Make Me Laugh was a '50s comedy series where contestants had to keep from laughing at comedians who performed directly to them. The original series was hosted by Robert Q. Lewis; the syndicated version (debuting in the '70s) was hosted by Bobby Van. In 1997, it got a reboot on Comedy Central; the first season was hosted by Ken Ober, who was replaced by Mark Cohen in season 2.
Tropes featured:
- Bonus Round: The final round of the Comedy Central version had all three comics tag-teaming on the remaining contestant for 60 seconds (Ober's season) or a mystery comic performing for 100 seconds (Cohen's season). In both cases, the contestant won $500 if they went the distance, or $5 per second otherwise.
- Cheer Them Up with Laughter: Inverted. Contestants of this game show earned $1 for every second they don't laugh at the routines of three stand-up comics.
- Golden Snitch: The Comedy Central run featured a second round which the contestants had to predict whether or not an audience member would laugh, and place a wager of their first-round winnings on their prediction. Under Ken Ober, this was two audience members and 60 seconds each; Mark Cohen's version made it one audience member and increased the time limit to 90 seconds. A contestant who made a correct prediction would almost certainly rocket ahead of anyone who didn't.
- Special Guest: One of the more famous contestants on the '70s version was Frank Zappa, who had a great poker face.
- Season 2 of the Comedy Central had a "mystery comic", who wasn't revealed until they appeared.
- Tough Room: The whole gimmick. Contestants lose if they laugh, so outside of the studio audience, the comedian's jokes are basically bombing if they fail to get the contestant to crack.