They say laughter is the best medicine—but not every place is a pharmacy.
Let’s face it, there are certain places and times where, no matter how much we all love to laugh, it simply isn’t appropriate to do so. Nevertheless, the human body is a funny thing. Sometimes, our lack of control over ourselves can kick in at hilariously inopportune moments.
Here are 42 stories about the most inappropriate times people couldn’t hold back their laughter.
42. Fasten Your Seatbelts for This One...
I couldn’t control myself the time I heard a flight attendant say: "If you require wheelchair assistance, please remain seated."
41. Till Misunderstanding Do Us Part
We had a priest with a pretty thick accent perform our wedding and part of our vows included the phrase "love and fidelity." My husband misunderstood and said "love and fertility," and for some reason, I thought that it was the most hilarious thing I'd ever heard. Probably due to nerves. I said my all my vows with a shaky voice from trying to hold back my hysterical laughter.
40. It’s an Inside Joke
My wedding.
During the ceremony, the judge started his spiel with something like, "Marriage is an institution that is entered into purposefully, soberly, yadda yadda yadda." The groom, the best man and I made eye contact on the word “soberly” and all three of us lost it. Guess I should add that the three of us were drinking buddies back in our 20s, and have seen each other do all sorts of embarrassing things while decidedly not sober.
Then all our guests lost it because the three of us were practically in tears at the altar.
It was actually a great way to cut the nervous tension, and I definitely felt more relaxed for the rest of the ceremony.
39. You Showed Him Who’s Boss!
I was at a birthday lunch celebration with my boss and about ten co-workers. My boss started opening gifts before we had even finished eating our meal.
One of the gifts he opened was a potato. Yes, a potato, with just a single insulting curse word written across it.
No one had any idea who had snuck that into his gift pile and most people were dead quiet. I, on the other hand, was dying of laughter.
He got the check and stormed out of the restaurant before finishing opening the rest of the gifts.
38. The Show Must Go On
Right before the start of a show, a fellow actor let out the loudest fart possible that went undetected by the audience. And it smelled awful. I couldn't help but laugh at the timing of the situation. So half of us on stage were laughing quietly, while the other half was gagging.
37. One Small Step for Your Boss, One Giant Leap for Mankind
My boss gave a talk to a squad of disabled athletes in wheelchairs. Not sure who wrote his speech for him, but not only did he say that “It’s important to put your best foot forward,” but he also said that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
I had to leave the room.
36. Stay Focused!
Mother was yelling at me for being suspended from school. In the corner of my eye, I saw my cat playing with a toy like a maniac. I tried to hold it in and eventually he left. Then out of nowhere he comes barreling in like an idiot, leaps towards his toy, misses completely, and eats carpet on the landing. I laughed so freakin’ hard.
35. So Tell Me About Yourself
I was interviewing a woman for a part-time job in our office when I realized that if you dipped her in blue paint, she would be the spitting image of Nanny Smurf. I started to crack up and realized I was going to lose it in front of her, so I told her I was having an allergy attack. I ran to the bathroom and laughed my head off, went back and finished the interview.
34. Riding High
I was in an elevator full of people. It was my first time being high in public. I couldn’t keep it together. It was an awkward trip to my floor…
33. Always Go Out on a High Note
We were doing playing tests in band class, and I finished pretty quickly, so I decided to secretly watch cat videos. There was this cat that grabbed a string that was attached to a ceiling fan and it started flying in circles. I managed to burst out laughing right when a kid that wasn't very good messed up.
32. Birds and the Bees
I was teaching health class to a group of teenage students. I explain that girls are born with all the eggs they will ever need. They don't grow more as they age. A pale, skinny, quiet, freshman boy from the front row raises his hand, as he blushes.
"Is that true for guys...that we don't make more sperm once it's gone?"
"No, guys continually regenerate sperm."
With an audible gasp of relief, he says "Oh, thank God".
I lost it so bad I had to sit down. Not my finest moment.
