"Make 'Em Laugh" is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Batman: The Animated Series, and the eighty-third overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Fox Kids in the United States on November 5, 1994.
Synopsis[]
A man in a bizarre costume calling himself the "Condiment King" holds up an upscale restaurant. Though he is armed with nothing more than two hoses spraying ketchup and mustard, his manner is sufficiently bizarre and violent to persuade the patrons to hand over their money and valuables. Batman arrives and easily subdues the man, who starts acting up and falls off the balcony onto the roof of an arriving police car. Renee Montoya removes the man's disguise and recognizes him as a famous TV comedian, Buddy Standler.
While Standler is still unconscious, his agent is interviewed on the TV news; he cannot explain Standler's actions but reports that his comedy show has been canceled and he is being sued by the restaurant's owners. Robin, a fan of Standler's, is equally baffled.
The next day, Alfred is shopping at Mayfield's department store, which is invaded by another bizarre robber, dressed in a mouse costume and calling himself "The Pack Rat". He disregards jewelry and cash and takes only worthless items, but is armed with a real functioning submachine gun. Alfred calls the Batcave.
Elsewhere, comedienne Lisa Lorraine is abducted from her apartment.
Batman & Robin arrive at Mayfield's department store and manage to subdue the Pack Rat. He swings a golf club at Batman that catches an electrical panel, shocking him unconscious. Robin takes off his costume and recognizes him as Harry Loomis, another famous TV comedian. Batman notices a microchip affixed to his neck, now rendered useless by the electric discharge, and realizes that he is under mind control.
The Dynamic Duo rushes to Arkham Asylum to see Jervis Tetch but finds that he has been affixed with one of his own chips, leaving him a staring vegetable. Obviously, someone has stolen Mad Hatter's technology.
They return to the Batcave and Alfred gives them news of Lorraine's disappearance. They realize that the three comedians act as the judges at Gotham's annual "Laugh-Off" stand-up comedian competition. Robin taped last year's competition, and Alfred has cued the tape to something interesting...
After the last comedian had his turn on stage, and just before the judges announced their decision, a man calling himself "Smilin' Shecky Rimshot" forced his way on stage and began his routine. He was given the hook and dragged off the stage for not registering when it closed before the contest, although not before yelling in an all too familiar voice that he was the greatest comedian in Gotham and would get revenge on them all. The audience laughed, but Batman examines the man's face up close and realizes his true identity... the Joker.
That night, at the comedy competition, Joker takes control of the competition and announces himself the winner, and performs again using his Smilin' Shecky Rimshot guise, before revealing himself to the audience, which doesn't laugh, but is horrified. As he prepares to toss grenades containing Joker gas into the crowd, Batman arrives and knocks the gas away, and they explode outside harmlessly. Joker introduces his latest "girl": Lorraine, acting under mind control and now calling herself "Mighty Mom". As the Joker escapes carrying the trophy, Batman pursues, while Robin subdues Mighty Mom.
On the roof, Batman berates the Joker for ruining three innocent lives all for a silly piece of gold-painted tin; the Joker explains that he did not want the trophy, but the title: the funniest man in all of Gotham, and he had to eliminate the competition by any means necessary. Joker jumps onto a clown-shaped balloon, which takes off into the sky. Batman & Robin follow, and in the fight, Joker accidentally stabs the balloon with a knife, causing it to descend. Joker ends up falling off the balloon with the trophy stuck onto his head. Batman saves him by firing his grapple gun, catching Joker by the seat of his pants. For once in his career, the Joker gets real laughs, but for something he would rather forget ever happened: dangling upside down from Batman's cable with his head stuck in the trophy and his pants around his ankles. As he is led to a police van, he tries to pull up his pants, but they fall down again and he trips, causing even more laughter. Humiliated, he hides his head in the trophy again as he is taken away.
Cast[]
- Kevin Conroy as Batman
- Loren Lester as Robin
- Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred
- Mark Hamill as The Joker
- Mari Devon as Summer Gleeson
- Liane Schirmer as Renee Montoya
- Richard Jeni as Host
- Andrea Martin as Rolling Pin
- Stuart Pankin as Condiment King
- Grant Shaud as Pack Rat
Gallery[]
|
This section is a stub. You can help the Batman wiki by expanding it. |
External links[]
- "Make 'Em Laugh" at Batman: The Animated Series Wiki
- "Make 'Em Laugh" at DC Animated Universe Wiki
- "Make 'Em Laugh" at IMDb