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart had an annoying laugh that sometimes terrified opponents.
- Unlike Dibiase, Jim's evil laughter appears to be hereditary as near perfect duplications of his laugh can be heard echoing from whatever room or hall his daughter Nattie is in. Incidentally, she also thinks its funny to tear ligaments with the sharp shooter.
Close Professional Wrestling
Radio
- The Shadow, of radio, pulp, and Alec Baldwin fame, is another example of a hero using the evil laugh - in his case, as psychological warfare. After all, maniac laughter from nowhere is unnerving, and criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot...
- Dr. Regis Blackgaard had a memorable evil laugh that was quite effective in small doses. When he appears in the "Darkness Before Dawn" arc, you can hear bits of it trying to escape at certain points, but he holds it in until he finally takes over Whit's End.
- A minute before the scene in question, he and his underling Mr. Glossman actually share a laugh together. The contrast makes him sound positively demented.
- In a later episode, we learn that while his twin brother Edwin may be merely a hammy actor with an inflated ego, he has the laugh in his repertoire, as well.
Tabletop Games
- Chaos in Warhammer 40000 specializes in this; most Traitor Marines having been turned batshit insane over ten thousand years of war and slaughter, and the mind-warping effects of the Immaterium. Dawn Of War has Chaos Marines randomly break down and cackle occasionally.
Theatre and Opera
- Damn Yankees has Applegate sing the Villain Song, "The Good Old Days", which while sounding a lot like an inspirational song in the way it is sung, has Applegate laughing evilly in between stanzas.
- In Act One of the The Phantom Of The Opera, the Phantom breaks out in evil laughter when he ruins Carlotta's performance and later crashes the chandelier. Michael Crawford really makes the most of both occasions on the original cast album.
- This troper loves Crawford's Evil Laugh at the end of the All I Ask Of You track, though she fails to remember who he's screaming "GO!" at.
- The aria "Vous qui faites l'endormie", from Faust by Charles Gounod, has a number of evil laughs written into the score. This is perhaps unsurprising, as it's sung by Mephistopheles, but it does mean that this trope is Older Than Radio.
- The title character in Mozart and De Ponte's Don Giovanni has a very unsettling laugh in the beginning of act two.
- Though the Wicked Witch of the West is portrayed sympathetically in Wicked(and given the name Elphaba), she still gets her trademark cackle when Glinda slaps her.
Video Games
Web Comics
- Lampshaded in this Order Of The Stick strip, in which Xykon declines to join Redcloak and the Monster in the Dark in an evil laugh, because he can't quite deliver one properly since becoming a skeletal (and thus lung-less) lich.
- Vaarsuvius gets a very straight one in this strip, though they can't quite help it.
- The more villainous and/or powerful "Sparks" (genius gadgeteers and mad scientists) in the gaslamp fantasy world of Girl Genius ("Adventure! Romance! Mad Science!") are remarkably prone to this. But then, frankly speaking, every Spark is prone to ranting and raving and overdramatic gestures (often involving blowing things up, or sometimes, coffee) when "in the Madness Place" (sparking at full throttle). "Forward, my minions! Mhuahahaha!"
- Damien from El Goonish Shive does one of these. Not because he's just done something evil, or because Our Heroes are falling into his diabolical trap, but because he thinks it's genuinely hilarious that Grace could ever be a threat to him.
- Likewise, Raven has a pretty well-developed evil laugh about him.
- Khrima indulges in evil laugh in this Adventurers! strip.
- While not quite the most evil of the lot, Rocky and his cousin from Lackadaisy Cats tend to laugh hysterically whenever they cheat death.
- Narbonic loves this trope.
- Bob and George, per se. Quote from Dr Wily and the Helmeted Author: "I think I'm supposed to laugh maniacally now."
- In 8-bit Theater, when the Light Warriors hand over the last orb of light, Sarda does one of these. Red Mage dismisses it as allergies and Sarda goes along with that.
- In Erfworld, Wanda's maniacal laugh upon acquiring and attuning to the Arkenpliers was a break from her previous complete lack of laughter.
Web Original
- The Dr. Horrible from the quotes section opens Act I with his unbelievably artificial maniacal laughter. Hey, he's working on it (with a voice coach).
- He gets it extremely right in Act III.
- The best use of You Tube yet is broadcasting an Evil Laugh competition.