31. Ding Dong, the Concert Is Dead
When I was in high school, I went with a friend to the Christmas concert, got there late, and the only place we found to sit was way up front, right behind all of the teachers. We were trying to keep it together the whole time, but then the girl's bell choir came out. Someone had apparently switched around all the bells before they went on, and what should have been a beautiful Christmas song was a jumbled mess of random notes.
I lasted about 15 seconds before I felt my friend physically vibrating next to me trying not to laugh out loud. I snorted, then he lost it. All the teachers turned around and glared at us. We could not quit giggling. The poor girls on stage were mortified. A couple of them started crying, and they all ran off stage. I still laugh when I think about it all these many years later.
30. Awkward Moment…
I probably shouldn’t have, but I laughed when an old lady had a seizure during church and my friend's dad assumed that the Holy Spirit must've gotten her.
29. Spoiler Alert: The Movie Wasn’t a Comedy
I had just downed my friend's Taiwanese energy drink. It was English class. We were watching The Pianist. During the scene where the soldiers demanded the old man in a wheelchair stand, I suddenly snorted. I slapped my hand over my mouth but I couldn't stop. As the two men hurled the poor crippled old man over the balcony I was practically convulsing in laughter.
I didn't get in trouble, but I got a few dirty looks.
28. Self-Deprecating Humor
I was in a staff meeting when they told us the store was closing and we would all be losing our jobs. It was the first mandatory full staff meeting in the two years I had been there.
I was joking in the carpool to work that we were all getting laid off in one go to save time and when we get there the Big Boss has tissue boxes lining the meeting table.
I knew I was right and immediately started giggling like an idiot. I kept it together—kinda—until they announced the layoffs and then I lost it. Other people were in tears for losing their jobs but the whole thing was weirdly hilarious to me.
27. Bad Timing, Bro
I was in eighth grade. We were watching a very serious movie in class about a tragic historical event. At that moment, a friend of mine leaned over and put these 2 masterfully carved wooden bird pens on my desk. He had bought them at some shop in the mountains over the weekend and waited until then to show me. I couldn't help myself, it was so weird. I burst out laughing. Teacher pauses the movie. "YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY!?" she yelled. I show her the pens, still laughing. I get lunch detention for a week.
26. What Came First—the Donkey or the Egg?
They started playing the “Hallelujah” song at my school.
My friend asks, “Isn't this the song from Shrek?”
25. Can She Get an Amen?
Well, it wasn't uncontrollable, but there were a lot of laughs at my mom's funeral. My grandmother, who was 96 years old at the time and having a bit of dementia, said out loud “Oh you shut your mouth” when the priest started his prayers. It actually lightened up a grim room.
24. What an Entrance!
Dad tripped and fell while walking into the house. I laughed. I got grounded.
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23. Forgiveness for This Will Cost You an Arm and a Leg
My brother had a nosebleed in his sleep. He had one of those bunk bed type things, but at the bottom, there was a sofa that pulled out as a bed. As he climbed down the ladder, he put his arm through the metal bars so that his hand was facing downwards and he lost his footing. He snapped his forearm in two between the bars. He came into my room looking like he had two elbow joints in his arm and calmly said: "I think I've broken my arm." He did not see the humor in it…
22. Who Cut the Cheese?
At my roommate’s father’s funeral, there was an old fella in attendance who let out the slowest, clappiest fart of all time. I couldn’t help myself.
21. Knock Knock! Boo Who?
I was in a haunted horror maze. The owners and actors clearly put a lot of time and effort into making it look and feel incredible and scary. But on the first jump scare, my adrenaline spiked and I couldn't control the constant laughter that followed me the rest of the way. Absolutely shattered the tension for everyone.
20. Failing Royally
At a British airport shortly after the death of Princess Diana, there was a minute of silence in honor of her memory. At that precise moment, my girlfriend burst into uncomfortable laughter. It was so infectious that I ended up in fits of laughter.
I still feel bad to this day.
