Basic Trope: A comic relief character tries to make the usually Emotionless Girl laugh.
- Straight: Fun-loving Bob is frequently joking around the usually stoic and serious Alice in order to make her laugh. Alice never laughs.
- Exaggerated: Bob always acts over-the-top silly around Alice in order to try and make her laugh, much to her annoyance.
- Downplayed: Bob occasionally tells Alice jokes, but she doesn't react.
- Justified:
- Bob feels that Alice is a little too serious and needs to lighten up and enjoy life.
- It's kinda magical When She Smiles.
- Inverted:
- Seemingly emotionless Alice seems to be trying to make joker Bob laugh.
- Bob is trying to avoid making Alice laugh.
- Subverted: Bob acts like he's going to tell Alice a joke, but instead of a punchline, he's asking or saying something serious.
- Double Subverted: Only for him to tack on a silly punchline after.
- Parodied: Bob spends large amounts of time and money inventing elaborate over-the-top schemes and plots to try and make Alice laugh.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob tells Alice a lengthy story in which it's never clear until the last moment whether his response is going to be serious or a joke.
- Averted: Bob doesn't try to make Alice laugh.
- Enforced: The writers wanted to add some more comic relief to the story, so they paired up two characters with contrasting personalities.
- Lampshaded: "You really think you can get Alice to laugh?"
- Invoked: Charlie bets Bob ten dollars that he can't make Alice laugh.
- Exploited: Charlie knows how serious Alice is, and makes the above bet knowing Bob's relationship with Alice, hoping to make some easy money.
- Defied:
- Alice inadvertently sets up a rather obvious joke for Bob, but Bob refuses to use it.
- Growing frustrated with Bob's attempts to make her laugh, Alice starts to shut him down before he can even tell his jokes.
- Discussed: "I don't think Alice is the right girl for you. I can imagine you constantly joking around, trying to make her laugh, only for her to never do so."
- Conversed:
- Implied: Though Bob is never actually seen joking around with Alice, Alice has expressed frustration with his silly behavior around her.
- Played for Drama: Alice's serious nature is actually the result of some serious psychological issues and demons from her past. Bob is hoping that making Alice laugh will help her recover.
That joke wasn't funny either, go back to Must Make Her Laugh.