- In the Halo 3 machinima, Deus Ex Machina, a villain starts laughing because he's supposed to be a robotic time-gasbomb, when it turns out to be a dud, he plays a looping laugh sound. Yes, it is creepy as hell.
- Another earlier villain chuckles to himself in a completely normal manner. Since he is laughing about the hero's imminent doom, it still feels very evil.
- From Gaia Online. Johnny. K. Gambino. Full stop. Lampshaded in a later story update where Johnny, stuck in a rut, says he just doesn't have the passion for the Bwahaha stuff anymore.
- Among the site's staff, Qixter, the main dev for zOMG! Makes himself out as an Evil Overlord, complete with Evil Laughter. His trademark quote is "Can I get a Bwuhahaha?" This quote makes it into the description of the item at the end of the game.
- In the 'Mental Floss' web animation Be Amazing!, around 3:12 - "Maniacally, I said! MANIACALLY!"
- The Spoony One has a pretty, well, insane laugh when he's portraying the diabolical Doctor Insano.
- Parodied by Adam in Maddison Atkins episode 9.
- Although he's gone a long way since his villain status, Strong Bad from Homestar Runner has a pretty neat - if seldom used - laugh (seen in "dragon" and "Most In The Graveyard").
Western Animation
- The Joker from Batman The Animated Series has the most distinctive version of the Joker's trademark insane laugh. Mark Hamill does an excellent job of conveying just how damn creepy the guy can really be. Here's some examples of just how awesomely creepy it is.
- Bart Simpson's laugh is pretty evil, even when he's laughing about something innocent.
- Mr. Burns has a pretty good one too.
- Sideshow Bob has one Hell of a Evil Laugh.
- The sheer creepiness of Megatron's laugh in the original Transformers animated series is in and of itself Nightmare Fuel.
- The Quintessons during the "Five Faces of Darkness" arc were initially so overcome by their moment of triumph, they were at a loss as to how to go about celebrating it. Then one of them suggests a quite chuckle. And so they do, and rather creepingly.
- Beast Wars has a number of the Predacons do this, including but by no means limited to: Megatron when he's feeling smug, Rampage when he's inflicting pain, and Tarantulas almost constantly... They're always the third sort, and always a pro at it.
- Lampshaded near the end of "Other Visits Part 1", where both Megatron and Tarantulas begin cackling at the same time after coming together to work on the same Evil Plan. Hard to describe on paper, but plays out very nicely.
- Almost every Decepticon in Transformers Armada indulges in this at least once, most often Psycho For Hire Cyclonus.
- Megatron in Transformers Armada is the biggest offender, though: he laughs a lot, never passing up an excuse to do so, to the point that it becomes Narmish. As the Big Bad, he has that right, but the Cybertron version, played by the same voice actor, (who also played the Beast Wars Megs) doesn't laugh nearly as much. (This troper hasn't seen Energon.)
- Kilokhan in Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad tried to do this, but being an AI who spoke in a monotone, it basically came out to "A-heh, heh, heh. Heh, heh. heh, heh, heh. *beat* A-heh."
- Lampshaded in Kim Possible when Senor Senior Senior turns to crime and decides that - as all great villains - he needs an Evil Laugh. There's even an episode that ends with him saying, "Come, son, let us return to our lair and practice our evil laughs together." This troper and HIS son still say that line to each other.
- When turned evil, Ron Stoppable combines the laugh with his Catch Phrase: "Ah-BOOYAH-hahahahaha!"
- It's note pointing out that Shego strictly discourages the use of Evil Laugh while being the Evil Mentor to Senior Senior, Jr.
- Parodied in Freakazoid: the villain Guitierrez is not only prone to evil laughs, but asks people around him to laugh along.
- Also lampshaded with Dr. Mystico, who bursts out in a fit of evil laughter and then explains, "Sorry, I just thought of something funny."
- Few villains rock the Evil Laugh harder than Evil Chancellor Jafar on Aladdin, especially at the end of his song. On the Cartoon Crossover with Hercules, Hades calls him up on it.
- Of course, when Jafar actually convinces Hades to give it a shot, the big blue guy admits that "It's cleansing."
- Darla Dimple from Cats Don't Dance manages to laugh diabolically pretty well (she is, after all, an actress); when her Battle Butler tries to join in, she snaps, "Shut up, Max."
