The Men Who Laugh

Have you heard the one about how Mark Hamill almost didn’t play the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series?

One of the most infamous narratives behind the creation of Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS), was the arduous task the creative team had in finding the proper voice for the Crown Prince of Crime, the Joker. Desperate for a voice actor who wasn’t simply doing a retread of previous performers, Producers Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski and Voice Director Andrea Romano initially hired actor Tim Curry to voice the character. However, prior to the series’ debut, it was revealed that he had been replaced by actor Mark Hamill. But while little information was given at the time, in the decades since more information has trickled out, allowing fans to not only understand the reasons behind the switch, but also allow us to hear Tim Curry’s portrayal of the Joker for the first time.

Looking back, it is easy to see how Tim Curry was such an early contender for the role, having played so many memorable villains on stage, screen, and television. At the time, he was best known for his roles as the transgendered mad scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1973-1975 on stage; 1975 on film), the demonic Lord of Darkness in Legend (1985), and—of course—the eldritch horror that takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown in ABC’s two-part adaption of Stephen King’s novel It. This miniseries debuted in November 1990 which, coincidentally, was the same month that production began on BTAS (Garcia, “Animated” 75). Considering the significance of this iconic role, along with his developing interest in voice work at the time, it is not surprising that the creative team considered Curry as a possible performer for their murderous clown.

Eager to forge their own path, the creative team consciously attempted to steer away from previous depictions of the character, as earlier animated attempts wielded cackling, child-friendly portrayals featuring Larry Storch (The Adventures of Batman [1968-1969], The New Scooby-Doo Movies [1972-1973]), Lennie Weinrib (The New Adventures of Batman [1977]), and Frank Welker (The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians [1985-1986]). And, as for Tim Burton’s suddenly iconic character from the 1989 Batman film, Radomski commented, “I don’t know that we really knew what we wanted the Joker to be, other than we didn’t want him to be a Jack Nicholson impersonation” (qtd. in Machi). In a 2017 interview with Vulture, Bruce Timm had this to say about the search and casting Curry:

Everybody who came in to audition for the Joker was doing, basically, [Adam West-era Joker actor] Cesar Romero. They weren’t treating the character seriously. All of the actors that we tested were all doing these really silly and bizarre voices. None of it had any serious threat to it at all. Tim Curry actually came in and gave us something really close to what we wanted. It was funny and weird, but also definitely had some menace to it. (qtd. in Riesman)

Added Radomski:

Tim came with a natural theatrical presence to his delivery, which was something we definitely wanted; we didn’t want the Joker to be a bumbling, goofy idiot. He had to have some class to him. And then the dark side was completely second nature to Tim. And almost to the point of […] “I don’t wanna be alone with this guy ‘cuz he’s really creepy.” (qtd. in Machi)

And so, with the approval of the producers and Andrea Romano (Riesman), Tim Curry was cast as the Joker. According to Timm, he recorded material for three episodes of the series (Riesman) and, while the episodes were never explicitly named, one can infer from the production order that these were “Christmas with the Joker” (Episode #2), “The Last Laugh” (Episode #4), and “Be a Clown” (Episode #9). However, months before going to air, it was announced that Curry was being replaced by Mark Hamill, who—at the time—was best known for his portrayal as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films. The only comment offered at the time was by Producer Alan Burnett, who joined the team in 1991: “We decided to go in a different direction on the Joker’s voice, […so] we recast. It was a hard decision to make because we really like Tim Curry as an actor, but Mark Hamill filled the bill” (qtd. in Jankiewicz).

Even with his dismissal, Curry still contributed to BTAS, providing “additional voices” in the episode “Fear of Victory,” as well as the uncredited use of his Joker laughter for an animatronic clown in “Be a Clown” (Craig). He would later appear as Mutro Botha in the Batman Beyond episode “Final Cut” and—of course—he would go on to find success in other animated properties, including performances as Dr. Anton Sevarius on Gargoyles (1995-1996), Nigel Thornberry on The Wild Thornberrys (1998-2004), and G. Gordon Godfrey on the original run of Young Justice (2012-2013). Later, when approached about his BTAS experience at the FanExpo Canada 2017, he only had this to say: “I did play the Joker for a while, but I had bronchitis, and they fired me […] and hired Mark Hamill. That’s life” (qtd. in Lis; “Tim”).

