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"Jafar, Jafar, he's our man..."
"You know what? I'm happy."
When a character expresses a moment of joy in the most deadpan manner possible. Often by saying the word "yay" or "woo hoo" in a flat monotone or other tone of voice that does not exhibit joy.
Can frequently be used sarcastically, when the "joy" is invoked by something very much not joyful. In this circumstance, it is inevitably said by the Deadpan Snarker. Just as often, however, the character in question may actually be truly joyful, and merely that he or she simply isn't an emotional or expressive person, or is incapable of being loud. Deadpan or Flat is the character's normal tone of voice, even when expressing happiness.
Compare with And There Was Much Rejoicing. See also Flat "What." and Sarcasm Mode. Not to be confused with Petite Pride. Also see Dull Surprise.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Ben Stein's schtick, as a mascot for Clear Eyes brand, was always him giving a flat, disinterested "Wow." after demonstrating the power of Clear Eyes.
- In the radio version of a 7Up ad, Brad Garret is used to show how 7Up can turn someone who is a curmudgeon on the outside (expressing Sarcastic Joy) to happy on the inside (where he's singing his own version of "Everyone Knows It's Windy").
Anime & Manga
Fan Fic
Film
- The reaction to the eating of Robin's minstrels in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a very unenthusiastic "yay".
- The reaction to meeting up again was a flat yay, but the reaction to eating the minstrels was a slightly less flat yay.
Literature
- Albert's reaction to traveling on the Hogfather's sleigh in Hogfather: "Oh, what fun."
- During the hunt for Abaddon in Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea, Bill bemoans the disturbance the police investigation brings to his clientele:
"Can you imagine the impression it will make?" he asked. "How would you react if a policeman knocked on your door and asked to speak with the family psychopath?"
"I'd introduce myself," I said brightly, but my husband was in no mood for jokes.
"Ha," he said bleakly.
Live Action TV
- Jamie from Mythbusters is famous for this.
- From the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "The Prom":
Buffy: I'm gonna give you all a nice, fun, normal evening if I have to kill every person on the face of the Earth to do it.
Xander: Yay?
- Dollhouse: Laurence Dominic's reaction when he and Echo finally get what the guy in the Attic meant when he said that they have to "enjoy themselves."
Mr. Dominic: Good Times.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: Used as a Running Gag during the short "Junior Rodeo Daredevils".
Joel: And the crowd goes wild.
Joel, Tom Servo, and Crow in unison: [monotone] Yaaaaaaaaaaay.
- A common occurrence in Stargate Universe. Whenever Dr. Rush, and sometimes, Eli Wallace, come up with a "solution" to a problem that ends up highlighting difficulties ahead, Dr. Volker will respond to the news with a very deadpan "Yaaaaaaay." Since Dr. Brody is no fan of Dr. Rush, he'll often join in with a bit more sarcasm.
- In one of the last episodes, when they were forced by aggressive automated drones to refuel using a class-O supergiant star instead of the usual red dwarf, and were facing a future of being dogged by said drones, Dr. Rush pointed out that at least they had a full tank of gas. Volker, Brody, AND Colonel Young all responded with a rather joyless "Yay."
- George's surrogate in Arrested Development ignores affect: "Oh boy. Goodie."
- In one episode of Scrubs, Ted reacts very deadpan to some good news. When asked about it, he says that he frowns so much it now hurts to smile. Later, when he gets even better news, he smiles, and his mouth erupts in pain.
Music
Newspaper Comics
- In one Peanuts comic, Charlie Brown rewards Snoopy with "The greatest reward a dog can receive from a human: A pat on the head." In the next panel, Snoopy rolls his eyes and thinks, "Thrillsville."
- An early Garfield comic had Jon Arbuckle making a really big deal out of what Garfield was going to get for dinner. When he finally revealed that it was "Liver!", Garfield put on a disgusted expression and thought, "Oh hooray, hop about, clap paws, squeal with glee."
Radio
- Long-running DJ Rick Dees had, for many years, a sound bite he would use when appropriate of a group of people saying "Hey, that's... great," in a flat, uninterested tone.
