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Laughably Evil

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bang_9072.jpg
His act's a real killer.

"He's an absolutely awful human being. The strange thing about comedy is that if an awful character makes people laugh, people feel affectionate towards him. It's insane because if they had to sit next to him for five minutes at a dinner, they would absolutely not be able to cope with him. They would loathe him. But because he makes them laugh, they think, deep down, he's alright."
— John Cleese, on Basil Fawlty

Villains can be many things... magnificent, horrific, self-obsessed, philosophical... but special attention goes to the villain that makes you laugh. It might be because he's an idiot, it might be that you empathize with him, or it might be simply that his actions are so unexpected. In any case, some villains will always be funny.

Of course, funny does not always equal weak. Praise be to the villain who can cause a chuckle from his audience, right before viciously thwarting the hero's best efforts. In fact, if done correctly, the very things that make a villain qualify can make them downright disturbing once they begin crossing the Moral Event Horizon. Villain laughing at faking someone out with a gun with a "BANG!" flag coming out? Funny. Same villain doing the exact same laugh when shooting them for real a few seconds later? Creepy. A truly well written one can manage to pull off both at once. See the trope picture for an excellent example of this subtype. Just because a character qualifies, it does not prevent them from being completely evil and there are many villains that manage to be both (again, see the page image). In these cases, what makes them funny also makes them very unsettling because of how much fun they have committing the most horrific acts possible.

Often overlaps with the Harmless Villain (Harmless Villains are inherently funny, but funny villains are not inherently harmless), Affably Evil, Faux Affably Evil (who are often funny), the Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain and Magnificent Bastard. And with Large Ham (playing a villain seems to be very fun). It's also a prerequisite for the Terrible Trio and the Quirky Miniboss Squad. Interestingly, this either subverts or complements Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor, as does Too Funny to Be Evil, a closely related sister trope. Tends to be the sort who Crosses the Line Twice. See also: Laugh with Me and Beware the Silly Ones. A villain who is laughably evil need not have an Evil Laugh, though it can help. Alternatively, they may have an Unevil Laugh. A particularly Card-Carrying Villain with emphasis put on the comical aspects of his "Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad" morality can very easily turn into a Laughably Evil villain.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

