Fatal Hilarity is death as a result of laughter. The phrase was first recorded in 1596.^[1] Happy Tree Friends character, see Giggles (Happy Tree Friends). ... Events February 5 - 26 catholics crucified in Nagasaki, Japan. ...

In history

According to some traditions, the mythological Greek prophet Calchas died of laughter when the day that was to be his death day arrived and the prediction didn't seem to materialize.^[2] In Greek mythology, Kalchas Thestórides (son of Thestor), or Calchas (brazen) for short, a loyal Argive, was a powerful seer, a gift of Apollo: as an augur, Calchas had no rival in the camp (Iliad i, E.V. Rieu translation) Calchas prophesized that in order to gain a favourable...

In the third century B.C. the Greek philosopher Chrysippus died of laughter after giving his donkey wine, then seeing it attempt to feed on figs.^[3] BC may stand for: Before Christ (see Anno Domini) : an abbreviation used to refer to a year before the beginning of the year count that starts with the supposed year of the birth of Jesus. ... Chrysippus of Soli (279-207 BC) was Cleanthess pupil and eventual successor to the head of the stoic philosophy (232-204 BC). ... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 For other uses, see Donkey (disambiguation). ... Species About 800, including: Ficus altissima Ficus americana Ficus aurea Ficus benghalensis- Indian Banyan Ficus benjamina- Weeping Fig Ficus broadwayi Ficus carica- Common Fig Ficus citrifolia Ficus coronata Ficus drupacea Ficus elastica Ficus godeffroyi Ficus grenadensis Ficus hartii Ficus lyrata Ficus macbrideii Ficus macrophylla- Moreton Bay Fig Ficus microcarpa- Chinese...

It is cited that the Burmese king Nandabayin, in 1599 "laughed to death when informed, by a visiting Italian merchant, that Venice was a free state without a king."^[4] Year 1599 was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

In 1660, the Scottish aristocrat, polymath and first translator of Rabelais into English, Thomas Urquhart, is said to have died laughing upon hearing that Charles II had taken the throne.^[5][6] // Events January 1 - Colonel George Monck with his regiment crosses from Scotland to England at the village of Coldstream and begins advance towards London in support of English Restoration. ... “Scot” redirects here. ... Leonardo da Vinci, a polymath, is seen as the epitome of the Renaissance Man A polymath (Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής, meaning having learned much)[1], Renaissance man or Homo universalis are common terms to describe a person well educated, or who excels, in a wide variety of subjects or fields. ... François Rabelais François Rabelais (c. ... Thomas Urquhart in a 1641 engraving by George Glover Sir Thomas Urquhart (or Urchard, 1611 - c. ... Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. ...

In 1782, a certain Mrs Fitzherbert is reported to have suffered from an attack of hilarity while she attended a performance of The Beggar's Opera. When Charles Bannister appeared on scene as Peachum, she burst into an uncontrollable laugh so loud that she had to be expelled from the theatre. She laughed continuously all night long and the day after, and died early in the morning, the following day. 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Painting based on The Beggars Opera, Scene V, William Hogarth, c. ... Charles Bannister (1738—1804), English actor and singer, was born in Gloucestershire, and after some amateur and provincial experience made his first London appearance in 1762 as Will in The Orators at the Haymarket. ...

The phenomenon is also recorded in the book Crazy History where a Celtic soothsayer was able to predict the hour of his demise. As with the death of Calchas, when the time arrived and the soothsayer found himself still alive, he purportedly laughed hysterically, eventually killing himself through either heart attack or asphyxiation. A soothsayer is a person who claims to speak of sexual activities specifically one who predicts the future based upon personal, sexual, or religious beliefs rather than scientific facts. ... Suffocation redirects here, for the band, see Suffocation (band). ...

In modern times

On 24 March 1975 Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old bricklayer from King's Lynn, England, died laughing while watching an episode of The Goodies, featuring a Scotsman in a kilt battling a vicious black pudding with his bagpipes. After twenty-five minutes of continuous laughter Mitchell finally slumped on the sofa and expired from heart failure. His widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so pleasant.^[7] is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Kings Lynn as viewed from across the River Great Ouse Kings Lynn is a town and port in the English county of Norfolk. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem specific to England — the United Kingdom anthem is God Save the Queen. ... The Goodies was a surreal British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy and starring Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. ... Formal Highland regalia, kilt and Prince Charlie jacket for Black tie. ... Black pudding (Boudin noir), before cooking Black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. ... A piper playing the Great Highland Bagpipe. ...

