"Make 'Em Laugh" is a song first featured in the 1952 MGM musical film Singin' in the Rain, performed by Donald O'Connor as the character Cosmo Brown.

Written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown,[1] the song is closely based on Cole Porter's "Be a Clown" from the Freed-produced 1948 MGM musical film The Pirate, in which it was sung by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland.

O'Connor's performance for "Make 'Em Laugh" is noted for its extreme physical difficulty, featuring dozens of jumps, pratfalls, and two backflips.

[4] "Make 'Em Laugh" is listed at #49 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green recall that before shooting had started, they had "painfully wedged into the script as a cheering-up song" for Donald O'Connor the Freed/Brown song "The Wedding of the Painted Doll",[6] but during filming, Freed realized that O'Connor needed a better number, but could not find anything suitable for his character within his collection.