     Anime and Manga  
  • Jason Beck from The Big O. When he's not being an egotistical fop, he's actually frighteningly competent. Too bad this is overshadowed by his over the top hubris, which pushes him firmly into the "Laughably" part of this trope.
  • Most of the villains of early Dragon Ball are like this. Such villains include General Blue, who is utterly hilarious in personality (and also Camp Gay) but also a very deadly opponent, and Emperor Pilaf, who has no idea what he's doing. Also Majin Buu, especially in his Fat Buu form, where his antics and are so childish, goofy, and cartoonish that you almost forget that his "games" are killing millions of people, at least until the Establishing Shot of the barren wasteland where a thriving city used to be.
  • The Team Rocket trio from Pokémon are this, which is the reason why they are so popular. At least until Best Wishes, when their boss gives them an actual serious assignment.
  • Tobi from Naruto was this at first. Then he decided to stop fucking around.
  • Dedede in Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. He's arguably more evil than his game counterpart, but also one of the most entertaining characters on the show.
  • A number of villains from One Piece, such as Buggy the Clown, a Villainous Harlequin who's (violently) sensitive about his nose, and Spandam, who alternately kicks the dog in new and horrible ways and makes himself look like an idiot.
    • On the opposite side of the power spectrum is Kaku. The second most powerful member of Cipher Pol 9, he can transform into a giraffe. No, you didn't misread that. He can transform into an actual giraffe. Even better, he can transform into a half-man/half-giraffe. One that keeps his trademark square nose. He sincerely believes giraffes to be powerful creatures and during his fight with Zoro was prone to defending them by saying such things as "Witness the power of a giraffe!". Though that could be part-denial since everyone keeps mocking him for his powers. Oh, and he uses his nose as a weapon.
      • Believe it or not, out of all the animals characters can transform into so far, the giraffe appears to be one of the very best (in this form his storm kick attack was amplified like crazy, he can shorten his neck to lengthen his arms and legs, he can shoot out his head like a cannonball ...). The only one that seems to be superior is the rare phoenix.
      • Any animal that can kick a full-grown lion ass-over-appetite is powerful, even if their goofy build and lack of vocalizations in the range of human hearing obscures that fact.
      • What makes the fight even funnier is that Kaku has just eaten his Devil Fruit, and is figuring its powers out as he goes along (bear in mind that many Devil Fruit users have to spend years learning their powers; for example, flashbacks show that when Luffy ate the Gum Gum Fruit, he had to go through quite a bit of training before he could even throw a proper punch). Crowning Moment of Funny comes when he discovers the aforementioned "shorten neck to extend arms and legs" move, reasons that it works on the same principle as a pasta machine, then names the move "Pasta Machine." Also in his favor is that, despite being a government agent, he's a pretty chill guy, even giving a good-natured laugh to a post-battle quip from one of the heroes.
  • Mara from Ah! My Goddess. She takes time out of her busy day tormenting goddesses and attempting world conquest in order to knock a child's ice cream cone out of his hands to fulfill a snide wish by his sister. Either Kick the Dog, Crowning Moment of Awesome, or both. A truly admirable commitment to evil on any scale. For those who are wondering this happens in the first season of the TV series — if not in Mara's first episode, then in her first or second appearance after that. The scene in question actually makes her seem oddly like a Disgaea character, laughing maniacally at her "evil deed" and resulting in both of the kids kicking her in the shin simultaneously and high-tailing it, to her angry surprise.
  • Baki and Minki from Hell Teacher Nube. They're (nominally) evil, powerful, hugely destructive Oni, but the former adores ice cream, toys, and riding around on the little kids' train in the park, and the latter has some bizarre notions of what a good big brother/little sister relationship should be like.
  • Dio Brando is not only only a fan favorite, but loved those who understand literally the bare minimum about the series. He also is introduced into the series by stealing Jonathon's girlfriend Erina's first kiss, kicking Jonathon's Dog Danny, setting said dog ON FIRE and only really because he just wanted to treat Jonathon like shit so Dio could manipulate him into getting most of his fathers inheritance. And he only gets crueler as the series goes.
  • Gates of Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid is so over-the-top with his Chaotic Evil antics that everything he does is completely random. Despite the sadistic violence, this makes him even funnier.
  • Oda Nobunaga from the Sengoku Basara anime. It's not because he's dumb. Or incompetent. Or even snarky, for that matter. It's just that he's so mind-bogglingly, skull-stompingly, baby-eatingly evil that he becomes hilariously awesome just through his very existence.
  • The various teens of Ranma ˝ could conceivably come off as this, as opposed to Comedic Sociopathy. Not one of them (except for Kasumi, and even she made mischief on some occasions in the early manga) has done something that doesn't make them look at least partially villainous, yet these same deeds (and the regulars who generally are villains) still manage to be funny because of their attempts at evil.
  • The Golden Witch Beatrice in Umineko: When They Cry is aware that she is the villain of the series, and is just adoring the role. She's a Large Ham and she loves to chew the scenery, just listen to it when she talks to Battler. However, this is only in the anime, since in the original sound novels she's later revealed to be a good deal more tragic, not to mention that she isn't even the main villain in the first place.
  • Blastmon from Digimon Xros Wars is said to be immensely powerful, but has the mind of a 5-year-old and calls the other generals by nicknames. Then he's defeated by the heroes and is reduced to a hopping head for the rest of the series. Before him, there was Etemon, an over the top rockstar monkey who's both silly, and far stronger then the last Big Bad.
  • Prince Eccentro of Mon Colle Knights. He's the comedian of the anime, often accompanied by a Fiery Redhead and a Cloud Cuckoo Lander as two of his followers, thus why he's so popular with fans of the show.
    • The aforementioned Batch and Gluko are also quite comedic. Quite often at the end of many episodes, Gluko often happily stands by and adores the scenery while Batch and Eccentro get rather embarrassing moments. They even get into rather comedic situations involving Ms. Loon.
  • Laharl in Makai Senki Disgaea has quite the reputation for having some rather funny moments. Also, in Episode 3, Vulcanus becomes this when he accidentally almost falls off a statue and causes it to fall, which leads to Flonne and Etna's clothing & personality swaps. When he finds Flonne sleeping with Laharl and Etna, he flips out and hits her with a This Is Unforgivable! and attempts to kill all three but accidentally falls into a clam exhibit and is unable to get out for the rest of the episode. Later, while he's still trying to get out, he knocks over the same statue again, causing clothing swaps again, this time for Laharl, Etna, Flonne, and one of the Prinnies.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist
    • Barry the Chopper is an unrepentant Serial Killer whose lunacy and total inability to understand normal human morality is Played for Laughs. Some people view Envy as this, though that has more to do with its terrible fighting skills and godawful fashion sense than with any real humour on its part.
    • Before he went all One-Winged Angel, Father had a tendency to make small, sardonic quips while horrendous battle raged all around him - usually along the lines of "Why does everybody feel the need to demolish my home?"
  • In a similar case to Barry, Ladd Russo from Baccano! is a complete nutjob who loves killing just for the sake of killing. While it can be argued whether or not his actions are intentionally Played for Laughs, it's hard not to enjoy watching the guy have so much fun.
  • Macine Baron from Steam Detectives. A bumbling collector and inventor of steam-powered robots with a hilariously overblown Austrian accent; willing to steal the robots if he feels like it. Certain robots he's got his eye on are more-or-less Steam Punk Roombas. Upon being defeated by Goriki, he develops a deep affection towards "him".
  • Jan Valentine of the Valentine Brothers assassination team from Hellsing, he's very sadistic and cruel and he's also hilarious, he's very foulmouthed and loves to tell disgusting stories, he also treats the assignment like a game, and in the manga long after he's been killed he shows up from time to time to break the fourth wall.
  • Jake Martinez from Tiger & Bunny is basically the T&B universe's Joker. He's a Fantastically Racist terrorist, a serial killer, a kidnapper, a mercenary and an all around egotistical asshole who's threatening despite his... questionable wardrobe. And yet he somehow manages to say and do terrible things like murder an underling who failed him (& brag about it to people who had captured said underling), threaten to destroy a city if its heroes couldn't beat him, & force one of the heroes to help draw out his allies in ways that make them hilarious as they are horrid.

