"Funny Pants" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 4. In this episode, fed up over SpongeBob's constant laughter, Squidward tricks him into thinking he lost it.

Characters[]

• Squidward Tentacles
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Sandy Cheeks
• Patrick Star
• Incidentals
  • Incidental 64
  • Harold
  • Joe
  • Incidental 49
  • Incidental 48
  • Incidental 42
  • Incidental 10
  • Incidental 40
  • Incidental 45 ^{(light blue)}
  • Tom
  • Incidental 27
  • Incidental 39
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 46
  • Incidental 90
  • Incidental 49
  • Incidental 151
• Gramma ^{(debut; picture on pie truck)}
• Scallops and clams
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Jellyfish
• French Narrator
• Squidward Tentacles' house ^{(as a character)}
• Dr. Actor

Synopsis[]

One morning in Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob tells Squidward it's time for work and says "another day, another dollar," but Squidward says, "more like another nickel," which makes SpongeBob laugh so uncontrollably, that Squidward has to go through a whole day at work with SpongeBob laughing longer than he usually does, which inadvertently takes a toll on his sanity. The next day at work, the madness continues, and after SpongeBob told the "nickel joke" to a couple of customers, Squidward has decided he has had enough of SpongeBob's incessant laughter. Suddenly, SpongeBob starts to hurt himself when he laughs. So, Squidward takes advantage of this strange discovery and tricks him into believing that SpongeBob has a laugh-related illness by posing as a doctor who regards a sort of “laugh box”, which had been severely overused the day prior from SpongeBob laughing longer than usual. According to the made-up disease, if SpongeBob laughs one more time in the next 24 hours, his already-overused laugh box will explode, and he will never be able to laugh or even give out the tiniest giggle again.

For the rest of the day, SpongeBob fights every single urge to chuckle. First, he sees Patrick trip over a banana peel several times and runs away. Next, he sees that whoopee cushions are all over the town. Last, he sees a pie truck in an accident and some of the pie land on some fish. In a drastic measure, he buries himself in an open field to avoid being interrupted by a joke during the night. However, upon waking up next morning, SpongeBob discovers that he has completely lost the ability to laugh (possibly from his stifled giggles yesterday), only giving out a deflating sound. He tells Patrick that he has lost his laugh, but when Patrick sticks his head inside SpongeBob and lights a match to see in the dark, he ends up smoking the entire inside of SpongeBob and runs around in circles.

Later, SpongeBob goes to the Krusty Krab to tell Mr. Krabs that he has lost his laugh. Mr. Krabs says that money always makes him laugh, but SpongeBob doesn't feel a tickle. Next, SpongeBob consults Sandy. Sandy gives SpongeBob books about laughter. SpongeBob reads the books, but still doesn't have any effect on his laugh box. Now utterly grief-stricken, all SpongeBob can do is bawl his eyes out, meaning more noise than ever. Feeling guilty, but still wanting peace and quiet, Squidward finally confesses to the sad SpongeBob that he lied to him just so he could get SpongeBob to stop his obnoxious laughing and have some peace and quiet for a while, as his weeping has been more annoying than his giggles, and after Squidward admits everything, SpongeBob regains his ability to laugh to see it has been a good joke and Squidward joins in the laughter. When Squidward brings how he used the boiling oil at the Krusty Krab to mess with the thermometer, SpongeBob immediately stops laughing upon realizing how Squidward tricked him and awkwardly goes back inside his house. When Squidward laughs too much, he begins to wheeze out all his laughter and collapse from it, and is taken to the hospital (possibly from SpongeBob calling an ambulance after watching the whole thing from his window).

At the hospital, Squidward wakes up from his coma and is met by SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, and Mr. Krabs. It is revealed that the laugh box actually does exist as a little lung-like organ and Squidward just broke his after overusing it earlier. So, the surgeons removed it and left it in a jar for the gang, much to Squidward’s horror as he may never laugh again. However, the doctor points out that one of the others has given him half of their laugh box to compensate. It isn't Patrick, Mr. Krabs, or Sandy; it was SpongeBob, who shows the bandage to prove it. Shocked, Squidward starts to laugh like SpongeBob, to his great horror. He and SpongeBob laugh together before Squidward runs out of the building still laughing like SpongeBob in maniac state, much to the concern of the others. SpongeBob then concludes the episode by saying, "Ah, there he goes, off to share his laugh with the world," followed by his own laughter.