19. A Little Turbulence on the Airwaves
I'm an airline pilot and often when flying with a co-pilot you get along well with, you will try to make each other laugh while doing the PA to the passengers; mindless things like drawing inappropriate images on paperwork, rolling up newspapers and hitting your colleague over the head with them, or playing Top Gun quotes from your phone. Generally, I manage to choke out my PAs with a reasonably straight face. One time, though, I lost it so bad I snorted with laughter mid-sentence, had to cease the PA, then come back and just admit “Sorry ladies and gentlemen, my colleague was distracting me.”
Most unprofessional, yet hilarious.
18. Clap Your Hands!
My 4-year-old daughter stood up at my grandpa’s funeral to try and sing a hymn, but didn’t know the words—so she started singing ”If You’re Happy and You Know It.”
Funny thing is, my grandpa would have been the first to laugh at that.
17. A Tale of Two Lovities
I used to work in a call center, and on each call, I had to inquire as to whether the customer had cavity wall and loft insulation already.
On one call, I accidentally asked someone if they'd had their "caft and lovity woft," and immediately burst into an insane fit of giggles when I realized what I had said. Thankfully the person on the other end of the phone saw the funny side.
A few minutes later, I calmed down enough to make another phone call, and for whatever reason, as soon as the next person answered the phone I burst back into giggles.
The customer was nooottttt impressed. I explained "caft and lovity woft" and apologized to the guy, but he told me how unprofessional it was and that it made my company look bad, etc. etc. I apologized profusely but still couldn't really stop giggling. He hung up shortly after that.
16. Stage Fright
A gal in my small town was murdered and news film crews arrived to film the local reactions. I laughed because I was nervous. Thankfully, they didn't broadcast that clip.
15. Laugh Like Your Life Depends On It
I was at JFK airport in June 2007 when they discovered a weird terrorist plot to blow up the fuel storage. I was standing outside Terminal 1 when some jerk gets pissed off at traffic and peels out around the unloading cars, only to find a red light in front of him. Within moments, 20 national guardsmen with very big automatic weapons were pulling him out of his car and slamming him on the pavement. There was no sound, except for one lone idiot laughing at the top of his lungs. Me.
14. Who Laughs Last…
I was buying a house and I mentioned to our realtor that we were interested in living on Belcher Street. My wife bursts out laughing at the word "Belcher." It was infectious so myself and the realtor started laughing. Then we stopped. And she continued. It got weirdly awkward…
13. Covered in Bling
A double leg amputee rolled past me in his wheelchair. He was bookin' it and had a ton of gold chains on, along with a grill in his mouth. It just seemed so…I dunno, but I found it hilarious.
12. It’s Not What She Said, It’s How She Said It
At my grandfather’s funeral, my grandmother was up front, crying. Everyone was sad. My grandfather was a generous and kind man.
But when the priest said, "Only the body is gone. The spirit still lives on forever."
My grandmother said "Amen!" loudly and in a very sassy sounding tone.
I broke out laughing. Apparently, the rest of my family didn’t see the humor in it…
11. Let’s Hope She Loves Him for His Sense of Humor
My wedding vows. Husband got through his, then hit a giggle loop that had me struggling to get through mine. To the point where I was a little late on a few responses and my Dad asked my Mom "Is she crying?" "No. No. She's laughing."
10. No Time to Be Chiming in
My mother was raised Catholic but grew away from the church for various reasons over the years. Later on, she became very active at her local Baptist church and decided to officially convert. They held a huge ceremony during the Sunday morning service, and the whole family showed up to support her.
Well, there is always music and singing, and being a fairly large church, they had a band with a multitude of instruments. There was this one guy, and his job was to play the chimes. You know, the different ones hanging on strings all in a row? Well, let me tell you, this guy LOVED to play the freaking chimes. It was his only job. He did it with such flourish. He would shove his hand into the air before swooping into the hanging bars of metal. Did you know that he was also able to incorporate chimes into multiple points of all the songs played? Well, he did. Chimessssss all day.
