The stand-up and musician behind HBO’s ‘The Golden One’ and the new ‘Can’t Believe You’re Happy Here’ EP can’t stop obsessing over the Clown Prince of Crime.
Whitmer Thomas wants you to know that his insatiate love for the Joker is not ironic . On the title track of his young EPCan’t Believe You ’re Happy Here , a agile collection of folk songs written during the pandemic after the release of his 2020 HBO specialThe Golden One , there ’s a sample of a YouTube television enumeration down " The Most Twisted Joker Moments . " It might seem like a throwaway prank , but those countdown have a specific role for Thomas : They ’re what he reaches for when he ca n’t sleep , an attempt to tranquillise the anxiety he explores in his craftily funny music and achingly personal clowning . Despite his disruptive nature , the Joker can furnish peace treaty at the end of a prospicient Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
But Thomas ’s Joker obsession lead beyond using the character as a sleep aid . For year , the unrepentantlyJokerfiedcomedian has peppered his rack - up with address toThe Dark Knight , post Instagram photos of his friends with Joker filter on their faces , and even hosted a show calledJoker Fest , where all the performers on the lineup frock as the Clown Prince of Crime . “ It would be kinda against their will , ” he remembers . “ But I always test to be the most handsome Joker I could possibly be and do my makeup as good as potential . ”
WithRobert Pattinson’sbrooding turn as the Caped Crusader , The Batman , now in theaters , ride yet another spin on the scoundrel , it ’s an idealistic time to take stock of the many Jokers of the past , present , and future . From his emergence in the Page ofBatman # 1 in 1940 to the current import of superhero - franchise overburden , where the character has netted two Oscar winnings , the Joker continues to fuel speculation and disputation . What precisely makes the perfect Joker ? Is it the cackling joke ? The coat - on makeup ? The garish purple suit ? Or perhaps it ’s as uncomplicated as Michael Caineput it : Some men just need to see the mankind combust .
Thrillist/Maitane Romagosa
Thomas , a Joker stalwart since his childhood in Alabama , knows there ’s an element of satire to how multitude interact with the Joker online , but he insists his fandom get from a totally sincere place . While breaking down the chronicle of the character , guiding us through the onscreen versions and explaining a handful of ridiculous Joker memes , Thomas clarified that the Joker is an aspirational figure for him . “ He represents something mysterious and chaotic in a mode that I definitely wish well I could be , ” he says . “ If I could be as mysterious as the Heath Ledger Joker , that ’s the fucking dream . ”
This interview has been edited and condensed .
1940: The original comic-book Joker fromBatman #1
Created by Bill Finger , Bob Kane , and Jerry Robinson , the comic - book version of the Joker took intake from the joker playing board and from Conrad Veidt ’s public presentation as the deface Gwynplaine in the 1928 filmThe Man Who express mirth . From his first coming into court , the Joker already has his iconic see down .
My initiation to Batman was the movie with Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton , and thenBatman : The Animated Series . But my mamma and dad always had Batman comics lying around that I would look at even before I could take . I remember this sneaky little guy wire . I love this guy . It ’s so mirthful how they put almost too much detail . It ’s hard to figure out where his eye bags begin and where his pupil are .
[ As a nestling ] I was always into thing mutating and changing . Things with unearthly liquidness chemical substance . I also love Swamp Thing . I just loved that he fall into some stuff and transform into this guy . That ’s what it was . I also just loved how colorful he was . When I was a Thomas Kid , I would thread the bath and then lift into the kitchen and grab greenish food coloring and pullulate it into the bathtub and take a bathtub in green intellectual nourishment coloring . It would dye the bath and my skin . But I loved it and I would play with toys in there and stuff . I loved the idea of stand out into some red cent and come out and being this junky .
1966: Cesar Romero as the Joker in the television seriesBatman
In ABC’sBatman , which ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1968 , Cesar Romero played the prank - have it off Joker . He also appeared in 1966 ’s spin - off movieBatman . Memorably , Romero refused to shave his trademark mustache for the part and instead applied clown makeup over it .