     Comic Books  
  • The Joker is a sterling example of the trope. The trick in writing the Joker is to make his actions such that you can laugh one moment, and be horrified the next. Brilliantly brought out by many of the actors to portray him in other media, most prominently Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, Heath Ledger and Brent Spiner. Whether it's electrocuting a gangster while singing showtunes, casually (and cheerfully) stalking an everyday accountant in the middle of rush-hour traffic, or doing a magic trick by making a pencil disappear, you can always find it either way with the Joker. Even Cesar Romero qualifies, although because the show was such high Camp, he focused more on the "laughable" than the "evil".
    Paul Dini on the Joker: Joker's that perfect combination of schoolyard bully and class clown. The kind of sicko who will make you laugh just before he sticks the knife in and twists it.
  • Speaking of the Joker, everyone's favorite Villainous Harlequin Canon Immigrant, Harley Quinn.
  • Marvel Comics' Madcap, a Chaotic Neutral who acts deliberately silly, and whose power is simply to make people act uninhibited.
  • The Green Goblin, who, just like the Joker, can make someone laugh one moment, and horrified the next.
  • Herr Starr from Preacher. Every time he shows up he has a smartass line, but his Crowning Moment of Funny was when he scares some poor old lady for blocking the moving walkway by shooting wildly at her.
    "Moving WALKway! Not moving STANDway, Granny Fuckwit, MOVING FUCKING WALKWAY!!!" (cue gunfire)
    • By this point in the series he's had to deal with "an angel, a whore, an eunuch, several dozen idiots, an unkillable mick, a one-man holocaust in a duster coat, the occasional twenty-course banquet for the mother of all fat fuckers, inbreeding, family feuds, bulimia, a retarded child (always good for a laugh), and the utter destruction of our most sacred shrine and secret retreat in the detonation of a fifty-ton bomb." Not to mention "having my head carved into a giant gleaming dong", so it's understandable that he'd be a mite testy.
  • Superboy-Prime, with his wonderful bits of dialogue such as "I'll kill you! I'll kill you to death!"
  • Larfleeze of the Green Lantern books is the Daffy Duck of the DCU.
  • Jameson is a power-hungry undead Mad Scientist and demonologist. He's also the Meta Guy of Creature Tech, and as such spends most of his time making awful puns, references to other media, Chewing the Scenery, Getting Crap Past the Radar, and hanging lampshades anywhere they'll fit.
  • Deadpool, when he's the antagonist.
  • In the Teen Titans comic of the 1980s, the alien despot Lord Damyn (High of Highs and Best of Best) played a supporting role to recurring villain Blackfire for all of two issues... but in that time, he managed to be both a relentlessly brutish, murderous dictator and bizarrely funny in every other panel.

     Fan Fics  

     Film — Animated 

     Film — Live Action 
  • Pennywise the Dancing Clown, from IT is hilariously wacky when he's not sadistically killing children.

    Literature 
  • The title devil from The Screwtape Letters, who has no sense of humor himself. Lampshaded at one point where he complains that the girl the Patient is falling in love with is "the sort who would find me funny."
  • The Ciaphas Cain series tends to draw from this trope for its humor, only instead of the source being an individual villain, it is the Darker and Edgier nature of the Warhammer40000 setting itself that provides the source.
  • The pigs from Animal Farm can be this, especially Squealer. A case in point would be the morning after the pigs get wasted on booze and it is mawkishly announced that Napoleon (now suffering a hangover) is dying. Then: Great news! Our dear leader is going to be making a complete recovery. Anyway, I'm off to procure some books on brewing. Oink!
  • Croup and Vandemar from Neverwhere. Croup is a Large Ham who likes words far too much and Vandemar is a Big Eater who's very literal-minded and at one point pins his own hand to wall with a knife. They're entertaining, but they're also ruthless murderers who kill the heroine's family, play mind games with the main characters, and torture people to death for fun.

