The story of the Sahaabi who used to make the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) laugh

Question

Praise be to Allah.

It was narrated by Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (176), Abu
Nu‘aym in al-Hilyah (3/228) and ad-Diya’ in al-Mukhtaarah (92)
from ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man had the nickname
Himaar (donkey) and he used to give the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) a gift of a vessel of ghee and a vessel of honey. When
the owner thereof came to ask him to pay for these things, he would bring
him to the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and
say: O Messenger of Allah, give this man the price of his goods, and the
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) would do no
more than smile and give instructions that he be paid. One day he was
brought to the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
having drunk alcohol. A man said: O Allah, curse him, how often he is
brought to the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him)! But the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
said: “Do not curse him, for he loves Allah and His Messenger.”

Abu Nu‘aym said after quoting it: It is saheeh and proven.

Al-Buwaysiri said in Ithaaf al-Khayarah (3/398): This
is a saheeh isnaad.

Al-Haythami said in al-Majma‘ (4/148): It was narrated
by Abu Ya‘la and its men are the men of as-Saheeh.

Al-Bukhaari narrated a shorter version in his Saheeh
(6780), which is as follows:

It was narrated from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab that there was a
man at the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
whose name was ‘Abdullah, but his nickname was Himaar (donkey), and he used
to make the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
laugh. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had had him
flogged for drinking, then he was brought one day and he commanded that he
be flogged, and a man who was there said, “O Allah, curse him, how often he
is brought [for this reason]!” But the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him) said: “Do not curse him, for by Allah what I know about him is
that he loves Allah and His Messenger.”

See also the commentary on the hadith in Fath al-Baari
and in al-Isaabah fi Tamyeez as-Sahaabah (6/366):

He (may Allah be pleased with him) would do that by way of
joking with the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and
wanting to make him happy, and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) would approve of that and laugh, and would not criticise him for
it, and he would pay off on his behalf what he had bought and given to him
as a gift, and he knew that he only did that out of love for the Messenger
of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).

And Allah knows best.