I had the Adam West picture show . I loved this guy and I loved the shark scene , too . I think he ’s a loco cat . I would see it , but even as a kid I was n’t satisfied by this Batman . But I care that Robin was in it , and you ’ve got ta love this Joker . He ’s the funniest Joker , probably . Maybe not ? It ’s funny that he ’s weary board shorts . in reality , now that I think about it , he ’s the funniest Joker . Why ’s he wearing drawers over his Joker suit ?
This is a job I ’ve got with the Joker in oecumenical . In the young takings , everyone need to make Joker a unearthly creep . But the interesting take is to make him more of a Broadway , ostentatious , New Yorker , risible , articulate , colloquial person . I cerebrate that would be the coolest way to do Joker . Heath is likely the suspect Joker , or peradventure Jack Nicholson . But [ Romero ] is pretty rum . I imply , count at him in his shorts . I would watch him growing up , and I have memories of not having cable and this would come on some random duct and I would really love that . I also liked the movie because all the villain were hanging out and goofing off together .
The Joker in ‘Batman #1’|DC Comics
1989: Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Tim Burton’sBatman
Nicholson receive top billing over Micheal Keaton for his performance inBatman , a Prince - soundtracked , Art Deco - exhort natural process - risky venture freak - out that went on to earn more than $ 400 million and found the character as a smash hit attraction .
He ’s got his own origin , and he ’s credibly the scariest - looking Joker . But he ’s singular , too . He look great . This Joker was the first cat to really legitimize being a comical - book baddie [ on - screen ] , and he change the game where everyone need to do it . It ’s funny how long it convey them to figure it out again .
I would view this movie so much and rewind all my favorite constituent , like when he falls into the chemical . People will say this is a terrible Batman flick , but I love how control it is and I bed how Joker dies at the end . That ’s what I fuck about both of those Tim Burton Batman movies : I wish comic - Holy Writ movie were still made like that , where there ’s no apparatus for another one . It ’s just over at the end .
Cesar Romero as The Joker in ‘Batman’|ABC
But Jack Nicholson is my guy rope . I screw his Joker and how heburns that guy alive by shaking his hand . It ’s weird as fuck that he puts on that makeup to bet normal .
1992: Mark Hamill as the Joker inBatman: The Animated Series
For some lover , Mark Hamill ’s go as the Joker in this acclaimed animated serial remains the classical Joker public presentation . He went by the name Jack Napier , like Nicholson in Burton’sBatman , but Hamill find his own unsettling twirl on the character .
I rewatched all of this in lockdown , and now I keep an eye on it to fall deceased . I really just watched this sequence — I ca n’t remember the name of it , but it ’s a really near episode — where some cat owes him and Joker feel him three years later . This Joker is so scary .
Mark Hamill just pour down it , and now everyone who does the voice of the Joker is always kind of copying Mark Hamill in a way . I sleep together this Joker . Eventually , in the third season , they changed the vitality stylus to make it more fluid and they had to lose some of the colouring of Batman and Joker , and I do n’t like the third - time of year plan of the Joker , but I really wish this designing from the first two seasons ofTheAnimated Series .
Warner Bros.
2008: Heath Ledger as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knight
Released after Ledger ’s tragic death at the age of 28,The Dark Knightchanged the superhero picture show forever and earned Ledger a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance .
This was huge . I think I was 18 when this get out , and I had just moved to L.A. I was ghost with Hollywood actors , and Heath Ledger was my favorite actor . It was the first time I ever got into the internet , and I used to go to Batman on Film to seek to see behind - the - prospect pictures . Then he die and it was such a shock . I would have dreams I was hanging out with Heath Ledger before this motion picture come out . Then I saw it three times in the theatre , I opine . perchance more . I just fucking fuck every secondment of him on there . He ’s funny , too ! When he walk out in his instauration and he does that phoney laugh?“Ha , ha , ha , he , he , he . “Fuck , dude . He ’s also the most convincing . I could see him trick the mob into being under his control and all that hooey . Yeah , he ’s important . He ’s a really important guy rope to me .