In 1989 a Danish audiologist, Ole Bentzen, died watching A Fish Called Wanda. His heart was estimated to have beat at between 250 and 500 beats per minute, before he succumbed to cardiac arrest.^[8] Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... An audiologist is the professional specializing in disorders of the auditory and vestibular portions of the body; an audiologist diagnoses and treats hearing and (balance) problems. ... A Fish Called Wanda is a movie released in 1988 by MGM. It was written by John Cleese and directed by Charles Crichton. ...

In 2003 Damnoen Saen-um, a Thai ice cream salesman, is reported to have died while laughing in his sleep at the age of 52. His wife tried to wake him up but couldn't, and he stopped breathing after two minutes of continuous laughter. It is believed that he died either of heart failure or asphyxiation.^[7] Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Asphyxia is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body. ...

In fiction

• David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest deals with a video tape containing a movie so entertaining that anyone watching it loses all desire to do anything else, eventually becoming comatose and dying. The only person who could watch the movie was the director, who was too insane to be affected by its humor. The coma was mostly the result of returning to the pre-oedipal state.
• In the Monty Python sketch "The Funniest Joke in the World", the eponymous joke is so funny that anyone who hears or reads the joke will immediately laugh themselves to death. For this reason, the joke is used against the Germans by the British during World War II. It was so lethal, each word of the joke had to be translated by only one translator (Two words were able to induce a coma). The words used in the Sketch, whilst sounding German, are in fact nonsense, presumably to prevent translation. Coincidentally, two Python members, John Cleese and Michael Palin, would star in A Fish Called Wanda, which, as mentioned above, made one of its viewers die laughing.
• Al Capp's comic strip L'il Abner featured a storyline in which a nefarious comedy writer sought to commit mass murder by broadcasting a joke so funny that listeners would die of laughter. The plot is foiled when the strip's preternaturally dense eponymous main character, tasked with delivering the fatal joke, reads it beforehand and doesn't see the humor, and so substitutes a childish joke.
• The concept was also used in the mixed-live action/animation movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where excessive laughter was shown to be one of two ways for cartoon characters to die (the other possibility was coming in contact with a concoction known as "dip").
• The Joker from DC Comics uses fatal hilarity as his primary means of murder. However, the laughter (and subsequent "death grin") is derived from the "Joker Venom" toxin the Joker uses on the victim and is probably only a symptom of the poison.
• Terms such as "I killed them out there" (to have made the audience laugh uproariously) and "I died on stage" (to have failed to do so), are much of comedy slang that deals with death.
• In the musical Little Shop of Horrors, a dentist uses the supply of nitrous oxide intended for his patients on himself, finding it gives him a gleeful high. He dies after a nitrous oxide mask gets stuck on him and the pump breaks. Although he actually asphyxiates from the lack of oxygen, his last words spoken are "Are you satisfied?! I've laughed myself to..." and another character finishes his sentence for him, "...death."
• At the end of the 1964 musical film Mary Poppins, the character of Mr. Dawes Sr. dies laughing at a joke Mr. Banks tells him after he is fired from the bank.
• Life, the Universe and Everything, the third novel in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams, features a character named Prak. Prak was accidentally given an overdose of truth serum, causing him to recite the entire history of the universe. When he met the book's protagonist, Arthur Dent, some recalled aspect of Arthur's life caused him to laugh for days on end, and eventually die of exhaustion.
• In the South Park episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Kenny dies laughing while watching a humiliating video of Cartman.
• In A Folky Tale, of the Homestar Runner series, Strong Sad's tale ends with, "they laughed until they passed out for the rest of their lives."
• Morrissey's song "Come Back To Camden" begins with the phrase "There is something I wanted to tell you it’s so funny you’ll kill yourself laughing".
• In "Laughing fit," a Code Lyoko episode, large amounts of laughing gas are said to be fatal.
• In the play The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl, the character Mathilde says that her parents were the funniest people in Brazil, and eventually died laughing when they discovered the funniest joke in the world. Now Mathilde is trying to find that same joke.
• In 1830, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote a poem entitled "The Height of the Ridiculous," in which his servant laughs uncontrollably for 10 days and nights after reading a particularly funny verse. It is to be assumed that the "wretched man" then expired.
• In the Drawn Together episode "Alzheimer's That Ends Well", Princess Clara's talking vagina (the Vajoana, a poke at Joan Rivers' plastic surgeries) kills a group of old people trying to kill the rest of the housemates by telling jokes and making the seniors laugh to death.

