#538 Laughing so hard you start crying

Neil Pasricha

It’s a beautiful moment.

Your friend suddenly squeezes her eyes shut and starts shaking her head while laughing so hard little streams of salty tears start running down her cheeks. She covers her mouth with her hands as her wide-eyed face turns red — and you can see shiny reflections sparkle in her glittery wet eyes. Big booms bounce off walls until she eventually slows down, gasps for air, and open her eyes wide while wet sniffling, smiling widely, and regaining her composure.

And then she looks you right in the eyes and smiles. And you look her right in the eyes and smile.

And it starts all over again.

AWESOME!

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80 thoughts to “#538 Laughing so hard you start crying”

  2. That is a truly awesome moment, especially shared between good friends. Your abs hurt, you lose muscle control, your eyes shut .. you’ve described it so perfectly. I can remember specific times that I’ve laughed this hard, and I treasure the memory :)

  3. Don’t forget that cramp in the side when you know you’ve had too much laugh- but yet you can’t seem to stop…

  4. Always amazing. How I love laughing ’till I cry. One of my favorite moments will be during a certain game of catchphrase when a particularly hilarious guess was blurted out. Next thing I knew we were laughing. Then we were crying. Then we were in serious physical pain.

    Then we were exhausted.

    Then we hated each other for how much we were laughing.

    Then we laughed again.

    How I love my friends.

  9. A Fish called Wanda. Watching this was the only time that I actually passed out from laughing too much. John Cleese was dancing around, the owners of the flat came in, the look on the little girl as she leaned her head to get a closer look. Yeah, I hurt. I had to rewind the tape to watch what I had missed and almost blacked out again. Awesome!

    1. This was my first M movie :) when i was about 7 or 8. i dont even remember any of it except that guy being under pressure when the bad guy was questioning him and him not being able to talk because of his stutter, and the bad guy EATING Wanda ALIVE! I was so offended.

  10. Oh, GLORIOUS! I also like laughing so hard that my stomach quite literally hurts and I’m shouting, “Stop! It hurts! Stop!” through wild laughter.

    Another twist on this is crying out of true hurt – being in a state of grief or anger or physical pain – and then having something funny happen that makes you laugh through your tears. That’s pretty awesome, too.

    “Laughter through tears is my favorte emotion.” – Truvy in Steel Magnolias

  11. Doctors should start prescribing comedies to watch to get over ailments because laughter, and laughing so hard it hurts… is soo good :) “Miss I need you to take 4 days off from work and watch all of the earlier Happy Madison comedies. To ensure full recovery you must say the lines as well. “

  13. This is the most awesome thing in my book. The absolute best is when you start laughing for no reason and make a complete fool of yourself.

  14. To be seconded only by laughing so hard that milk (or whatever you happened to be drinking at the time) comes out of your nose. My friends and I used to do that all the time – wait till the exact moment when they’re just starting to take a big swig and then do whatever it took to make them laugh. They try to keep the milk in your mouth so it doesn’t spray all over the place, but well it’s gotta go somewhere… AWESOME! :)

  15. I do this all the time. Its great, even when it starts to hurt you’ve been laughing that much. One of my friends and I tend to get into histerics most days…and screm “IT FEELS LIKE I’M GIVING BIRTH!” which starts us off again. :D
    Also, I would like to say that I posted this in the competition yesterday – “March 29, 2010 at 3:08 pm” according to the post.
    Its obviously just that awesome though!

  17. I believe this happens because of the same reason when you cry when your sad. Your body has so much emotion packed up inside, that it has to let it all out lol..

    1. Another affirmation to, “Wisdom is not defined by age, but by what we choose to do with our experience.”
      Elizabeth, I think you are brilliant=)

  18. I love this. You can’t breathe, you can’t stand, you are in tears, and your abs are clenching.

    ^that description makes it sound bad but it really is totally….AWESOME!

  19. I love that picture of the baby laughing. Seriously made me laugh for like 5 mins.
    laughing until you cry is one of the best ways to laugh.

    1. Totally. When all is said and done with this blog, we need to collect all the pictures of the cutest babies in all the posts.

      This guy is way up the list, as is the bedhead baby that is in every other post.

      2. The baby pics are so adorable. We should make a collection. Call it the awesome baby collection. LOL…

        1. Freddo, how can you say, “When all is said and done with this blog,” in a post like this?!
          “The more we get together, together. together, the more we get together, the happier we’ll be…” and this could be an awesome ever after blog, eternally =)

  20. I’m 44 years old and my only child is now in her second year of college, but the other day I drove by an elemetary school and saw the words “Book Fair” on their marquee and it brought a smile to my face and a little nudge to my heart. She used to love book fairs so much. The new books, pencils and posters that were her own special treasures…….yay book fairs!!

    2. TELL ME ABOUT IT!!!!! You can read what happened to me when I was hanging with my boyfriend one night. He’s one funny guy.That’s why I love him so much because no matter what my mood is he knows just what to say to make me laugh!!!!! LOL

  24. you’ve described my mother perfectly! She never quite beleived me in how funny it was when she’d swell up with laughter to the point of forgeting to breath, unitl I videotaped it one time. We recreated it minutes later during the playback.

  25. this is the epitome of awesome! that moment when you regain your composure only to lock eyes and start the whole process over again…thats what I live for!