I was really not on-line then , and I ’m later to the biz with everything . I do n’t even know if I would Google thing back then . I would just type in a website and hope it exist . I do call up Domino ’s did a promotion where you would get a cardboard Batman mask . So I had a Batman mask and we would stencil Batman on our shirts , and that ’s what we wear to the opening night night of the movie . I watch it at the Landmark Theater on the West Side in L.A. , which was a moderately fancy theater . Looking back , I wish I had examine it at an AMC just with normal people yell .
Joker in ‘Batman: The Animated Series’|Warner Brothers Animation
2016: Jared Leto as Joker in David Ayer’sSuicide Squad
In this movie about a team of villains forced to make together on a world - save mission , Jared Leto ’s Hot Topic - essence Joker does n’t get much screen time . But that did n’t stop the actor fromsending all in animalsto his fellow dramatis personae members .
I do n’t wish how this Joker look . I consider Jared Leto could be a good Joker if he talk like he commonly talks . There ’s something odd about Jared Leto : He ’s like 50 years old but he face so untried and he kinda play like a cult leader . That would be an interesting take — just him being himself as the Joker .
He bite Heath a number with the spokesperson , and obviously this movie is not written in a manner that even if Heath survive in this movie , it would n’t really turn . I do n’t call back this movie really works for any of the doer in it . This is just not the good . Look , he ’s got “ damaged ” on his frontal bone . I do n’t think the Joker thinks he ’s damaged .
Heath Ledger as The Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’|Warner Brothers
2019: Joaquin Phoenix as Joker in Todd Phillips’sJoker
Released during the Trump presidency , Jokergenerated disputation and also earned Phoenix a Best Actor Oscar for his execution as the mentally unstable aim comic Arthur Fleck .
I thinkJokeris cool as a picture . But I ca n’t really imagine this guy being a Batman villain . My issue with this movie is that it tie him into the Wayne class and they attempt to make it seem like he opine he ’s Bruce Wayne ’s brother or something like that . I do n’t love that poppycock . But as a movie about a guy who has a shape , it ’s very much aTaxi DriverandKing of Comedything . I like that he circumstantially becomes a symbol for people . And I love Joaquin ’s performance , and that ’s why it ’s so cool . It ’s a different take and he ’s really interesting . But if you just put some Joker makeup on Robert De Niro inKing of Comedy , it ’s like shit , let ’s see these guys go head - to - head . Batman and De Niro Joker !
I do like this movie . I envision this in a theater . My plane had to emergency land in Dallas and I had to stay the night there so I went to the house at midnight in a packed theater , and it was just a corking way to take in this movie . I had a blast . I just have a punishing time when the " cinematic universe " matter happens . I do n’t like that new style of filmmaking where you ’re always thinking about a cinematic macrocosm . This movie says it ’s not doing that , but then why are you arrange up Bruce Wayne and the Wayne family ? make love that .
Warner Brothers
2022: Barry Keoghan as the “Akrham Prisoner” in Matt Reeves’sThe Batman
After Ben Affleck pay heed up the bonnet , Robert Pattinson took on the role of Batman in the darkness , broodingThe Batman , which feature Catwoman , the Riddler , and the Penguin . But the movie could n’t reject the wrench of the Joker , save Barry Keoghan for a secret coming into court at the end .
That ’s the same shit . Get rid of it . That ’s how I felt . That was the worst part of the movie . And I like that flick ! But it deal the movie out a bit . allow ’s rivet on the Riddler , Batman , Catwoman , and the Penguin . Why do we take this pop music - culture kingbolt , the Joker , to be in this movie that ’s reckon to be a cool , newfangled take ? Then you ’ve got this guy being Joker . It did n’t work for me at all , and I hated that whole scene . It feels like patently the studio apartment was like , “ We ’ve get ta put some Joker in there so the great unwashed will be excite for the next one . ”
I loved theBatman Beginsending . It ’s just like , “ He ’s get a calling card . ” They show it and he ’s like , “ I ’ll look into it . ” That ’s all it is .
Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Joker’|Warner Brothers
Also , this actor [ Barry Keoghan ] , I love him . But he ’s weird . He ’s a eldritch guy rope and when he ’s in stuff he ’s very unknown . I ’m just over the strange Joker . I think Heath did it and Joaquin did it . I just would like to see a charismatic , social Joker who has parties and I reckon him to be a guy who goes to plays and likes to drink martinis . Kinda like theDark Knight ReturnsJoker , who is just this handsome , freaky - look guy .
I was talking about it with some brother last night : I would love if Lakeith Stanfield was the Joker . Just this stoic guy wire . I ’m over the “ unearthly ” represent with villains . The “ weird guy cable ” take . But I ’m sure [ Barry Keoghan ] will figure it out and it ’ll be great for the next flick . His laugh reminded me of that part inBilly Madisonwhere the guy is like , “ He did the weasel express mirth . ” And then the other guy is like , “ What ’s the weasel laugh ? ” And then he choke [ does weasel laugh . ] But he ’s such a expert actor , I ’m certain he ’ll picture it out . No tincture .
Joker burns the money meme
The Dark Knightgave the internet earned run average its first Joker , turning the character into a highly adaptable source of jest and gags .
I love this . There are picture of the Joker hang out with Tony Soprano , like picture on Venice Beach . I know that people have always romanticized being in the mafia , but it ’s rum to conceive of them being like , “ possibly I can be the Joker - type mafia guy ? ” Me and my buddies , every time there ’s a situation where it seems like someone is arrive at a self - sabotaging choice , we say , “ The Joker ’s burning the money . ”
Joker saying “I’m going to become the Joker” meme
Joaquin Phoenix does not say this line in the flick , but that did n’t stop the meme from spreading all over the internet . I’ve see this one . I wish he really suppose that in the picture show : “ I ’m function to become the Joker . ” It ’s likeOffice Spacewhen the guy is like , “ I ’ll glow this place down . I ’m going to burn down the construction . ”
“Joker and Harley Quinn as relationship goals” meme
With its over - the - top line drawing of the fated romance between Jared Leto ’s Joker and Margot Robbie ’s Harley Quinn , Suicide Squadbecame a source of intake for tumultuous couples across the world .
It ’s tricky . I love Harley Quinn in the cartoon . I like that she used to be a psychologist or sometimes she was an intern at Arkham Asylum . But the thing with this Joker , with the sleek down - back hair and the jewelry and stuff , it makes me consider , “ Joker is definitely hitting Harley Quinn a lot . ” Immediately , I ’m like , “ No one is rooting for Harley Quinn to be with the Joker . ” Maybe they ’re not supposed to . Harley Quinn as an antihero is really cool though . I just care it was in different moving-picture show . It ’s strong with these DC character reference sometimes because they ’re so cartoonish . Still , I ’m certain that the couple that aspires to be like the Joker and Harley Quinn is happier than I ’ll ever be in any kind of family relationship .
Joker as crypto meme lord
As the world change , Heath Ledger ’s Joker stay a potent political symbol . It does n’t even matter what your affiliations are .
It ’s funny to me that all these technical school , crypto , Bitcoin bros love Joker . In a way , I ’m like , “ The Dark Knightis one of the best moving-picture show ever made and Joker comprise upsetting the established order . ” I wonder how those guys feel about Bernie Sanders ? He ’s kinda like the Joker in a way . To me , he ’s fairly cool . I roll in the hay in their mind they ’re like , “ Bitcoin is going to change everything , it ’s just like the Joker . ” And if you watchThe Dark Knight , particularly now , that whole trilogy is so pro - cop . So I ’m Team Joker and Team Bane a little bit .
Barry Keoghan at the premiere of ‘The Batman’|Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images
A Joker meme from the after the release of ‘The Dark Knight’|Google Images
A Joker meme from after the release of ‘Joker’|Know Your Meme
A Joker meme from after the release of ‘Suicide Squad’|Google Images
A crypto Joker meme|Twitter Account @CryptoJoker6
