Don't Make Me Laugh!

"Don't Make Me Laugh!" is the first segment of the 6th and last episode of the fourth season of Trolls: TrollsTopia, and the 62nd overall episode in the series. It premiered in September 2, 2021.
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Cooper enters a hilarious contest where Trolls try to make each other laugh without laughing back, but the problem is - Cooper laughs at everything!
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The episode begins with Poppy explaining that it is the dream of every Troll to win a match-up by knocking an opponent out via laughter. This is "The Great TrollsTopia Laugh-Out Bout Tournament": two Trolls enter, one of them laughs and then everybody gets ice cream. Each Tribe chooses one champion; the first Trolls to knock the others out continue in the competition. On Poppy's cue, Branch brings out the Golden Chatter Teeth, the trophy of the competition, and announces "May the best Troll win!". With the announcement over, Cooper finds Lownote Jones and a couple of other Funk Trolls who want to discuss something with him. Cooper asks if it is about the Sparkle berries stuck on his feet and Lownote corrects himself to state that they have two things to discuss with him.
Cooper rushes to Poppy's pod to tell her the good news: the Funk Trolls want him to represent their Tribe in the competition. Poppy is happy to hear the good news, and Cooper notes that this is the biggest responsibility they have ever given to him since he found out he was born a Funk Troll. Poppy tells Cooper that he's the funniest Troll she knows. However, Cooper notes there is an issue with himself: he is an expert at being funny, but he also laughs at everything else in turn. This isn't the best personality quirk to have while participating in a "don't laugh" competition, since it would doom him. Poppy tries to get Cooper to try her technique; whenever she feels like she is going to laugh before a big speech, she laughs it off first to get it out of her system. Cooper tries this, but he doesn't manage to stop. Poppy gets bored waiting for him to stop and even has a heartfelt moment with Branch, who discusses the meaning of his bunker. Cooper is still laughing at night while she is trying to sleep. The next morning, he finally stops and she asks if he finally got it out. He replies not even close. He proceeds to continue.
Cooper is in dismay as his humor is like a river; it never stops flowing and sometimes there is fish in it. At that moment, a fish pops out of his mouth. Cooper suggests that it would best to tell Lownote to pick another Funk Troll, but Poppy doesn't want him to give up yet. At that moment, Laguna appears to ask "Did someone say they wanted a humor expert?". No one of course had said that, but she takes it as an okay. Poppy is surprised that Laguna of all Trolls would be an expert in humor, to which she agrees, given that most Trolls find her jokes dry. She explains humor is just a result of surprise at something which caught the Troll off guard such as a funny face, a silly sound or a delicious pun, to which Cooper notes he thinks she likes puns. She explains that by studying each opponent's comedy style in advance, one can eliminate their element of surprise, allowing them to plan how to combat each opponent's style in the process. Cooper is on board with this lecture so long as it involves some slide projection, to which Laguna pulls out her projector and continues.
First up is the Pop Tribe's Laugh-Out Champion, Guy Diamond. Guy's style is to knock someone out with a "knock knock" joke. Cooper falls for the first bout, but rebounds and uses an interruption joke, which makes both Guy and Tiny laugh Guy out of the tournament. Laguna congratulates Cooper, and Poppy notes they aren't the only ones impressed; the Funk Tribe is cheering Cooper. Lownote sings as Cooper combats the other Tribes; Holly's silly face is combated by using a mirror to make her see her own silly face, Demo's banana peel fall is combated by a mattress, and Dante's puppet is combated by Cooper's own sock puppet of himself.
With the other Tribes knocked out, Branch announces that this leaves only the Techno Trolls' champion. After ensuring Lownote, he has it so long as Laguna is by his side his fine, the Techno champion turns out to be Laguna in a shock of events. The problem is because of her own research, she knows how to combat Cooper while he has no idea how to combat her. Poppy tells him to think of anything they have learnt about her, but Cooper enters the fight without knowing what to do. As she combats everything he is about to do, bringing him to laughter, it looks like she's about to knock him out. Cooper suddenly remembers something: she loves delicious puns. He immediately begins to tell her puny jokes, which knocks her out. She congratulates him for becoming the teacher now. With Cooper as the winner, the Funk Tribe congratulates him and he receives his trophy.
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;Pop Trolls
*Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
*Skylar Astin as Branch
*Sean T. Krishnan as Guy Diamond
;Rock Trolls
*Demo (non-speaking)
;Country Trolls
*Holly Darlin' (non-speaking)
;Classical Trolls
*Dante Crescendo (non-speaking)
;Funk Trolls
*Michael-Leon Wooley as Lownote Jones
*Ron Funches as Cooper
;Techno Trolls
*Anita Kalathara as Laguna Tidepool
;Other Trolls
*Kenan Thompson as Tiny Diamond
;Non-Trolls
*Caruthers (cameo)
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*"The Funny, Funky, Fabulous Champion"
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*Guy Diamond is the current champion, mostly because until this episode only the Pop Trolls were in the competition. While most of the holidays seen in the series had previously been Pop Troll traditions, TrollsTopia has resulted in a lot of them becoming "TrollsTopian traditions", alongside other Tribal traditions.
*The term "Don't make me laugh" is often spoken as mockery or a taunt towards someone else in an attempt to mock that person's efforts to impress, intimidate or threaten another while trying to best them. The person trying to best the other is often above average in skill; however the other one is often in an entirely different league to them. Their effort, therefore, comes off as a joke, hence the terms phrasing "don't make me laugh".
*The entire episode's tournament takes place in a boxing ring, and the term "knock-out tournament" is normally applied to boxing.
*Branch being the referee is likely a nod back to how bad he was at telling jokes himself in Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, which was seen in the episodes "Branchception", "Mr. Glittercakes", "Giggleyum" and "To Catch A Critter". It was also referenced in the earlier Trolls: TrollsTopia episode "The Makeunder".
*The way Cooper and his opponents move their bodies at the start of the round mimics the movement each of the characters took in the early Mortal Kombat games. The games' tournament was also down in a knock-out style tournament. Additionally, "Don't make me laugh!" was one of the phrases spoken by Shoa Kahn, a recurring main villain of the franchise; said line was his most well-known catchphrase in Mortal Kombat 3.
*Laguna's type of humor is called "dry humor", also known as a deadpan, is a joke on her being a Techno Troll who lives underwater, which she even pointed out in the episode. Dry humor is a type of humor where a joke is spoken in a serious and emotionless manner, sometimes making the joke less obvious. This type of humor relies on the situation; it is often funnier because of the context its spoken in rather than being a funny play on wit or words. The dry delivery in the context of the situation can often be more humorous than the actual moment to which it's a response to.
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Laugh Out Loud Battle - TROLLSTOPIA
Category:Episodes
Category:Trolls: TrollsTopia episodes
Category:Funk Trolls Story Arc Episodes
Category:TT Season 4 episodes
Category:2D animation