  26. Ahh, I was doing this last night while watching the comedy festival, but sharing it with friends is the best.

    Especially when you eventually calm down, and massage your jaw to relieve the pain, and then either you start thinking about it again and laugh and then it sets you both off again, or there’s that shared look that makes you start laughing again. It’s like an endless cycle sometimes XDDD

  27. This is one of those “seize-in-the-moment” opportunities. There is healing in laughter, I love to laugh and I love being around people who don’t take themselves too seriously. Sometimes ya just gotta let out a little laughter! :D

  28. Making your sisters laugh so hard that they pee in their pants…good stuff…

    Awesome!

    1. ahhhh yes! I was looking for someone who mentions peeing their pants!! that’s fabulous! hahahaaa

  29. I love it, every worry and every bad thought disappears and all you can do is laugh and laugh, i was lucky enough to experience it yesterday from a youtube video, it was great :3

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  31. Most often I do this with my best friend, Stephanie. We find the dumbest things funny and we always end up laughing until I can’t catch my breath. In those moments, everything seems good.

  32. Eddie Murphy RAW, 1985 did that for me. The next morning my ribs were so sore from laughing that it felt like my gf had elbowed me thru the nite !

  33. I Laughed so hard one time that I couldn’t breathe then I said I had to breathe and my boyfriend said another funny thing and I started laughing again and all of a sudden I was just drenched from my crotch all the way down to my ankles. My boyfriend looked at me and started laughing again then we both laughed together. He helped me clean up and I borrow his sisters pants because he threw mine in the washer. I was SO emmbarrased but at least it only happened in front of my boyfriend or I might have just died of emmbarrassenet but since he promised never to tell anyone.

  34. OMG you tottally won’t believe this. First of all I feel for you Maria!! I was at school today sitting in Geometry class for a two hour test. Mr.Parments told us we were not allowed out of our seats for any reason during the test so I stayed in my seat but I never finished the test. I had to PEE like so bad. I crossed my legs really tight,put my hand down there,took deep breaths,tried not to think about it and concentrate on my test but I really had to go. After about 45 minutes I leaked a little and I tried to hold it harder. Ten minutes pass I’m sitting there in my desk at the very front of the room in the very center row and all of a sudden I pissed myself and not just a little bit either. I mean I was completely wet. There was still another hour of class so I didn’t want to sit there in a puddle of my own piss so I raised my hand. The teacher told me to come back to his desk but I said can you please come here it’s really important and he was all no but you can come here if it’s all that inportant to you. So I had no other choice but to walk all the way across the room in my piss covered pants in front of everyone. They all started laughing but the teacher told them to cut it out and get back to work or he’d give them all zeros. He took me out to the hall way with a roll of paper towels. Then he said to go into the teachers lounge and call my Mom for new pants. After I called Mom he got a lady teacher to help me wipe my pants off so they wouldn’t be too wet. He also said he really felt bad and that in his class if you have to use the bathroom you can just go without asking because he doesn’t want any accidents. I’ve only gone to this school for about a week and nobody ever told me this before so I just had no idea of such a rule. I started crying while he was talking to me in the teachers lounge but he said everything will be okay and he better not hear anyone make fun of me or they’d get in house for a week for it. My Mom came with dry pants and took me home early so that I could take a shower. When I came out of the shower my Dad was home so I went and sat on his lap and he said so hows my little pisser doing tonight and started laughing. My Mom told him not to say that ever again. Then he asked if it gave me a warm feeling or if it felt really gross,and how big my puddle was. Mom told him to get out of her sight and they are arguing all night now so that means Dad gets the couch again tonight. I know he was only joking but it still really hurt a lot to come from my own Dad if you know what I mean.

  35. That’s so sad;( My Dad would never know. Mom doesn’t tell him things like that because he teases a lot. I’ll tell you a story about myself from fourth grade when I was eight. I was in class one day just sitting at my desk and I was a very persistant kid so I wanted to finish the assignment before I went pee. I got up when I finally finished and I was standing in front of the teachers desk and I asked her can I go to the bathroom? She said yes but I just stood there so she said Maria you can go but I leaned over and said Um…. I peed myself. So we called my Mom and she came helped me change and took me home Dad never found out because we never told him. IT’S OUR LITTLE SECRET.

  36. Hi I’m Karena!!!! That picture is sooooo CUTE. I’ve laughed so hard I wet myself many times. I’m 57 right now been married since I was 18 to my husband and I actually wet myself at our wedding as I was walking up the isle because I was so nervious. LOL!!!!!! I remember when our kids smiled like the baby in the picture. It always stopped me and John in our tracks and made us rather joyful with a joy that only a parent can feel upon seeing their child smile. It’s like the amazment you feel when they take their very first step,it’s beyond description ;-}

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  39. One day me and my friend were laughing so hard I couldnt stand anymore. I had to lay on the floor and turn my body into a stone because my belly hurted so much!

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  43. What did you do upon wetting yourself while walking up the aisle? Hopefully, it was a mild incident, I mean-nobody knew about it, right? You didn’t TOTALLY soak your panties and dress in front of all those people. Did you continue on with the ceremony? Or maybe you had to grin and bear it until the vows were taken before going to the restroom and taking care of yourself. I’d hate to think of you making a big puddle in the middle of the aisle, especially with carpeting, and smelling of pee. My heart goes out to you.

    One time one of my sisters made the other one laugh when she needed to have a bowel movement, and she POOPED in her underwear and jeans-BOY did she stink!!!-so that’s a lot worse than wetting yourself. Take care, and have a Merry Christmas!!!

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  45. It is certainly one of the nicest things that exist! The feeling you get when you’re crying of laughter and can’t breathe, that’s great. When I think back on those moments, I still laugh. Those memories that I share together with my friends I certainly treasure.!

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  49. The memories are vivid with those special people in those awesome clusters of frozen moments in time.

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