Don't Make Me Laugh
"Don't Make Me Laugh" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 14. In this episode, SpongeBob suddenly finds everything funny, much to everyone's annoyance
Characters
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Patrick Star
- Usher
- Squidward Tentacles
- Squidward's reflection
- Eugene H. Krabs
- Lady Upturn
- Grandma SquarePants
- Fifi
- French Narrator
- Nurse
- Robot
- Sparklenose (single appearance)
- Cindy
- Lucky (cameo on side of milk truck)
- Clown (seen on gravestone)
- Incidentals
- Fred
- Incidental 1D
- Incidental 6
- Incidental 9
- Incidental 11
- Incidental 16
- Incidental 27
- Incidental 49
- Incidental 50
- Incidental 67
- Incidental 93
- Incidental 101
- Snail doctor
- Incidental 118C
- Incidental 124
- Incidental 127
- Incidental 153
- Lady inc
- Therapist
- ProhibitionPatron 3
- ProhibitionPatron 4
- SpeakeasyGGServer 1
- "Doctor" incidentals
- "C" incidentals
This list is incomplete, but you can help Encyclopedia SpongeBobia by expanding it.
Synopsis
SpongeBob and Patrick are going to see a funny movie, but end up in the wrong theater, seeing a romantic movie called Prudence in Love. When Patrick starts laughing, SpongeBob laughs along with him: the years of excessive laughing cause SpongeBob's funny bone to get stuck in high gear, making him laugh uncontrollably. His laughing annoys the rest of the moviegoers and the usher kicks him out. SpongeBob cannot stop his laughing and tries to hold it in, but this does not work.
As SpongeBob tries to go back home, he sees a man wearing a funny hat and laughs, mistakenly offending him. He then laughs at a milkman crying over spilled milk. The next day, he goes to work and tries to stifle his laughter. He runs into Squidward and laughs at his face, and locks himself in the storage room so nobody will hear him. However, the vents carry his laughter into the dining room, making everyone leave. Mr. Krabs comes in and tells SpongeBob to stop, but Lady Upturn and Fifi enter, angered that nobody has taken their order. Fifi swipes a patty from the grill and Lady Upturn falls when lunging at her, making SpongeBob laugh. Mr. Krabs kicks him out, although SpongeBob claims he is not laughing on purpose. Fifi attacks him and he leaves the restaurant.
SpongeBob runs through town, laughing. He locks himself in a dark building, hoping that there will be nothing to laugh at, but he ends up in a hospital operating room. As a doctor operates on a robot, his tears of laughter short circuit the robot and make it attack the doctor and nurse. He runs away and finds himself unable to stop laughing, deciding to go to the cemetery so nothing will make him laugh. However, he ends up at a clown funeral, which he finds funny. The supposedly dead clown comes to life, making SpongeBob laugh. He leaves but trips over a stand with a flower wreath. It makes the clown sneeze and his nose explodes, and SpongeBob runs away laughing.
Hours later, SpongeBob's laughter has made his mouth take up his entire face. He sees a movie called Weep playing in theaters, which consists of people crying, and decides to watch. However, he starts laughing, driving the patrons away. He runs into his grandmother, who claims that she also got her funny bone stuck at SpongeBob's age, and it happens to everyone in the family. Accepting that laughter is a part of his family, SpongeBob sits next to his grandma and laughs at the movie with her. Patrick is crying at the movie, but only because he ran out of popcorn.
Production
Jim Meskimen, the son of Marion Ross (voice of Grandma SquarePants), showed footage of her recording her lines for this episode that was uploaded in a TikTok video on January 27, 2023, briefly bringing her out of retirement.[1]
This episode was confirmed on September 5, 2023.[2]
Art
Background design
- Art direction by Peter Bennett, traditionally painted by Amy Lewis in gouache and line art drawn digitally on top.[3]
-
The entrance to the operating room
Music
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
• Kailua Jubilee - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card.]
‣ Show Opener - Dennis Berry, Stuart Crombie [Opening.]
‣ Lovers (Romantic Theme) - Remastered - Jack Bawcomb ["Prudence in Love."]
‣ Capering Clowns - Max Saunders [SpongeBob begins to laugh.]
• Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob kicked out of the theater.]
‣ Zoo Doings 60 - Jack Shaindlin [SpongeBob laughing around town.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 6B - Jeremy Wakefield ["You're crying over spilled milk!"]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 6C - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob laughs at the milkman.]
• Another Krusty Krab Day 2 - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob sneaking into the Krusty Krab.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 20A - Jeremy Wakefield ["Don't listen to him. You're beautiful."]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 19E - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward kisses himself.]
‣ Wacky Walk 1 - Sam Sklair, Otto Sieben ["Nobody will hear my laughs in here."]
• Oh My Trill! - Nicolas Carr [Fifi growls.]
• Missing Frycook - Nicolas Carr [Fifi attacks SpongeBob.]
‣ Drama Sting 6 - Sidney Torch ["I'm a monster!"]
‣ Unpreventable - Gregor Narholz [SpongeBob running through Bikini Bottom.]
‣ This Space For Hire - Sam Fonteyn [SpongeBob in the dark.]
‣ Mining Industry - Sam Sklair [In the operating room.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 19A - Jeremy Wakefield [Nurse grabs SpongeBob.]
‣ Dramatic Chords And Bridges 2 - Remastered - Sten Clift [Robot malfunctions.]
‣ Drama Unlimited 2 - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Robot chases SpongeBob and the Doctors.]