Production[]

Art[]

Music[]

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Happy Sponge Chase Vibes - Nicolas Carr [Title card]
 • 12th St Rag Slo - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Opening]
 ‣ The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [St the Krusty Krab]
 • Spongemonger - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward annoyed by SpongeBob's laughter]
 • Seaweed 3 - Steve Belfer [The next day]
 ‣ King Conga - Dennis Farnon [SpongeBob's sides aching as he laughs]
 ‣ Comic Walk - Sidney Torch [Squidward warns SpongeBob about breaking his laughbox]
 ‣ Like Strange - Kenny Graham ["Listen, SpongeBob, this is serious."]
 ‣ Dancing The Hula - Kapono Beamer ["Hey, Patrick, you wanna hear a joke?"]
 ‣ Funeral March (B) - Richard Myhill [Iron laugh box]
 ‣ Comic Walk - Sidney Torch [Squidward tells SpongeBob to stop laughing]
 ‣ Flop and Go A - John Fox [Whoopee cushions]
 ‣ Try On and On A - Hans Ehrlinger [Pie truck]
 • Grass Skirt Chase - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob runs away]
 • Idea Sting - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob tries to laugh but can't]
 ‣ Drama Link (G) - Hubert Clifford ["I've lost my laugh!"]
 ‣ Drama Link (D) - Hubert Clifford [SpongeBob screams]
 • Steel Licks 18 - Jeremy Wakefield ["It's terrible, Patrick. I can't laugh anymore."]
 ‣ Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill [SpongeBob enters Mr. Krabs' office]
 ‣ Botany Bay (c) - Robert Alexander White ["You've come to the right place, son."]
 ‣ Dancing The Hula - Kapono Beamer [At Sandy's]
 ‣ Pua Paoakalani B - Kapono Beamer, Queen Lili'uokalani [SpongeBob depressed]
 • Squid Clarinet 7 - Brad Carow [Squidward playing clarinet]
 ‣ Kamakani B - Kapono Beamer [SpongeBob crying]
 • Whats This Sting - Nicolas Carr ["This charade has to end!"]
 ‣ Comic Tension (A) - Dick Stephen Walter [Squidward goes up to SpongeBob's door]
 • Steel Licks 78 - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward admits he made it up]
 • Sad Joke - Nicolas Carr ["You mean my laugh box isn't broken?"]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill ["I could laugh the whole time?"]
 • 12th St Rag - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob, Squidward laughing]
 ‣ Bashful Eyes - Kapono Beamer [Squidward in the hospital]
 • Seaweed 2 - Steve Belfer [Ending]

Release[]

• This episode is available on the Lost in Time DVD and VHS, Bob Esponja Vol. 1, Season 4 Volume 1, SpongeBob Schwammkopf Folge 31, First 100 Episodes, The Best Day Ever, Double Feature Volume 2, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 5, Complete Fourth Season, From the Beginning, Part 2, The Best 300 Episodes Ever, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Oceans of Laughs, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Favorite Episodes Volume 2, 2-Season TV Pack, The Third & Fourth Seasons, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.

Trivia[]

General[]