The first time it happened, my husband and I locked eyes in the pew. That was it, we lost it. AND HE KEPT DOING IT! Song after song. We could not get control of ourselves. My father, sitting behind us, was furious.
9. I Feel Like Dad Didn’t Think This One Through…
My dad didn't want to see me cry at my grandfather's funeral, so he brought a Jigglypuff Pokemon card that I always thought was funny. I'm crying during the service and he just passes me the card. Couldn't help myself and started to laugh. In front of everyone.
8. You Didn’t Get a Good Read on the Situation
I think it was around sixth grade. We were sitting in class and the teacher was doing that thing where he goes around the class and has everyone take turns reading a few paragraphs. It came to this one kid who had a little trouble reading.
The kid. Was reading. Like this. With pauses. Between. Every couple. Words.
I really tried to not laugh but I couldn't help it. I wasn't even the kind of kid that would do that, I was usually really quiet. This poor kid was trying to read aloud, which was probably already tough for him, and there I was with my hand over my mouth giggling like a little jerk.
7. What Else Could Go Wrong?
I was a paramedic standing next to a dead body. An elderly lady had fallen out of bed, lit a cigarette and promptly died. She had such a pissed off look on her face, like “Great, fell out of bed, can’t get up and what’s this? A heart attack? Well, why not!”
6. Keeping Up Appearances
At my son's funeral. My daughter—10 at the time—got her hair caught in my niece's earring while resting her head on her cousin’s shoulder. It was a nice 5-minute laughing session by the three of us, but everyone behind us thought we were crying.
5. Just Making Conversation
This one time at a funeral, my cousins and I saw an older gentleman approach the casket. It was an open casket, and he started talking. No big deal, but what he said killed us. It was something like "Hey Jude. I'd ask how you're doing, but you're dead."
4. This One is Definitely Outside the Box!
I lost control at my grandmother’s wake.
She loved collecting the toys and prizes from fast food places and we had a box of some of her favorites sitting under her casket during the viewing. One of these items was a stuffed, talking Taco Bell dog.
The room was mostly silent, save for some crying people, when suddenly, this darn dog decides to spit out one of his lines. The line? "I think I need a bigger box." So picture this: in a silent room full of mourning family members, all you hear is that line coming from what seems to be the casket. Everyone just lost it. We were loud enough that the mortician came in to complain that we were disturbing the other patrons.
Grammy would have loved that story!
3. What’s in a Name?
This happened to my dad recently. He had a coworker who was a bit of a cat lady. She and her husband never had kids, so the cats played that role in their lives. One day she came to work pretty visibly shaken up, so my dad pulled her aside and asked what was wrong.
She said her husband was doing laundry last night and while loading the dryer, the cat must have jumped in behind his back. He then proceeded to turn on the dryer and unfortunately, the cat didn't make it. My dad says, "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that! What was your cat’s name?" She answers "Fluffy". Dad lost it.
2. Her Special Day Was Special, Alright!
My best friend’s wedding.
As his soon-to-wife was being walked down the aisle by her father, he managed to trip on her wedding dress, theatrically spin around, grab the hat off someone's head as he clutched at anything to hold on to, and pull his daughter down on top of him, breaking her nose with his forehead in the process. Everyone, of course, rushed to their aid. Me, on the other hand—I fell to the ground absolutely laughing my head off.
As she was being rushed away, I was still rolling on the ground laughing while everyone just stared at me. Just because I was the best man, doesn't mean I'm a good man. The video still gets pulled out from time to time and I still lose my mind every time.
1. Choking on His Response
I’m sitting in the back of an eighth-grade classroom during a presentation messing around with my friend. Meanwhile, our student presenter has a small but noticeable speech impediment. Every couple of words, he has to pause and catch his breath mid-word. While not paying attention to the presentation, my friend made me laugh—which happened to coincide perfectly with one of the pauses. I immediately feel an entire classroom of eyes on me as I try to look innocent and point at my friend as the object of laughter. But it was too late, no way to talk yourself out of that mess.
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