Patrick Bateman is the wealthy New York investment banker at the centre of American Psycho, the 2000 film based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel, played by Christian Bale. His forced, charming laugh has become shorthand online for performative politeness hiding something darker, and short clips of his dialogue are widely shared on soundboards and in meme edits. This particular laugh, paired with the casual martini request to Paul, is used because it condenses that character into just a few seconds: expensive taste, smooth manners and an unsettling edge.
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Patrick Bateman's manic laugh from American Psycho, asking Paul for another martini, used in memes and edits mocking fake charm, wealth and yuppie excess.
This short clip captures Patrick Bateman laughing in that polished, slightly unhinged way that made Christian Bale's performance in American Psycho so memorable, before he smoothly asks Paul for another martini. The laugh starts controlled and charming, then tips into something colder and more performative, which is exactly why it works so well out of context. It sounds like a man enjoying a joke only he fully understands, and that mix of wealth, politeness and menace gives editors a quick way to signal that a character is not quite as normal as they appear.