David Foster Wallace (born February 21, 1962) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. ... Infinite Jest (1996) is a critically acclaimed novel written by David Foster Wallace. ... The video cassette recorder (or VCR, less popularly video tape recorder) is a type of video tape recorder that uses removable cassettes containing magnetic tape to record audio and video from a television broadcast so it can be played back later. ... In medicine, a coma (from the Greek koma, meaning deep sleep) is a profound state of unconsciousness. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Monty Python, or The Pythons, is the collective name of the creators of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. ... The Funniest Joke in the World is the most frequent title used to refer to a Monty Pythons Flying Circus comedy sketch, also known by two other phrases that appear within it, joke warfare and killer joke. The premise of the sketch is fatal hilarity: the joke is simply... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Nonsense is an utterance or written text in what appears to be a human language or other symbolic system, that does not in fact carry any identifiable meaning. ... John Marwood Cleese (born 27 October 1939) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award winning English comedian and actor. ... Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. ... I do Lil Abner!!, a self-portrait by Al Capp, excerpted from the April 16-17 1951 Lil Abner strips. ... Lil Abner was a comic strip in United States newspapers, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the town of Dogpatch. ... In film and video, live action refers to works that are acted out by flesh-and-blood actors, as opposed to animation. ... The bouncing ball animation (below) consists of these 6 frames. ... Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 film produced by Amblin Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company (on its Touchstone Pictures banner), Using traditional animation and live action. ... The Dip is a mixture used by the character Judge Doom in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. ... The Joker is a comic book supervillain in the DC Comics universe. ... DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... The Joker with a victim of Joker venom, in the OverPower card game Joker venom is a fictional toxin, a favourite murder weapon utilised by The Joker in the Batman franchise of movies, comics, and cartoons. ... The word comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humor with an intent to provoke laughter in general). ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... Little Shop of Horrors is a 1982 off-Broadway musical comedy by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a nerdy florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. ... R-phrases S-phrases Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... This article is about the Mary Poppins series of childrens books. ... Life, the Universe and Everything (1982, ISBN 0-345-39182-9) is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by Douglas Adams. ... The cover of the first novel in the Hitchhikers series, from a late 1990s printing. ... Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. ... There are many minor characters in the various versions of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. ... Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent, waking up at the beginning of the movie. ... This article is about the TV series. ... Scott Tenorman Must Die is episode 66 of the Comedy Central animated series South Park. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to as Cartman, is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. ... It has been suggested that World of Homestar Runner, Bubs, Coach Z, Homsar, The King of Town, Marzipan (Homestar Runner), Pom Pom (Homestar Runner), Homestar Runner (character), Strong Bad, Strong Mad, Strong Sad, The Cheat (Homestar Runner), The Poopsmith, and Trogdor be merged into this article or section. ... Steven Patrick Morrissey (born May 22, 1959) is an English singer and songwriter from Davyhulme, near Manchester. ... Code Lyoko is a French animated television series featuring both conventional animation and CGI animation. ... The Clean House is a play by Sarah Ruhl Mathilde is a cleaning woman who likes to tell jokes but hates to clean. ... Sarah Ruhl (born 1974) is an American playwright. ... Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. ... Drawn Together is an American animated television series on Comedy Central created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and first aired on October 27, 2004. ... Alzheimers That Ends Well is the twenty-first episode of the animated series Drawn Together. ... Princess Clara is a fictional character in the animated series Drawn Together. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

See also

• Motif of harmful sensation
• Kuru (disease), also known as "laughing sickness".

The motif of harmful sensation refers to the physical or mental damage that a person suffers merely by experiencing what should normally be a benign sensation. ... Kuru (also known as laughing sickness due to the outbursts of laughter that mark its second phase) was first noted in New Guinea in the early 1900s. ...

References

1. ^ Oxford: Clarendon Press (1993). The Compact Oxford English Dictionary. ISBN 0-19-861258-3. 
2. ^ (1861) in Smith, William: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Walton and Maberly, p. 561. 
3. ^ Peter Bowler and Jonathan Green. What a Way to Go, Deaths with a Difference. ISBN 0-7537-0581-8. 
4. ^ Schott, Ben (2003). Schott's Original Miscellany. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 0-7475-6320-9. 
5. ^ Brown, Huntington (1968). Rabelais in English Literature. Routledge, p. 126. ISBN 0-714-620-513. 
6. ^ (1861) The History of Scotish Poetry. Edmonston & Douglas, p. 539. 
7. ^ ^{a b} The Last Laugh's on Him. Urban Legends Reference Pages (2007-01-19). Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
8. ^ http://www.canongate.net/Lists/Death/9PeopleWhoDiedLaughing

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Snopes.com article
• Nine people who died laughing