Theatre
- The first lines of "Pulled"
 from The Addams Family, sung by Wednesday Addams: "I don't have a sunny disposition / I'm not known for being too amused / My demeanor's locked in one position / See my face — I'm enthused."
- The song "Ascot Gavotte" from My Fair Lady, in which the upper-class men and women sing about how excited they are to be at the racetrack... in a tone as stuffy and stilted as it can possibly get.
Video Games
Web Comics
Western Animation
- Mai was this in Avatar The Last Airbender. She later gets a Freudian Excuse for it in the Beach Episode
- Droopy could be considered the Trope Codifier, he did so often. It never seemed like he was being sarcastic; rather, this was as expressive as he was physically able to get.
- Occasionally, he might break character for the sake of humor, erupting in joy and doing over-the-top Wild Takes and back flips, only to very suddenly stop and look at the camera, and give his usual flat joy line "You know what? I'm happy." This tended to happen when at the end of the episode he received a large sum of money, or a kiss from a beautiful woman.
- Scooby Doo And The Reluctant Werewolf had a crowd of Transylvanian peasants cheering like this. This is subject to some mocking by Dracula: "If I vant to be alone, I'll call you guys!"
- Also a funny subversion when the peasants are stuck by lightning, they do cheer appropriately, for once.
Dracula: I liiiiike that!
- They also cheer when something bad happens to Drac.
Dracula: Pipe down!
- The crowd in the old Tom Slick cartoon shorts always gave a very unenthusiastic, half-hearted, deadpan "yay"s and equally unenthusiastic "boo"s..
- Disney's Aladdin, when "Prince Ali" arrives in the palace.
Sultan: I'm delighted to meet you. This is my royal vizier, Jafar. He's delighted too.
Jafar: [Deadpan] Ecstatic.
- Also from Aladdin, when Al is fighting Jafar as a giant snake, Genie is cheering him on enthusiastically. When Jafar tells him to stay out of it, Genie then cheers flatly, at first.
Genie: Jafar, Jafar, he's our man. If he can't do it — GREAT!
- In Kim Possible, Dr. Drakken is disappointed by Shego's lack of response to his gloating over his plan:
Drakken: A little sidekick enthusiasm wouldn't hurt, you know.
Shego: [deadpan] Woo hoo. Extra hoo. Happy?
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- Subverted in the episode "Sonic Rainboom": Fluttershy is sincere when she practices cheering for Rainbow Dash, but it comes out as this because she's so meek and soft-spoken. When Rainbow Dash pulls off the title move and saves Rarity and the Wonderbolts' lives, Fluttershy breaks into cheering so ecstatic that her voice cracks. Yay.
- Played straight in the episode "Look Before You Sleep". Rarity and Applejack, both of whom are not in good terms with one another at the time, express this when Twilight Sparkle announces their slumber party.
- Lor in The Weekenders is a bad actor, so when she's given the line "After all these years I finally feel truly alive," this is how it turns out.
- Raven in Teen Titans would occasionally indulge in the Deadpan Snarker version of this trope:
- Tiny Toon Adventures had an episode where the students of Acme Looniversity face their rivals Perfecto Prep in a football game. Although the Acme cheerleaders (Babs, Fifi, and Shirley) are quite enthusiastic, all the Perfecto cheerleaders can manage is a halfhearted "Perfecto Prep. Rah."
- On Phineas And Ferb, the incredibly sarcastic Candace can sometimes fall into this trope.
Phineas: You're on fire, Candace!
Candace: Woo-Hoo. [Beat] I'm not actually on fire, am I?
- The heroine of Daria, quite often. Usually the sarcastic variety, but even when legitimately happy, the most one usually gets out of her is a slight, sly smile.
- A memorable mocking of then Vice President Al Gore on The Simpsons played this up.
Real Life
- EVERYONE has had this moment in his or her life.
- Some people with Aspergers/Autism can have this problem sometimes. Feeling it but not quite able to express it.
- "Whoop-dee-damn-doo" - Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, upon hearing that he had been confirmed to that position.
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