     Live Action TV  
  • Mason Verger in Hannibal is a truly monstrous human being who literally drinks the tears of children, but is incredibly entertaining to watch.
  • Doctor Who: The Master has been like this since the 70s. A well-written Master has the exact same wit and charisma as the Doctor - while regularly killing people for fun.
  • Benjamin Linus is one ruthless, manipulative, and downright creepy motherfucker. He also has some of the best lines in the series.
  • All of the villains in the Adam West Batman show fit, but the best examples are all of the one-shot villains that are unique to the show. And the Riddler, whose infamous riddles would continuously be solved by a Boy Wonder who was otherwise only good for getting kidnapped.
  • All of the villains on The League of Gentlemen. There are very few shows that could make a pair of incestuous Corrupt Hick Serial Killers hilarious.
  • Buffyverse
    • Spike could be quite funny, such as when he passed out in Angel's backyard and woke up when the sun made his hand catch fire in the episode "In the Dark". Also in the episode where he watches from a roof-top while Angel saves a girl and provides sarcastic voice-over narration.
      As Victim: Oh, how can I thank you, you mysterious black-clad hunk of a night thing?
      As Angel: No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me. You see I was once a badass vampire, but love, and a pesky curse defanged me, and now I'm just a biiiiiig, fluffy puppy with bad teeth.
      As Victim: But there must be some way I can... show my appreciation.
      As Angel: No! Helping those in need's my job, and working up a load of sexual tension and prancing away like a magnificent poof is truly thanks enough.
      As Victim: I understand. I have a nephew who's gay, so-
      As Angel: Say no more. Evil's still afoot. And I'm almost out of that nancy-boy hair-gel I like so much. Quickly, to the Angel-mobile! Away!
      • This little exchange was actually on the Buffy spin-off Angel and when we next see him on that show four seasons later, he's reformed his ways.
    Cordelia: Heard you weren't evil anymore. Which kinda makes the hair silly.
    • Angelus is even funny sometimes, in a sick sort of way. ("Othello and Desdemona! My favorite couple. Only Desdemona didn't love the other guy.")
    • Glory is the Alpha Bitch with apocalyptic plans.
    • The Trio start out as a mix between this and Harmless Villain. Then one of the subjects of their wacky hijinks points out that their Black Comedy Rape plan wasn't quite as funny or as hot to her, retroactively pointing out the Moral Event Horizon was crossed much earlier in the ostensibly funny episode. The Trio reacts differently: Warren goes monster, Andrew becomes an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, and Jonathan tries desperately to do a Heel–Face Turn but is prevented by the other two.
    • Before The Trio and Glory, there was the one and only chaos-worshipping Ethan Rayne. The guy is very cool and efficient in causing complete chaos, but his methods are downright hilarious. His grand entrance was in the episode "Halloween", where he opens up a costume shop. Anyone who puts on his costume actually becomes the thing that they were dressing up as. As Spike put it, was just plain neat. In "Band Candy", he spikes school band fund-raiser chocolate so that any adult that eats it turns into a stupid teenager. Best of all though, was turning Giles into a Fyarl demon. Ethan Rayne at best is a Deadpan Snarker, but his methods easily place him squarely into this territory.
    • Mayor Wilkins, due to how completely consistent he is in his affable evilness to the point where his last words when he realizes he's about to be blown up are "well gosh..."
  • Like Kefka and The Joker, Alpha from Dollhouse can make you laugh and cross the Moral Event Horizon at the same time.
  • Supernatural:
    • The Trickster/Gabriel always manages to deliver some sick and twisted poetic justice in a way that will make you laugh—maybe because it's completely ridiculous, extremely clever, or just Actually Pretty Funny.
    • Crowley can sometimes be quite funny. A great example is in "The Man Who Would Be King" which shows that after becoming King of Hell, he got rid of all the torture and turned it into an eternal DMV line. A lot of the people who were coming in were masochists who enjoyed being tormented, but nobody likes waiting in line. He also gets a great Even Evil Has Standards rant in the otherwise-godawful "Season 7, Time For A Wedding":
    This isn't Wall Street, this is Hell! We have a little something called integrity!
    • While Lucifer himself averts this, Sam's hallucination of Lucifer in S7 finds some rather amusing ways to torment Sam, like singing "Stairway to Heaven" 50 times in a row and yelling in his ear with a megaphone.
    Pay attention to me, Sam! I'm bored!
    • Soulless Sam's complete Lack of Empathy led to some pretty hilarious moments in Season 6. Take, for instance, "Clap Your Hands If You Believe", when an unnamed woman tells him it must have been horrible to have his brother abducted by aliens.
    Sam: No! I mean, I've had time to adjust.
    Unnamed woman: Did it happen when you were kids?
    Sam: No. Half an hour ago.
    • Meg also got some pretty dark laughs. See her taunting Jo in "Born Under A Bad Sign" My Daddy shot your daddy in the head~ Also, after she's exorcised, Dean tells Sam "Dude, you full-on had a girl inside you for a whole week. That's pretty dirty."
    • Madge and Edward Carrigan, the pagan gods from "A Very Supernatural Christmas", are another example.
    Dean: *as they're preparing him to be sacrificed* Aaah! You bitch!
    Madge: Oh my goodness me! Somebody owes a nickel to the swear jar! Oh, do you know what I say when I feel like swearing? Fudge.
    Dean: I'll try and remember that.
    *a few minutes later*
    Dean: You fudging touch me again and I'll fudging kill you!
    Madge Very good!
    • The shapeshifter in "Monster Movie" also gets some pretty great moments. Particularly the bit with the delivery guy.
    Shapeshifter/"Dracula": Is there... garlic on this pizza?
    Delivery Guy: I don't know. Did you order garlic?
    Shapeshifter/"Dracula": *horrified* No!
    Delivery Guy: *bored* Then no, there isn't any garlic on it.
    • Although his very presence on the screen was Nightmare Fuel, Alastair still had a bit of this.
    *after Uriel calls him a "pussing sore* Name-calling. That hurt my feelings, you sanctimonious, fanatical prick.
    • Zachariah at times due to being such an over-the-top asshole. This side of him shows most in "Dark Side of the Moon", from calling Mary a MILF to retorting to Dean's mocking his baldness with "in heaven I have six wings and four faces, one of which is a LION".
    • Balthazar was also often this. A good example in "My Heart Will Go On" when he explains to Sam and Dean that he changed history to stop the Titanic from sinking, which isn't supposed to be possible, just because he hated "that movie.". He was lying.
    Dean: What movie?
    Balthazar: Exactly!
  • Lord Fear in Knightmare was a hilariously snarky villain.
  • Yogostein, Kitaneidas, and Kegalesia in Engine Sentai Go-onger.
  • Power Rangers has a lot of these guys, really - ranging from Squatt and Baboo the Tagalong Kid monster henchmen of Rita Repulsa to Flit the fly Combat Commentator.
  • Kamen Rider Fourze has the Cancer Zodiarts, who was the head of the high school's Rakugo club when he was recruited by the villains, and it still shows in his tendency to make puns mid-battle.
  • The Vampire Diaries: Even when he's balls-to-the-wall evil and murdering innocent people, Damon still makes you laugh.
  • Graceland gives us Ari Adamian, a sociopathic Armenian gangster who does absolutely deplorable things while making hilarious deadpan quips.
  • Dexter combines social awkwardness and constantly overthinking everything with the decidedly less relatable flaws of sociopathy and serial murder to create a character as hilarious as he is horrifying.