- Scar in The Lion King lets out a particularly great one at the end of his Villain Song, "Be Prepared".
- Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective after his [3]. Voiced by Vincent Price. Can't get much greater than that.
- Aku from Samurai Jack. They also parodied this: in one episode Aku orders an assassin to kill the samurai and then laughs evilly into the phone, then he looks confused as they hang up.
- A lampshade was hung on this in at least one episode of The Fairly Oddparents, in which the arch-enemy of the Crimson Chin; the Nega-Chin looks at his watch and says "Oh. Time for my Evil Laugh!" He then engages in said evil laugh on cue.
Norm: That's my evil laugh. How is it, huh? I've been practicing.
- On Avatar, "Melon Lord" Toph's Evil Laugh basically consists of saying "Mwa ha hahahaha!"
- Then later on there is Azula's deranged laugh, which is one part evil, two parts crazy, and creepy as hell. It is not a Noblewomans Laugh.
- This troper saw The Dark Knight just two days before watching the finale, and swore up and down that Heath Ledger and Grey DeLisle must have compared notes...
- In Beetlejuice's Animated Adaptation, the eponymous trickster's rather spectacular cackle features prominently in the opening sequence. "It's showtime!"
- A childhood favorite of this troper's was the Evil Laugh of Culinary Quint on Timon and Pumbaa's Wild Adventures, which was literally "Le HAH! Le HAH! Le HAH!" He was French...
- Mandark of Dexter's Laboratory had a whole episode dedicated to his laugh. The only dialogue heard was his laugh ("HA haha! HA haha haha!"), and all the sound effects were set to the same meter.
- In Cyberchase, the Cybersquad is reading a note sent by the Big Bad, Hacker. At the end of the note, he had written "Ha, ha, ha, ha."
- Danny's future self has a very nice one indeed.
- Invader Zim has Tak, Zim's far more competent and villainous rival, giving an evil laugh that lasts more than ten seconds, followed by still more evil laughter as she goes over her evil plan. Zim doesn't quite get it, despite having his own evil laugh, and responds with "yes, yes, I'm a master of comedy".
- Zim himself plays it straight; after a plan to get rid of Dib appears to be successful, he struggles to find a sufficiently evil way to end his monologue.
Zim:"Now Dib, I leave you to your... eh..."
GIR whispers "say 'moosey fate'!" Zim follows the suggestion, looks like he can't believe he just said that, then nonetheless bursts into explosive evil laughter.
- In this troper's opinion, Zim's evil laugh at the end of the opening sequence of every episode is priceless.
- Ren of Ren and Stimpy has a particular insane laugh after he's lost his mind or accomplished something.
- Mad Scientist Dr. Cockroach of Monsters Vs Aliens has a tendency to do this on a whim, to which Susan asks if he could please stop doing that.
- Stripperella. Mad plastic surgeon Dr Cesarean gives an evil laugh...then stops when he realises he's doing it in a waiting room full of wide-eyed onlookers.
- This shouldn't be surprising as he's voiced by Mark Hammil.
- In Disney's Snow White, the wicked queen uses an Evil Laugh as an ingredient of her disguise potion.
- In the Tom And Jerry short Solid Serenade, Tom traps Jerry in Spike's doghouse and gives the audience an Evil Laugh as he closes the door. Then Jerry emerges, being safely escorted out of the enclosure by Spike himself...who utters an Evil Laugh of his own as he shuts the door again. Hilarity Ensues, natch.
- In Jerry and the Lion, Tom traps Jerry in a closet and again gives one of these to the audience as he closes the door...not realizing that Jerry is accompanied by the escaped circus lion who he's befriended. Hilarity once again ensues.
- The Saturday-Morning Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon's version of Dr. Robotnik had a distinctive, unsettling laugh that sounded more like a weird ecstatic shudder.
- Dr. Zin's laugh was particularly evil in the Jonny Quest episode "The Robot Spy".
- Has everyone forgotten about Jack Spicer's obsession with his evil laugh in Xiaolin Showdown?
- Ursula from The Little Mermaid lets out an evil laugh so friggin' scary while Ariel turns into a human that it shames the Wicked Witch, Jafar, and Maleficent put together.
- Speaking of Maleficent, she lets out many memorable evil laughs, notably when she turns into a dragon.
[evil]Hahaha[/evil]
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