History Main / MustMakeHerLaugh

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' has a platonic example with Beast Boy and Raven. It turns out in the {{prequel}} episode "Go!" that he got her to laugh during their first meeting, and he's been trying to replicate that ever since. He's succeeded three times: said prequel episode, an encounter with her "happy side" during a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind episode, and when he had a cold and lost control of his powers every time he sneezed. Notably, her happy side told Beast Boy that she always finds his jokes funny; her mildly irritated, DeadpanSnarker reactions to his jokes may be more about maintaining her emotional reserve than being genuinely annoyed because being emotional causes her powers to act in unpredictable and dangerous ways.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': A King will only give a special piece of equipment needed to defeat the BigBad to someone who can make him laugh. ("For the good of the kingdom.") Your party hires a comedian and everything, [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope only for]] the comedian to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome scold the king because your party is trying to save the world and nobody will ever laugh again if they don't]]]]. ''And it works!''

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' has an interesting take on this: (male) Neelix tries to make the (male) [[TheStoic Vulcan]], Tuvok, laugh.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' has a platonic example with Beast Boy and Raven. It turns out in the {{prequel}} episode "Go!" that he got her to laugh during their first meeting, and he's been trying to replicate that ever since. He's succeeded three times: said prequel episode, an encounter with her "happy side" during a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind episode, and when he had a cold and lost control of his powers every time he sneezed. Notably, her happy side told Beast Boy that she always finds his jokes funny; her mildly irritated, DeadpanSnarker reactions to his jokes may be more about maintaining her emotional reserve than being genuinely annoyed.

This is often played as romantic interest. After all, guys like girls that laugh at their jokes and girls like guys who can make them laugh. And even if she doesn't laugh, she does at least listen. If it's meant to become a romantic relationship, [[UnresolvedSexualTension don't expect them to resolve it anytime soon]].

* Non-romantic example in an ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' comic -- Reggie has taken up prop comedy but can't get as much as a smile from Jughead. He determinedly ups the game as his pride is at stake. When he falls hard on his butt Jughead smirks, and Reggie knows what he has to do - he kicks Big Moose in the butt and waits for the fireworks. At the end, he's toothless but happy as Jughead rolls in convulsive laughter.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'' has a gender-flipped variation, ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}} has a habit of making this her mission in life, first towards the time-traveling Bishop and later towards [[ComicBook/{{X23}} X-23]].

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f1c83pa.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:She thinks he's funny! [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, really]], [[SincerityMode she does]]!]]

* In ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'', Heidi decides to form a real relationship with the protagonist if he can make her laugh in the course of their first “real” date.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': In the manga, Shinji tries to see if Rei can laugh by doing something funny - in this case, shoving two fingers up Touji's nose, causing him to freak out. This makes all the other girls laugh, but not Rei, who merely turns away with the same blank expression after seeing what all the noise was about.

* Fujiwara mentions in chapter 27 of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' that it's been a long-time dream of hers to make Kaguya roll on the floor laughing. When she finds a word that makes Kaguya roar with laughter, she proceeds to say it again... and again... and ''again''.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'' has a gender-flipped variation, ''ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}}'' has a habit of making this her mission in life, first towards the time-traveling Bishop and later towards [[ComicBook/{{X23}} X-23]].

* Gender-flipped variation, ''ComicBook/JubileeMarvelComics'' has a habit of making this her mission in life, first towards the time-traveling X-Man ComicBook/{{Bishop}} and later towards X-23.

* ''Anime/GalaxyAngel'' did a story like this, where this group of guys followed Vanilla around, trying to make her laugh. Apparently she finally did, but her laughter wasn't [[CopOut shown or heard]] in the actual anime, it was just [[TakeOurWordForIt implied]] that she finally did.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' has a platonic example with Beast Boy and Raven. It turns out in the {{prequel}} episode "Go!" that he got her to laugh during their first meeting, and he's been trying to replicate that ever since. He's succeeded three times: said prequel episode, an encounter with her "happy side" during a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind episode, and when he had a cold and lost control of his powers every time he sneezed. Notably, her happy side told Beast Boy that she always finds his jokes funny; her mildly irritated, DeadpanSnarker reactions to his jokes may be more about maintaining her emotional reserve than being genuinely annoyed.