• Spongemonger - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["That is not funny!"]
• Churchbell - Nicolas Carr ["A cemetery!"]
‣ Tragic Romance - Anthony Gilbert ["There's nothing funny in a cemetery."]
‣ Behind The Door - Norman Dane [SpongeBob runs into the cemetery.]
‣ Romanza - Phil Kelsall [Clowns having a funeral.]
• Eye Popper - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob trips on a rock.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 37A - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob wearing a clown nose.]
‣ Entry of the Gladiators - Richard Harvey, Brian Gulland ["Would you get off my chest?"]
• Comic Drum Shots - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob falls and knocks over the stand.]
• Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Clown sneezes.]
‣ At The Circus - Benoit Pimont [SpongeBob leaves the funeral.]
• Lap Steel-spce_01 - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
‣ Creepy Clowns - Ronald Hanmer [SpongeBob in an alley.]
• Orchestral Fanfares - Nicolas Carr ["Weep? The saddest movie ever?"]
• Got It! - Nicolas Carr ["That's it!"]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 33 - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob decides to watch a movie to cure his laughter.]
‣ Goodbye Rodney - Peter Winslow [SpongeBob continuing to laugh at the sad movie.]
‣ Treasures of the Heart - Alan Paul [SpongeBob talks to Grandma SquarePants at the theater.]
‣ Goodbye Rodney - Peter Winslow [Ending.]
Trivia
General
- The plot of this episode is similar to the season 4 episode "Funny Pants," as both episodes involve SpongeBob finding everything funny, much to everyone's annoyance.
- This episode premiered unannounced on Nickelodeon at 5:19 PM and Nicktoons at 9:15 PM, with TV guides mistakenly listing a rerun of "BassWard" instead in that timeslot.[4]
- This episode was paired up with "Squidiot Box" during the original American airing.[5]
- Coincidentally, that is the episode it follows in production order, with this having the production code of 325-1408, and "Squidiot" having the code of 325-1407.
- This episode's title card background is reused from "Lighthouse Louie," only with the lighthouse edited out.
- The castle background in Prudence in Love is recycled from King Krabs's castle in "Dunces and Dragons." The stained glass representations of SpongeBob and Patrick are still visible if one looks closely.
- This is the first episode to premiere out of packaging order in the United States since "Ain't That the Tooth."
- This episode marks the first instance of "Kailua Jubilee" playing in a title card since "My Leg!"
- This is the first episode in the main SpongeBob SquarePants series to be copyrighted in a year that ends with a four. However, the The Patrick Star Show episodes "The Commode Episode," "Tying the Klop-Knot," "Chum Bucket List," and "Big Baby Patrick" were the first ones to be copyrighted in a year ending with a four, despite being leaked in 2023.
- This is also the first episode premiere to be copyrighted in 2024.
- This is Grandma SquarePants' first appearance and speaking role since "Pet Sitter Pat," over 12 years prior to this episode's airing.
- Between "Pet Sitter Pat" and this episode, she appeared in a non-speaking role in the short "What Else Can a Krabby Patty Do?"
- This is the first time Lucky was shown in the main SpongeBob SquarePants series.
- Additionally, this makes it the twelfth episode of the main SpongeBob SquarePants series to feature a character from a spin-off series. The first was "Something Narwhal This Way Comes," the second was "Upturn Girls," the third was "Slappy Daze," the fourth was "Welcome to Binary Bottom," the fifth was "You're Going to Pay...Phone," the sixth was "A Skin Wrinkle in Time," the seventh was "Abandon Twits," the eighth was "Salty Sponge," the ninth was "Sandy, Help Us!", the tenth was "Buff for Puff," and the eleventh was "Blood is Thicker Than Grease."
Episode references
- The octopus vendor from "Walking Small" is at the concession stand.
- The usher at Reef Cinema is the same one from "Best Day Ever."
- The hat store from "My Pretty Seahorse" reappears.
- SpongeBob visits The Seven Seas theater from "SpongeBob LongPants" to watch Weep.
- The Krusty Krab storage room from "Imitation Krabs" is seen again.
- Many one-off characters from previous episodes return here: the green fish in the stands from "Boating School," some of the fancy fish from Squidward's dream in "Sleepy Time," the doctors from "Code Yellow," the clowns from "Don't Feed the Clowns," and a few of the speakeasy patrons from The Patrick Star Show episode "Enemies a la Mode."
- Graffiti that reads "Sharks" and "Pods" can be seen in an alley. This was previously seen in "Whirly Brains."
- Incidental 116's original variant, the snail doctor from "I Was a Teenage Gary," reappears in this episode.
- The robot is an animated version of the live-action robot seen in the Night of the Robot movie from "Krab Borg."
- A poster of SpongeBob reads "Laughing Maniac," referencing when he is called the "open window maniac" in "Hall Monitor."
- When SpongeBob is watching Weep, the patrons he bothers are the lady inc and an Incidental 1D, just like in "Something Smells."
- SpongeBob sliding under the Krusty Krab window trying to contain his laughter is an homage to a scene in "Dying for Pie," where he slides across the Krusty Krab window as Squidward meets the entrance.
- Fifi's love of Krabby Patties returns from "A Place for Pets," stealing a patty from the grill as Lady Upturn comes into the Krusty Krab kitchen to complain about SpongeBob.
Errors
- When SpongeBob and Patrick first arrived at the movie theater, one of the pictures on the left is green and purple, in the next scene the pictures are completely different colors.
