How the iconic 'nerd laugh' from 'Revenge of the Nerds' was created

More than four decades after its premiere, this legendary comedy has left an indelible mark on pop culture. 

Revenge of the Nerds has earned its classic status by creating the “nerd laugh,” still seen in TV and film today. The honk-sounding laughter was first used by late actor RobertCarradine, who died in February 2026 at 71. He revealed that his co-star JamesCromwell was the one who originated the idea. 

The film just celebrated its 42nd anniversary, having originally premiered on July 20, 1984. Revenge of the Nerds was directed by JeffKanew and starred Carradine, Cromwell, DonaldGibb, CurtisArmstrong, and Julia Montgomery. 

“In the script it referenced that the character had kind of a honking laugh and I didn’t really pay attention to that. I was too busy trying to be in character, right? Well, sure as s--t, it’s the day before we’re going to start and I don’t have the laugh,” he shared in a 2013 interview on The Howard Stern Show. 

Kanew asked Carradine what he thought the laugh should sound like. The actor admitted he was stumped. 

“He said, ‘Well, here, check this out.’ And he put in Jamie Cromwell’s VHS tape of the audition, and he’s doing the laugh,” he explained.

Carradine asked Cromwell, who played his father in Revenge of the Nerds, to teach him how to do the ridiculous laugh. 

“He showed me ‘cause we thought it should be like father, like son. So, that’s how the laugh was born.”

Cromwell shared his version of the story at the A.V. Club’s 2012 oral history of the film.

“I came up with the nerd laugh, which I didn’t know—I did it spontaneously. We had a lot of fun in the car. I’m very fond of Bobby Carradine, my son in the picture. And so, I taught them how to do the laugh,” he said. 

“And when we had a screening of the movie and an audience—we were sitting with a big audience—I came onstage and I did the laugh, and I hear the laugh—just the nerd laugh but perfectly—and I look and it’s my wife,” he shared. “It was my wife’s laugh and I copied it spontaneously. I don’t think she ever— I never said it to her.”