- Title: Batman: The Animated Series – The Last Laugh
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In honor of Batman‘s 75th Anniversary we turn out attention back to the Dark Knight’s more memorable moments on the big and small screen with another episode from Batman: The Animated Series. Drawing on both the mix of a classic comic story and the set-up of the climax of Tim Burton’s Batman, “The Last Laugh” brings the Joker (Mark Hamill) back to Gotham on April Fools’ Day to gas the entire populace using an innocuous-looking garbage scow which allows the villain a free run at mischief, mayhem, and robbery.
Learning that permanent exposure to the gas could leave thousands in Gotham permanently insane, Batman (Kevin Conroy) swings into action to take on the Clown Prince of Crime, his goons, and the Joker’s robot henchman Captain Clown. Eventually taking down the Joker’s goons, Batman chases the villain into a factory where the hero (in his own version of an April Fools’ prank) is in no hurray to save the villain from the Joker’s precarious position hanging above a vat of molten metal.
Although the Joker’s plot seems innocuous on the surface, dousing the city with laughing gas to cover for his robberies, the choice to make effects of the toxic fumes permanent amps up the tension of the situation as the show reminds us early on that despite how goofy this version of the Joker’s pranks appear to be, they are in fact almost always deadly. The episode is also notable for introducing the Batboat for the first time and for Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. taking over as the voice of Alfred.
You killed Captain Clown!