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"You don't understand a thing. Laughing is a very important aspect of being the Overlord."
"A lot of guys ignore the laugh. And that's about standards. I mean, if you're going to get into the Evil league of Evil you've got to have a memorable laugh."
"It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.... Oh, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway."
--The Joker, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
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.
A Dead Horse Trope. 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, or C) a bona fide psycho, in which case you'd better do some pretty impressive cackling.
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.
Examples:
Live Action TV
Anime
- 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. The English dub infamously added one to the potato chips scene. You know the one.
- 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.
- 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".
- 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.
- The bona fide psycho version proliferates in Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. View if you dare
 .
- Life is short, so this troper doesn't have time to list all the examples of villains doing this in Sailor Moon. It might be easier to list the villainous types in that show who don't do it...
- How is it possible we haven't yet mentioned 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.
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.)
- The most distincitive version of the Joker's laugh comes from Batman The Animated Series, where Mark Hamill does an excellent job of conveying just how damn creepy the guy can really be. Listen!
- 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.
Film
- Emperor Palpatine of Star Wars is of the second sort.
- Spoofed to death in the Austin Powers trilogy.
- Brad Pitt, of all people, lets out a truly impressive cackle as Jesse James, in The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, after quasi-threatening Ford at knife-point.
- Subverted in The Fifth Element: Zorg has grabbed the Cosmic Keystone-filled box and laughs... and then bursts into tears, as the box is empty.
- In Jet Li's Last Hero in China (one of many, many names for this movie), the main villain has a ridiculously good evil laugh. Actually, it's more like an utterly psycothic laugh, at entirely wrong moments. "Wong Fei Hong! Help me! He has broken loose! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" "Our evil master will not be pleased! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
- Pick a character, any character, played by Vincent Price. Even when the Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris re-recorded a good chunk of his narration, they left in his laugh because it was that distinctive.
- The Joker in The Dark Knight has a creepy laugh.
- Not to mention Jack Nicholson's impressive cackling as the Joker from the first Batman film. But top honours have to go to Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones as Riddler and Two-Face in Batman Forever.
- Barbossa in Pirates Of The Caribbean rocked a magnificent, rum-laced Evil Piratey Laugh. I mean come on, he even went "arr!"
- The title character in Dr. Strangelove has a broken way of laughing on occasion that sits comfortably between Un Evil and just plain Evil.
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.
- 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.
Western Animation
- The Joker from Batman The Animated Series, as noted above.
- Bart Simpson's laugh is pretty evil, even when he's laughing about something innocent.
- 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.
- Parodied in Freakazoid: the villain Guitierrez is not only prone to evil laughs, but asks people around him to laugh along.
- Few villains rock the Evil Laugh harder than Jafar on Aladdin. On the Cartoon Crossover with Hercules, Hades calls him up on it.
- 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."
- Almost every Decepticon in Transformers Armada indulges in this at least once, most often Psycho For Hire Cyclonus.
- Scar in The Lion King lets out a particularly great one at the end of his Villain Song, "Be Prepared".
- Aku from Samurai Jack. They also subverted 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.
- On Avatar, "Melon Lord" Toph's Evil Laugh basically consists of saying "Mwa ha hahahaha!"
- In The Movie of Batman Beyond, even Terry gets in one of these when squaring off against the Joker.
Video Games
- Darth Malak in Knights Of The Old Republic gets into near the end of the game. Got kind of cheesy though as the laugh is played along with an animation where he actually holds his hand on his stomach like a bad actor trying to simulate gut busting laughter.
- One of Iori Yagami's more beloved traits in The King Of Fighters series is his habit of breaking into manaical laughter when he wins a match. This is a bit odd, considering he's also a protagonist. Sample.
- Kefka of Final Fantasy VI had a grand evil laugh of his own, instantly identifiable by anyone that's heard it. This is especially impressive as the game has no vocal track.
- Albedo Piazzola from the Xenosaga series had a particularly deranged Evil Laugh fitting with his overall character.