Of course, Mark Hamill went on to provide an iconic, career-defining take on the Joker, and he voiced him in multiple DCAU series (DCAU being the colloquial term for the related animated shows succeeding BTAS, including Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League), as well as in live action (the pilot for the 2002 series Birds of Prey), video games (most notably Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Asylum [2009] and Batman: Arkham City [2011]), films (most notably the theatrically released Batman: Mask of the Phantasm [1993]), the more kid-friendly animated series Justice League Action (2016-2018), the less kid-friendly Cartoon Network series Robot Chicken (2005-present), Batman toys, and even for a Batman-themed roller coaster in Australia (Utichi). Reflecting on Hamill’s popularity, Maxwell Yezpitelok, a writer for Cracked, had this to say:

It could be argued that this Joker was far more appealing than any seen in mass media before. Hamill’s Joker was just as threatening as Nicholson’s, but also … kind of endearing? Some [comic books] had already managed to make this homicidal maniac a somewhat sympathetic character, but most people had only met the total psycho from the movie and the two-dimensional goofball from the ‘60s show. Batman: The Animated Series introduced general audiences to the idea of an evil but nuanced Joker you could occasionally root for. This was a Joker who had money problems (“Joker’s Millions”), a sincere and rarely met desire to be acknowledged as funny (“Make ‘Em Laugh”), and relationship issues with the hot blonde who inexplicably loves him (all the Harley Quinn-centric episodes). He was every dude trying to make it as a stand-up comic in L.A.

Thirty years later, it would be difficult to picture a world without Mark Hamill’s Joker, but I can’t help but think about Tim Curry’s performance. Was there something wrong with it? Could it really have been that bad? This would be difficult to answer for many years, as recordings of Curry’s work was largely kept in the Warner Bros. vault, but over time information was revealed by the former creative team. The first break occurred when Andrea Romano, who was initially identified as the one who chose to recast Joker (Garcia, “Andrea” 92), made the following statement in a 2016 episode of Batman: The Animated Podcast:

Let’s go back many, many years to when we had cast Tim Curry—and I loved Tim, I loved everything he did, [and] I had absolutely no problem. Early on in the process, another producer was brought in on the show—the show was […] a monster to produce. It was huge, huge, huge. It needed more hands on, and so they brought in another producer. And that producer did not care for Tim Curry’s performance, and so I brought Tim back a couple more times just to work with him and see if I could find something that this producer liked because I did not want to recast Tim Curry. I had no problem with Tim’s performance, and I could never convince that producer that Tim was the guy to go with, so I had to recast him. […] I had a very long conversation with Tim about it, and it broke my heart, and I said, “I am so sorry, but I just can’t—it’s not working out for a major person on the production, and I’m really sorry.” (qtd. in Michael)

And, one year later, during an interview in the September 2017 issue of Back Issue! magazine, Bruce Timm shed more light onto the conflict:

I think what Tim was doing was very, very interesting. It didn’t seem terribly organic to us. A lot of his line readings were just … they felt almost non-sequitur. They were just really weird and quirky but without really any deep meaning behind them. Again, not to knock him, because I’m a huge fan. Still am. But it didn’t seem—but it didn’t sound natural. It didn’t sound organic. Specifically, his laugh. It never really sounded like he was genuinely amused by anything. It just sounded like this weird, odd laugh. So, that was the main thing.

[…] It was Alan Burnett who kind of forced the issue. I was already kind of on the fence about Tim as the Joker anyway, but Alan was the one who made an issue out of it. He came to me one day and said, “You know, I think we have to replace Tim.” And I didn’t want to, just because I knew it was going to be a really tricky situation to do, but I couldn’t disagree with him. (qtd. in Trumbull)

Timm would later add, in a different interview:

I didn’t want to do it because we had already recorded a bunch of episodes with him, and I knew we would have to re-record them in post, which I knew was going to be a nightmare. But it didn’t take much for him to convince me, because I was kind of leaning that way myself. It’s not that Tim was doing anything bad; it just wasn’t quite what we wanted. (qtd. in Riesman)

This sense of something missing was not lost on other members of the staff. Paul Dini—writer, then-story editor, and soon-to-be producer—said in the 1998 book Batman: Animated that Curry “brought a great sense of menace to the part, but we felt we were missing the character’s chaotic mood swings and sadistic playfulness” (Dini and Kidd). And so, with some regret, new auditions were held to find a new Joker.

