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Learn about the rare and extreme cases of people who died from laughter, the possible causes and mechanisms, and the notable examples from history and fiction.
- An Indiana Farmer Died Laughing at a Joke. Laurel, Indiana, is a small farming community in Laurel Township, Franklin County, IN. Its population was 512 in the 2010 census, and is estimated today to have dipped slightly to about 500 people.
- A Patron’s Request Made an Ancient Greek Artist Laugh Himself to Death. Zeuxis (flourished 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek artist from Heraclea in Magna Graecia, near today’s Toronto, Italy.
- A Theatergoer Thought ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ Was So Hilarious, She Died Laughing. “Break a leg” is a one of those expressions in showbiz, wishing the addressee success during a performance, not that he or she would literally suffer an accident onstage that requires a cast and crutches.
- Alex Mitchell Died Laughing at an Episode of ‘The Goodies’ Few outside of Britain are probably familiar with The Goodies, a TV series that combined situation comedy with surreal sketches, and that originally aired 76 episodes on BBC from 1970 to 1980.
- Alex Mitchell
- Damnoen Saen-Um
- Ole Bentzen
- Chrysippus
- Mrs. Fitzherbert
- Wesley Parsons
- Zeuxis
- Thomas Urquhart
- King Martin of Aragon
- Tommy Cooper
Mr. Mitchell was a humble British bricklayer who laughed himself to death one evening in 1975 while watching the “Kung Fu Kapers” episode of The Goodies, which was the name of a hairy, hippie-era comedy trio in the Monty Python vein. Mr. Mitchell chortled and guffawed and haw-hawed and belly-laughed for an estimated half-hour before finally giving ...
In 2003, this Thai ice-cream truck driver perished in his sleep after about two minutes of nonstop laughter. His wife witnessed the entire event and tried waking him up to no avail. After two minutes, he stopped breathing and perished either of asphyxiation or heart failure.
The 1988 movie comedy A Fish Called Wandafeatures a scene where actor Michael Palin gets some French fries stuffed up his nose. In 1989, a Danish audiologist named Ole Bentzen found the scene so sidesplittingly funny that his heart rate rose to an estimated 250-500 beats per minute, leading to a heart attack as he laughed his way into the afterlife...
One fine day in the third century BC—which, in case you don’t know, is around three hundred years before the infant Jesus slimily plopped out of his mom’s allegedly virgin womb—this Greek Stoic philosopher decided it’d be a good idea to get his donkey absolutely shitfaced drunk on wine. As the story goes, when the plastered pet bumblingly attempted...
She was a lonely British widow—OK, I made up the “lonely” part, but in the days before Tinder, widows typically were lonely—who in 1782 attended a performance of The Beggar’s Opera. She began laughing at the sight of a male actor onstage in drag, which seems inexcusably transphobic if you ask me. She continued laughing to the point where she excuse...
This Indiana farmer was yukking it up with friends one day in 1893—back when long, stinky beards were roughly as fashionable as they regrettably are now—when he launched into a bout of uncontrollable laughter that lasted an hour. His laughter then turned into unrestrained hiccupping. He died about two hours after his fatal fit of laughter had begun...
This Greek painter was apparently afflicted with the dual social diseases of sexism and lookism. In the 5th century BC—which, to remind you, was roughly 500 years before Jesus came sloshing out of the Virgin Mary’s vagina like a bloody wet cannonball—he was commissioned by an older woman to paint a portrait where she posed as the goddess Aphrodite....
Señor Urquhart was a Scottish aristocrat and “polymath”—a term similar to “autodidact” in that anyone who uses it to describe themselves is automatically an asshole. In 1660, upon being informed that Charles II had assumed the throne—and whyis that so funny?—he reportedly laughed himself six feet under.
I’m not sure where “Aragon” is, but I presume it’s a suburb of Cleveland. This is the second case of death by laughter that involves animals and figs. One gluttonous day in 1410, after consuming an entire goose himself, King Martin’s court jester Borra told him he had been “out of the next vineyard, where I saw a young deer hanging by his tail from...
This British comedian may not have technically been laughing himselfwhen he died, but he was surrounded by laughter. He dropped to the floor during an onstage comedy routine in 1984 at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London. At first, audience members thought it was part of the act and expected him to get up. Very soon thereafter, they stopped laughing.
- Jim Goad
Nov 11, 2023 · Learn about the rare but possible causes of laughter-related deaths, such as laughter-induced syncope, asthma attacks and laryngospasm. Also, discover how laughter can benefit your health and well-being.
- Kiley Price
Jun 11, 2019 · Learn about the possible causes of death from laughing too hard, such as brain aneurysm, asthma attack, gelastic seizures, and more. Find out when to seek medical help and how to enjoy laughing safely.
- Valencia Higuera
Laughing is not exactly the direct cause of death in these cases, but it activates or induces one of these medical conditions that lead to the person's death. Here is a list of 10 people who, unfortunately, died laughing. 1 In 1975, Alex Mitchell died after laughing non-stop for 25 whole minutes while watching a television show.
Jan 2, 2004 · The web page explores the possibility of dying from laughter, citing some real and fictional cases of people who laughed themselves to death. It also discusses the health effects of laughter and the scientific evidence for or against its benefits.
