# On the origin of "MUUAHAHAHAHAAAH!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051 "2005-09-23T14:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/1 "2005-09-23T14:23:38Z")
“MUUAHAHAHAHAAAH!” We all know know it as the sinister laughter of an eeeeevil [villain](http://www.party-oz.com.au/murder_mystery/images/villain.gif), but I’ll be damned if I’ve ever heard of anyone in real life carrying on like that. Obviously, it’s a fictitious quirk of the archtypical mad miscreant of stage and screen. But given the comically distorted nature of the evil genius schtick, I have to wonder, who first coined, or at least made widely popular, this over-the-top maniacal mirth as a stock-and-trade tick of the moustache-twirling malevolent? I think the first time I might have heard it uttered was by Mel Blanc (arguably the best voice actor in recorded history) as Daffy Duck, probably plotting his revenge on Bugs Bunny or engaging in some other sort of mischief. But even in the '40s or '50s when this cartoon was produced, “MUAHAHAHAHAAAH!” had achieved the status of camp and satire, and that means it had a rich history, perhaps dating back prior to even the Golden Age of Hollywood. So, in a nutshell, whence cometh, and who is likely responsible for this wonderfully identifiable and entertaining laughter, used by our favorite comic villains for what looks like the better part of a century? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/2 "2005-09-23T15:05:45Z")
Likely the stage melodramas of the 19th Century. Simon Legree, of _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_ is a character this is associated with. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/3 "2005-09-23T15:07:47Z")
I wish you luck in this. I asked a similar question a while back, with less than successful results: > **[What is the origin of the mad scientist's maniacal laugh?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=227537)** > > You know, the one that often follows the phrase “The fooooools. . . I’ll show them AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!” The earliest maniacal laugh I can think of off-hand wasn’t a mad scientist, but a nutso guy from that had escaped from the crazy house in... ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/4 "2005-09-23T15:14:27Z")
sniff…poor Blue Beetle… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/5 "2005-09-23T15:31:06Z")
For movies, I always associated it with [Ming the Merciless](http://www.slick-net.com/space/serial/serials2/flashming1.jpg) (though I’ve never actually seen the serial- I just know he had one in the [really really good and much missed] cartoon series). ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/6 "2005-09-23T16:24:23Z")
When I was in 6th grade we did a “radio” production of the Invisible Man. I got promoted from Third Victem to Invisible Guy Himself because I had the best evil laugh. (Of course after I had to do it officailly I could never do it as well…but that’s my own neurosis…I digress.) Anyway, my thought is while I wouldn’t discount Bosda’s claim as to the actual origin, I’d say it was several decades of radio drama that cemented the idea. Where you had to communicate your evil audibly. Of course I don’t really know but…the Shadow knows! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/7 "2005-09-23T17:03:06Z")
::cues Theremin:: ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/8 "2005-09-23T17:18:21Z")
> [@Max Carnage](#): > > sniff…poor Blue Beetle… Not to nitpick, but his trademark laugh was “Bwah ha ha!” [http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/bluebeetle.html](http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/bluebeetle.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/9 "2005-09-23T17:36:31Z")
To tell the truth, I don’t recall anyone from the 1930s to about 1960 having the classiv “Bwa-ha-ha-ha!” or “Mwa-ha-ha!” laught. It’s true that THe Shadow laughed, and Claude Reins as the original Invisible Man. But they didn’t have that characteristic “Bwa” or “Mwa” at the start. And I don’t recall anyone else doing it. It’s been ages since I’ve seen him, but I though Ming the Merciless was too dignified for such laughing. Mad scientists like Albert Dekker as Doctor Cyclops and Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau didn’t do it. Dr. X didn’t laugh, and I don’t recall any of that brrod in the Universal Frankenstein movies doing it, either. Might this not be, like “Play it Again, Sam” or “Elementary, my Dear Watson”, another of those cases of cinematic shorthand created much later to encapsulate a scene by comedians, imitators, and the like? Can anyobne even cite an example from before 1960? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/10 "2005-09-23T17:45:54Z")
I have a fairly distinct recollection of a mad scientist type in a Bugs Bunny cartoon with the “Muhu-” laugh. Porky Pig may also have used it. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/11 "2005-09-23T23:28:42Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > I have a fairly distinct recollection of a mad scientist type in a Bugs Bunny cartoon with the “Muhu-” laugh. Porky Pig may also have used it. I am just wracking my brain here…could this have been Daffy in one of the Duck Dodgers episodes? I seem to remember Porky being involved, as well as Marvin the Martian. If I found Illumium Phosdex, I’d go “MUUAHAHAHAAAH!”, too, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/12 "2005-09-23T23:43:18Z")
I think I [found](http://www.wavsource.com/tv/looney.htm) it. (Click on “Daffy evil laugh” for the WAV). ---
**Author:** ![unophobia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/41988e/32.png) [@unophobia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unophobia)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-origin-of-muuahahahahaaah/323051/13 "2005-09-24T02:31:09Z")
Had to think it was compliments of Dr. Frankenstein. Or, it could be that someone was sounding out the first notes of Bach’s infamous Toccata, and made that laugh out of it.