Don't Make Me Laugh

Characters

• Template:Data:Links
• Patrick Star
• Usher
• Squidward Tentacles
  • Squidward's reflection
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Lady Upturn
• Grandma SquarePants
• Fifi
• French Narrator
• Nurse
• Robot
• Sparklenose Template:Single appearance
• Cindy
• Lucky ^{(cameo on side of milk truck)}
• Clown ^{(seen on gravestone)}
• Template:Data:Links
  • Fred
  • Troutenheimer
  • Incidental 6
  • Incidental 9
  • Incidental 11
  • Incidental 16
  • Incidental 27
  • Incidental 49
  • Incidental 50
  • Incidental 67
  • Incidental 93
  • Incidental 101
  • Snail doctor ^(cameo)
  • Incidental 118C
  • Prudence
  • Nathaniel
  • Incidental 153
  • Lady
  • Therapist
  • "Doctor" incidentals
  • "C" incidentals

This list is incomplete, but you can help Encyclopedia SpongeBobia by expanding it.

Synopsis

File:Don't Make Me Laugh 025.png

SpongeBob's funny bone getting stuck in high gear.

SpongeBob and Patrick are going to see a funny movie, but end up 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.

File:Don't Make Me Laugh 101.png

SpongeBob laughing at Fifi at the Krusty Krab.

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 is pulled by 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.

File:Don't Make Me Laugh 194.png

SpongeBob sees his grandma in the cinema.

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. Thankfully, the sound of his grandmother's laughter reverts SpongeBob back to normal. She 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

File:SB1408 recording .mp4

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.

This episode was confirmed on September 5, 2023.

Despite being copyrighted in 2024, this episode was completed in late 2023.

Art

Background design

• Art direction by Peter Bennett, traditionally painted by Amy Lewis in gouache and line art drawn digitally on top.

• The entrance to the operating room
  The entrance to the operating room

Storyboards

• Supervised by Ian Vazquez, plussed by Chris Tabares.

File:1408ChrisTabares.mp4

Release

Format	Title	Region
DVD	The Complete Fourteenth Season	United States
Box set	Another 100 Episodes	United States
	The Best 300 Episodes Ever	United States

Reception

• This episode ranked #6 on the official SpongeBob Instagram's ranking of 10 episodes from season 14.

Trivia

General

• 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.
• This episode was paired up with "Squidiot Box" during the original airing.
  • Coincidentally, that is the episode it follows in production order, with this having the production code of 325-1408, and "Squidiot Box" having the code of 325-1407.
• This episode's premiere preceded the official series premiere of the Nickelodeon series Rock Paper Scissors.
• This episode's title card background is reused from "Lighthouse Louie," only with the lighthouse and ocean floor edited out.
• This episode's title is a reference to the idiom "don't make me laugh," which is used as a response to a foolish statement.
• The plot of this episode is similar to season 4's "Funny Pants," as both episodes involve SpongeBob excessively laughing over something.
• The Reef Cinema is showing Lil Urchin Annie, just like in the PC version of Lights, Camera, Pants!
• 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 looking closely.
• In the UK and Ireland, the scene where SpongeBob runs saying, "That is not funny!" was edited to darken the screen.
• In real-life, a funny bone is a nerve located in the elbow, which causes discomfort and pain when bruised or injured.
• This is the first episode to premiere out of packaging order in the United States since "Ain't That the Tooth."
• This and its sister episode "Blood is Thicker Than Grease" mark the first episode pairing in which both segments premiered unannounced and not labeled as such on the TV guides.
• This episode marks the first instance of "Kailua Jubilee" playing in a title card since "My Leg!"
• This is Grandma SquarePants' first speaking role since "Pet Sitter Pat," over 12 years prior to this episode's airing.
  • This is her first appearance since the short "What Else Can a Krabby Patty Do?" albeit with a non-speaking role.
• This is Incidental 50's first appearance since "Boating School," which premiered over 24 years prior to this episode.

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 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 walks to the entrance.
• The Krusty Krab storage room from "Imitation Krabs" is seen again.
• 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.
• The shot of the customers reacting to the echoing of SpongeBob's laughter features the same group of incidentals from "Sailor Mouth."
• 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."
• Graffiti that reads "Sharks" and "Pods" can be seen in an alley. This was previously seen in "Whirly Brains."
• SpongeBob visits The Seven Seas theater from "SpongeBob LongPants" to watch Weep.
• When SpongeBob is watching Weep, the patrons he bothers are the lady inc and an Incidental 1D, just like in "Something Smells."
• 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," Lucky from the Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years episode "Kamp Kow" (albeit on the side of a crashed milk truck), 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 à la Mode."

Errors

File:Don't Make Me Laugh mouth error.png

SpongeBob's chin overlapping his body.

• When SpongeBob and Patrick first arrive at the movie theater, one of the pictures on the left is green and purple. However, in the next scene the pictures are completely different colors.
• When SpongeBob is laughing while sitting on Sparklenose, his chin lines overlap his body.
• While SpongeBob is in a closet at the Krusty Krab, it's where Mr. Krabs office would be.

Videos

• File:SpongeBob Universe + Rock Paper Scissors Premiere Weeks - Official Promo
• File:Rock Paper Scissors Countdown - February 12, 2024 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:SpongeBob Birthday Marathon Promo 1 - July 14, 2024 (Nickelodeon UK)
• File:SpongeBob Can't Stop Laughing 😂 - "Dont Make Me Laugh" Full Scene - @SpongeBobOfficial

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
German	SpongeBob Lachkopf	SpongeBob LaughPants
Russian	Не смеши меня! Ne smeshi menya!	Don't Make Me Laugh!
Slovenian	Ne me nasmejat	Don't Make Me Laugh
Spanish	No me hagas reír	Don't Make Me Laugh