Has the Joker ever devided to go after other comedians?

[sojourner]

Has the Joker ever decided to go after other comedians?

I just realized I have never read a story involving Joker where he has decided to use other comedians in some form, either as victims, ransom, unwitting accomplices, etc. I admit I haven't read comics since the late nineties, but I still keep in touch with the broader strokes of what is going on in the comics. So has anyone read such a story? it would seem like a no brainer of an story idea using Joker.

 

[MattJC]

I just realized I have never read a story involving Joker where he has decided to use other comedians in some form, either as victims, ransom, unwitting accomplices, etc. I admit I haven't read comics since the late nineties, but I still keep in touch with the broader strokes of what is going on in the comics. So has anyone read such a story? it would seem like a no brainer of an story idea using Joker.

I think there was an episode of Batman: TAS where the Joker does use other comedians as unwitting accomplices.

 

[Christopher]

Yes, in the second-season B:TAS episode "Make 'Em Laugh," the Joker used the Mad Hatter's brainwashing chips to control three comedians who were the judges of a comedy competition, making them think they were bizarre supervillains. It was all a ploy to eliminate the judges so that he could win the trophy as Gotham's funniest comedian.

 

[Yassim]

In a book called The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told (I think), there was a nice one. The Joker has been systematically killing off comedians in a stand-up contest. Comedians around the city are telling their jokes, when they're boiled in acid or electrocuted. The narrator is one of the comedians. He meets a new contestant named Bruce... who is terrible, and can't tell a joke to save his life. He claims to have been inspired by Lenny Bruce, but doesn't know anything about him...?

Somehow, Bruce and the narrator make it to the final, where all the comedians are on stage at once (after a brief conference with Bruce). The Joker arrives, locks the doors and wants to hear everyone's routine. His plan? He knows that Batman must be one of the people on stage, because he's engineered the confrontation. He also knows that Batman will be the least funny one, because Batman has no sense of humour... The Joker asks each comedian to tell a single joke. The narrator knows Bruce is doomed...

Spoiler: so then...

At Bruce's turn, he tells the story of a teacher who goes through her grade 1 classroom, asking each student what their parents do. Each student replies, they're doctors, they're lawyers... then one little boy says, "My parents are dead".
The teacher asks, "What did they do before they died?"
"They went HHHHkkkkk-k-k-k-k-k-kkaaaacccckk!"
The Joker loves it!
and so the Joker can't tell who Batman is
So The Joker says that he'll kill all the comedians, unless Batman identifies himself. He's going to turn out the lights, and when the lights come on, he wants Batman front and centre. He turns out the lights, and when they come back on, every one of the comedians is wearing a Batman suit.
Amused, the Joker lets them go.

I may have misremembered that slightly (it seems a little unlikely now) but I liked the bit of the Joker's insight into his foe.

 

[Christopher]

That was actually a prose story in the anthology The Further Adventures of the Joker, edited by Martin Harry Greenberg and published by Bantam (1990). The story was "Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard" by Edward Bryant and Dan Simmons.

 

[TheArsenal]

In The Dark Knight Returns Joker appears on an all-but-in-name David Letterman Show and uses the opportunity to murder the entire audience.

 

[Sci]

In The Dark Knight Returns Joker appears on an all-but-in-name David Letterman Show and uses the opportunity to murder the entire audience.

He also kills David Endocrhine (Letterman) and Doctor Ruth. And Paul.