    Musical 
  • Thenardier in the musical version of Les Misérables, quite an achievement considering how nasty he is in the book. "Master of the House" stands out as a rare moment of light relief.

     Professional Wrestling  
  • Chris Jericho was one of these in WCW and in his early days in WWE as a dumb blonde muscle headed diva who thought he was a lot better than he really was. He beat Goldberg...or rather, a pale imitation in "Gilberg", and he almost lost to that! He knew 1004 holds and they were almost all ARMBAR!
  • Rikishi during his "bad man" phase. Yes, he tried to run over "Stone Cold" Steve Austin with a motor vehicle but he was still the man whose most prominent feature was his ass. In fact, this little stretch of his WWF career is considered one of the worst heel runs ever because people weren't laughing in any way intended.
  • When the Knights of the UK were put on edge, bad things happened. In Britani's case though, it was almost adorable. She's tried to use unwilling wrestlers such as Cheerleader Melissa as ventriloquist dummies, for example.
  • Since no one has kicked out of Bryan Danielson's inside cradle all year, you may now refer to him as "Mr. Small Package!" Why are you laughing? What's so funny? You're all just jealous because you'll never rate on his manliness meter!
  • After Santino Marella failed to get over as the "Milan Miracle", he got over this way, typically throwing silly insults at his opponents. Usually he's a weak character who gets whipped on, to get the audience cheering for a big, strong hero.

    Radio 
  • Old Harry's Game: The main cast includes Thomas Crimp, a demented murder-rapist, Gary, a demon obsessed with torturing people, and Satan himself. It's a comedy.
  • The Whisperer, from the Adventures in Odyssey episode "Accidental Dilemma", is treated as if he were incompetent, but between the lines, he has formidable equipment, tricks, and overall villainous cunning on his side. However, he is so consistently played for laughs that it turns out to be one of the funniest episodes (of what was ostensibly a comedy-drama) in a while.

     Tabletop Games  
  • Da Orkz of Warhammer 40,000 are a race of Psychopathic Manchildren who fill in as the comic relief of the setting, in no small part due to crossing the line twice. Most factions in Warhammer 40k will wage genocidal war on you because they hate you with the burning fire of a thousand suns. The Orks will wage genocidal war on you because they want a larf!
    • Since 40K is in many ways Warhammer IN SPACE!, the Orcs and Ogres in Warhammer Fantasy have similar traits.
  • In Nomine features Kobal, the Demon Prince of Dark Humor. There is also his "blood brother" Haagenti, the Demon Prince of Gluttony, who also holds purview over torture and sight gags (which many consider to be a form of torture).
  • Pathfinder goblins, bless their psychopathic little hearts. Their culture honors pyromania, kleptomania, illiteracy, random slaughter and suicidal courage.
  • Goblins in any given Magic: The Gathering setting tend to be psychopathic, destructive, homicidal, genocidal, suicidal and absolutely hilarious.