Meanwhile, Mark Hamill, who made an appearance as the corrupt CEO Ferris Boyle in the classic “Heart of Ice” (Episode #14), was eager to extend his tenure in Gotham City. After the recording session, Romano recalled this interaction with the actor:

He was very grateful, and he pulled me aside at the end of the session and said, “I had so much fun doing this, and thank you so much for bringing me in. But I really want to be a part of the series. I don’t want to just come in and do a guest star and disappear.” And then, coincidentally, here comes the need to recast the Joker. (qtd. in Riesman)

While excited about the opportunity, Hamill was also understandably nervous about taking the offer:

I got a call saying, “They want you to come in and audition for the Joker.” And I said, “Oh, gosh, that’s a little too high-profile for my liking. Not only has it been done with Cesar Romero, but it’s been done by Jack Nicholson. What can I bring to the table that hasn’t been done before?” I said, “I’d rather play Two-Face or Clayface or someone who hasn’t been done.” The reason I went in was because I was absolutely certain that they would be unable to cast me as the Joker simply because, public-relations-wise, the idea of the guy who played Luke Skywalker—this icon of heroism, this virtuous character—playing this icon of villainy? Comic book fans are notoriously demanding. They’re very opinionated and not shy about letting you know how they feel. I thought it would be a PR disaster that they would not be able to withstand. It gave me a great confidence, since I didn’t think there was any shot at all of me getting the part, so I had that performance anxiety removed.

[…] I had done Mozart in Amadeus in the first national tour, and then they transferred me over to Broadway, and one of the things that is relevant to my audition [for the Joker] is that Mozart had this sort of ghastly laugh that threw everybody. I played with that laugh a lot. I’d do a little Dwight Frye; I’d do a little Sydney Greenstreet. I love all those old Warner Bros. movies, so I was just slipping people in. Sometimes I’d get notes like, “It was a little too ‘Jerry Lewis at the matinee.’ Reel it back.”

I’m telling you this because, in retrospect, after getting the part, I asked Andrea Romano, “How did I get it? What was the process? How did you know that you wanted me?” And she said, “The laugh.” I didn’t want to get pigeonholed into a specific laugh. With the Joker, I said, This is like an artist with a very big palette. I want a range of laughs. One thing that stuck with me was, when Frank Gorshin was talking about the Riddler [whom Gorshin played in the 1960s series], I was reading about him, and he said, “A lot of times, it’s not that the Riddler laughs, it’s what he laughs at.” I said, Oh, that’s interesting. If I can find places to open a little window into the psyche of this psycho, I’m going to use that. (qtd. in Riesman)

(NOTE: Tim Curry performed as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the beginning of the Broadway run of Amadeus at the Broadhurst Theatre, which ran from December 17, 1980 to October 16, 1983 [“Amadeus”]. After Curry left the role, the character was played by a number of replacements, including Mark Hamill in 1983 [Russell]. So, surprisingly enough, there was an existing precedent of Hamill filling a role previously held by Curry.)

Reaction to Hamill’s audition was overwhelmingly positive, with immediate praise from Radomski (Machi) and Dini, who said “[t]he laugh was cruel, it was funny, [and] there was an undercurrent of terrible sadness to it. It was a laugh from a destroyed soul” (qtd. in Riesman). Bruce Timm would later comment that this take on the Joker was “exactly what we wanted” (qtd. in Trumbull) and Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman and Bruce Wayne for the DCAU, had this to say about Hamill:

[Tim Curry] was Joker like, terrifying and lock-up-the-children and don’t let them watch. Tim was just, like, a little bit like a horror movie. […] Tim Curry was crazy [and] scary, [but] Mark was crazy, funny, and scary.

[…] Mark found the humor and the absurdity in the character, and that—that brought a whole different color to it. I thought, “Luke Skywalker? I don’t get this.” And then I watched what Mark did, and I realized there’s a madman inside Mark Hamill. But as he grew older, he grew into who he really is, and he’s a character actor. He is insane to be in a booth with. He is so talented. (qtd. in Machi)

With their new clown chosen, the creative team now had to deal with the daunting task of editing the three already-animated episodes to replace Curry’s dialogue with Hamill’s in post-production. This process, called Automated Dialogue Replacement (or ADR), would be tricky, as Hamill would not only have to deliver dialogue that synched with the existing facial movements of the Joker on screen, but also develop his own voice for the character at the same time (Michael). Fortunately, Mark Hamill was up to the task, with Romano praising Hamill’s work as “crazy good” (qtd. in Riesman).

