Mark Hamill Made A Language Out Of The Joker's Laughs For Batman: The Animated Series
Mark Hamill has been voicing the role of The Joker for DC/Warner Bros. for over three decades. We may know him as Luke Skywalker from "Star Wars," but that maniacal laugh is unmistakable. Hamill's first Joker performance was in "Batman: The Animated Series" in 1992, and he's continued through "Mask of the Phantasm," "New Batman Adventures," "Superman: The Animated Series," "Batman Beyond," "Justice League," and "Justice League Unlimited." I heard him do it once in person, and I will freely admit it freaked me out ... in the best way.
It's the laugh that does it. There is something so unhinged yet so controlled about it, with such a variety of styles. Back in 1997, Hamill spoke about doing the Joker laugh in an interview with Animation World Magazine. He talked about how the laughing styles became a sort of vocabulary of emotions for the Clown Prince of Crime.
'I could use it like color on a canvas'
Hamill gave a nod to the people at "Batman: The Animated Series" for opening up a new career in voice work. He also told the publication about that laugh, saying:
"What I liked about doing the Joker was his villainy. I thought, you know, I could use this laugh almost as a vocabulary. Instead of having it be one continuous laugh, I could use it like color on a canvas.
"There could be sinister laughs, there could be joyful, gleeful, maniacal laughs, there could be malevolent and evil laughs. There are so many different colors that you can give him, so that kids will have more than one laugh to mimic on the playground."
Hamill's Joker laughs might as well be words, often filling us with dread. Part of it is because once he opens his mouth to laugh, it could signal anything from torture to killing to being pleased with a dastardly deed. In a 2008 video, Hamill says he was trying to figure out how to create this sound before the recording session by trying them out on the freeway in Los Angeles. The person driving next to him must have been terrified to see Luke Skywalker freaking out in a car.
Why do some laughs scare us?
Laughter is supposed to be a happy sound, but sometimes it can terrify us. University of Pittsburgh sociologist Margee Kerr told Live Science some reasons why in 2018:
"A lot of fear stems from dissonance or violation of our expectation ... Whenever we take something that's supposed to be linked to positive emotions, feelings of innocence or joy, and then flip it in some way, by either making it a little bit sinister or out of context, it sends a red flag. People shouldn't be happy about doing bad things, so when they are ... that's a cue that something's not right, and we can't trust them."
If you need an example, the article mentions that time Alexa units started giggling to themselves that same year. AI laughing to itself is even more frightening as technology develops, but that doesn't freak me out as much as the Joker laugh.
"Batman: The Animated Series" is currently streaming on HBO Max.