** The anime doesn't have a single instance of Rei laughing. Not even the HighSchoolAU in the final episode goes past grinning.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''

* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' FanFic [[http://moodfic.livejournal.com/69709.html Simply Perfectest]] suggests this happened between Wash and Zoe before they were HappilyMarried:

[[folder:Folklore]]
* A Norwegian folk tale involves a king who offers his daughter's hand to anyone who can make the all-too-serious girl laugh. A peasant boy is nice to one of those ubiquitous old ladies, and is rewarded with a goose that can trap anyone who touches it (or touches anything already trapped) if he says "Hang on if you want to come along!" He uses it to catch the entire palace staff, and the princess falls over laughing when she sees it.
** A similar plot device also shows up in the Grimm Brothers fairy tale ''The Golden Goose''.
** A similar tale tells of a girl who would die if she didn't get to smile. The hero unwittingly helps remedy that, and the King tells him that he can marry her.
* In Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths, a giant frog named Tiddalik drank up all the rivers and lakes. The other animals tried to get him to laugh and spill the water, unsuccessfully, until Tiddalik saw the eel desperately searching for water and laughed at him, releasing it.
[[/folder]]

-->'''Raphael:''' What if I try this? Cheep cheep, chirree-chir-chidoo!
-->'''Marianne:''' What the—? Hahaha!
-->'''Raphael:''' Whoa! I've never heard you laugh before! I should've talked to you in birdese sooner!

* In the 1939 romantic comedy ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}'', the title character, a humourless Soviet official sent to sell the czar's jewels n in Paris, meets Count Leon, who's been dispatched to retrieve the jewels for their current owner. In one scene, he attempts to win her over in a restaurant by making her laugh but fails. Then he has an accidental pratfall and she cracks up for the first time in her life.

-->-- '''[[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003 Beast Boy]]''', referring to [[SugarAndIcePersonality Raven]]

* In the 1939 romantic comedy ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}'', the title character, a humourless Soviet official sent to sell the czar's jewels now in Paris, meets Count Leon, who's been dispatched to retrieve the jewels for their current owner. In one scene, he attempts to win her over in a restaurant by making her laugh but fails. Then he has an accidental pratfall and she cracks up for the first time in her life.

-->-- '''[[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans Beast Boy]]''', referring to [[SugarAndIcePersonality Raven]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f1c83pa.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:She thinks he's funny! [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No really]], [[SincerityMode she does!]]]]

[[quoteright:320:[[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Nevermore026_0005_9361.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:She thinks he's funny! [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No really]], [[SincerityMode she does!]]]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': A King will only give a special piece of equipment needed to defeat the BigBad to someone who can make him laugh. ("For the good of the kingdom.") Your party hires a comedian and everything, [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope only for]] the comedian to [[RealityEnsues scold the king because your party is trying to save the world and nobody will ever laugh again if they don't]]]]. ''And it works!''

* Gender-flipped variation, ''ComicBook/{{Jubilee}}'' has a habit of making this her mission in life, first towards the time-traveling X-Man ComicBook/{{Bishop}} and later towards X-23.

* ''Manga/KodomoNoOmocha'': Gender inverted, Sana always tries to make Hayama laugh, or at the very least smile.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': A variant of this occurs between Garrus and fem!Shepard in the trilogy, and is amplified if you pursue his romance path. While some of his remarks stem from being genuinely socially awkward, a good deal of his {{Adorkable}} actions and dialogue with fem!Shepard are made of this trope. There is also a more meaningful component to this: regardless of your relationship with him, he will do anything in his power to keep either Shepard happy, encouraged, and emotionally stable during the increasingly hopeless genocidal alien invasion.

* Non-romantic example in an ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' comic -- Reggie has taken up prop comedy but can't get as much as a smile from Jughead. He determinedly ups the game as his pride is at stake. When he falls hard on his butt Jughead smirks, and Reggie knows what he has to do - he kicks Big Moose in the butt and waits for the fireworks. At the end, he's toothless but happy as Jughead rolls in convulsive laughter.

* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'' has a gender-flipped version between Fuutarou and Yotsuba (the fourth of the Nakano sisters). When she manages to force him into having a date with her (and surprisingly, she defies the NotADate trope by explicitly calling it such), at the end she reveals (to the readers, but not to him) that the only thing she wanted was to see him smile. [[spoilers:This casts a lot of her actions during the early chapters into this light, strongly implying that she tried to act childish and dumber than she actually was just because she was trying to snap him out of his PerpetualFrowner state]].