However, despite Mark Hamill’s hard work and talent, I must confess that the Joker in these early episodes always felt … kind of off to me. Perhaps it was Hamill replacing Tim Curry or perhaps it was simply the growing pains felt by being early episodes of a series where they were still finding their way, but these early Joker appearances felt different to me than the Joker that appeared afterwards. Even Director Dan Riba recognized this, saying that “Mark did make it his own, […] but that first show—y’know, in the first couple—he’s kind of like doing his take on […] what Tim had done” (qtd. in Machi). It wasn’t until “Joker’s Favor” (Episode #22) where, unencumbered by Tim Curry’s involvement, Mark Hamill was able to make the Joker truly his own.

(Coincidentally, “Joker’s Favor” was also the episode that introduced the world to original character Harley Quinn, which means that she and Hamill’s Joker broke at the same time. And, speaking of Harley, would her voice actor, Arleen Sorkin, have had the same kind of chemistry with Tim Curry as the Joker? Would she have appeared with the same frequency in the series, or would Curry’s continued presence push the series and the characters in different directions? Would Harley Quinn have become the same icon she is today? Speculation for another time.)

In the end, the event was another one of those Hollywood casting stories, the same kind that play out every day in studios all over Los Angeles. Said Conroy: “You know, they—they replace actors […] for all kinds of reasons. You never know why someone’s being replaced. I worked with wonderful actors, and I’ve never understood why they were replaced. Tim [Curry] was one of those situations. I thought he was fantastic; I love him as an actor” (qtd. in Machi).

***

Despite learning the truth behind the decision to recast Tim Curry, it brought us no closer to actually hearing his performance. As previously stated, the material went unreleased for decades, despite multiple opportunities to include it as a DVD extra. However, there were options outside of the Warner archive, as revealed by Andrea Romano:

I believe Bruce Timm and I are the only two people who have a […] videotape of an episode of Batman, it is not mixed, it’s a really rough cut, with Tim Curry as the Joker. […] For a long time, I was the only one who had it, and then Bruce asked to borrow it and made a copy for himself because he was doing some speaking engagement somewhere and wanted to play it. So, that’s kind of a really cool, prized possession of mine. (qtd. in Trumbull)

According to Justin Michael, host of Batman: The Animated Podcast, this videotape was shown at the Egyptian Theatre for a “retrospective of [Bruce Timm’s] work” (Michael); this was possibly the Animation A-Go Go: A Night with Bruce Timm event that occurred January 29, 2006. Hosted by American Cinematheque, the event promised “never-before-seen rarities that you won’t find on any DVD” (“Special Events”). At any rate, material of this caliber would remain unavailable to the public eye until 2021, when the podcast Stay ‘Tooned! released a documentary called Stay ‘Tooned! Presents—Batman: The Animated Series, which contained early video featuring Tim Curry’s Joker performance (I suspect it’s from Romano and Timm’s famed videotape, but I have no confirmation on that).

However, it wasn’t until Fall 2022 when the release really gained attention, as website Comic Book Resources announced that Twitter user Munsonx4 (@Munson_Burner) took the audio from the documentary, cleaned it up, and “enhanced his audio recordings a bit while trying to sync it up with better footage,” resulting in a clip with better sound and audio quality, allowing fans to fully experience Tim Curry as the Joker (Wasserman; Munsonx4). And, after watching both clips, I must admit that, to quote the Clown Prince in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, I found it “sadly anticlimactic.”

(Not the @Munson_Burner video, but another fan edit using the Tim Curry audio.)

Perhaps it was being spoiled by comparing it to thirty years of Mark Hamill’s stellar performance. Perhaps it is the fact that the audio came from “The Last Laugh,” which I—personally speaking—acknowledge as the weakest Joker episode. Or, maybe, it was due to the fact that this Joker didn’t sound enough like Tim Curry for my taste. I was expecting British Tim Curry, but instead I got a strange mashup of not-quite Hamill and Pennywise, who also spoke with a somewhat American accent. Based on this revelation, I must side with Alan Burnett.

But could it have worked? As previously stated, Voice Director Andrea Romano brought Curry back to the studio multiple times to try and find a take on the Joker that Burnett liked. What if, for one of those takes, Romano simply told him to “be Tim Curry?” What if he performed the Joker as a perfect medley of Dr. Frank N. Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the concierge Mr. Hector from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and even Dr. Mystico from Freakazoid! But would it have worked? Would the fan community embrace a British Joker?

Perhaps. Regardless, based on the available information, I say that the BTAS creative team made the right decision. While imagining what could have been with Tim Curry is an interesting distraction, the results provided by Mark Hamill’s performance cannot be disputed. And besides, we can’t have Curry play every horror clown in fiction, can we?