     Video Games  
  • Edwin from Baldur's Gate is sociopathic, irritable and has a massive ego but is genuinely cranky to the point of amusement and bumbling enough to be this trope. Half the laughter comes from him being sulky.
  • Many, if not all, of the main enemies in the Super Mario Bros. series. From Bowser's kidnapping of the princess turning out to be lovesickness, Wart being the tyrant of a dream world while critically weak to vegetables (he hates the taste), to even the names of many of the stage bosses (King Caliente's Spicy Return!). Not to mention anyone who's an antagonist in an RPG or spinoff (*Chunks Awaaaay!* ) (I HAVE FURY!).
    • Special mention also goes to Dimentio, who often has rather quirky behaviors that count as somewhat comical, and yet commits genuinely horrific actions while cracking jokes.
    • However, Bowser is portrayed in a more serious manner in the main series platform games. Especially Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy. He's a more serious threat in terms of malice in said games, but is still a comical ham of the highest order personality wise, so fits this trope to a tee.
      Bowser: I'm HUUUUUUUUGE!!!!
    • Let's not get started on Bowser in Mario Party. Especially in 7, where he'll take a picture of the characters and make you pay for it.
  • City of Heroes's Dr. Aeon. While he's one of the non-harmless examples of the trope, it's more because he's such a scatter-brained moron that he ends up posing as much of a danger to the world as to himself.
  • Foxbat from Champions Online. He's been described as an evil version of Adam West-era Batman.
  • Zorbak in AdventureQuest has transcended evil. He's Ebil! Mwahahah!
    • Escherion, the very first Lord of Chaos in AdventureQuest Worlds, becomes this trope at the end of the Chiral Valley saga when the hero reflects his inversion spell right back at him, inverting him and causing him to suffer the Humiliation Conga of ending up casting every spell he tries to cast on him/her on himself, and eventually turn himself into a harmless frog, which is a rather funny scene, to say the least.
      Hero: (after Escherion turns into a frog) Huh... I guess you inverted your powers. Every spell you try to cast on me, you actually cast on yourself.
      Escherion: *ribbit ribbit*
      Hero: I'm sure you just said something very rude in froggy.
  • The Lich Palawa Joko in Guild Wars: Nightfall once terrorised the entirety of the continent of Elona, whose forces were the greatest threat said continent faced until the Charr invasion many centuries later. Being unable to die or be killed, he had to be sealed away at the location of his defeat, and there he would have remained... if the plot hadn't required that you release him from his imprisonment for several very good reasons. But that's okay, all Joko wants is to reform his undead Army Of Darkness, which you've got to help him with as well. Astoundingly, he fails to be a threat for the remainder of the game, and while you're dealing with the Big Bad he's spending the rest of the time hilariously failing to get any sort of organisation from his mindless minions. What a guy. By the second game, he has gotten his act together, and how.
    • Mad King Thorn is generally loved by players and seen as wacky and amusing. The fact that he and his minions will happily recall the horrors they inflicted on their subjects, such as once having an entire village flayed alive, makes this somewhat inexcusable.
  • Many of the player character's evil options in the Knights of the Old Republic games are hilarious. And then there's a certain over-eager assassin droid.
    "Definition: Love is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometres away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope."
  • The dark sided Sith Inquisitor from Star Wars: The Old Republic is quite a comedian. They seem to get the most opportunities to either crack jokes or outright mock their enemies (especially the Jedi) in the funniest way possible. This extends to photo-bombing victory speeches on the Holonet, wagging fingers at Jedi Knights for losing their cool during a battle, and even impersonating Republic officers.
    Inquisitor: "Master Ramos needs to brush up on his Jedi teachings. <3"
  • GLaDOS from Portal, Wheatley and Cave Johnson in the sequel. Completely lacking in any sort of ethics, whether business or moral, but certainly quick with a quip.
  • The player in Evil Genius. Think Dr. Evil.
  • Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Dr. Nefarious.
    "QWAAAAAAARRRRR-" *KRZT* "I don't have the capacity for love, Janice. I was cursed by a tribe of gypsy ninjas when I was a kid!" "I know, Lance... I was in that tribe of gypsy ninjas!" *THWACK* "-RRRRK!"
  • Most of the minor villains from the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. However, they are often phased out when the not-so-hilarious Big Bad shows up.
  • King Bohan and Flying Fox from Heavenly Sword. King Bohan is voiced by Andy Serkis and is funny even when being a total bastard. Flying Fox has a very shrill voice and is even hammier than Bohan.
  • Kaos, the Big Bad of Skylanders. He's got the personality and voice of Invader Zim, Large Ham and all. Though it should be noted he's actually far more competent than his personality would imply. Doesn't make him any less fun to watch, however.
    Kaos: My head is awesome, I tell you! Fear it! Fear my GIANT FLOATING HEAD!
  • In the first MOTHER game, Hippies will try to attack Ninten with rulers. They'll also try to shout into a bullhorn that Ninten's mother was looking for him.
  • Cicero, from Skyrim. He's a jester who is a touch unstable, and also happens to be the Night Mother's keeper, an important position in the Dark Brotherhood.