- Luca Blight from Suikoden 2 had an evil laugh accompanied by an enormous amount of exclamation marks.
- Ganondorf of The Legend Of Zelda series has his fair share of laughs. Sometimes it is a simple, self-satisfied "Hm-hm-hmm...", other times it is used in a mocking tone after he has succeeded in an attack. One of the most flamboyant is in Wind Waker where, after the King of Hyrule uses the Triforce to wish for "hope" for Link and Zelda and the old Hyrule begins to flood and vanish under the water, Ganon simply starts to laugh for no discernable reason possibly in mockery of the King's wish. It continues to grow until he is eventually practically shrieking. Some found it quite silly, but this troper thought it was pretty awesome.
- Then again, if you had your several thousand year old dream, the very thing you've been living to accomplish, shattered right before your eyes the very moment before it was safely within your grasp, you'd likely go rather Ax Crazy too. And what better way to express it?
- To say nothing of what he was like in The Adventure of Link (Zelda 2). You can hear the same laugh in Ocarina of Time, but it doesn't quite have the same context...
- Hojo from the Final Fantasy VII games comes from the "sick psycho" school of evil laughter. Here's a sample.
- Ditto for Vexen from Kingdom Hearts Re Chains of Memories. Expected, as they both share the same voice actor.
- Laharl from Disgaea, as quoted above. Upon officially becoming an Evil Overlord (well, mostly evil), he even spends the next few days perfecting it.
- Dr. Robotnik of the Sonic The Hedgehog series has a peculiar Santa-esqe chuckle in his Japanese incarnations (which has only been done successfuly in English once, during Sonic Rush), but he also has a more traditional Evil Laugh that he uses when he's feeling particularly good.
- Take, for example, the Dark ending in Sonic Adventure 2, as he puts the final Chaos Emerald into the Eclipse Canon. Alas...
- Castlevania's version of Dracula loves doing this, and since he's voiced by Norio Wakamoto, it makes it all the more enjoyable. It's also apparently a mandatory thing for the Lord of Darkness, because Soma Cruz does it, too.
- Bryan Fury in Tekken has a particularly disturbing one, thanks to the mechanical effect on his voice (due to his being a cyborg).
- Kadaj, from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children might be worth a mention, since while auditioning for her church's play, this troper was asked to do her best evil laugh. Just for kicks, she decided to imitate his, and was cast as Satan.
- This troper does not see Bowser...here's a fun fact: when you speed up his Mario 64 laugh, it sounds like Boo!
- He let out a particularly infamous one at the very beginning of Hotel Mario, which has been mocked and re-mocked in You Tube Poops about 50,000 times now.
- The Guardian from the final Ultima trilogy had a particularly memorable bass-pitched resonating laugh, courtesy of Bill Johnson and a filter that made his voice progressively deeper in each of the games.
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...
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 right in Act III.
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.
- 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.
Professional Wrestling
- "Million Dollar Man" Ted Di Biase'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.
Real Life
- According to a large number of this troper's friends, he has a very Evil Laugh - in that, on an average day, he can induce chills and goosebumps in nearby people who haven't built up a tolerance. And it is so very stress-relieving.
- Another example- this troper actually practices evil laughter, on the off chance he ever goes Mad. And is so good and so evil at it, unfortunately, that they usually consider it Narm for some reason.
- Example part three: This troper practices various types of evil laughter. He is rather good at psychotic laughs, specifically the "Kira" type that begins with bursts of hushed chuckles and ascends into all-out cackling. Unfortunately, he has yet to find the privacy to practice his all-time favorite: the type that begins with a high-pitched screech.
- Try it yourself while standing next to a large drum of any sort. Especially a drumkit. Dramatic Reverb!
- This troper has a tendency to adopt the evil laugh of her most recent film seen's villain. It's slightly spooky when it's Mr. Teatime she's mimicking unconsciously, with the Willy Wonka voice right out of Hogfather, but as of recently even her normal (well relatively normal) laugh sounds like the Joker. Damn!
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