Works Cited

“Amadeus.” Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. n.d. <https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/amadeus-4083>. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.

Craig, Richard. “Why Tim Curry’s Joker Didn’t Appear in Batman: The Animated Series.” Screen Rant. Screen Rant. 25 Jan. 2023. <https://screenrant.com/why-tim-curry-left-batman-animated-series-joker/>. Accessed 27 Feb. 2023.

Dini, Paul and Chip Kidd. Batman: Animated. New York: HarperEntertainment, 1998. Print.

Garcia, Bob. “Animated Adventures Batman, The.” Cinefantastique. Feb. 1994: 68-111. Print.

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Jankiewicz, Pat. “Animated Knights.” Comics Scene. Oct. 1992: 33-40, 60. Print.

Lis, Martin. “Exclusive: Tim Curry Reveals Why Mark Hamill Replaced Him as JOKER.” ScreenGeek. ScreenGeek, LLC. 2 Sept. 2017. <https://www.screengeek.net/2017/09/02/tim-curry-reveals-why-mark-hamill-replaced-him-as-joker/>. Accessed 27 Feb. 2021.

Machi, Phil. Stay ‘Tooned! Presents—Batman: The Animated Series. YouTube. Google, LLC. 5 Sept. 2021. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyTiWwJtvw0&t=7135s>. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.

Michael, Justin. “Trial.” Batman: The Animated Podcast, Episode # 31. N.p. 10 May 2016. <https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/31-trial-dan-riba-andrea-romano-mike-carlson/id964103963?i=1000368432304>. Accessed 25 Feb. 2023.

@Munson_Burner. “In a recent Documentary with Batman TAS, they released some of Tim Curry’s Joker Recordings before he was replaced by Mark Hamill. I cleaned up and enhanced his audio recordings a bit while trying to sync it up with better footage.” X. 11 Oct. 2022. 6:50p.m. <https://twitter.com/Munson_Burner/status/1579967813028315136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1579967813028315136%7Ctwgr%5E7be9accdd1c1632205ab49d6d27df4b3fe4158da%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbr.com%2Ftim-currys-original-batman-tas-joker-voice-over-dubbed%2F>. Accessed 25 Feb. 2023.

Riesman, Abraham. “An Oral History of Batman: The Animated Series.” Vulture. Vox Media, LLC. 6 Oct. 2017. <https://www.vulture.com/article/oral-history-batman-the-animated-series.html>. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022.

Russell, Calum. “How Playing Mozart Helped Mark Hamill Become ‘The Joker.’” Far Out Magazine. Far Out Magazine. 25 Sept. 2021. <https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-mozart-helped-mark-hamill-become-the-joker/>. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.

“Special Events in January.” Internet Archive. Internet Archive. 11 Jan. 2006. <https://web.archive.org/web/20060111094309/https://www.americancinematheque.com/archive1999/2006/specialeventJAN.htm>. Accessed 3 Mar. 2023.

“Tim Curry Reveals Why Mark Hamill Replaced Him as JOKER.” YouTube. Uploaded by ScreenGeek. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRQES2nTHJE>. Accessed 27 Feb. 2023.

Trumbull, John. “Batman: The Animated Series at 25: An Oral History.” Back Issue! Sept. 2017: 2-22. Print.

Utichi, Joe. “Mark Hamill Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 Interview.” IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. 8 May 2012. <https://www.ign.com/articles/2010/05/26/mark-hamill-batman-arkham-aslyum-2-interview>. Accessed 28 Feb. 2023.

Wasserman, Ben. “Batman: TAS Fan Replaces Mark Hamill’s Joker with Tim Curry’s Original Audio.” Comic Book Resources. Comic Book Resources. 14 Oct. 2022. <https://www.cbr.com/tim-currys-original-batman-tas-joker-voice-over-dubbed/>. Accessed 4 Mar. 2023.

Yezpitelok, Maxwell. “No One Was Ready for Mark Hamill’s Joker … Least of All Mark Hamill.” Cracked. Literally Media Ltd. 1 Dec. 2020. <https://www.cracked.com/article_29079_no-one-was-ready-mark-hamills-joker-...-least-all-mark-hamill.html>. Accessed 28 Feb. 2023.

Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Animation, 20th Century Studios, Universal Pictures, Lorimar Television, and DawnField Entertainment. YouTube videos courtesy of the Phil Machi and Deviant Studios of 97 channels.