  • Hades from Kid Icarus: Uprising. The few times when they gets dead serious, however, it's actually pretty terrifying.
  • Sho Minamimoto from The World Ends with You, if only for how bizarre he is. Even when he's planning genocide and planning to Kill the God, he's somehow hilarious. A language or math certainly helps in that.
  • Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2. He is evil. Absolutely, totally evil. And he is such an epic asshole that every conversation with him is side-splittingly hilarious.
    • Many, many other antagonists and enemy mooks also fit the bill.
  • "Evil" maybe pushing it, but playing Commander Shepard as a Renegade can result in some truly hilarious moments and bouts of Insane Troll Logic.
  • It seems Grand Theft Auto has a thing for this, so of course Grand Theft Auto V upped the ante with player character Trevor. Abusive, psychopathic, and hilarious.
    • In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you have Mike Toreno, the paranoid government agent. Disrespecting dead women to a monologue on how all modern conspiracy theories are nowhere near the truth.
      • There's also Ryder, who provides just about enough humor in almost every cutscene/mission he appears in in spite of his rude attitude.
  • Dokurubo from Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love is a perfect example of this. When the New York Combat Revue challenge him the second time after comforting Rikaritta Aries, He responds to their appearance with "You guys!". But then, he ask who they are, much to the frustration of the team. Sagitta calls him out for stupidity as Rikaritta just announced who they are. In the boss battle, Dokurobu will also try to trick the team into doing a Victory Pose. Despite being dumbfounded at first, Shinjiro see though it and insults him for it. When Shinjiro also insulted Dokurobu's armour, he get angry and gives it a different name: "The Star Division is Stupid!" armour.
  • Veigar, the Tiny Master of Evil, from League of Legends literally embodies this trope. This hilarious little yordle is a self-proclaimed Evil Overlord and from time to time delivers gems like "I am evil! Stop laughing!"
  • Hasta in Tales of Innocence, though more so in the Vita remake. His strange speech pattern and laid-back manner make it hard to take him seriously, even after he murders some innocents for the sake of getting the party's attention and stabs Luca after getting him to let his guard down.
  • The Bonne family in Megaman Legends, while they're tearing apart buildings, looting, and generally making nuisances of themselves they do it in an utterly hilarious way. Besides the accidents the servebots get into, Tiesel Bonne screaming at the servebots to close the hatch on his dangerous Humongous Mecha or even just the way Tronne Bonne gets chased up a lamppost by a small dog. It's perfectly summed up by one of the citizens on Saul Kada island which the Bonnes have taken over.
    Citizen: I don't know whether to laugh at the bonnes or run away from them!
  • Several members of Organization XIII from Kingdom Hearts are this, especially Xigbar. Xigbar is there, casually tossing out surfer slang, wearing an eye patch, explaining (badly) what love is to Roxas, and is a lot of fun to watch. Until you play Birth By Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 3D. Where it's revealed that he caused a lot of the problems in Birth By Sleep and KH3D because he willingly let himself become "Half Xehanort" and it's implied that -unlike several other members of the New Organization who were either forced, brainwashed, or a part of the original Xehanort (It Makes Sense in Context)- knew what would happen if Master Xehanort succeeds and went along with it anyway. Demyx is funnier, but he isn't evil enough to completely pull this off.
  • In Dangan Ronpa we have Monokuma, the self-proclaimed headmaster of the Despair Academy. His funny antics and quirks never quite manage to make up for the way he gleefully sets up the murders, watches everyone with cameras and his abilty to violently self-destruct. Played with, since he is a robot that is controlled by the real mastermind the same presumably goes for them. And oh boy it does. Junko Enoshima is an Ax-Crazy psychopath who experiences mood swings so violently that they might as well be different personalities. Her shifting her behaviour from a high and mighty Evil Overlord, to a Kawaiiko complete with Art Shift might seem amusing, if she didn't talk about how she randomly killed her sister out of boredom and her part in causing the collapse of human society at the same time.
  • The Roborobo/Rubberrobo Gang from Medabots are an organization of total goofballs who dress in full-body rubber costumes with antennae sticking out of the head portion and shades covering their eyes. While their leaders tend to be competent (sometimes), their rank and file are such complete and total nitwits that it can be hard to take them seriously at all. In fact, the first time we see one of their members in the first game in the series, he's just stolen a rare medal (the heart and soul of the series' robotic Mons)... Only to lose it after being clocked in the head with a stray frisbee thrown by the protagonist and subsequently sent fleeing in panic when said protagonist's dog came to fetch it.
  • Uncle Jack of We Happy Few is just meant to be a Non-Ironic Clown, but his tendency towards Black Comedy (especially jokes involving murdering Downers) means that he comes across more as this.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Ghirahim manages to be both this and a Knight of Cerebus. His flamboyant tendencies, disturbing threats, and lack of a sense of personal space leave many players unable to decide whether to laugh or to shudder. He stops being funny near the end, though.

