Basic Trope: A character uses humor to hide his own sadness.
- Straight: Bob cracks jokes a lot through the series, but, in a rare private moment, reveals his insecurities.
- Exaggerated: Bob makes people around him laugh with only the slightest action, but privately reveals he's suffering from suicidal depression.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is still nonetheless a funny guy, but is The Cynic when not joking.
- Bob is a Deadpan Snarker when not doing clown jobs.
- Justified:
- Bob thinks laughter is the best medicine for his deep emotional scars.
- Bob's hurting just as much as his teammates, but he takes it upon himself to keep the team's spirits up, even if he can't quite join them himself.
- Inverted:
- Bob is cheerful and content with his life, but acts mopey and depressed, causing others to feel just as bad as he looks around him.
- Stepford Smiler
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside
- Subverted:
- Alice thinks funnyman Bob is hiding some deep emotional scars, but when she reads his mind, she finds he's quite happy.
- Alice spies on Bob because no one can be that happy and chipper all the time, but he's still cracking jokes just like before.
- Double Subverted:
- ...however, it turns out that Bob blocked Alice from reading the part of his mind where his wounds were hidden.
- But that's just because he was still around people. When Alice takes off and he's really alone, he lets his smile fall.
- Parodied:After noticing that Bob's been making jokes throughout the entire adventure, Alice and crew become concerned about him and try to give him as much love and affection as they can. Bob is genuinely confused about this.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Non-Ironic Clown.
- Bob isn't funny or sad.
- Enforced: "We don't want the audience to think that our Comic Relief character Bob is just puns and nothing else. How can we show another side to him?"
- Lampshaded: "It's always the funny ones with the bad childhoods."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Bob uses his jokes to get people to pay attention to him, so that when the day comes when his mask breaks, people will want to stay and listen to him.
- Defied: Despite Bob's backstory, he considers it to be a small part of who he is and says that it doesn't define him at present. He's still just a genuinely happy and funny guy.
- Discussed: "Of course Bob's humor was hiding his pain. That's what always happens."
- Conversed: "Bob, I don't know how you manage to keep grinning after all of this. You've gotta be upset about something." "Oh, I am. It's just easier to laugh about it."
- Implied: Bob is always making wisecracks about their situations, but, after Alice nearly dies, he is shown crying.
- Deconstructed:
- Break the Comedian
- Bob's mask of humor starts to crack pretty quickly once the last straw's been had, and his allies finally take stock in what he's been hiding all this time.
- Bob breaks completely once he realizes that no one's been helping him out with his issues because no one was aware that he had them in the first place, thanks to his humor deflections.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob's allies don't know the full extent of it, and Bob discourages them from prying. He has a little help, but otherwise he continues to try and make everyone laugh as normal.
- In continuing onward and being there to support his friends during their downs, Bob becomes genuinely proud of himself. He doesn't heal overnight, but doing good deeds and feeling needed work wonders for his state of mind.
- Played For Drama: Sadness turns to bitterness over time, and his trademark humor becomes more biting and snarky. Bob's friends become uncomfortable with this and start to leave him alone for him to deal with his insecurities himself.
- Played For Horror: Tragic Villain Monster Clown
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