• This episode was originally going to be named "Unfunny Pants," but was later changed to "Laughbox" when Nickelodeon announced the episode.^{[citation needed]}
• The title card background for this episode is similar to that of "Squirrel Jokes," except this one is realistically drawn.
  • Coincidentally, both episodes revolve around laughter and jokes.
• Two clips of SpongeBob laughing in this episode were used in an advertisement for SpongeBob DVDs in 2009.^[3]
• Mr. Krabs is absent when the Krusty Krab closes at the beginning.
• It should be noted that when Squidward reads the thermometer temperature from the boiling oil as 175 degrees, this is likely in degrees Celsius, which is the metric system. This is because 175 degrees Celsius, which is 347 degrees Fahrenheit, has to be the minimum temperature for cooking oil to not boil, but still be very hot.
• There is no such thing as a "laughbox" in real-life like the one in this episode. The closest thing to a laughbox is a voice box in real-life.
• In this episode whenever SpongeBob laughs, a very high-pitched squeaking noise can be heard.
• Stephen Hillenburg delivers a rumor as the end of the episode's plot. "When Sandy is about to tell Patrick a joke, SpongeBob can't wait to laugh, but Squidward stages a hideous accident as part of his plan to get rid of SpongeBob now that his laughbox is gone. He makes SpongeBob slip on a banana peel and crack an egg to sound and SpongeBob thinks his leg being broken. One week later, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, Sandy, and Squidward come to visit SpongeBob in the hospital, where Squidward delivers an apology gift to SpongeBob for stealing his laughbox by having Sandy tell SpongeBob a joke to make him laugh and he finds it not funny because he can't laugh. After that, Squidward gives SpongeBob a new laugh box." Later, the producers replace the joke with the actual climax.

• Frames from this episode were later used in "Friendiversary" when SpongeBob remembers Squidward.
• This was the first episode to be written by Luke Brookshier, Tom King, and Steven Banks.
  • This was also the first episode where Brookshier and King served as storyboard directors.
  • Additionally, this and "Selling Out" were the first pair of episodes to have Steven Banks as one of the two story editors, alongside Tim Hill.
• This episode premiered separately from its sister episode. This previously happened with "Hooky"/"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II," "Survival of the Idiots"/"Dumped," and "Shanghaied"/"Gary Takes a Bath."
• This episode marks the second time Squidward's house has grown hands, after "Good Neighbors."
• This was Todd White's final episode as character designer before he was replaced by Robertryan Cory.
• This is currently the only episode where both "12th Street Rag" arrangements play.

• On the April 1, 2017 airing of this episode, the theme song is replaced with an April Fool's Day/screamo version, with differences being that it is foggy, less colored, and has clips from "Krabby Road."
  • Also, this episode was paired up with "Pranks a Lot" on the same day.^[4]

Cultural references[]

• The machine SpongeBob is hitched up to in his daydream is similar in appearance to an iron lung breathing aid.

Episode references[]

• The sound where SpongeBob tries to laugh, but wheezes instead, is recycled from "Your Shoe's Untied."
• The fez that Squidward is wearing when he says SpongeBob became a sad sack was previously seen in "Good Neighbors."
• When Squidward plays his clarinet after the "Later that same evening" time card, he plays the tune "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as he did in "The Paper," and he still plays it incorrectly.

Errors[]

• While SpongeBob is laughing on his way to work, parts of his belt flicker between black and white.

• During SpongeBob's daydream:
  • When Sandy tells Patrick if he wants to hear a joke, her tail is there. When SpongeBob says, "Sure. I'd love a good laugh" and it cuts right back to them, Sandy's tail is missing. Then, in the next shot, it is back again.
  • When Sandy says, "What has four wheels and flies?" when telling Patrick her joke, her voice is out of sync with the animation.

• When SpongeBob says, "Get a grip on yourself, SpongeBob. You're in control," his red tie turns brown for a split second. Also, in the same scene, part of his white collar turns red for a split second.

• When Patrick is about to stick his head inside SpongeBob, his pants are a darker shade of green for a second. Also, in the same scene, one side of SpongeBob's belt is white instead of black for a split second.

• When Sandy pulls down a chart of the body, her tail disappears for a split second.
• When Squidward says, "What a schlemiel," he mispronounces the word schlemiel.

• When Squidward wakes up from a coma, Sandy's zipper and badge are missing.
• When SpongeBob shows the scar to reveal his transplanted laugh box, his pants are much higher than usual.

• When Squidward bursts through the hospital wall near the end of the episode, the heart monitor is still running.
• When Squidward runs off his bed in the hospital, it seems like he is walking on air.

References[]

1. ^ Season 4 in UK - SpongeBuddy Mania Forums
2. ^ Season 4 - SpongeBuddy Mania Forums
3. ^ SpongeBob SquarePants DVD Collection Promo 2009
4. ^ Nickstory - April 1, 2017