    Web Comics 

    Web Original 
  • Tez On Toast in later episodes of KateModern, in a decidedly un-harmless way.
  • There will be blood / It might be yours / So go kill someone / Signed Bad Horse
  • Psycho Gecko, the main character of World Domination In Retrospect is dangerous and hilarious. He even weaponized the "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke.
  • Tom Foolery from the Global Guardians PBEM Universe. Given that he's an Expy of both the Joker and the Toyman, his falling into this trope is expected.
  • This is basically a recruitment must have for Sips and Sjin's company, Sipsco. Typically most recruits are amoral, show little concern for the well-being of others, and have brilliantly dark senses of humour. A textbook example would be Zips in Sipsco Space Programme, who is dangerously unstable as far as his mind is concerned, as well as a Mad Bomber and traitor. On top of all this, he's such a Cloudcuckoolander that his mental antics just become fantastically funny.
  • Hat Films are presenting themselves as this in "Hat Corp", where they are essentially the main antagonists. They are capable of being pointlessly cruel to others, such as Sjin and Lewis Brindley, submitting entire groups of mobs to unnecessarily painful deaths and basically being the biggest threat on the server. They are also funny in their cruelty, with acts so over-the-top that it's hard not to laugh.
  • Ask That Guy with the Glasses: Ask That Guy's solution to world hunger? Eat all hungry people. Oh, and vegetarians, because they won't help us eat the hungry people. And math teachers. Nobody likes math teachers.

    Western Animation 
  • South Park.
    • Cartman. An individual whose antics can sometimes backfire and lead to his humiliation, but he shows that he's capable of this, for example being able to team up with Cthulhu.
    • Saddam Hussein as well, particularly in the movie.
  • Discord from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is much like The Joker in terms of this trope. One moment you'll be laughing at him, the next you'll be completely horrified as he breaks and brainwashes the Mane Cast.
  • In The Spectacular Spider-Man the Green Goblin doesn't get annoyed by the Web-Head's quipping and mocking and still has the original version's wacky personality, manipulative planning, and amazing acrobatism. He is shown to crack sadistic jokes.
  • Skeletor from Masters of the Universe became this in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) —in the original minicomics he was a fairly serious villain, but since censors were constantly breathing down Filmation's neck about what they perceived to be a horribly violent cartoon about a sword-swinging barbarian, they decided to make the scary man with a Skull for a Head less scary by playing him for laughs. Though still an evil schemer, the cartoon Skeletor was turned into a Laughing Mad Deadpan Snarker who kept cracking one-liners in which he insulted the world in general and lamented how he was Surrounded by Idiots, with a ridiculous, non-menacing voice to boot. The 2002 remake of the show turned him a little more menacing and threatening, but kept his sarcasms and general tendency to get all the best lines in the show.
  • Transformers Prime Knock Out who has the most hilarious lines in the show, and is quite vain of his appearance that he can be considered as metrosexual.
  • Gravity Falls has Bill Cipher, a powerful (and weirdly adorable) "dream demon" who combines bone-chilling sociopathy with a jovial, irreverent demeanor and a twisted sense of humor.
    Bill: Here, kid! Deer teeth, for you!
    Gideon: AAAH! You're insane!
    Bill: Sure I am, what's your point?
  • Many villains from Wander over Yonder:
    • Despite trying to act serious and tough, Lord Hater is pretty comical at times.
    • Lord Hater's villainous rival, Emperor Awesome, is an Agent Peacock shark-man who lives to party and who will flirt with anything vaguely female, from Wander's partner/steed Sylvia to a possessed sandwich.
    • Dr. Screwball Jones from "The Boy Wander" is a goofy-looking super-villain devoted to making people laugh, whether they like it or not.
  • Bob's Burgers has Louise, who takes Comedic Sociopathy to its logical extreme by actually being a sociopath. She's described on The Other Wiki as being "manipulative and aggressive...more than willing to exploit people", not exactly terms usually used to describe a protagonist. Her actions aren't always even harmless to the other protagonists of the show, and she very seldom expresses anything approaching remorse, although ultimately she is shown to love her family. However, that doesn't keep her from being absolutely hilarious.
  • As a black comedy show, The Boondocks has more than its fair share of funny villains:
  • Peridot in Steven Universe is callous in the extreme, even towards members of her own species, and talks about nightmarishly cruel experiments in Gem fusion like she's recording the heights of soybeans, but at the same time her dorkiness, constant frustration, ridiculous facial expressions, and one particular scene where she soars away on a helicopter made from her own techno-fingers while giggling like a loon (clip contains spoilers) make her a source of constant amusement in her few appearances so far.
  • Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons has all the dry wit of a character voiced by Kelsey Grammer and the overriding goal of killing Bart Simpson.
  • Dan in Dan Vs. is a criminal lunatic obsessed with revenge, but it's very amusing watching his flimsy attempts to justify his every immoral act, and his plans tend to derail hilariously
  • Pete from the Classic Disney Shorts and Goof Troop, while his characterization is pretty much Depending on the Writer, is usually a comedic villain.

Alternative Title(s): Evil Is Funny

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